The place had room, after all, and since he'd shared space with a lot of other kids at the hospital, being able to enjoy some peace and quiet was rather nice. Not that the scenery was all that bad, what with the traditional form of the buildings fitting in quite well with the natural look of the place. To a little boy like him, taking note of the nuances of the place didn't really matter, as it simply made him feel at ease.
At least, that was the case until a girl's voice sounded from his side. "So you're supposed to train here."
"Huh?" Mamoru grunted, and turned to see a pretty girl standing there, resting the bokuto against her shoulder, staring straight at him. At least, she would have been really pretty if she hadn't had a scowl on her face that looked like it'd been there forever. "What?"
"Real smart guy, that's you. Guess you think that you're big stuff huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"Don't be dumb. You've come here since you're some sort of big shot, right?"
"Ummm.... Not really...."
"Excuse me?" the girl muttered, her scowl twisting sourly.
"Nobody asked me if I wanted to come. They just up and sent me here."
"Oh...."
"You have a problem with me being here?"
A small sign of sympathy had been coming up onto her features, but his words seemed to splash cold water onto her intentions, and she pointed her practice weapon at him. "Listen up. I'm Motoko Aoyama, and this is my family's shrine. Don't you do anything to cause trouble here, you got that?"
"Yeah...."
"Good, since I don't want to have come beat you up for doing something stupid, you got that?"
"Sure...."
This time, a smirk crossed her features, and she strode off, looking like she was trying to show cool confidence. However, as she was a little girl trying to act like an adult, she looked more... bratty than anything else.
"Strange girl...." Mamoru murmured to himself. "What's her problem?"
There was a good set of reasons for why Ranma was carrying around his bag as he was led through the airport. For someone with his abilities, learning to control himself was going to be a definite necessity, as he could easily hurt civilians without even thinking about it. Then there was his desire to learn the Art, which was supported, since it could give him a suitable outlet for his emotions. And he needed to have an opportunity to learn what his limits would be, along with what he could do with his abilities, before a 'real' fight, so that he didn't get caught unaware.
Of course, this trek to the mountains of China wasn't exactly a simple dismissal. Plenty of masters of the Art resided in those sorts of areas, and he could learn plenty of techniques from them. Those could prove to be invaluable as he grew older, and had to get involved in battles. Besides, if there was any sort of incident, there would be plenty of space for him to cause damage that wouldn't be an... 'inconvenience' for others, to say the least. If nothing else, having the chance to get some fresh air, and a slow pace would allow him to relax, while:
(Posted Sun, 06 May 2007 05:08)
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