"Don't tell me you're going to be a bawl baby now, big sister." Ken said placing his hand on his sister's shoulder. "It's not like you to wallow in self pity."
"I'm so sorry, baby bro." She sobbed, curling up even tighter.
"It wasn't you, Nee Chan. You and I both know you don't have the heart to hurt me intentionally. Come on, get up." Ken grabbed the older Saotome by the shoulders, biting back a cry of pain from his damaged hands as he pulled his sibling into a kneeling position.
"Let me see your hands." Rikku demanded, grabbing for her brother's hands.
"It's -" Before Ken could protest, Rikku twisted his palms to reveal the blackened scarred flesh. "It's nothing serious. Or at least nothing I can't live through."
"Ken... I'm so-"
"Bahamut help me, you fucking apologize again and I'll smack you so hard your damn eyes will rattle. And you know I'll do it."
Rikku smiled a thin smile. "You know the dragon god doesn't like it when you swear."
"I'll fucking swear all I God damn please if it'll make you stop this fucking self pitying bullshit." Ken replied with a similar smile. "Besides, they'll heal in a day or two." Ken's eyes took on a dangerous distant glaze. "And it's not like I haven't had much, much worse."
"Let me take your sword. It won't be much use to you with your hands like that." Kenshiro nodded as his sister set to work releasing the buckle.
"I wasn't planning on using it anyway." Ken replied, shrugging off his jacket and gently working off his shirt, leaving him standing in his casual black pants and sleeveless tank top.
"Okay, baby bro." Rikku said, standing up and guiding her brother back to his feet. "Good luck." She bent down to give her younger sibling a kiss on the forehead.
As Ranma welcomed his daughter into a tender hug on the sidelines, Akane staggered back in from the outside, still gagging a little.
"Are you well?" He asked.
Akane nodded weakly. "It's just that it still smells of... ya know."
Ken nodded sympathetically. "Why don't you go and get yourself a cool glass of water? Dad, can we get some fresh air in here? This place still smells like Panda Steaks."
Kasumi stepped between them and a settled a hand on her sister and nephew. "You two don't have to do this now you know. We can reschedule the match for another time."
"I've fought injured before, so I don't care one way or the other." Ken said carefully flexing his cracking palms. "It's up to you Auntie."
Akane stood silent for a long time before she answered in a small voice. "I'm scared."
Ken blinked. "It's been a long time since a normal person's been afraid of me. Psionics, martial arts masters, sword masters, they can all sense that I'm more dangerous than I seem. But why are you afraid?"
"It's not you." Akane said glumly. "I had a lot of things that I needed to see shoved in my face today. I'm afraid... I need this match to lay all the parts of me I don't want to rest, and I'm afraid if I don't do this today I'm gonna lose all that I've learned... and I think I'd rather die than slide back into that mess."
"Be careful with that wish, Akane Tendo." Kenshiro said seriously. "The only thing harder than taking a life is giving up your own. Believe me, I know that far better than I should. The match continues as planned. Go and prepare, Auntie. I'll be waiting here."
Akane nodded and headed back towards the house as Ken surveyed the damage to his hands. The battle was already over as far as he was concerned. Now it was simply a matter of execution. The damage merely altered his estimates.
"Kenshiro..." Kasumi's gentle voice broke his ruminations. "Thank you. For everything you've done for Akane."
"There is nothing to thank me for, Auntie." Ken said casually, as fresh air began to circulate through the dojo. "This is combat. I am trained to fight, and trained to win."
"Surely there was more to your life than that." Kasumi said. "What about friends? Loved ones?"
"My friends understand why I am like I am. My loved ones are all dead." Kasumi flinched back at this young man talking so casually of death and loss. "My combat training is all that has kept me sane, and I strongly doubt that sanity. Such is my life."
Considering the conversation over, Ken began to stretch his limbs in preparation as Kasumi retreated to the sidelines.
"You probably think we're horrible parents." Nabiki whispered, laying a hand on her big sister's shoulder. "That we created a pair of little monsters?"
"I'm not sure what to think." Kasumi responded.
