Not for the first time since taking the boy along Iori found himself wondering why the boy was doing this. Although Iori had agreed to train the boy as an heir to continue the Yagami line, he never had instilled any purpose behind it as his father did.
A few moments afterward the boy dropped down in order to eat as Iori set him out some food. They ate in silence for the most part, while Iori glanced up occasionally at his adopted son every now and then before going back to his food.
Although thanks to the strange side effect of his blood no one could really tell they weren't related; even if Ranma seemed more 'puny' than his father in terms of height. But in the boy's case that seemed to be more to his advantage as he seemed to rely on speed and agility more than brute strength and practical invulnerability as Iori did. However with the power of the Yagami flames at his disposal that more than made up for the fact that he was slightly weaker in the physical area. But Ranma’s size concerned Iori little as the boy was still leaps and bounds ahead of all those in his age class, and most beyond it as well.
Of course that in itself caused a bit of puzzlement in Iori’s mind. Back when he had entered the King of Fighters tournaments, it had been for the purpose for which he was raised for: proving that he was the best, and killing his rivals belonging to the Kusanagi clan. The belief’s that his father had imprinted on him was what drove Iori to push himself beyond even his super human limits and try to take the title of the strongest fighter for himself. For that, he had endured years of torturous training that any sane man would have broken under, and came back asking for more. But in Ranma’s case, he endured much of the same hardship –although some exercises were little easier, while others were harder than the elder Yagami’s as he knew just how much pain actually gave gain, and how much was useless from personal experance- and seemed to come back for more as his adopted father before him. Oh, he asked questions as to what the training was supposed to improve, complained quite loudly sometimes, and cried a bit in his younger years, but he never quit and ran away.
So, why was that? Unlike with Iori’s own upbringing, he had never actually put the idea of the blood feud between the two clans into his head, or that much hatred for others in general. Iori had found on his own how those things had been so self destructive, and if not for Ranma, would might have been the end to his clan thanks to the simple fact that there was no way in Hell that he would ever find a woman willing to stick around long enough to even conceive a child willingly; and even he was above choosing the darker ideas that would get him an heir. Was it just some sort of genetic trait that all the people with Orochi blood shared? Something in their blood or subconscious that demanded they push themselves past their breaking point for no reason other than for the sake of being physically stronger than others?
“So dad, what’re we doing today?”
Ranma’s question brought Iori out of his musings and caused the older of the two to look up at the boy before reaching into his pack and tossing Ranma a light package with a folder on top. As the father had expected, as soon as the boy opened the folder with a map of one of the districts of Tokyo, as well as the package containing a school uniform, Ranma looked up at him with a frown. “Okay, what the heck is this?”
“Yesterday when we stopped in the city to pick up a few things I decided to enroll you in one of the local high schools,” Iori told him passively. “It’s been about two years since you stopped going, and it is time that you should start attending again.”
“Hey, it’s not like I choose to. It’s just… kind of hard to attend school after I kind of… you know, blew it up,” Ranma replied hesitantly. Although, bunt down would have probably been a better description of that little event, even if there were some explosions in the beginning. How was he of supposed to known that a missed fireball would have gone into the cafeteria’s gas stove? Luckily, not anyone had been killed thanks to the fact nearly the entire student body had been watching the fighting between him and that moron, and everyone else had time to evacuate. “Besides, it’s not as if I went that much anyway.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you stopped going,” Iori told him with a frown. “But in case you have forgotten boy, one day you will be the head of our clan, and I will not have an uneducated fool that knows nothing of the modern world and is unable to interact with people running the Yagami’s affairs.”
“I don’t see a problem with that,” Ranma said. “You always told me that weak people aren’t worth my time, so why the hell should I have to put up with them if I don’t want to?”
Iori tried his best not to smirk at that. Although very different in some areas, the adopted son and his father were alike in many more. Like his father, Ranma wasn’t one to tolerate weakness of the body or character, if to a lesser degree. While Iori almost automatically disliked anyone not on par with himself, Ranma could only not tolerate people who couldn’t pull their own weight, and relied on others to do so.
“Because there are many types of weakness boy,” Iori informed him. “Yours being stupidity.” That caused Ranma to frown at his father. “You lack restraint, and while I do agree you should take the dominate place within whatever little social order your school has, you also have to learn when to take it, and how. And that’s just the beginning of your ineptitude.”
“So I’m a little rough with people, it’s not like I’ve murdered any of them,” Ranma complained. Well, maybe one might not have survived the trip to the hospital, but Ranma wouldn’t be letting the guild get to him until he read the kid’s obituary. “Besides, I don’t see the point of all this, I’ll be kicked out of the stupid place in a month, half a year tops.”
“You’ll be taking your placement text later today while I go out to try and find us someplace to stay for the time being,” Iori said. “And Ranma, even if this school’s history shows major leniency on fighting, you will restrain yourself and show at least some respect to your teachers during class.”
Seeing the look in the older man’s eyes, Ranma just bowed his head and let out a sigh. There wasn’t really much use arguing with the man when he spoke in that tone of voice. “Yes… father.”
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(Posted Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:19)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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