First Day At Ryozanpaku
Ranma was woken out of bed of bed by the sound of Kenichi's scream. He jutted up in surprise and was on guard for trouble out of habit.
"Oh good, you're awake." He heard the voice of Akisame. He turned around and spotted the Jiu-jitsu master.
"Oh, hey Akisame-sensei." He said, relaxing his guard a little bit. "What's up?"
Akisame smiled at the pigtailed boy.
"It's time to get up and get a little bit of training in before your first day of school." Ranma smiled at that.
"My first day of training and school huh? That sounds like fun." Ranma and Akisame came down and saw Kenichi trying his hardest to get away from the rest of the masters, only for Shigure to have him tied up with a chain.
"Wow," Ranma said. "Part of me feels kind of bad for the guy. It looks like he's trying to escape from his own execution."
"I don't know why you and Kenichi both think like that." Akisame said, genuinely confused. "Now, strap on this and let's start jogging before school!"
And as he said that he pointed to a sleigh that was filled with big heavy rocks. Ranma looked at the sleigh and blancked.
"Are you crazy!?" Ranma said, utterly shocked. Akisame was surprised by Ranma's reaction.
"Why? What's wrong?" He asked his second disciple.
"That looks like something you do after school! Not before! What!? Do want us to be late and half dead before school or something?" Ranma said, his anger evident in his voice.
"Hmm." Akisame thought for a moment. "You may have a point there."
"Then what would you recommend Ranma?" Hayato asked. Ranma turned to them, a confused look on his face.
"Hold on, you're actually asking me what I think?"
"HOW COME YOU GUYS LISTEN TO HIM AND NOT ME!?" Kenichi screamed in protest. Ignoring his roommate, Ranma thought for a moment, and then slapped his fist into his palm.
"Why not some stretches and kata's for a warmup and then some light sparring?" He said with a smile. Sakaki grinned at that.
"Ok. A little too easy if you ask me, but I think we can make that work."
And work it did...until the two found out they would be sparring with the masters while wearing weighted clothing.
"Where the heck did you get weighted clothes!?" Ranma asked, struggling less than Kenichi was, but still struggling with the extra weight on his body. Akisame grinned.
"I made it." He said with pride. "I got the idea from a manga Kenichci was reading last night. It combines your idea with mine and makes for a good compromise."
"How is this a compromise!?" Kenichi asked, fighting tooth and nail to keep from ending up flat on the ground.
"Quite complaining." Sakaki said to his disciple. "At least it's less weight than what we were going to stick you with."
And to make matters worse, their sparring partners...were Appachai for Kenichi and Kensei for Ranma.
"Good luck boys. Try not to die." Kensei said to his two disciples. Kenichi looked ready to die but Ranma just put up his guard as much as he could. He stared at his new sifu (Chinese for sensei) and watched for any sign of movement.
Kensei grinned as he charged at Ranma. Ranma managed to dodge the first lung but had a hard time with Kensei's follow up attacks. With the weighted gi slowing him down, it was hard to put up a decent defense. He couldn't get his legs up to kick and his arms hurt from moving them to do a halfway decent block. Ranma was for sure if he wasn't being held down by these dumb weights, he could hold this fast and agile kung fu master.
But unfortunately, that wasn't the case this time around. Kensei saw an opening and took it, knocking the wind out of Ranma with a well-placed strike to his gut. Ranma fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Ow." He said, struggling to get back to his feet. Kensei chuckled as he watched the boy get back to his feet.
"Having trouble Ranma?" He asked. "Come on lad, don't give up just yet."
Ranma glared at the older man.
"I don't give up, old man." He said as he got to his feet and did his best to get into a fighting stance. But before they could continue, they heard Miu ringing a bell.
"Ok boys! Breakfast is ready! Come and get it!" She said. As Ranma and Kensei relaxed their stances, they were caught off guard by the sound of Kenichi screaming in fright. They whipped their heads around and saw Kenichi on the ground in a heap with Appachai panicking over his downed body.
"OH NO! Kenichi! Please don't die! Appachai sorry!" He said. Kensei just slapped his head in dismay.
"Oh no! Please don't tell me you killed him again!?" Kensei said. Ranma looked at the kung fu master with a confused and worried expression.
"I'm sorry, did you say, AGAIN!?" Ranma said, panic evident in his voice and on his face. As this was going on, a white, ghost looking thing came out of Kenichi's mouth and was floating u to Heaven.
"Um, is that Kenichi's soul?" Ranma said, now truly worried and scared. But to his shock, the elder came out of nowhere and grabbed the floating soul.
"Oh no you don't." He said as he shoved the soul back into Kenichi's body. Kenichi shot back up like he just got hit with a defibulator.
"AGH! Oh boy. I was so close to Heaven." Kenichi said.
A short while later, everyone was sitting around the table enjoying Miu's meal. Ranma had to admit, this was by far the best homecooked meal he had ever tasted.
'This girl might even be a better cook than Kasumi.' Ranma thought. Shortly after their meal, Ranma, Kenichi and Miu headed off to school. Since he didn't really know where the school was, Ranma decided to slow his pace and follow alongside Kenichi and Miu. The only thing was, he decided to walk on the fence as he usually did. Miu was impressed, but Kenichi was absolutly shocked.
"What?" Ranma asked, noticing Kenichi's shocked expression.
"How are you doing that!? What, were you raised by a family of circus acrobats or something?" He asked the pigtailed boy. Ranma just gave him a deadpanned look.
"Do I look like an American comic book character?" Ranma asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"I will admit that I did train with a few while I was growing up though. Acrobatics are the core of my fighting style, so I was trained to master my body so that I would be as at home in the air as on the ground."
Kenichi nodded in understanding. That would make sense for a style that focused on aerial combat. Miu then looked up at Ranma.
"So, you're walking on that fence for training?" She asked. Ranma nodded.
"Yeah. Plus it's fun." He said with a smile.
