Another week another chapter. And holy carp you guys make me feel awesome with the encouragement and everything. Speaking of encouragement...

AthanMortis: Thanks for these words. I know that I can't just tell you "Jump back on the horse and write" because frankly I have next to no control over my own muse, nor the comments I receive. But I know that writing is a practised art, you get better the more you do it. For what it's worth, I believe in you, you can do the thing, and if you do decide to get back into it I would be very interested in seeing your work.

This is another medium-length chapter... After the previous chapter, which had some tension in it, I wanted to give this one a chance to be a little more relaxed. Trust me, the action will be starting soon.

Chapter Five

The Breath of Life, The Stream of Life

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, November 28

"You," Aerith began, "are amazing."

Ranma preened slightly at that. "I doubt I'll get that lucky twice," she answered, glancing over her shoulder. "They're professionals. They thought I was just some ordinary girl walking by, and they underestimated me. They won't make that mistake next time. So next time I'll have to be ready for a real fight."

Aerith looked at her. "If you know they're going to try again, why let them go?" she asked, puzzled.

Ranma thought of the best way to explain it. "Because I don't know for certain," she answered finally. "They might quit tomorrow. They might respond to someone showing them a modicum of kindness or restraint. Tomorrow, they might be in a position to save my life, and choose what to do based on how I treated 'em today. The point is, I don't know." Ranma sighed, remembering herself. "Remember, I wasn't always a paragon of virtue myself. I changed, but if I'd died because of someone going for the kill, I'd have died a jerk. And I wouldn't feel right if I didn't give them an opportunity to be better." Ranma shrugged. "So… I hold back, and I try to give them an opportunity to change."

Aerith had stopped being surprised at Ranma's code of honor as of that morning, but was still impressed by her behavior. She just decided that Ranma was, without a doubt, one of the most incredible people she had ever met, and accepted each continuing action as more evidence.

"If they do try again though, then I'll be ready for them," Ranma said. "And more importantly, I'll be here before they are next time."

"How do you plan on that?" Aerith asked, concerned. "I mean, you can't exactly ask them to abduct me by appointment…"

Ranma nodded. "Would certainly make your life easier, I guess, but… no, not that." She pulled her cap on over her head again, considering how to tackle this explanation. "There's an advanced technique," she began. "It's something I was going to work up to, but I can see now that it's going to be more dangerous to go without it than otherwise. So we'll go straight to that tonight in the training session. Also... I can tell that I'm gonna need to learn to use materia, so I'm going to be doing some training as well."

Aerith nodded and continued walking before she realized that Ranma had stopped. "Something up?" she asked, turning to face her.

Ranma looked at her blankly. "Didn't you come by this way so you could check on the flowers?" she asked, pointing up at the building Aerith had walked past. It was the abandoned church they had first met in.

"Oh!" Aerith cried out, embarrassed. "I didn't realize we were here already!" She ducked past Ranma, and stepped quickly inside. Ranma followed, sitting down in one of the pews, patient and attentive as Aerith bustled about.

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"So, run this 'advanced technique' by me," Aerith inquired.

It was later in the afternoon. Ranma was wrapping up her own kata, having decided to wait to shower until dinner. She stood and returned to a center position, then turned to Aerith. "I am going to teach you to harness your chi," she said simply.

Aerith perked up. "Training time?"

"Training time," Ranma confirmed.

"Yes, sensei," she responded. She had found a better practice outfit, consisting of a pair of warm trousers and a denim workshirt. It was by no means flattering, but it would serve its purpose. "So, what's… you said 'chi'?"

Ranma nodded. "This is gonna take a little time to explain, so get comfy." Aerith sat down and crossed her legs. Ranma sat down as well. "Okay, so this one is getting into some of the metaphysical layers of martial arts. There is a concept among martial artists of an energy that every living thing shares, and that binds life together in a way that transcends borders, continents, what have you. There are a couple different names for it, depending on what you learn and where, but in my home it's called chi.

