Nodoka beamed as she looked down from her balcony vantage point and watched the couple practice. It was like watching a rather intricate dance choreographed by a really convoluted mind. They were circling, circling, always circling, and looking for an opening, using bluffs, feints, and bedazzlements until one gained the initiative with a new move, only to have the other seize it back with an inspired counter.
Ranma was apparently drawing on a lifetime of martial arts training that mere amnesia couldn’t erase. It appeared to be pure skill and any flux power he possessed was being most subtly used; perhaps restricted to enhancing his speed and other physical abilities, if at all.
Hotaru by contrast was quite blatant about using gestures and chants to focus her flux powers. Mostly she utilised the ‘False Power’ to create illusions; mere tricks of sound and light, silence and shadow, to fool the mind and senses, but rather convincing tricks. ‘Spells’ like her doppelganger technique —creating illusory puppets to conceal her true position and intentions— blended well with the martial arts training Ranma had given her to make her a rather convincing faux-ninja.
Yet she also demonstrated the evoked elemental attacks that qualified her as a ‘black sorceress’ rank user of the ‘True Power’; the power to truly conjure and transform things. It wasn’t enough for her to be considered a Wizard, certainly not enough to be a Fluxlord, but it definitely added substance to her bluff. Ranma was getting a good work out from the session, and obviously enjoying the exertion.
Then too, Nodoka noted proudly, any number of passing maids were obviously enjoying peeks at his workout. However, among them she espied two more of the pretty girls who’d been with Ranma when she’d finally found him after the Collapse. They were sneaking up to the training salle in a most furtive way that somehow bothered Nodoka. She wondered if jealousy was developing among the girls she’d made his personal hand-maids, and if that was the source of vague unease she’d been feeling through the Strings.
Making up her mind to investigate closer, Nodoka wove her way down from the balcony to the grounds. But when she got there, the pair had scurried off. She was not amused, but she had other things to do. The rice fields needed a good soak of rain and the orchards were due to be encouraged to blossom and be fruitful.
“That was close,” Setsuna muttered as they sheltered uneasily in an alcove. “The last thing we want is to come to the attention of… she who shall not be named.”
“You mean, Lady Nodoka?” Rei blurted.
“…” groaned Setsuna. “Yes, I mean she who shall not be named in case naming her attracts the attention we don’t want to attract.”
“Ah,” gasped Rei. “Is that possible?”
“Perhaps,” Setsuna considered, “after all, I —we— don’t really know what kind of super-senses or access to scrying spells being an … –one of what she is– might give her.”
“Actually, I was more worried about how Hot-chan and Master were fighting,” Rei admitted. “Watching someone throw energy attacks, and dodge them like crazy, looks really scary when you can’t do it anymore. Plus, I can’t help remembering that Makoto used to be interested in martial arts. Nothing like that, but … if Hotaru’s learned to do that…”
“I’m sure Haruka and Michiru can handle her,” Setsuna assured her. “What can possibly go wrong?”
“Other than the fact that Makoto has come out of the kitchen bearing a basket laden with goodies?” Rei wondered. “Or that Ranma and Hotaru are making their way to her right now? Or that she’s enlisted other maids to help her set up a picnic blanket— and that they just happen to be Haruka and Michiru? Or would it be that they seem to think that, somehow, this is the right time to abduct her in the picnic blanket? Would that be ‘going wrong’ enough?”
(Posted Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:32)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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