”The Rite of Learning has failed,” Dao Paz said calmly.
“Not yet,” Lo Shun countered. “The boy may yet return.”
The three elders of the Joketsuzoku sat in the back room of the Nekohanten, oblivious to the other Amazons managing the restaurant around them. Ku Lon was uncharacteristically silent.
The Rite of Learning was a test of an outsider, one of several possible when the nature of a Kiss of Marriage was placed in doubt. Even the best of the Elders could stumble on a bad day, after all, and the entire point of the Kiss was to bring in strong warriors, not lucky fools. Xian’s report on Ranma made it clear that he was well trained, but this in and of itself was nothing. Training beaten into a child with no say in the matter said nothing about the child, only the teacher. Indeed, if Ranma failed the Rite of Learning, his defeat of Xian implied the strength of Genma’s training, making the panda an even more valuable prize.
Ku Lon blinked and shuddered at that thought. “That fat fool should never be thought of as valuable,” she muttered.
Dao and Lo blinked at this non sequitur. Dao smiled faintly, guessing at Ku Lon’s thoughts. “He earned his Kiss, as much as we may wish otherwise.”
“Undeniably,” Ku Lon sighed. “Perhaps Ranma may yet return.”
“I am surprised you didn’t arrange for him to work here,” Lo Shun remarked.
“How?” Ku Lon asked with a dry laugh. “The boy’s control of his cursed form is negligible. You saw during his match with Mu Tsu; the boy was amazed that he could grab those chains, let alone use them so effectively. It would take a week to train him to manifest enough to employ as a waitress.”
Lo Shun nodded, expecting that answer. “And you still plan to teach the Amaguriken?”
“Of course.”
“How will he grab the chestnuts?”
It was very rare that a 300 year old warrior, scholar, and politician could be taken so utterly by surprise as to be unable to do anything but blink.
“I think the word you are looking for is ‘oops,’” Dao Paz offered.
Cologne was still trying to find a way to actually teach the Chestnut Fist to someone who could neither touch the nuts or be threatened by the fire while cooking the lunch hour’s ramen. She wasn’t working the floor anymore – Ranma wasn’t attacking her at every moment so there was no need to
“Now I have you ol’ ghoul!”
Cologne leapt back as Ranma exploded from the wall in front of her. The spirit’s fingers missed the curse anchor by a centimeter at most as she scrambled for her staff. Ranma’s blows were far too slow to penetrate her defense, but that first strike…her defense was pure luck. Son in law has improved greatly in a short time, she noted smugly. There was no doubt left that Ranma would prove worthy of her Shampoo.
Ranma cursed silently. Cologne had been completely unaware. Her emotions were clear on that – no combat lust, no adrenaline rush, no anticipation of any kind. She was so sure she had the old woman, but she jumped away from that first attack like it was nothing and that damned staff was beginning to hurt her knuckles as it bat away her hands. And that was nothing compared to the smug satisfaction now yelling in Ranma’s empathic ears.
“What took you so long, son in law?” Cologne asked, buying time to let her thoughts catch up with her body.
And she was really, really annoying. Ranma made another grab attempt and found herself pinned to the floor by the cane. Or, more accurately, pushed halfway through the floor, and she really didn’t want to explore the cavernous excavation below. “I had ta’ wash my hair,” she sneered back.
Cologne snorted. “Amusing. Come with me.” It was time to begin the Rite of Learning proper. She headed to the training hall.
Ranma frowned and watched the display again. The old Amazon had led her beneath the Nekohanten and was demonstrating how she could pluck chestnuts out of a fire without getting burned. The kashu tenshin amaguriken. Ranma watched the ki flows carefully. Muscular enhancement was negligible; the move permeated the ghoul’s aura. It looked like her ki was literally moving her limbs at impossible speed, like a puppet controlled by her mind. Ranma invented a few alternate uses for the technique on the spot, but most were dismissed quickly. The ghoul didn’t let it show, but she was bleeding ki with each demonstration. In a proper battle, no time for rest, three good bursts was all it was good for. Maybe four. Past that, diminishing returns at best, ki depletion coma at worst.
Not that Ranma thought along those lines consciously. No, her conscious mind was too busy noting that as a technique external to the human body, she could potentially make full use of it as she was. And after making that observation, she turned to Cologne. “Why?”
Cologne blinked. “You don’t want to learn the Amaguriken?”
“Of course I do. Why do you want me to?” Ranma snapped back. Nabiki had taught him well. “If I learn this, I might take that rock, and then I won’t need to marry Shampoo.”
Cologne smiled. “So you will marry my Shampoo?” Ranma snorted, and Cologne nodded at the unvoiced response. “Then does it matter why?”
Ranma cocked her head and thought that over. The old ghoul was radiating deception in a way that reminded him of Nabiki – she wasn’t saying everything, but what she was saying was the truth. “No, I guess not.”
“Then once more, and then off you go,” Cologne said with a smug grin as she…
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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