"By the way," He added suddenly before turning his head to look behind him. "Why are you doing this too Miu?"
To Kenichi's surprise, Miu had jumped up onto the fence and started walking right behind Ranma. Miu couldn't help but giggle.
"I thought I'd give it a try." She said with a smile. "And you were right, this is fun."
She then looked down at Kenichi.
"Come on Kenichi, you should try it. It would help you with your balance training."
Kenichi just looked at her like she had just grown a second head. Ranma saw this and stifled a laugh as he looked back at Miu.
"Um, Miu, I don't think Kenichi is advanced enough to try this yet. He needs more training and control over his balance before he could try walking on a narrow surface like this."
Miu sighed and nodded in acceptance.
"Yeah. I guess you're right."
Kenichi sighed and silently thanked Ranma for saving him from embarrassing himself and possibly either falling off the fence and hitting the pavement or worse...slipping and landing balls first on the fence rail. After a while, the three teens ended up at school and Miu and Kenichi lead Ranma to the principal's office.
"So, Saotome-san..." He started. "Why are you not in the school uniform?"
Ranma had a confused look on his face as he looked down at his clothes and then back at the principal.
"Why? What's the big deal?" He asked. The principal rubbed his temples.
"Look. I understand that you got away with some things in Nerima," He said. "But here at this school, we do things by the book." He said, getting up from his desk and walked over to a box and pulled out a uniform in Ranma's size.
"Here's your uniform. Wear it during school hours or I'll have you expelled. Do you understand?"
Ranma glared at the old man for a second, then dropped it. He sighed, he knew Hinako and Akisame worked really hard to get him transferred to this school. If he got expelled after all that hard work they did, they would really let him have it for sure. So, swallowing his pride, Ranma took the uniform from the principal's hand.
"Yes sir. I don't like it, but I'll do what you say." Then he got right in the man's face. "But try and cut my hair and you'll regret it."
With that, Ranma left the office and headed to the men's restroom to change clothes. While he walked off, the principal couldn't help but wonder why Ranma thought he would try to cut off his hair.
As Ranma walked out of the restroom, he couldn't help but complain to himself about the uniform that was forced onto him.
"Boy, I forgot how uncomfortable these stupid uniforms can be." Ranma said to himself, pulling at the collar of his uniform shirt. He heard someone giggle from behind him.
"I think it looks good on you." He turned and saw Miu. "I think you look very handsome in it."
Ranma couldn't help but smile and blush at that. He had been called handsome and good looking before, but for some reason, hearing it from Miu made him feel weird.
"So, are you going to be the one to show me to class?" He asked. Miu smiled and nodded.
"That's right. Follow me." Ranma followed her, but couldn't help but feel a little like Ryoga, not knowing where to go without help. Suddenly, a thought came to Ranma's head.
"Say Miu, I just noticed something, why are you wearing glasses? You didn't seem to need them back at the dojo." Miu froze in place, a surprised and panicked look on her face.
"Oh, well, uhh..." She tried to say something but was so caught off guard that she didn't know how to react.
"I..." As if to save her skin, the bell rang. Miu perked up at this and grabbed Ranma's wrist.
"Uh oh! There's the bell! We better get going!"
The day went on without trouble. Which to Ranma, was just plain weird. No rivals, no fiances, no crazy teachers or Hawaiian principal trying to buzz cut his hair. It was just so weird! But as Ranma kept going through his day, he saw Kenichi looking over his shoulder even more than he used to.
After the last class finally ended, Ranma wanted to scream out loud with joy! He went over to Kenichi's desk but noticed a weird looking guy that looked like an evily perverted version of that Mr. Spock dude from Star Trek. Ranma couldn't help but notice that Kenichi looked like he wanted to punch the guy in the face. Smiling slightly and shaking his head, Ranma walked over to the two and pulled on the alien looking guys hair.
"OOOOOWWWWW! OW! OW! OW!" The alien freak cried in pain.
"Leave the guy alone, whoever the heck you are." Ranma said as he pulled on the guy's hair a little more.
"KENICHI! HELP! IT'S RAGNAROK!" He said. Kenichi shook his head.
"No Niijima, it's just Ranma." The evil Spock looking boy stopped struggling for a moment.
"Huh? You mean the new kid?" He asked.
"Yep." Ranma said as he pulled and threw the guy away like trash. Niijima got up and glared at the pigtailed boy.
"Hey now, that wasn't very nice pal." Niijima said. Ranma returned his glare.
"Hey, you were giving my buddy, Kenichi, a hard time. I just stepped in to help him out." Ranma said. Niijima was shocked.
'Since when did Kenichi and this guy become good buddies?' He thought to himself.
"So Kenichi," Ranma said to his friend. "You ready to head back to the dojo?"
'Dojo? Does this guy train with Kenichi?' Niijima thought. Kenichi looked a little scared.
"Um, sadly no. I've got Gardening Club, so it'll be a while before I head to the dojo." Kenichi said waving his hands. Ranma looked confused.
"Gardening Club?" Ranma asked. Kenichi nodded his head.
"Yeah. You see, while I do like training as much as the next guy, but I like gardening too and the club president really needs me to take care of some of the plants in the green house, so..."
Ranma tilted his head, but sighed and nodded.
"Ok. I get it. Everyone has their own hobby." Ranma said. "What about Miu? Does she have a club too?"
'He knows Miu too? Just who is this new guy and how does he have some many connections already?' Niijima thought to himself.
"Yeah. She's gone off to gymnastics practice." Kenichi told his fellow disciple.
"Oh. Well, that makes sense. She was walking on that fence rail like a champ. I guess that's how she supplements her training." Ranma said as Kenichi sighed.
'Of course he would immediately think that.' He thought. 'But then again, he may have a point there. I never really thought about that.'