"Skilled martial artists can learn different ways to harness their own chi," Ranma went on. "One of the simplest methods of this is to use your chi like a sensor, detecting the movement and intent of the energy of those around you."

Aerith looked confused. "Wait, sensei, that's…" she trailed off, focusing on something in her head. "No, wait, I get it! People here have a similar belief. Well… some do, anyway."

Ranma blinked and stopped. "Can you tell me about it?"

Aerith collected herself for a moment. "There's two main lines of thought on this, so bear with me. There's an energy in our world, and I mean in it, underneath the surface of the planet, that flows like rivers around the world. Shinra calls it 'mako', and Shinra believes… or at least the company wants everyone else to believe… that it's harmless, that it's eternal, and that it's a clean safe source of energy and there's absolutely nothing wrong with using it." Aerith's tone let Ranma know exactly what she thought of that. "But a lot of people think that the energy is actually the life-blood of the planet, a lifestream. That it should be left where it is, and that if too much of it is consumed it will kill the planet. And us with it."

Ranma nodded. "Sounds a bit like oil, in my world."

Aerith shook her head. "No, sensei, we have that here too. This is…" she trailed off, looking away. "It's... different, though aside from people's beliefs, I don't think I could explain it to you. It's a bit complicated," she finished quietly, folding up her knees against her body.

Ranma looked at Aerith, noticing the significant change in her tone and her posture. "Is there…" she began, and then reconsidered her words. "Is there something else you need to tell me about this?"

Aerith looked up at her. "It's nothing," she said, then shook her head. "No… that's not true. It's something… but it's also really personal, and I don't think I can explain it right now." She sighed softly. "Sorry."

Ranma nodded. "Do you want to keep going on this then?"

"That's… part of the thing, though," Aerith said softly. "There's a thing about mako or the lifestream or whatever that I need to tell you about, but I need you to do me a big favor." Ranma nodded, waiting. "I'm going to tell you a really, incredibly important secret, about me and about what you're talking about. And after I tell it to you, I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone else about it, or ask me for more information. I know that's a lot, and I feel awful, but for me this is really private stuff."

Ranma blinked once, then raised her right hand to one side, and placed her left palm over her ample chest. "On my honor as a martial artist," she began, "I do so swear that the secret you reveal will be kept by me and that I shall not pry further into its nature." With that she placed both hands together and bowed.

Aerith was stunned by the solemnity of the vow she had just witnessed. She watched Ranma carefully for any sign of hesitation or discomfort, any flash of humor or sarcasm. There was none. "Okay then," she replied, "that was a bit heavier than I intended it to be, but okay." Aerith took a moment to plan out what she was about to say. "I can… kind of already do that 'chi sensor' thing, a little, but not with people. It's… how I know how to take care of the plants. They talk to me, I guess… they tell me what they need. I know that sounds stupid, but it's true."

Ranma nodded in response, smiling a bit. There was a tense silence for several long moments as Aerith tried to piece together Ranma's reaction. "Wait, you knew?" she demanded loudly.

Ranma's smirk widened. "I suspected," she explained. "Your world is different enough from mine that I wasn't certain it was the same thing, but I noticed it today in particular when you were caring for the flowers in the church."

"And…" Aerith tried to keep accusation out of her tone, "you weren't going to say anything?"

"Wasn't my place," Ranma confirmed, crossing her arms beneath her chest. "Still ain't."

Aerith was shocked at the simplicity of it, but decided to accept it and move on. "So, you're saying I can use that ability and sense people?"

"That and more," she replied, "but we'll get to the big stuff later on. If you've learned to do that much already, even subconsciously, then we might be able to start expanding your skillset."

Aerith grinned happily at that. "So, how does this work, sensei?"

Ranma thought about that for a minute. "Well, teaching you the way I learned would probably result in you being traumatized for life and Elmyra beating me to death with my own detached leg," she said with a completely deadpan expression. "Instead, we're-" she was cut off by Aerith unsuccessfully stifling her laughter. "Hey, you think I'm joking? My old man taught me by ambushing me in my own bed before dawn, stealing my food off of my plate, and pinching my lunch money before school. I had to learn it just so I wouldn't starve."

