Akane broke out of her own stance at the far end of the dojo, charging forward.
Ranma was aware of the others gathering. Nabiki at the door, Kasumi just beyond it, Soun Tendo and Akitsu on the side to his right.
The problem with Akane was that she was a skilled martial artist. Talented even. Unfortunately she was on the level of a really good normal martial artist with good strength, which just wasn't enough to give him a workout or handle some of the opponents he had faced. The Tendo School used strength of emotion to augment physical abilities and charge techniques, which could be a weakness. The Saotome School touched on that bit with emotions, but didn't specialize there.
Akane kicked out, pivoted to follow him, and then tried to step forward using that redirected momentum and punch.
The problem, decided Ranma, was that he wasn't used to the whole 'normal' thing anymore. Ancient demons, vampire entities, mummy-men, werewolf pugilists, DNA-stealing android constructs, world destroying superpowered alien thugs - yes. Normal martial artists? Not so much.
Maybe if he treated this as a training session? Pointed out the flaws in her technique and helped her get better? No, she might take that wrong. Women could be awfully sensitive about stuff like that.
A series of rapid punches was easily avoided.
Akane stopped abruptly. "You're holding back."
"Well, yeah," said Ranma. Maybe that technique of the old ninja-perv, the Compliment No Jutsu? "You're pretty good, it's just that I'm used to opponents that're a bit nastier."
"You better take me seriously," said Akane, chambering and letting anger build within her. "Now for real!"
The temperature abruptly dropped.
Ranma had felt the tiny blip of power coming from Akane as she sought a temporary boost from frustration and anger and sent it into an attack. Ranma also felt Akitsu reacting to that and realized she was about to defend him.
"Akitsu, no. Don't," began Ranma, distracted by what he was sure would be an ice-shredded Akane.
WHAM!
The punch connected with the side of Ranma's head.
BOOM!
Ranma went through the side of the dojo, skipped once along the ground, and crashed through the property wall on the other side.
Akane stared at the hole for a moment, then at her fist, then at the hole again. "Wha..."
Akitsu stood up, frost forming on the ground underneath her, her expression indicating something unpleasant would soon occur.
"Akane! This was just a spar!" said Kasumi.
"I..." said Akane, looking at her fist and the hole again. A piece of roof clattered to the floor.
"My goodness Akane, that was harder than you ever hit Kuno," said Nabiki. "Were you trying to make a point?"
"Did anyone hear a creaking noise?" asked Soun, looking at the roof of the dojo.
"Eh?" asked Akane, glancing at her father, then Nabiki, then the roof. "Wha?"
"Akane!" scolded Kasumi. "You need to be more careful! In a spar, you have to hold back the last inch!"
"That's more or less true," noted Soun, who tapped the busty woman on the shoulder. "Miss? You're freezing the wood underfoot. Might I suggest you go check on Ranma instead?"
"Ah," said Akitsu, turning and walking through the hole.
"You should use the door," said Soun as she left, eyeing the icy footprints she'd left behind. "I've heard of a cold rage before..."
"She might be handy to have around in summer," said Nabiki, observing the same thing and coming to different conclusions.
Creak went the dojo roof.
"Master?" asked Akitsu, kneeling by the boy.
"Shhh," whispered Ranma. "I'm trying to play dead. It's a variant of the Saotome Special Technique that the Pervy Sage told Naruto about. When a woman is angry with you, be elsewhere."
"I do not understand," admitted Akitsu.
Kasumi came up, looking at the damage to the wall. "And the neighbor's property wall and lawn as well. Akane will have to fix this as well."
"Uhm," said Ranma, getting up slowly. "My fault. I got distracted by..."
"Me," said Akitsu, her shoulders slumping. "I felt you were in danger and I was preparing to attack."
"No, I should'a explained more about sparring to you," said Ranma.
"Don't be silly, either of you," said Kasumi. "It was Akane's fault and I'll make sure that she fixes the damage."
Ranma watched Kasumi go back as he dusted himself off. "Well, that went different at least. Don't know if it'll be better."
"WHAT?!" echoed Akane's voice from the Tendo backyard.
I hate waiting.
Sasori decided that maybe blowing up wouldn't have been quite this bad.
Is the planet any closer? I don't think so. By the Sage, this is boring.
A hidden compartment opened up and a deck of playing cards was removed.
One hand moved and tried to shuffle the cards. It didn't work too well.
Oh, that's just lovely. How can this situation possibly get any worse?
Jiraiya landed lightly on a section of sand that appeared to be completely nondescript, then checked his map and sighted on a distant mountain.
Nodding, he put the map away and began building up power.
The Suna Council had been very very skeptical, but finally gave him permission. An area of desert which was particularly dry and as essentially valueless as anything in the country.
Nobody lived here, which his overflight had just proven. Very important.
Dirt and dust began lifting up off the ground and a rumbling sound began deep beneath him.
"Found him," said one of Naruto's clones, pulling rubble away from Gaara's corpse.
"You. You're..." Kakashi pointed at Kurama. Earlier he hadn't been entirely sure. Now he was.
"Yes?" asked Kurama, grinning toothily.
"Naruto," said Kakashi, sounding a little less bored and lazy than usual, "isn't there someone sealed away?"
"Not at the moment, no," said Naruto. "We kinda came to an agreement."
"Is something wrong, Kakashi?" asked Gai.
"Other than the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox is taking out a thermos and pouring himself a tea?" asked Kakashi, his voice lowered a bit.
"Why? Did you want some?" asked Kurama, sounding quite amused.
"I'm being offered a hot cuppa by the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox," said Kakashi. "Someone pinch me."
KA-PINCH!
"That was not a serious request," noted Kakashi.
"Something wrong?" asked Tenten from where she and most of everyone else had gathered around one of Naruto's shadow clones and Gaara.
"Not at all," said Kurama, winking at the girl. "Just a bit of business to take care of. High level secrets and all. Naruto, you might want to use the Elixir."
"Right," said Naruto, fumbling with his pockets until he withdrew a stoppered vial.
"So," said Kakashi as Kurama took a long sip of tea. "Why?"
"I like tea," said Kurama. "Well, mostly. Huckleberry tea I find very soothing. I prefer Earl Grey in the morning, chilled genmai-cha on particularly muggy days, and there are some blends of gunpowder green tea that are quite tasty."
"That isn't at all the point," said Kakashi.
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(Posted Sat, 01 Dec 2012 17:46)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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