Seeing as he was going to have to wait for his two fellow lodgers of the dojo, Ranma yanked off his uniform to reveal his usual red Chinese shirt with the sleeves rolled up and blue Kung Fu slacks. Seeing him do this, Kenichi and even Nijima were taken aback with shock.
"Ho-How did you do that?" Kenichi asked. Ranma smirked at him.
"Ancient ninjas secret my friend," was all Ranma said as he walked over to the window and then unceremoniously jumped through it.
"AAAHH!/RANMA!" Neiiima and Kenichi cried out as they ran to the window, only to see Ranma do a flip in mid-air and land on his feet like it was no big deal. He looked up at the two with a confused look on his face.
"What?" He cried out to the two stunned individuals. Kenichi and Niijima just starred dumbfounded.
"Um. Nothing." Kenichi said, then he had a thought. "Say Ranma! Where are you even going!? Are you going to go find a club?" Kenichi asked the pigtailed boy.
"I'm not sure! I think I'll just take a walk around the school!" Ranma shouted back to his friend as he started walking off. Niijima decided to take this time to ask Kenichi a few questions.
"Say, Kenichi, just who is this guy anyway? He made that jump look like it was nothing." He asked Kenichi as he started walking towards the door.
"Hm. You mean Ranma?" Kenichi thought for a moment, thinking of how best to describe the boy to Niijima.
"Well, he's a traveling martial artist that starting living at the dojo I'm training at. He's actually pretty good. He actually managed to match one of my masters in a sparring match. I'm not sure how good he really is, but I'd be willing to bet that he might at least as good as they are at his peak."
Niijima was taken aback.
'Kenichi actually thinks this guy can beat his masters? That's saying something, especially since I hear him constantly talking about how brutal they can be.' Niijima thought, then he smirked.
'Maybe I can incorperate this guy into my plans for the future?' Niijima thought with a devious smirk on his face.
Ranma kept walking around the school, aimlessly looking through the hallways and seeing the clubs that were meeting. Nothing really caught his attention, but he wasn't really expecting anything to catch his eye. He thought he check out the Karate Club, but after the story Kenichi told him about those creeps, he decided not to.
The Judo Club wasn't much to look at either. Ranma just kept shaking his head as he walked through the halls of the school. He heard something coming from the gymnasium and walked over to see what was going on. As he looked inside, he saw a bunch of girls in unitards doing gymnastics. On the balance beam, he saw Miu doing her routine. Ranma whistled, she really was good.
'Kodachi's got nothing on this girl.' Ranma thought to himself as he watched her go. He felt a spike in killing intent and turned to see a girl that reminded him a lot of Kodachi glaring at Miu.
'Another jealous girl in a unitard.' Ranma thought to himself with a smile. He was about to call to his blond friend when he noticed a couple of guys in karate uniforms heading off in the direction of the gardening club with murder in their eyes.
'That can't be good.' He said. Feeling that urge of his to be a good guy, Ranma followed behind them and found them attacking a girl with glasses and long black, braided hair, and trying to destroy the green house.
He growled at them and was about to lung in after them when Kenichi beat him to the punch.
"Stop it!" He cried. "Leave her alone!"
Ranma was impressed. He was starting to think Kenichi was hopeless but as it turned out, he could actually hold his own in a fight. Kenichi deflected and counter attacked each member of the Karate Club with practiced ease.
"Hold it!" One of the goons said, strangling the girl in glasses. "If you don't stop fighting and take your punishment, I'll snap this puny chick's neck."
Kenichi paused, his confidence fading. Ranma had had enough. Faster than any of them could blink, the goon holding the girl found a fist digging into his cheek. He went flying to the other side of the room as Ranma caught the falling girl.
"Hey, are you ok?" He asked. The girl blushed as she saw her savior and nodded his head.
"Good," He said, getting her to her feet and turning back to the Karate goons.
"Alright assholes listen up!" He said, anger flowing off of him in waves. "You have absolutely NO RIGHT to call yourselves martial artists! You go around, saying you practice martial arts and yet all you do is use your skills to bully people and get your way."
He stepped towards them, an aura of red coming off of his frame. As the goons felt fear, Kenichi couldn't help but feel amazed. Ranma's aura almost felt like one of his masters, but far angrier than he had ever seen them.
"Martial arts were not meant just for the strong. The martial arts were created by the weak so they could defend AGAINST the strong! And the strong learned them to DEFEND the weak! And if you never bothered to learn that first lesson.." He trailed off as he stopped in front of them.
"THEN GET READY FOR YOUR LIVES AS KARATE BULLIES TO END RIGHT HERE!" Ranma was about to attack when Kenichi stopped him.
"Ranma!" He said, catching the pigtailed boy's attention. "Please, let me handle this. This is my fight. I need to be the one to finish this!"
Ranma smiled. Kenichi was braver than he thought he was. He chuckled and shrugged.
"Sure, knock yourself out." He said to his fellow disciple. "These guys seem a little too weak for me anyway."
"What did you say you punk!?" The vice-captain said as he charged at Ranma, only to be grabbed and thrown by Kenichi.
"Why you!" Came the cry of another goon, only to be met with Kenichi's fists, one to his face and the other to his gut.
"Nice Yamazuki" Ranma said as he watched Kenichi fight. Kenichi turned and saw two more goons coming behind him, so he pivoted on one foot as he grabbed the punching hand of one of the goons and used his momentum to throw him to the ground. As he landed, Kenichi twisted his arm into a painful lock and back kicked the other.
Looking down at the locked up karate jock on the ground, Kenichi kicked him in the face to knock him out. As he was about to continue his assault, he was grabbed from behind in a full nelson.
"Oh crap!" Kenichi said in a panic.
"Oh no! He's in trouble!" Said the girl, only for Ranma to stop her.
"Kenichi!" Ranma cried out. "Drop your weight, stomp on his foot. Then go for his leg!"
"Right!" Kenichi said after hearing Ranma's advice. He dropped his weight and scrapped his right foot on the inside of his opponent's leg and stompped on his foot.
