The adoption ceremony the night before had been short, sweet, and rather to the point. Obviously, it had either been created, or changed, so that the least amount of time could be spent on pomp and ceremony, and the most spent on celebrating, feasting, and the occasional spectator fight.
It was… heartwarming to know that, since he was now an Amazon and not an outsider, he did not have to worry about the Kiss of Marriage any more. If he did, it would make training much more difficult, and he shuddered at the thought of having to marry somebody against his will.
In places across Japan and China, numerous girls simultaneously sneezed.
“I see that you are up, Son,” Cologne noted cheerfully as she walked into the small training hall. “I like it when my students are eager to learn, it makes things easier on me.”
“Hello, Mother,” Ranma bowed. “Will we be discussing what I can already do before deciding on a proper training regimen, I assume?”
“Indeed we will,” Cologne replied. “But first there are a few questions I must ask you, that I did not get a chance to during the commotion yesterday.”
Ranma sat down smoothly on the polished wooden floor, preparing himself for a long series of questions that he knew must be racing around the woman’s mind. Cologne sat across from him, laying her staff on the floor, and spent a moment composing her thoughts.
“You called yourself ‘Cheshire’ yesterday, but then said that you were named ‘Ranma’,” Cologne stated calmly. “Would you care to explain why you have two different names?”
“Well…” Ranma paused. “I have your word of honor that what I tell you will not leave our confidence?”
“Unless it threatens my people, yes,” Cologne replied.
“Very well… You see, my ‘father’ was training my in an unbeatable technique called the ‘Neko-Ken’, or ‘Cat Fist’ as it is often called. Due to repeated attempts, and my young age and relative inexperience, I was on the brink of death or insanity, perhaps both.
“Ah, I see by your bitter expression that you know of the technique. That will make this easier to explain then.
“You see, the Neko-Ken works by bringing the trainee’s mind and spirit to such a weakened level that it can no longer survive on it’s own. When this point is reached, typically at least one cat has themselves died, or is so close to the brink of death itself that they might as well be dead. It is then that the Neko-Ken is ‘learned’, when the cat’s mind falls in to inhabit the most simplistic portion of the trainee’s mind, the feral animal mind.
“Well, it just so happens that only one cat was there on the brink of death, the others quite healthy if a bit feral and starved. I hadn’t even managed to strike out once against them, since my father bound me to ensure that I would learn the technique.
“That cat was actually a sentient being of several thousands of years in age and experience. And that being lay dying as well, his body no longer able to sustain even as my spirit lagged.
“His dying act was to bond with the young child, Ranma. Two spirits became one, as memories and personality mixed together to make a single being. That being is the person that is sitting before you know, who at birth in this body was indeed called Ranma Saotome,” Ranma stated with a slight bow. “Though I do often prefer the name Cheshire.”
Cologne sat deep in thought for several minutes, eyes gazing blindly at a knothole on the floor. Many thoughts were racing through her mind at the moment, the least of which was that she still had no idea of the true intentions of this… being before her. She could sense no outright ill will, but most beings over a millennia of age should have learned how to hide such intentions rather well, if it was their want to do so.
Looking up from the floor, her sharp gaze locked with the yellow-gold cat’s eyes of her new ‘son’, that little cosmetic feature starting to make more sense now. But then that brought another question…
“Where was this… cat-being from?” she asked him.
“Oh… my better half was from… a very socially inhospitable place,” Ranma said, skirting the question. “A place that I personally have no intention of ever going to, if I can possibly help it.”
“You understand that I will need to know more, if I am to trust you,” Cologne monotoned.
Ranma sighed.
“The place was called Wonderland, but it was far from wondrous,” Ranma finally told her. “And I was being chased by the soldiers of one of the members of ‘royalty’ there, on order of my death.”
Cologne snapped her fingers in sudden remembrance.
“Cheshire, of course! As in the Cheshire Cat!” she exclaimed. “So that is why you can fade away like you can, eh?”
“Indeed, though there are a few other small things I can also do,” Ranma nodded. “As you can tell, I would very much like to learn some other abilities to help compliment that advantage. The most important of which would be being able to hide my astral presence. That is not something I have ever had a chance to learn before, and that is the only true weakness to my stealth abilities.”
“Well then, you promise on your honor that you have no ill will towards my, now our, people?” she asked with a sharp gaze.
“I would not have adopted myself as your son if I did,” he replied.
“Very well, then,” she nodded. “Then it seems that I can train you.”
“Good,” Cheshire said with a hauntingly wide grin.
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(Posted Fri, 12 Nov 2004 17:18)
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