"This journey we call life... it brings out our best." Nabiki said, staring into the distance. "And our worst. We've all done horrible things in our time away. I doubt there's a faith in existence that will forgive us. But through it all, we all held on to that slim thread of our humanity, even when we'd lost everything else."
Kasumi was about to reply when Akane tapped her on the shoulder. "Kasumi..." She held out her hand and dropped the choker into her older sister's hands. "I won't be needing this."
Ken smiled to himself. THIS is what he'd been waiting for. "Are you ready, auntie?"
"Nabiki, if Uncle Genma so much as twitches towards the fight, beat him smart, will ya?" Akane smiled passing off a boken she had 'liberated' from Kuno's possession to the middle Tendo, who's sadistic grin screamed 'Like you need to ask.' as she gave the weapon a few easy swings. "Ready when you are, nephew."
"As am I Auntie. If Kasumi will call fight, oh and Rikku? Stay out of this one, if you please."
"Ready?" Kasumi called as the pair settled into identical kempo stances. "FIGHT!"
"Come at me whenever you're ready, Auntie." Ken smiled. Calculations and expectations be damned. Let's have some 'fun'. He thought.
Akane approached slowly, though Ken made no attempt to evade or dodge. He just waited as she approached and landed a fierce uppercut.
The younger warrior flew back and skidded across the polished wooden floor then lay still.
"Is it over?" Akane asked in shock, approaching the prone body.
"Boo!" Ken said sitting up suddenly, causing the youngest Tendo to fall backwards and skitter away. "She hits harder than you said pops." Ken called working his jaw gingerly back into place.
"Did she knock you out?" Ranma yelled back with his trademark infuriating smirk.
"Does it look like it? " He growled standing up.
"Then stop whining and deal with it!" Ranma grinned, getting bopped upside the head by the four women on the sidelines.
"Whatever." Ken leaned over to help Akane back to her feet. "That hurt. Snapped my neck back pretty good too and I was expecting it. I hope you won't be too offended if I try to avoid the rest of those?"
"Why didn't you avoid the first one?" Akane railed.
"Because when people aren't trying to kill they don't put all their energy into a first strike like you did. You can do a lot of damage that way, but it wears you out and will cost you the fight in the end." Ken said. "I took that hit to gauge your abilities."
"So are we gonna fight, or we gonna talk?" Akane asked, resettling her stance.
"I thought both." Ken said. Akane arched an eyebrow and took another swing, though with less force than before.
Ken wasn't there. "Funny thing about water, it tends to flow around things that disturb it." Ken said casually, as he ran his hand casually over Akane's stomach and around her side.
"It's also clingy and tends to caress everything it touches." The heir to the Tendo school flushed red and tried a variety of blows to hit Ken as he made a teasing orbit of his aunt, his hand never straying higher or lower than her stomach.
"Are you some kind of little pervert?" Akane asked as he flowed out of the way.
"Admittedly I did touch you without your consent, but did I do anything perverted? Fondle your breasts, which are just right for your figure? Nope. Grab your firm, pert, heart shaped ass? Hmm, no, I didn't do that either. And I certainly didn't slip my hand between your nice shapely legs, so I don't think I'm a pervert."
"Certainly fooled me." Akane flushed taking another swing. Ken slipped past the blow to stand back to back with the Tendo girl.
"Auntie, despite our appearances, we're family, remember?"
"Huh?"
"You're not the first pretty lady I've fought and you won't be the last. While my comments were sincere, they had another purpose as well." Ken dropped slightly and spun his leg out, knocking Akane's legs out from under her as he rolled under her. "To put you off guard."
Akane landed hard on her back, the breath driven from her lungs. "Not... bad." She wheezed.
"Oh I've got plenty more where that came from." Ken grinned and slid across the floor into an open palm strike that met Akane's raised forearm. Akane gasped as her nephew launched into an accelerated combo, putting Akane on the defensive. "Come on, Auntie. Show me what you can do." Ken demanded as the youngest Tendo blocked another strike. "Show me your power."
"Moko takabishi!" She shouted as the azure energy leaped from her hands to catch Ken in the middle of a high spin kick and throw him backwards.
"Well, would you look at that?" Ranma said with a smile.
"Most impressive, little sister." Nabiki said clapping.