Yelping in pain, the Karate Club thug loosened his grip enough for Kenichi to break the hold and bend down to grab at the goon's leg. He then pulled the leg up, taking it's owner down. Kenichi then turned his body and twisted his foot around into a painful leg lock.
Seeing the last member of the club coming after him as he put pressure on the other enemy, Kenichi let go of his leg and rolled away to avoid the attack.
"Stop running away, wimp!" He shouted. Kenichi looked back at him, a flame-colored battle aura forming around his body.
"I'm not..." Kenichi said before he let loose a barrage of well-placed punches and finished with a powerful high round house kick to his opponent's head.
"RUNNING AWAY!" He shouted as the captain of the Karate Club went down, unconscious. The glasses wearing girl was shocked at what she just saw, Ranma on the other hand smiled with a little bit of pride in his friend.
"Not bad, Kenichi. Not bad." He said, walking up to the panting boy. "Your technique and form needs work, but not a bad foundation though. Especially for someone who tries to run away from his training all the time."
Kenichi looked back at Ranma and scratched the back of his head as he chuckled.
"Uh heh heh heh." He laughed sheepishly. "Um, yeah I guess. Oh! Izumi! Are you ok?" Kenichi asked the girl in glasses. Izumi regained some of her composure and answered him.
"Oh, I'm fine." She said. "But, that was amazing! I had no idea you could fight like that."
Now Kenichi was blushing again. Ranma smirked at the brunette boy.
'Sure, when someone praises him he's happy about all the hellish training he gets put through.'
"Ranma! Kenichi!" Came a voice they recognized. "Are you guys ok?" Miu said as she ran up the three. Ranma couldn't help but notice the glare of jealousy Izumi was giving Miu.
"You missed a heck of a party Miu!" Ranma said as he clapped Kenichi's shoulders.
"HUH!? You call that a party!?" Kenichi asked.
"Party?" Miu asked.
"Yep." Ranma said with a smile. "You missed our boy Kenichi here taking down those jerks from the Karate Club. It was pretty awesome."
"REALLY!?" Miu said, a proud beaming smile on her face.
"Um," Kenichi started to say before Miu grabbed his hands.
"Kenichi, I'm so proud of you! You've come such a long way since you first started. I bet you could handle even Tsuji now!"
"Um! I wouldn't be to sure about all of that Miu!" Kenichi said, going back into wimp mode.
Ranma shook his head, then heard the sound of a camera going off. All four teens turned and saw the alien looking guy form homeroom, Niijima, taking pictures of the downed Karate Club members.
"YEAAAAHHH HA HA HA!" He laughed evilly. "Yes, now you see the full power of Shirahama Kenichi! The underdog champion of Koryo High!"
"Niijima!" Kenichi cried as he started to chase after the alien freak. Niijima just ran from the angry boy, laughing all the way.
"Oh come on! After that loss you had against Tsuji your rep needs a little boost! I'm only looking out for you pal!" Niijima said as he kept out running Niijima.
'Wow,' Ranma thought to himself. 'I guess I'm not the only person around Japan who has problems. It's almost starting to feel like home.'
After reporting the Karate Clubs attack on the Gardening Club, which ended with the club members expulsion, Ranma, Miu and Kenichi started the trek home. As Ranma and Miu were walking on the fence, Ranma looked down at Kenichi and decided to ask him something that had been bugging him since the fight.
"Hey, Kenichi?" Ranma said to the brown-haired boy. Kenichi looked up at the pigtailed boy.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"Believe it or not, you're actually pretty good at fighting. You handled those thugs pretty easily, so, why did you have so much trouble with that bruiser Tsuji?"
Kenichi looked down at that question. Ever since that loss, his masters had upped his training and thugs had been hounding him more and more, looking to take him down.
"I choked." He said. "I hesitated when I thought I had him beat and he took advantage."
Ranma frowned at that. He had held back and hesitated on opponents before, and not only did it nearly cot hi a fight, but a few times it nearly cost him his life.
"Why did you hesitate? He was an enemy, you should have known he wouldn't give up just cause you knocked him down." Ranma said to the depressed looking young man. Miu sighed.
"It's because he hasn't fought opponents like him before." She said. "So far, Kenichi's only fought against people that either fought fairly or were too weak to keep fighting after a few good hits. Someone like Tsuji was too far out of his league."
"In other words," Ranma said with a sigh. "He just isn't the kind of guy who can deal out a finishing blow because he's too nice, right?"
"Yeah," Kenichi sighed. "That's pretty much it."
Ranma looked at his new friend. Yes, that was a dumb reason for losing that fight, but he still felt kind of bad for him. Jumping down in front of Kenichi, he pointed to the top of the fence where he was a moment ago.
"Come on. Get up there." He said. Kenichi looked at him in confusion and then back at the fence, then back at Ranma.
"HUH!?" He asked. Ranma grabbed him and jumpped back up onto the fence, helping Kenichi to keep his balance.
"Wh-what are you doing!?" He cried in surprise. Ranma smiled at the kid wo he saw as a friend.
"I'm going to help you get better for when you and Tsuji have your rematch." He said as casually as if he was discussing the weather.
"Huh!?" Kenichi cried again.
"Hey, that's a great idea!" Miu said. Ranma leaned over so he could look her in the eyes.
"Good. Then help me keep this guy balanced, ok?" He asked her. Mui smiled and nodded.
"You got it!" She said. Kenichi tried to jump down but his two friends kept him from doing so.
"But I don't want to fight Tsuj again!" He said struggling. "Can't I just avoid him!"
"Nope." Ranma said as he dragged Kenichi along the top of the fence.
"Listen Kenichi," Ranma started to say as they started walking again. "Losing a fight is tough. And yeah, sometimes it can mess up your confidence in yourself. But that's no reason for you to just run away from the person who beat you."
