When the three spectators arrived, Ranma was already checking Sailor Uranus over, particularly her recently injured shoulder. Once they got close however, he merely waved them away while continuing to prod his downed opponent. Apparently satisfied with something, he straightened her arm out before massaging the shoulder.
Speaking for the concerned female members of the group, Setsuna asked, "Is she alright? I wasn't aware you had an ability like that."
Not looking very concerned, Ranma finished working over her shoulder and picked the fallen woman up in his arms. "Never seen a ki blast before? Kinda makes me wonder why you're not shocked over the tornado technique."
Realizing her abundance of information was coming back to bite her, the green haired woman frowned lightly. "Well yes, I had heard of that one, how it worked on angry opponents or something to that effect. I was unaware that such a thing as ki blasts actually existed."
Settling the unconscious blond on one of the lounge chairs, Ranma sat down comfortably on the grass. "Nothing to worry about really, she's just knocked out. Actually makes her rather lucky it was that technique. You're familiar with her World Shaking attack right? That was some kinda magic right?"
Getting a hesitant nod from Setsuna, and noting the three girls were still rather worried, Ranma decided to explain. "Well, that technique is basically focusing my own energy, my ki into the air and gathering some ambient chi. When it hits, it hits pretty hard, but not really harder than I can punch, the trick is that my ki impacts hers and throws her system off balance. Kinda impairs her ability to heal herself and such, and I guess the shock knocked her out. I opened her ki flows back up though, so she's just knocked out is all."
As the other three girls sat down, a more thoughtful air filled the group, particularly Setsuna who was looking at this curiously despite having expected Haruka to lose. "So, you're saying that because of your training, your fighting style is innately superior to her power. Would she fare better against you if you trained her?"
The young man didn't even need to consider that one. "Of course. I'm guessing that magic cheerleader costume gives her some kinda power-up, but if that's all she's got, then what else would ya expect?"
Feeling a bit left out, Michiru spoke up, her concern for Haruka having passed now. "Magic cheerleader uniforms? You don't seem very surprised by the idea."
Thinking about it for a moment, the young man shrugged it off with a flat expression. "Eh, kinda boring really. I prefer Magic Knight Rayearth myself, at least they get a bit of armor and some weapons at least. Well, more serious than that sword she was flailing around. Anyways, I usually don't show off special techniques like that, but I guess part of this was to demonstrate to Hotaru and she was throwing around flashy stuff herself."
Blinking, Setsuna wondered if they could get their outfits altered along the lines of Magic Knight Rayearth. While the senshi had a bit of pride in their outfits, they were often considered to be a bit immodest and tacky. Swords, more flexible spells and a bit of armor on more fashionable outfits would be nice. Of course, the senshi as a whole could likely use martial arts training, though certain ones would take to it more than others.
Michiru blinked in shock. They were boring?
Hope springing eternal, Hotaru fidgeted closer to her sensei before shyly asking. "Can I learn to do that?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma gave the hopefully girl a once over. "Well, I'm only supposed to get you up to the point where you can handle bullies and stuff, maybe track and field. I doubt I'll be around much longer than that. You could keep at the training on your own though. The flashy stuff though is mostly just that."
Hearing that the young girl sagged downwards slightly, mostly in regards to the prospect that Ranma wouldn't be staying around for long. Ranma of course missed that possibility completely. "Hey, don't be like that, when you get deeper into the kata, you'll understand why the flashy stuff isn't that big of a deal. Besides, it's not like you can't visit and get some pointers or scrolls later or something."
As a somewhat uncomfortable silence descended, Setsuna was very deep in thought about many possibilities. One wrinkle in her plans was already becoming apparent, as it seemed likely that nothing romantic would blossom between the two before Ranma left. "Ranma, how would you feel about training Haruka and perhaps some other magic girls so they can fight demons better?"
Thinking about it, Ranma eventually shook his head. "Nah, I got enough to deal with training Hotaru, particularly after you started dumping chores on me. It'll be a small miracle keeping things in control just to finish her training as it is.
Intrigued, Michiru looked over at the young man. "Keeps things in control?"
The same young man simply shrugged. "Eh ask your friend there, I'm sure she did enough research to know about my fiancées and the rest of the people I deal with. It's pretty much a non-brainer that they'll be visiting soon as they find out where I am."
A bit worried about her plans, Setsuna picked up the conversation. "True, I have some information in that regards, though there is obviously a lot I missed. You don't think you can stay around and teach Hotaru long because of that, despite the arrangement I made with your parents?"
"Peh, I'm guessing you don't know them very well huh? Just what kinda deal did ya make to get me rented out?"
"As I told you already, you'll be getting your pay directly. Your father agreed for the money. Your mother was convinced that somehow living with four women would make you manly."
"Ha, well Mom would expect me to be all perverted with you girls, which ain't happening, but maybe she won't notice. She'll freak over you making me cook though. Pops will throw a gasket as soon as he finds out he ain't getting the money, which means I'll have to fork it over anyways if I wanna go back and live in peace. So what'd you do to get ol' man Tendou to agree to this?"
"Well, he seems to think the time apart will make you and his daughter more in love. Something about time apart making the heart grow fonder. If I must ask, what is this about forcing you to cook?"
"Should be pretty obvious, soon as I got there ya told me I had to do the cooking and stuff."
Starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, Setsuna started hedging her answer. "Well, yes, it is a part of the training, right?"
Smelling blood in the water, Ranma merely raised his eyebrows while crossing his arms. "Don't tell me ya really believe that? Even if Hotaru had to eat something special, all I'd have to do would be say something about it. I really don't care what she eats, just as long as she eats. I was kinda wondering why people with so much money would be wanting to eat the food I learned to cook while camping. Guess your research was kinda mangled."
"If that was so, why didn't you say something earlier?"
Ranma shrugged, showing that it hadn't been very surprising considering the way she'd dragged him from his life in Nerima. "Why bother, you'd already made up your mind."
"You don't sound very surprised or worried. Were you going to do something about it?"
"Feh, this happens all the time, someone wants something from me, they convince someone that I have to give it to them, then I go and get it over with."
Pondering that, Setsuna realized she might have a problem on her hands. She was aware of those times as it had been what gave her the idea of dealing with his parents first. Unfortunately she'd forgotten that he returned from those deals under his own power, often challenging the person with a hold over him to negate that hold. She'd thought that by being nice and up front she wouldn't be treated like that, but apparently going and tricking his parents first had placed her as one of those people in his mind.
That would likely explain why he had been so well-behaved and business like so far, he was holding the group at a distance, even Hotaru. Such a thing did not bode well for getting him involving with the Senshi of Silence, particularly if both sides looked at it as a temporary bit of martial arts training.
It was however only day two, so she could readily adapt. The first order of business would be to make things a lot more friendly and inviting for Ranma. Getting him involved with the senshi to the point where he cared about the group would be good too, as training some of the other senshi would give him a reason to stick around longer. Once that was established, she could offer to arrange an engagement to Hotaru along the lines of the one he had with Akane Tendou, that way he would have a reason to stay and protect Hotaru indefinitely. Since Hotaru was too young for such things, it would likely go over pretty well.
First though, it was time to defuse certain misunderstandings. "Well, if Michiru doesn't mind, perhaps we could let her resume cooking?"
Raising an eyebrow, the aqua haired girl leveled a wry grin at her. "Actually I was a bit miffed at you myself, letting some strange guy take over my kitchen like that."
Perking up a little, Ranma nodded at Michiru. "I thought that was your kitchen from the way you helped me put away the groceries."
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(Posted Sat, 02 Sep 2006 01:54)
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