*****
Midoriko was the eldest (and only) child of Ranma and Akane Saotome. Born at the end of their college years, Midoriko did not exactly grow up the happiest of children. Being the only child born of her parents of course made her the undisputed heir to the Tendo Dojo and the Metsubetsu Kakuto Ryu martial-art style. Naturally this was a lot of pressure on a young child, especially one that didn’t exactly like martial arts.
To be fair on her parents, the two of them didn’t exactly want to force their daughter into anything (especially given their childhoods) however when one of Genma’s visits turned into a surprise (and forced) two-month training trip for the girl when he took her from home (while her parents hunted him down), they felt it was necessary for her safety. So from age three on Ranma and Akane did their best to instruct their daughter in the family style, and the exceeded rather well despite her dislike of martial arts.
One day when Midoriko was seven, her mother took her to visit her grandmother’s grave, while she was there Midoriko noticed something odd; a strange man in an old army outfit was fading in and out of view. After asking her mother about it Akane, knowing that Midoriko hadn’t had any ki training yet, took her daughter to see Cologne for some answers. The Chinese Amazon matriarch was as surprised as Akane and after a telegram to her village, her suspicions were confirmed, young Midoriko had the Shaman’s gift.
Following Cologne’s advice, Ranma and Akane took young Midoriko to a Shaolin Temple located in Okayama. While she was there learning, Midoriko grew to actually enjoy this new form of martial arts, which she was receiving alongside her spiritual lessons. One year later, the temple’s grandmaster Gun Ren confided to Ranma and Akane that their daughter had tremendous unrealized potential, it was also then that Gun Ren proceeded to tell the Saotome’s of the history of the Great Tournament. From then on Midoriko attended nearby boarding school, and spent all her free time at the temple honing her skills; much to grandpa Genma’s displeasure.
While she was at the temple Midoriko had also grown to love another art, the fine arts, specifically painting and engraving. These talents came in handy when she met her chosen spirits the black dragon Rikuo-otsuge and the white tiger Tanu-kariudo when she was thirteen. Achieving hyoui gattai of course was no problem; however when it came time to take things to the next level she was a little confounded on just how to oversoul with the two. Eventually Midoriko found the solution was found thanks to two key observations in her daily work.
The first clue on how to achieve this surfaced when she was sparing with her sensei and she noticed the Shaolin brands on the inside of his inner-arms. However the idea of branding or tattooing herself was not an option (especially since her mother would ground her till the tournament after next when she found out).
The final piece to the puzzle presented itself a week later, when Midoriko was polishing artifacts in the armory she came across a very detailed engraving upon the surface of an old broad sword, and suddenly she remembered her dad’s bracers. After a trip to the temple’s smith, who was more than glad to help her glaze her designs into the bracers, and a year of work, she was ready for the Great Tournament with a whole two years to refine her technique. Of course her grandfather was still around to give her problems.
*****
She had to admit, it was nostalgic looking back at her road to the Great Tournament (much more noble than calling it the Shaman Fight); however she hardly could say she walked that path alone especially looking at the protégée she had met two months before the start of the Tournament proper. The protégée fate unfortunately set as her first opponent (and victory) in the first round; the amazing bundle of perpetual, spastic-energy and curiosity that was the ten year old, Izayoi Higurashi.
*****
For Izayoi things had been far more complex growing up, first of all she was a foundling literally. One day when Souta Higurashi was cleaning the Well Shrine that his sister never returned from years ago, he heard crying coming from the bottom of the well. After rushing to get his mom and grandfather, he returned and discovered the source of the noise. At the bottom of the well, bundled in an all too familiar red-robe with a deceptively worn katana, was a baby girl.
After taking the child inside, the Higurashi’s went over the items she was discovered with. The katana and red-robe were recognizable to all in the room as the property of their long errant family member Kagome’s friend Inu-Yasha, after a minute of searching through the robe they uncovered a set of prayer beads and a crumpled ofuda for safe childbirth which had the name Izayoi Higurashi scrawled on the back.