Kenichi stopped struggling and looked at Ranma. While he couldn't see the pigtailed boy's eyes, he could tell by the tone in his voice that Ranma was speaking from his own experiences.
"I hate to admit it, but I've lost my fair share of fights in the past. But I never let that stop me. After I lost, I went off to train and get stronger. Whether that meant learning a new technique or training my tail off for weeks on end, I did it. I trained and then challenged the guy who beat me in the first place and took him or her down."
Mui and Kenichi could hear the conviction in Ranma's voice. They could also see a faint aura of pride and confidence coming off of Ranma. But instead of being scary, like the auras of the masters of Ryozanpaku, it felt like an aura of calm reassurance.
"I get that being a guy who just got into martial arts, your kind of scared of facing the guy who beat you. But trust me, if you let that fear stick around, you'll only be afraid for the rest of your life. And I refuse to let any friend of mine get sucked into that trap. And the only way to get over that hurdle, is to get strong enough to beat that Tsuji guy in a rematch. Otherwise, what are you going to do when you have to face someone stronger than him?"
That last remark struck a chord in Kenichi's mind and heart. True, there were bound to be guys stronger than Tsuji out there. And the whole point of learning martial arts was so that he wouldn't be scared anymore. Had he really lost sight of that? Had that loss really made him lose sight of his purpose?
Hardening his resolve, Kenichi tried not to lean into Mius hand which was holding him up and started trying to walk on the fence by himself. Which made him almost fall but Ranma and Miu caught him.
Ranma smiled. Kenichi had a long way to go, but one day, with that resolve he felt a moment ago, he knew this kid would catch up to him one day. That might as well be his little side project.
'Funny,' Ranma thought to himself. 'I never thought I'd be helping to train someone after I left Nerima.'
After they got home...Ranma and Kenichi got another round of crazy training from one of the lesser circles of Hell. Akisame fanned a flame under them and made them swing their bodies back and forth to keep from being cooked.
Sakaki made them jog around the block while wearing their weighted gis and then made them spar until they were ready to collapse. Kensei made them focus on stretching...while avoiding Shigure's attacks from the ceiling. Apachai just made them work on the mitts while avoiding his own attacks. By the time dinner came around, Ranma and Kenichi were exhausted.
'Man! Either I've gotten soft or these guys are just a lot tougher with their training than what I've been used to.' Ranma thought to himself.
He was so ready to eat, only to find some of the masters trying to steal his and Kenichi's food right from under their noses!
"HEY!" They both shouted. "CUT THAT OUT!"
"Sorry boys, but it's all apart of training!" Said Sakaki. Ranma growled and fought back. But he noticed that Kenichi was having his own troubles with Apachai and Kensei.
"Stop that you guys!" Kenichi said, trying to guard his food.
"Sorry Kenichi, but this is to help you increase your speed and your defenses." Kensei said as he kept eating and reading one of his magazines.
Ranma could understand that but growing up with his father had made him HATE this method of training. Especially when it was time to relax. Taking a breath, Ranma grabbed another pair of chopsticks and used his speed to swipe food from Kensei and Apachai and snuck it onto Kenichi's plate.
The two masters didn't notice at first, but when they noticed that they were eating less food than they should've had, they looked down and noticed food vanishing from their plates.
"HEY!" They both said. Ranma grinned.
"Eat fast Kenichi!" Ranma said. He didn't need to say it twice, cause Kenichi was gobbling down his new food faster than the masters could swipe it.
"Hey you guys! No horsing around or no desert for any of you!" Miu said, a bright pink battle aura flaring off her body. "Training is over for the day so let Ranma and Kenichi eat!"
"Thanks Miu." Kenichi said as he relaxed his guard. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, which to Ranma, was pretty weird. He yawned as he laid in bed. He needed to remember this wasn't the Tendo dojo, so he didn't have to be on his guard all the time.
It had been a few hours into the night when Ranma was woken by a tapping on his shoulder. His reflexes kicked in and he jumped into a fighting position as his eyes landed on Miu's grandfather, Furinji Hayato.
"Hello, sorry for the abrupt wake up call, Ranma." Ranma lowered his guard at seeing the elder.
"Shisho? Why are waking me up at..." Ranma looked at his alarm clock. "3 in the mourning!?"
"Now now Ranma, no need to wake up the whole house." Hayato laughed as he hushed the boy. "I just wanted to have a little talk with you, that's all."
Ranma gave the older man a deadpanned expression.
"Couldn't that have waited till mourning?" He asked the blond giant. Hayato tilted his head in confusion.
"But it is mourning." He said. Ranma galred at him.
"What's up shisho?" The elder smiled at the boy and motioned for him to follow him.
"Come with me." He said. Ranma was confused, but got dressed and followed the elder to a field outside the dojo. After a while of walking, Hayato stopped and turned to face Ranma.
"Alright Ranma," He said. "It's time we had a talk." Ranma stopped a few paces away from the old man.
"Ok. What about?" Ranma asked. Hayato crossed his arms.
"It's about your usage of ki." He said, causing Ranma to go wide eyed.
"My ki usage? What about it?" Hayato's face grew more serious.
"You seem to focus on using your emotions to make your ki easier to use. AND THAT'S BAD!" He shouted. Ranma jumped back in shock.
"Huh? What do you mean 'that's bad'?" Ranma asked him in genuine confusion. Hayato pulled his anger back in.
"Using your emotions to channel your ki may make it easier to mold and use, but doing so is a double edge sword." Ranma listened intently, not sure what the old master was talking about, but he could recognize the seriousness in his voice.
"How so?" He asked. Hayato continued his explanation.
"The usage of ki is crucial to a martial artist, but emotion based ki is addictive." That caught Ranma's attention.
"A-addictive?" He asked. Hayato nodded.
"You see, using your emotions to charge your ki is like using a steroid to increase your abilities or a drug in order to relax or feel happy. The more you use it, the more you will come to rely on it." He said. Ranma paled.
