A shroud of depression and hurt hung over Ranma, visibly flickering into the air occasionally thanks to his ki and training in the Shishi Hokodan.
Trailing behind his mother, Akane and his father as the group headed towards a meeting with somebody claiming to be Amaterasu no Kami, Ranma was slouched forward, hands in his pockets and sullen look upon his face the very image of a very unhappy teenager.
'She wanted me to get cursed,' Ranma thought to himself sourly. 'Even made plans with the Old Ghoul to ensure I walked away from those mountains a girl part of the time.'
That had hurt.
Hurt him a whole hell of a lot worse than anything since the Neko-ken.
He was Ranma Saotome after all, physical pain and suffering was something he had a lifetime of dealing with. After all the Art required pain, suffering, and hardship to truly master. Broken bones, torn muscles, starvation, sheer exhaustion, puking from going to ones very limits and beyond, and the constant hurt from sparring.
Oh yah, he had known physical pain and suffering, hell it was practically his best friend and constant companion through life.
Emotional hurt though, that was a whole other ball game together.
Life on the road mastering the Art had come with prices other than the obvious ones.
Hell between Ucchan and Ryoga in Junior High he and Pops and hadn't stuck around any one area long enough for him to make friends. Not to mention actually getting any regular schooling beyond Pops making him learn Kanji from scrolls and the classic texts on Martial arts like the Five Rings or Sun Tzu and what various Masters had taught him at the dojo's, shrines and temples they visited.
Sure the Old Man had pawned him off onto other families constantly, even for two pickles and a bowl of rice at one point, but the sneaky old Panda would shown up a few days later with a smirk on his face and a challenge to get away unnoticed, right after waking the dogs up of course.
Frankly Ranma was pretty sure Genma had done that in his youth to get a few days of free baby-sitting, leaving Genma free to pull off a "job" or three to raise funds or fight in some underground matches. Because the Old Man had stopped pulling that and dragging him along to said "jobs", usually as a lookout/distraction, or underground matches once he was thirteen and capable of looking after himself.
Sneak, thief, all round trickster and far too ready to abuse err volunteer him for training purposes Genma Saotome may be, but the old man had never consciously screwed him over long term; various engagements notwithstanding.
Course things like the Neko-ken and up until now Jusenkyo were examples of Genma's stupidity in action, but even there the old fart thought he was training him and just hadn't realized what the consequences of his actions would be.
Finding out his mom planned on him getting this curse, then she left the seppuku contract hanging over his and Pops heads.
That fucking hurt.
If he was in his cursed form Ranma would be bawling out a river of tears like he was Soun.
Cursed to become a girl, to the sheer confusing hell of two genders just to ensure that the line of succession for magic girls remained unbroken.
Screw that.
Screw that and the horse his mom had rode in on.
It wouldn't have hurt for the job to have skipped a generation, until whoever he married popped out a kid, or even he did after a bastard raped his girl form.
Now that was a nightmare and a half, helped along by that blasted fishing rod of Ryoga's and the time Herb had locked him.
Thank the Kami for oral contraceptives, morning after pills, and Doc Tofu for getting him those prescriptions on the quiet. Much better to be safe than sorry.
Not to mention that technique scroll Madame Reiko had given him from when he and Pops had lingered in Kyoto for a few months. Working for and around various houses of pleasure had been an eye opening experience, not to mention rather educational in matters sexual.
He just had never planned on needing the other half of the scroll that dealt with ki techniques to control ones body and its natural functions in the realm of sex until he got married or had a daughter.
So it was safe to say he was feeling pretty damn betrayed at this point.
All he really had in this screwed up life of his was the Art, and his personal honor that was only slightly in tatters. His sense of masculinity after all had been left behind in China.
There was no way in hell he was becoming a magic girl.
@@@@@
Genma held back a wince as the boy's aura started flickering with anger.
Damn Nodoka for this foolishness, and damn himself for going to Jusenkyo.
Why in the hell had the boy ended up in the Spring of the Drowned Girl anyway. If karma played a roll then surely some sort of donkey or ass had drowned in one of them, because by that point his boy, Ranma had been more than occasionally deserving of an ass literally.
But such was fate and it looked like Nodoka and the Heavens had played a hand in just which spring Ranma was cursed with.
All his efforts in ensuring Ranma was not only manly, but married quickly to a Tendo girl had gone up in smoke that day.
Beating off the various girls and their families, that the boy attracted like flies to honey had been turning into a full time job before the trip to China.
Madame Reiko had ensured Ranma was a trained and skillful lover, Genma didn't even bother restrain the smile the memories of those three summer months in Kyoto invoked, and capable of resisting anything less than a master of injutsu.
Of course he had then drummed into Ranma's head that while sating ones desires with ladies of pleasure was perfectly fine, having sex with others was an act of extreme dishonor unless one was married.
Which probably was why his boy hadn't had his way with Akane yet. Once he did the deed, made the beast with two backs, sent her screaming to heaven and so forth Ranma really and truly believed that his only honorable option at that point would be to marry Akane.
Genma just couldn't figure his son out. All it would take would a few nights of shagging the four girls into quivering piles of happiness and they'd agree to anything.
It was if Ranma didn't want the harem he had worked so hard to build for the boy. What man after all didn't dream of having one.
Shaking his head at the folly of youth, Genma eyed the determined glint in his wifes eyes.
When she got that gleam in her eye, his dear No-chan wouldn't stop for anything until she had her way.