This was a sign of both joy and ill from all in the room, joy in meeting what was obviously the daughter of Kagome and Inu-Yasha, and sorrow since the Higurashi’s knew that neither one would ever send such a young child trough the tunnel that was the bone-eaters well alone; unless they knew they could not follow. Seeing this as a second chance Kagome’s mother, Shinobu Higurashi was determined to do her best to raise her granddaughter.
As a result Izayoi did grow-up in a happy home with a loving family; oddly enough she had never shown any signs of her heritage as a quarter-youkai. Overall she was just a happy if very energetic child with a few weird tendencies… okay she acted like a genki little space case most of the time, but at least she was a happy little space case. In an attempt to give the child some vent for her boundless energy, when she was five, Shinobu enrolled the girl in both kendo and kempo classes.
Another weird that was that Izayoi also had the habit of wearing her father’s rosary everywhere, and insisting that he was always with her. Her grandmother and uncle had no idea what this meant until she was eleven and robber broke into the house with a gun at her mother, the crook had no idea what hit him and the Higurashi’s were amazed, in the span of a few seconds it had seemed like Izayoi went from looking just like her mother to looking just like her father fangs, ears, claws, the whole bit.
The rest of the family went on wondering until a week later, when a young woman in a Chinese Tang named Midoriko showed up at their shrine asking if she could work for room and board for the next three months. Later that day, having overheard regarding the incident with the robber, Midoriko took it upon herself to test the child. It took some doing however Izayoi transformed again, and quickly the battle became less one-sided.
Still, Izayoi’s instinctual brawling fell to Midoriko’s refined technique; however the test proved beyond a shadow of a doubt Izayoi’s spiritual power, and once the child regained consciousness, Midoriko proceeded to fill in both Izayoi and her family on the specifics of the tournament, as they were known to her. For the next two months Izayoi learned under the martial-artist, becoming more attuned and in control of both the powers of her mother and father. She refined in her fighting style integrating her own martial arts training with her new powers, and even came to regard the woman as the elder-sister she never had.
When it came time for the beginning of the Great Tournament, earning her oracle bell from the Karimu was the easy part; however the announcement of her opponent in her first match came like a punch in the gut, she was fighting against her own mentor… she was fighting Midoriko.
Her first match was also her first meeting was a trial of the body mind and soul, as she struggled to fight someone so near and dear to her own heart, noticing her pain Midoriko told her something that she would likely remember forever. “I know this must be hard for you, but remember now is the time to shine; for this moment let’s set the past aside and live in the present; remember no mater what happens we’ll still be friends.”
With her those simple words Izayoi’s anxieties fled as she began to fight with all her heart, and although she ended up losing the match to the older martial-artist, she never felt closer to her than the moment her sensei offered her a hand to get up.
Before her second match Midoriko helped Izayoi further refine her powers, and her mother presented her with a hidden part of her legacy the Tetsaiga, which she had used in battle ever since. Her next match ended with a draw against the twin team of Jiyu Nanohana and Felicia Yagyu, and in her final match Izayoi finally claimed a victory (all be it at the last minute) against the Tibetan spirit-caller Pai Quan-yu by miraculously executing the Kaze no Kizu, and cleaving through the girl’s flying-bird demon Takuhii after it went out of control.
*****
‘Of course I can’t say the same thing about my second match, I admit I don’t know much about Algonquin culture, but someone like Matchitehew is definitely a total psychopath to actually make use the Wendigo as his spirit. If I didn’t push my powers to the next level I doubt that I would have survived much less won. It was fortunate that I met Vash in my third match; his knowledge of Patch Village’s location has given us more than enough downtime to further train our abilities. Still I wish his friend Keitaro would take a hint and learn how to drive properly.’ Midoriko mused.
See other episodes by The Insane Hiker
(Posted Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:21)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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