"A...drug?" It couldn't be. Had he really been using a type of drug like stimulation with his ki this whole time?
"Yes." Hayato answered him. "I started thinking about the best way to tell you this not long after you told me and the others your life story. In all honesty, I'm surprised you haven't shown any signs of it yet. Unlike some of the other people in your life."
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked. Hayato gave a smile that was devoid of mirth.
"Come now, can you honestly not think of anyone you know who doesn't rely on one particular emotion for everything? Like say, just to stay alive?"
That's when it hit him like a ton of bricks. Someone who need to use emotion based ki to stay alive? There was only one person he knew who fit that description.
"You mean...Happosai?" Ranma asked, a bit of fear creeping into his voice. Hayato nodded his head.
"Yes." He said. "Happosai has been using his lust to fuel his ki for as long as I've known him. The few times I've seen him lack that lust, he started getting weaker and weaker. I once knocked him into a pile of men's underwear and looked like he was close to death."
Ranma thought back to his past dealings with the old pervert. Ranma remembered a few times when he managed to do the same to the old man and even that one time the old man tried to go straight for some nursery teacher. It nearly killed him.
"I think I get it." He said. Hayato nodded.
"This particular affliction is called Emotional Ki Addiction." He continued with his explanation.
"It can happen to anyone who goes down this path. This path can allow someone to live for far longer than a normal human, but that longevity is solely based on how long they can keep fueling themselves with that emotion." Ranma nodded.
'So that's how the old man's managed to live for so long.' Ranma thought to himself.
"Also, I was told about one of your techniques by Shigure, I think you called it the Moko Takabisha." Ranma stepped back in shock.
"Hold up! I never told you about that technique, how do know about that move?" Ranma asked him. Hayato smiled.
"I had Shigure follow you and Akisame when you went back to Nerima." He said. Ranma went slack jawed.
"Wait, the ninja lady was watching me the whole time!?" Ranma asked. Hayato grinned.
"Yep! That's right!" He said. "I asked her to go as a type of insurance policy just in case something went wrong."
Ranma scowled at the old man.
"Geeze shisho." He said. Hayato went back to being serious.
"From what she told me, I can tell that you charge your ki with your pride in order to fire that attack. I'm guessing you created this technique from the Shishi Hokodan, correct?" Hatato asked. Ranma nodded.
"Yeah, my rival Ryoga learned that technique and was using it to kick my butt so I learned it too. But I couldn't keep up the depression needed for the technique, so I created a counter move that was based on my pride and confidence." Ranma explained.
"Very impressive." Hayato said. "But still, you can see the problems with this technique. Just as the original technique needs the despair of someone on the losing side to empower it, your technique needs you to be confident at all times just to use it at full power. If you're on the losing side, your confidence will be at a low and it won't have the power you need when you're in a bind."
Ranma lowered his head in shameful admittance. It was true. When he was in a pinch, his Moko Takabisha always fell short. This flaw nearly cost him his life during his fight with Ryoga and it was this flaw that made him not use it against Herb.
"Also," Hayato went on. "If I had to guess, I'd say your former fiancé Akane is also starting to go through this problem."
"Huh!?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, you mean you didn't figure that part out after my explanation?" Hayato asked. "But from how you described her anger and lashing out at you for any reason she could get her hands on, I figured she might be starting to develop Emotional Ki Addiction. I mean, it would make sense, form how you describe her, the angrier she gets, the more power her strikes have. It's a common sign."
Ranma dropped his head as his mind processed this new information. Akane? Has Emotional Ki Addiction? Sure, she got mad a lot and attacked him for at any sign of him being the pervert she thinks almost all men are. But still...
Hayato saw the downtrodden look on Ranma's face. He walked over to him and placed a comforting hand on his should.
"It's ok, son. You didn't know you were adding fuel to a raging fire. And to be honest, it almost sounds like she was going through this long before you came into her life."
"That doesn't make it any less true that I gave her something to fuel her anger." He said with a sigh. Hayato couldn't help but feel bad for his young disciple and friend.
"Anyways Ranma," He said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "The whole point I'm trying to make here is that you still have a chance to avoid going down this dark path. What you need to learn now to avoid falling down this trap, is to learn the path of pure ki."
Ranma looked back at Hayato with a confused look on his face. Pure ki? What was he talking about? Ki was ki. Right?
"What do you mean, 'pure ki'?" Ranma asked the old master. He smiled at the question.
"Surely you should know, Ranma." He said. "Tell me, before you learned the Shishi Hokodan, didn't you use ki to increase your speed and strength?"
Suddenly, Ranma started to understand! He did use ki to give his body a boost every once in a while. Heck he still did. And he didn't use emotions to channel his ki when he did that. Could it be...?
"So, are you telling me, that I've been using ki all wrong this whole time?" He asked. "That I should have been using it like how I used to use it?"
'Not bad.' Hayato thought to himself. 'He's quick on the uptake.'
"Yes. In a way." Hayato told him. "What you were using then was pure ki. The whole reason that many martial artist use emotionally charged ki over pure ki is that it's easier to use. But pure ki is far more powerful, but sadly harder to channel. Especially for those who have grown accustomed to using emotional ki."
Ranma nodded, his exhaustion completely forgotten at this point. Now he really hated those so-called masters back in Nerima. Why didn't any of them warn him, or even Ryoga about this!? Why couldn't they had at least pointed them in the right direction and told them about pure ki?
'Probably just another way they intended to control me.' Ranma concluded as Hayato continued.
"That's why I brought you out here tonight. Since you already have a grasp on the usage of ki, I figured I might as well teach you how to use pure ki. Who knows, if I like the way you improve in it's usage over time, I might even teach you a few of my own tricks and techniques."
The sparkle that appeared in Ranma's eyes at that told the old master that he had really gotten his attention.
"Teach away, sensei!" Ranma said in excitement. Hayato waved his hand.
