Ranma’s ears perked up a bit when she heard the girl who called herself Akane mention sparring. Ranma needed to get rid of the tension and anger she had over her situation with her father. She had learned over the last ten years how to control when her dragon side would come into play when learning martial arts. Nodoka’s lessons with Ranma taught her that it was best to not use her full abilities when having a friendly spar with someone. She did not want to hurt a potential friend and possibly ruin any chances she had of keeping that person in her life. It was hard but Ranma managed to keep her magical abilities in check and secret whenever she was around humans.
"Spar? Heck yeah I'll spar with you," Ranma replied in excitement to Akane’s offer.
Nodoka saw the look on her child’s face when she responded to the friendly offer. She knew Ranma had the tendency to rush head first into things without thinking them through. There was the dragon side and what had happened in China to consider. If things did not go smoothly Soun might not let the Saotome family stay with him and his daughters.
“Ranma maybe you should take a hot bath before you head to the dojo,” Nodoka suggested.
“Aw mom, I’m just gonna get sweaty anyhow. I can get a quick soak after we spar,” Ranma replied not wanting to let too much be known too soon.
Nodoka sighed knowing her only child was going to do things her way. The most she could do as a mother was remind her child of what she was and what she could possibly do to Akane if she wasn’t careful. “Don’t go too hard on Akane Ranma she might not be at the same level you are,” she said to Ranma’s retreating form.
Nodoka was given the ever familiar “Yeah yeah I hear ya mom” in response to her reminder and shook her head as she smiled and chuckled at the actions of her heir. Ranma was a good student in both aspects of her life but she always insisted on doing things her way when it came to interacting with others. It was how she gained her first friend when she was seven and how she met her last friend before the ill fated trip to China. And, it would hopefully be how she would gain a new friend during their visit to the Tendo home.
Nodoka’s thoughts about Ranma were interupted when Soun spoke to her with a bit of a sad tone to his voice, “I’m sorry Genma and I can’t fulfill our pact. I was positive he said you two had a son. Oh well, at least we can ensure our families remain close for our daughters’ sake.”
Said daughters stood opposite each other in the dojo looking one another over. Akane was slightly taller than Ranma and had long dark hair with what appeared to be deep blue highlights tied back at the nape of the neck with a white ribbon. Her eyes were a deep brown and she had a body that was in shape but not toned. Ranma, on the other hand, had a shock of red hair atop her head that was pulled back into a braided pigtail that ended mid shoulder. Her eyes were a vibrant shade of blue and her chest was sightly larger than Akane’s. Ranma’s build was toned from a lifetime of practice in the arts, both martial and magical.
“So Ranma, what art do you specialize in? My strength lies in kenpo mostly,” Akane wanted to know.
Ranma thought for a moment before giving her reply, “A little bit of everything really. Pop trained me to know the moves from a lot of unarmed fighting styles so I could handle a wide number of opponents. It’s the whole basis of his school of indiscriminate grappling. Plus, I know some basic boxing and a bit of kendo from my mom much to pop's dismay."
Akane smiled and nodded as she got into the basic ready stance of her chosen style and waited for Ranma to do the same. When she did not follow suit Akane became slightly frustrated with the smaller girl thinking she was not taking Akane seriousy. Frustration growing, Akane voiced it to Ranma, "Ranma I thought you wanted to spar with me. Don't just stand there if you are. Get into a ready stance already so we can begin."
"I am ready. Number one rule of pop's school is to never give away which fighting style you're about to use. He says a traditional ready position is a dead giveaway. From your stance I can tell you know kempo and can adjust my moves accordingly," Ranma replied.
Akane wanting to see just how good Ranma really was, made the first move using a classic tournament style manuver. Ranma seeing how strictly Akane was staying to the rules of tournament fighting dodged the move she made. It was obvious to Ranma Akane practiced the arts for tournament purposes only, or so she thought.
"Ranma how come you're not striking back," Akane wanted to know.
"Simple," Ranma replied with a smile, "at this rate you'll wear yourself out and I'll only need to get in one blow and not a hard one at that. Pop's style is all about wearing down your opponent as much as possible. Make the other guy do most of the work."
Akane groaned in slight frustration. She did not ask Ranma to spar so she could do all the work she asked Ranma to spar so she could possibly make a new friend. Once more Akane made her frustrations known, "Ranma at least do something other than dodge. How am I supposed to get any bettr if I don't have anything to try and fight back against?"
Ranma sighed and gave into the request because she did not want to lose a possible new friend. Ranma figured she would be leaving later that night and that would be that. She wanted to part on good terms. Fifteen minutes later the two girls came into the house sweaty and smiling. If Ranma had been on the road with just her father her attitude towards fighting girls would have been very different. However, having her mother around made her see girls were competent fighters too. Ranma may not have liked her current situation but she was willing to learn from it thanks to Nodoka’s teachings. Walking into the living room the girls were greeted by the sight of a man in a dirty gi with a light blue bandanna on his head and thin wire glasses sitting across from Soun and next to Nodoka. Ranma knew who the man was but Akane was very puzzled wondering why the man was sitting next to Ranma’s mother where the Panda had been.
Nodoka’s trained dragon nose picked up the scent of another sweaty dragon the moment Ranma and Akane walked into the living room. Turning to her focus towards Ranma Nodoka sighed and pointed towards the stairs leading to the second level of the house.
“Yeah mom I know I reek and need a bath,” Ranma replied to the silent command to bathe.
“You can use the bath first Ranma. After all you are a guest here. I’ll let you rinse off first and get in a good soak before I join you,” Akane said not understanding the physical reaction she was getting from Ranma.
Ranma literally turned red at the mention of Akane coming into the bathroom while she was in there. Ranma had secrets that Akane just would not understand and she did not want them to get out. If Akane knew her secrets then the new girl she had just met would not want to be her friend. Ranma had very few friends in her life because her family moved around so much in the last ten years. Reluctantly, Ranma went into the bathroom to get cleaned up for dinner.
Ten minutes after rinsing off with the shower head and its cold water Ranma was relaxing in the hot water of the bath when the handle to the door began to open.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Chibihalo
(Posted Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:33)
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.