Aerith was stuck between giggling at the first mental image and abject horror at the second. "Then I'm really glad I have a much better sensei," she reassured between chuckles.

Ranma laughed a little bit at that, and then snapped her fingers in realization. "You said you can hear the plants, right?" she asked.

Aerith nodded, then shook her head. "Maybe 'hear' isn't the right word for it," she began, but Ranma waved her into silence.

"The words don't matter, just show me," Ranma said quickly.

Aerith looked around for a moment, puzzled, and realized what Ranma was referring to, one of the big planters she took care of near her home. She stood and walked quickly over to it. "Never done this with someone watching me, so…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "No, I can do this." She set the staff down, and closed her eyes, focusing her attention to the plant, trying to hear its voice, its energy. It was more difficult today, for some reason. It felt like Ranma was making a lot of noise behind her, and she could barely hear the orchid plant's voice with everything that was going on behind her. Maybe if she-

Wait, she thought. How can I hear Ranma right now?

Aerith took a deep breath, and refocused her attention. Suddenly, she could feel the energy of all of the flowers at once, a deep and refreshing sea of pastels and brilliant green, harmonized flutes and woodwinds playing in unison. All of that, however, paled in comparison to the bonfire of energy behind her, a one-woman chorus of jade and crimson, a powerful bass drumbeat that nearly overwhelmed her with its intensity. She turned toward it, eyes still closed, and felt the source of the energy move a bit. Her head tracked the movement, and it began to shift rapidly in intensity and location. But she had a feel for the energy pattern now, and she reached behind her to grab her staff, the tip pointing unerringly at every location the energy settled.

Then the energy vanished completely. She focused hard, searching for that wavelength, anything beyond the flowers and the ground beneath her feet. But it was as if Ranma had simply disappeared. She opened her eyes, and glanced around at the field in front of her. There was nothing.

"Boo."

Aerith leaped fully five feet in the air, landing awkwardly but on both feet, and turned herself to face the noise that had startled her, staff raised across her body in a defensive stance. It was Ranma. "Wha-" she breathed, panting her way through the sudden adrenaline rush. "How… how did…"

"Chi sensing ain't foolproof," Ranma offered by way of explanation. "But you're definitely a natural at it. I'd guess that unless you run across someone who can do what I just did, you're gonna be able to pinpoint individual people from the next sector over once you get practised at it. Good reaction, by the way."

Aerith struggled for a moment with the sudden shift in the topic. "Wait, sensei," she said, outstretching her hand and taking several deep breaths. "You're not a flower! How did I do that?"

Ranma grinned, lifting her arms and crossing them behind her head. "My guess? You've always been able to do that," she answered. "You just didn't know it yet. Cuz the only thing I did over there was flare my chi and run around the place."

"...always…?" Aerith asked, dumbfounded. Despite the elation of learning something incredible like this, she felt old memories rise up from the depths, and crumpled to her knees. "Oh goddess… I could have… saved them… I could have done something when they found me…" Her staff clanged to the ground, forgotten.

Ranma stepped over the staff and knelt down in front of Aerith. "I know this is… not an easy thing to hear, but…" Ranma sighed, pulling Aerith up gently by her shoulders to face each other. "You couldn't possibly have known, then, what you know now. You are just now coming into the realization of what you are truly capable of. And if I'm any judge, you've only scratched the surface of that potential. But," she asserted sharply, "that does not mean that you should have known sooner, or that you did the wrong thing, or any other but-if you might be saying in the back of your head right now. Don't beat yourself up over some hypothetical version of your own past. What matters is what you're going to do with that knowledge now that you have it."

Aerith nodded and stood up slowly, Ranma following suit. "You really are something else, sensei," she said softly, retrieving her staff. "So… I guess that's not everything? You're going to teach me to be better at this? Any plans how yet?"

Ranma thought for a moment. "Got a couple ideas, yeah. But that'll have to wait for now."

"Why?" Aerith asked.

"Because -" Ranma began, but was cut off.