"But before that, I have one thing I want to ask you to do for me Ranma." Ranma looked confused again.
"What's that, shisho?"
"I want to see you use the Hiryu Shoten Ha." Hayato said. Ranma was almost surprised but then remembered that the old man had sent Shigure to keep an eye on him.
"Ok, but why?" He asked the smiling old man. Hayato gained a very dangerous gleam in his eyes.
"Just humor an old man. I want to see how well a youngster like you can use such an advanced technique." He said. Ranma shruged.
"Ok, you asked for it." He said as he got into a ready stance. Seeing this, Hayato flared his ki. Ranma took a step back.
'What the heck!' Ranma thought. 'This guys aura is monsterous! But the scary part is, I can tell he's still holding back.'
"So, you're familiar enough with this move that you know the prep work for it, huh?" Ranma asked as he tried to calm his heart rate. Hayato grinned like a devil.
"Maybe." Was all he said. Having enough of being scared of the man's aura, Ranma charged forward, running in the spiral pattern that was necessary for his strongest technique.
'My my.' Hayato thought. 'He really is fast. Not as fast as me, but still.'
As Ranma continued to close the distance in the spiral, he concentrated on keeping his ki ice cold with the soul of ice. As he came within striking distance, he threw an uppercut. Hayato merely leaned back to avoid the strike as the cyclone formed around the two fighters.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!" Ranma shouted as he executed the technique. Hayato's grin grew even bigger.
"Not bad." He said. "You're actually more addapt at this technique than I thought you would be."
Ranma would have grinned back at him, but at the moment, he was too shocked. Why was he shocked? Because Hayato wasn't being sucked into the cyclone! It was like he was ancorched to the ground.
'It's almost like with Herb.' Ranma thought. 'He can block out and cancel the technique just like ol' dragon boy could.'
As the cyclone faded away, Hayato looked down at the surprised boy.
"Not bad sun." But then he noticed the shocked look on his face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just...just shocked that you managed to shrug off one of my strongest attacks."
"One of?" Hayato said in surprise. "I thought this was your strongest move. Are you saying that you still have one stronger?" Ranma smirked.
"Yep! I created it during my fight with that dragon prince in the mountains." He said with a hint of pride.
"Hold on." Hayato said. "You created it during a fight?"
"Yeah." Ranma said as casually as if he were discussing the weather.
"Surely you mean you created it before your fight with this dragon prince boy." Hayato said. But Ranma just shook his head.
"No. I mean I created it during our fight. It was kind of a spur of the moment type thing. Heck, I wasn't even sure if it was going to work or not, but I had to try something." Ranma said as he thought back to his and Herbs fight about a month ago. Hayato, however, looked both skeptical and intrigued.
"So you're telling me," Hayato started to say. "That during the midst of combat, you managed to create an entirely new technique that trumps even the Hiryu Shoten Ha? Without any prior training or prep work before hand?"
Ranma heard the elders' words and thought about it. And after a second or two, slumped his shoulders as the truth of his story finally hit him.
"Huh, I guess that's exactly what I'm saying." Ranma said. Hayato stroked his beard.
"I must say Ranma, while that is impressive, I find it hard to believe. Would you mind showing me this other technique?" Hayato asked him. Ranma sighed and took up another fighting stance.
"Okay." He said. Ranma felt the old man's ki flare again and acted like he was executing the Hiryu Shoten Ha again, but with a twist even Hayato didn't see coming.
"Hiryu..." He said as he did an uppercut and created the cyclone again, but to Hayato's surprise, Ranma jumped into the twister!
"Huh?" He asked as his gaze followed the young boy. Ranma readjusted himself in the eye of the twister and punched downward, his whole body becoming a wind enclosed torpido of all the condensed ki that was flowing around him.
'Oh ho, so he's drawing in ki from not just himself and his opponent, but also from the very environment around him. No wonder this technique is more powerful than the original. And he really created this move in the middle of a fight?' Hayato thought as he prepared his counter attack.
"KORIN DAN!" Ranma shouted as he thrust himself towards Hayato. The elder smirked as he executed his own uppercut.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!" He shouted. Ranma was momentarily caught off guard.
'What!?' He thought as a second twister was created and clashed with Ranma's own. Ranma concentrated and poured all his energy into his attack, trying his hardest to keep up with the elders own power.
'No way! How in the heck does he know the Hiryu Shoten Ha!? And how did he do it without doing any of the prep work that I have to do?' Was the last thought Ranma had before Hayato's own Hiryu Shoten Ha overpowered Ranma's revised version and sent the poor boy flying.
"WWWAAAAAGGGHHHHH!" Ranma cried as he was sent flying by the cyclone. Hayato chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
"Heh heh, oops. I guess I should have held back a little bit more." He said as he looked up and waited for Ranma to come back down. He didn't have to wait long, a few seconds later, Ranma came falling back to Earth, screaming all the way.
"WWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Ranma scream. "OOOOOOHHHHHH CCCCCRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPP!"
Just as he was about to hit the ground, Hayato caught him.
"Sorry about that son." He said. "Sometimes I forget my own strength and forget to hold back the proper amount."
Ranma shook the cobwebs out of his head and looked up to see the elder.
"I have sooooooooo many questions right now." He said. Hayato let him down and brushed some dust off of the young man.
"Well, ask away." Ranma took a deep breath.
"First of all: How in the heck do you know the Hiryu Shoten Ha?" Ranma asked. Hayato chuckled.
"Well, if you must know," He began. "I've been around for a very long time and I've traveled a great deal. Along the way I've learned a lot of different styles and techniques and I've compiled into what I call, 'The 108 techniques of Furinji Ryu'."
"108 techniques?" Ranma asked. Hayato nodded his head.
"Yes. They're a collection of techniques that I either created myself or added to my repertoire. The Hiryu Shoten Ha is one of them. I happened to learn it while I was in China, during my own dealings with the Amazons of that region."