"Nice shot, Auntie!" Rikku cheered.
"They're cheering... for me?" Akane stood dumbfounded.
They're proud of you." Ken grunted, getting slowly back to his feet. "And you should be too. You took another step to becoming a true martial artist, beyond breaking bricks and training dummies."
"I have?" Akane asked in surprise.
"You reached inside yourself and found the self confidence to pull off one of father's special techniques and by accident or design you took advantage of a weakness in my combo. And you did it yourself, Auntie. Not some magic trinket. You did it, and I'm very proud of you too."
Akane flushed at the high praise. "All right then, nephew. Got anything else?"
"Always." Ken smiled as he shimmered and vanished.
"A stealth technique!" Akane gasped.
"Not quite." Ken said. "Though it could be utilized in that manner. However, I find it most useful..." Akane could only stare open mouthed as four identical Ken's shimmered into existence. "for multiplication."
"How did you-"
"Figure that out and you'll know how to beat the technique." Ken said as the fighters smiled.
Akane walked around the dojo, careful not to get to close to any single Kenshiro. "I don't understand." Akane said passing by the open door where sunlight danced over the koi pond. "This shouldn't be possible, unless..." She trailed off, gazing at the shimmering pond for a long moment before launching a powerful spin kick at the nearest Ken.
'Ken' smirked as his aunt's foot passed neatly through his head. "So you see then."
"It's just an illusion, like sunlight reflecting off the pond outside. I don't think any of you are real."
"Magnificent, auntie!" Ken reappeared in front of her as his copies faded. "I do believe we're ready to fight for real."
"For real?" Akane squeaked as Ken charged into attack.
"Why do you fight, Auntie?" Ken said as his opening strike laid Akane out on the floor.
Akane grunted. "Because... Happosai made this an honor duel." She got shakily back to her feet and carefully took a stance.
"That explains this match." Ken launched a kick at side. "But what drives you to fight?"
Akane caught Ken's leg with a grunt and countered by bringing her knee up into his stomach, driving the wind from his lungs. "I-I don't know."
"You must know." Ken said dropping low and grabbing Akane's leg before yanking it out from under her. "Why do you fight? What drives you?" He ranted bringing a fist down hard on her stomach.
Akane coughed hard as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't know." She wheezed bringing her foot around in a solid kick to the head. "I never thought about it."
Ken stood shaking his head to clear it before charging into a new assault. "Everyone has a drive. It affects how we view the world and how we interact with it." Ken explained as he launched a flurry of quick jabs. "But without an understanding of our drive, we cannot understand ourselves. Now why do you fight?" Ken threw another punch at Akane's head.
"I fight..." She twisted to one side as she grabbed his wrist. "because it is..." She pulled the young man towards and past her. "where I am gifted!" With a swift jerk and a wrenching of bone she threw Ken away hard, dislocating his shoulder in the process. "Nabiki had the intellect and Kasumi kept the house better than I could ever hope and I... I fought. The spark of combat burned within me and I embraced it. I became the best that I could be, and was getting better. And then mother died." Tears streamed freely down her face as Ken clutched his shoulder, listening to his aunt's impassioned speech. "Daddy turned into himself and Nabiki started hustling people and nobody cared about me! Nobody cared that Kuno was being a jerk or that I had to fight off boys to get to school. NOBODY CARED!" She screamed charging toward Ken.
Ken grimaced holding his dislocated shoulder as he lashed out, taking her legs out from under her as he brought his other leg around and slammed his foot into the back of his aunt's knee, causing her to scream in pain. "And then father came."
Akane clutched at her knee writhing in pain. "YES!" She hissed clutching at her injured knee. "It was bad enough that he was better at the arts than me. Everyone paid attention to Ranma. His parents care about him. And he's surrounded by women who all have something that they're best at. You want to know what drives me? The desperate need to have something that is mine and mine alone. That is my drive." She sobbed as Ken knelt behind her and hit a sleep shiatsu.
"Match end." Kasumi declared in shock as Ken cradled Akane in his remaining good arm. "Winner by knockout... Saotome Kenshiro."
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Archangel Bloodraven, Lord of Bloodraven Keep
(Posted Sun, 10 Apr 2005 23:20)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.