"Hey you two!" a familiar voice called from down the path.

"- your mom is just getting home," Ranma concluded. "And after she gets settled in, we're going to tell her what happened today."

Aerith blanched for a moment at the idea of telling her mother in detail how much danger she had gotten herself into, but realized the sense in Ranma's words, and nodded her agreement.

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"Oh, dear," Elmyra said in what could only be described as a motherly tone to Ranma. "I'd really hoped you wouldn't run afoul of the Turks so soon, but I can't tell you how happy I am to know that you were there to keep my girl safe."

"Mo~om," Aerith complained. "It's not like I'm a helpless little girl, Reno just caught me off guard."

Ranma smiled and shook her head. "It's nothing," she responded to Elmyra. "I ain't much good at many things, 'cept fighting. If me fighting keeps her and others safe, I'll fight."

Elmyra nodded and spooned out some curry and rice to each plate on the table. "So you didn't get to the library today, then?" She asked Ranma.

"Nope," Ranma affirmed. "Probably give that another try tomorrow."

Aerith grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, after Ranma shut down those jerks earlier, it seemed like a better idea to get somewhere familiar and safe. After that, she and I got into the topic of training more. Did a little of that, and we were just finishing up when you came up the way," she summarized.

Elmyra nodded her understanding. "So," she began in a well-practiced tone, "what did you learn at fighting class today?"

Ranma glanced over at Elmyra to try to figure out how serious she was being. Aerith, on the other hand, was caught between a giggle and a frown. "Mom, I'm not in school anymore, jeez!" she said, blushing in embarrassment.

Ranma chuckled. "Aerith is an excellent student," she answered honestly. "Talented and very capable. I've learned and adapted techniques from dozens of different styles of combat, but creating a combat style from scratch, on your own, without prior influence… It takes an incredible amount of dedication. I don't know if I could have done the same so early in my life."

Aerith looked puzzled at that. "Ranma," she started with a gentle smile, "How old do you think I am?"

Ranma blinked at that and looked down suddenly. "Oh, hell," she muttered, momentary flashes of every time in her life that she had been asked this question and gotten it wrong. "I… assumed you were my age, or near enough to it… and to answer the next question, I'm seventeen."

Elmyra looked genuinely shocked. "So much..." she whispered, "for one so young to go through."

Aerith nodded her agreement. "Ranma, don't take this the wrong way, but if the circumstances were different, you would still be too young for me, I think. I'm twenty two," she admitted quietly.

Ranma looked between the two women. Then Elmyra raised her voice, "Well, I'm not giving out my age that easily, but you're way too young for me by far!" Ranma snickered at that, before erupting into a fit of the giggles. Aerith joined in, and soon all three had devolved into full blown laughter.

A/N: Ranma's specific age is never given, that I recall, and even the fandom sites and wikis don't appear to have a solid numeric value for how old he is... but from what I was able to determine, he's generally agreed to be sixteen years old at the start of the saga. It's reasonable to assume that he might have aged a year in the span of the story. and even a year's time can grant some much needed growth.

Umi-Sen Ken in action again during the chi-sensor training. I don't recall if 'This is how Ranma learned chi-sensing' was ever explicitly covered in the series, but... well, let's be real. Genma's a jerk and it probably went down very similar to that.

Speaking from personal experience, it's sometimes a rush to learn to do something that you apparently always were perfectly capable of. At the same time, finding out ten years too late that something you just realized you always could have done, you could have also done ten years ago and every day since, that might have made your life a lot simpler... it can have some emotional blowback. I admit for this one I'm kind of writing from my own life, but that's kind of the point, to write what you know. And that's a feeling I can definitely put to words.

This chapter is also to further demonstrate that Aerith is not another fiance candidate. Aside from being from a completely different world, aside from the age difference, that's not the relationship Ranma and Aerith have. Theirs is occasionally student/teacher, and occasionally bodyguard/target, but so far it seems to be falling under a kind of slightly skewed older/younger sibling dynamic.

Hope you like it! Comments welcome!