Ranma nodded his head. That would make sense.
'But still...he as other techniques that are on par with the Hiryu Shoten Ha? I thought Herb was my only problem when using this move. And what if there are even more people as powerful as this guy?'
"Ok. Next question, how did you pull off the technique without doing any of the steps?" Ranma asked. Hayato smiled even more.
"Well, while I do like the Hiryu Shoten Ha, I found that the steps you're talking about were a big hinderance to the technique itself." He explained. Ranma crossed his arms and nodded.
In all honesty, he had thought about that himself. It took quite a while to get people riled up enough for the technique to be truly effective. And running around in a spiral was always a dead give away of what he was up too. And even when he cooled off his own ki, like Herb did in their fight, Hayato's attack didn't lose any power like his own did during that battle.
"So," Hayato continued to explain. "I decided to fix those problems." Ranma cocked his head to the side.
"Ok...but...how?" He asked. Hayato stroked his beard as he began to explain.
"Well, for starters, I needed to fix the problem of needing your opponent to be angry at you in order to use it." He said.
"I started by trying to find a way to use only my own ki to fuel the technique. It took me quite a while, but I eventually found a way to do it." To demonstrate, Hayato began to charge his ki.
"Now, observe my ki carefully boy! Use your senses to notice the difference in my ki." He told Ranma. Ranma nodded and focused on the master's ki. What he found...shocked him!
"Y-Your Ki!" Ranma exclaimed. "It's-it's split in HALF!"
Hayato chuckled again.
"Correct." He said. "One of my 108 techniques is called Split Self. It basically allows me to create an axis straight through my center, allowing me to basically focus on two things at once. By doing so, I'm basically able to split my ki right down the middle. Allowing me to focus on making one half hot and the other half cold. Thus elemenating the need to depend on my opponent's ki for the technique."
Ranma gaped at that explination. Splitting,,,his ki, his aura, in half? That was actually possible?
"Ok." He said. "That's one thing, but what about creating the spiral?" He asked. Hayato chuckled again.
"That part was a little more difficult." He said. "But I found out that in order to circumvent that problem, one must be a natural wind affinity." Ranma tilted his head to the side in confusion again.
"Wind affinity?" He asked. Hayato sighed as he relaxed and let his ki dissipate.
"Yes. Haven't you been taught about elemental ki manipulation other that this technique?" He asked. Ranma scratched his arm in embarresment.
"Um...no." He said with a sheepish smile. Hayato sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ok. I'll start form the top and try to simplify it as best I can." Hayato said as he prepared to go int lecture mode.
"Without making things too complicated: Many years ago, monks who had dedicated their lives to learning how to harness their ki to the fullest. At some point, one or more of them discovered that they could use their ki to influence the elements. Over time, these monks began to teach what they had learned to others, and over time, martial artists took what these monks had learned and created many techniques that allowed them to harness the power of the elements."
Ranma gaped at what Hayato was telling him. All this time he had only barely scratched the surface of what he could do with ki. He should have known that he could do so much more, especially ever since he learned the Hiryu Shoten Ha. He should have kept experimenting after his fight with Herb, but the madness of Nerima kept him from doing so. But now...Now he had a master who could teach him what no one else would.
Hayato smiled at the look on Ranma's face. He had made Ranma even more interested in what he could teach him.
'I may be able to keep you from ending up like Ogata after all Ranma.' Hayato thought to himself.
"So, I can use all the elements huh?" Ranma said to himself mostly, only for Hayato to dash his dreams of controlling water to keep it from triggering his curse away.
"Sadly, not all of them." Hayato said, watching the air deflate from Ranma's triumphant grin.
"You see Ranma, everyone has a certain affinity when it comes to elemental manipulation." He said. "I for one, have two affinities: Wind and Lightning." He said, coting his hands in wind and lightning ki for emphasis.
Ranma gazed at his master's hands in awe. Hayato dissipated his ki and returned to his lecture.
"As for you my young friend, it seems to me that you have a strong affinity for wind. Judging from the way you managed to master the Hiryu Shoten Ha and created that new version of it, anyway." Ranma nodded his head. In a way, that did make sense.
"So, if I learn how to use pure ki, I can also learn how to use it to manipulate wind as well, right?" Ranma asked with stars in his eyes. Hayato grinned and nodded.
"In time, yes. But first, we must get you to learn how to use your natural pure ki as easily as you use emotional ki. And that's going to take some more spiritual and mental training than your use to." To Hayato's delight, Ranma only returned the old man's grin and nodded his head in expectation.
"Good, now, let's get started."
The night went on as Hayato continued to teach Ranma about how to separate his ki from his emotions. It took some time, but halfway through their session, Hayato could sense Ranma's ki flowing more naturally than before. After about another hour, Hayto started having Ranma try to use his Moko Takabisha with pure ki, sadly, Ranma was having a bit of trouble. His attack kept backfiring.
After another two hours of practicing, which including Hayato teaching Ranma about proper breathing techniques and how they relate to his ki, Hayato decided that it was time to end their session. And to be perfectly honest, Ranma was more than happy to crawl into bed and sleep.
When the next mourning came around, Ranma was awakened by the sound of Kenichi screaming. Ranma shot out of bed and ran over to the window and saw Kenichi swinging back and forth over a roaring fire as Akisame fanned the flames. Ranma looked deadpanned at the scene.
'It's not as bad as what I went through growing up, but still, I'm starting to wonder about the sanity of these people.'
As Ranma was thinking this, Sakaki looked up and saw Ranma awake and looked over to Hayato, who was licking a lollipop.
"Yo elder," Sakaki asked the old man. "How come you let Ranma sleep in today?"
"Oh, because I ran him ragged last night while I was training him." Hayato said as he kept licking his sucker.
"Oh." Sakaki said...only for him and all the other masters, including Akisame, to look at him with comically shocked expressions.