Just as Ranma often did when he put everything on the line.
Irresistible force and the immovable object, today only for just five yen.
This was going to end poorly, Genma knew in his bones.
Glancing up at the wooded grounds of the shrine resting on the hill before them, Genma sighed. Things were about to get messy.
.oOo.
Ranma really wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings, focused as he was on his internal struggle.
So when an arm stretched out, yanked him off the stairs up to the shrine and tossed him to the side it took a few moments for Ranma to slowly return his focus.
Not that he had crashed into the ground of the clearing after all, his body acting on instinct had landed easily and rolled upright into a fighting stance.
Blue eyes suddenly flickered to life, taking on a sharp sapphire glint in the afternoon light.
Across the clearing was a tall, well built man who at first glance seemed a bozuku or bike gang member clad as he was in blue jeans, a black t-shirt and brown leather work books
Shaggy shoulder length black hair was held off a well lived and somewhat friendly face by a plain black headband. Above the broken hawks nose, a pair of coal black eyes gazed in a predatory manner at Ranma.
Who ever this man was though, he wasn't an ordinary biker, not given his stance that screamed of extensive training in the Art.
Not that it would help him considering he was now booked for a beat down by one Ranma Saotome. Poor fool was going to be a punching bag to release some of his stress.
Ranma launched into action, he'd pull his blows at first to see if the guy could take a hit but then he'd drag it out until all his frustrations and anger had been sweated away.
Closing the gap between them in a blink of an eye Ranma struck out with an obvious left jab that was really a decoy for the palm strike.
The slap of flesh on flesh sounded out as the biker blocked both of Ranma's blows with barely any effort at all before countering with a quick knife hand to Ranma's shoulder.
Dodging the strike easily Ranma felt a grin start forming as his sour mood started lifting.
'Nothing like a good fight to get ya going,' Ranma thought happily as he start picking up the pace.
Each time Ranma nudged it up a notch his as yet unnamed opponent meet and raised him. Atemi blow for Atemi blow, kick for kick, punch for punch.
Anyone watching the clearing would have been in for a visual treat as a display of martial skill occurred.
Wildly varying styles of combat were employed as Muay Thai was meet by Northen Mantis, Ninjutsu by Eskrima, Krav Maga by Jujutsu.
Leaping into the air Ranma took the fight into the realm he was most comfortable in, mid air combat, and spun out a snap kick.
What was surprising was that his opponent did the same, using Ranma's own body and momentum to propel himself higher into the air whilst knocking Ranma down to the earth.
A genuine grin planted itself on Ranma's face. So few people other than his pops or the old letch held any skill in that realm of the Art.
Letting everything go Ranma leapt up once more into the air, the Art over taking him in as a dance of controlled violence moved on.
@@@@@
"Where did Ranma go?" Akane asked as the party passed under the Tori at the head of the stairs and onto the temple grounds.
The cobblestone courtyard had been swept bare, and washed down until the stones gleamed in the afternoon sunlight.
A modest and rather simple shrine of the finest construction waited across the way.
"Just like him to run off," Akane grumbled.
Nodoka frowned at that as she realized that yes indeed her son had vanished sometime during their journey to the shrine.
Before Nodoka could comment, or rather order her husband to go find and haul back their wayward son the voice of a regal sounding woman interrupted.
"Ranma is currently under going a trial at the moment," a tall woman of unearthly beauty clad in miko robes commented. "He shall join us at its completion."
Nodoka's eyes flickered at this, but she controlled her expression before bowing deeply towards the woman. A slightly reluctant Akane, and a re-leaved Genma followed suit.
"As you say Illustrious Goddess, it shall be so," Nodoka replied.
"Join us for tea Taiyohime," Amaterasu commanded before she swept back into the shrine. "Along with your husband and prospective daughter-in-law."
@@@@@
Half an hour later Ranma was sweat soaked, sore from being beaten like a drum, had blood dribbling from several small cuts and was grinning like a loon.
Pushed to the absolute edge of his skill and then beyond this was the type of fight he lived for. A clash of skill and determination where nothing was on the line but was out of love for the Art.
There was no winning or losing here, just finding out who was better at the moment and just what ones limits were tettering on the knife edge of control.
After all if you didn't find them, how could you train to get past them.
Nary a word had been spoken between the two men, Ranma had no need to get his opponent mad after all.
With one final exchange in mid air; a snap kick, knife hand, throw combo on Ranma's part, countered by a leg block, jujutsu grab and toss the fight ended.
"Ooof," Ranma grunted out as the air left his lungs following the collision with the tree trunk.
This was it, he had hit his limits and started slipping down that knife edge. There was no point in fighting any longer, he had nothing to gain from it.
Giving a bow to the oncoming warrior, Ranma kept his eyes up of course, Ranma acknowledged the man's for the moment superior skill.
Pulling to a stop the roughly handsome man flashed a toothy grin and gave Ranma a short bow in return.
Chuckling lightly the man commented in a friendly baritone, "Not bad kid, not bad at all. You've come a long way in Happi's art."
"Geez thanks," Ranma replied happily. "I haven't had a match like that in ages. I really enjoyed it."
"I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma said. "If you don't mind me asking, how come you know the old letch?"
"A pleasure to meet you Ranma," the man said with a twinkle of humor in his eyes. "As for the old letch, well I am the patron of his art after all."
Ranma boggled at this in astonishment.
"I've been fighting...."
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(Posted Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:59)
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