Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Neko's Healing ❯ Challenge ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. I'm still broke, too.

 

If you're still reading this, I'll assume you're getting some kind of enjoyment out of it--whether you like Ranma being in it or not. Yay! That's the whole point of my sharing it with you!

 

Heh. My longest chapter to date on this one, about 5,702 words--not counting the author's notes. And yes, this chapter finally has the Challenge Fight in it.

 

Enjoy!

 

15 - Challenge

 

The fight was an amazing thing, for both the spectators and the two fighters involved. Kyo fully understood that to hold back would be an insult of the highest degree to the prideful Amazon; and Xian Pu was determined that there would be absolutely no chance of anyone ever claiming she had thrown this fight, for whatever reason.

 

There were no more words needed between the couple and the spectators. A few quick meetings of eyes reaffirmed well-wishes, as the spectators quickly arranged themselves about the edges of the open area. Everyone was anxious, for one or more reasons.

 

The neko and the Amazon took up their positions in the middle of the vacant lot, facing each other, about twenty feet apart. Kyo issued his Challenge in a clear, strong voice, with only the faintest trace of a nervous quaver on the last word.

 

“Xian Pu of the Joketsuzoku! By the Laws of your people, I Challenge you, for the right to be your Husband!”

 

Xian Pu formally banged her bonbori together as she stood proudly before him. Her voice conveyed her eager anticipation of this fight; if she was nervous, not even Kho Lon could tell. Her voice was strong and clear with her formal answer.

 

“Xian Pu accept your Challenge! We fight!”

 

And so it began.

 

Mu Tse stood right by his Matriarch, hands clasped tightly, whitened knuckles hidden by his long sleeves. His glasses were firmly in place over his eyes where they belonged, for once without any prompting. His almost bland expression wasn't what anyone who knew him would have expected; there was no jealous anger in his face, and he was not tense with readiness to interfere. The sadness in his eyes was safely hidden behind thick lenses.

 

Mu Tse wasn't as much of a fool as he usually acted. He'd seen Xian Pu's obvious interest in this orange-haired Neko-ken Master...and he'd seen the newcomer quickly begin to return that interest; as Ranma never had, nor would. Mu Tse had long known that Xian Pu would never willingly become his wife; he would have to accept the gift of her friendship, which was no small thing in and of itself. His main goal for a while now had been to ensure that whoever did become her husband, that man was hers; and hers alone. She deserved that much, at the very least!

 

He knew the Matriarch was of a like mind, or Ranma would've been back in the village as Xian Pu's consummated husband long since, even if they'd had to outright blank his mind with drugs or magic. It was only Ranma's potential brought into their bloodlines that the village needed, after all. So long as he could still father children, it didn't matter if Ranma's mind was intact.

 

Though keeping against his will the man who'd actually killed Saffron, no matter how deeply drugged or magically bound, was much more dangerous than dancing barefoot through fire. One slight mistake, and that indomitable will of his would probably be the end of the village.

 

Mu Tse shook his head slightly, trying to clear his mind of distracting thoughts. Nearly having to jump back when Xian Pu skidded to a barely-standing halt practically on top of him after being thrown back from an unsuccessful jump-kick helped focus his mind. She never even glanced at him before diving back to the attack, bonboris swinging fast enough to blur, even as Kyo's arms blurred to deflect them away. The two fighters had eyes only for each other.

 

The almost manic grins on both their faces deflated the brief surge of anger Mu Tse felt at the thought of this orange-haired stranger hurting her. Depression poured over him in a wave as he realized, right down to the marrow of his bones, that he had no chance whatsoever to ever win his dearest love.

 

-.-.-.-

 

The pig-tailed martial artist who was the focus of so much of the chaos in Nerima watched the fight intently, his nerves strung taught with a combination of hope and worry. He kept his lips clamped upon any words he might be tempted to shout to either of the combatants, knowing it wasn't necessary. The two had never seen each other fight, but Ranma had sparred against each of them.

 

He knew how things would go...if there was no outside interference. Kyo would give Shampoo a great workout, pushing her right to her limits, then somewhat beyond them; then, just before she'd be ready to collapse on her own, he'd use the lightest blow he could get away with to take her out, without truly hurting her. This was a dead-serious fight; there'd be none of the insults and ribbing normally heard in Ranma's fights, or the clowning around he sometimes indulged in to give an inferior opponent a chance to get a good shot in.

 

Shampoo was good enough to be able to pull at least a couple surprises on Kyo; Ranma hoped his friend wouldn't be foolish enough to underestimate her too much. Ranma thanked all the kamis that Kyo didn't have as much of a problem hitting girls as he did!

 

Ranma couldn't help but grin in appreciation when Kyo managed to pluck one of Shampoo's bonbori away from her, at least for a few minutes. The sounds of the fight grew sharp and metallic as the two weapons were repeatedly banged into each other, as Kyo put the captured weapon to use in blocking.

 

Breaking his pattern unexpectedly by dropping down gave Kyo the opportunity to lunge forward and slam the bonbori into Shampoo's stomach as she overextended slightly in her swing. He almost knocked the wind out of her, except she'd already stared to dodge to the side, reacting quickly to his move, blunting the worst edge off his attack. She managed to bounce her remaining bonbori off a nerve in Kyo's wrist hard enough to make his hand lose its grip on the captured weapon, sending it bouncing off in roughly the same direction she was going. She scooped it up as she spun by, even as Kyo was jumping back and rubbing his injured wrist.

 

They both paused, breathing heavily, staring at each other for about a minute as they both got their winds back. They were still smiling, thoroughly enjoying the challenge of this fight. Ranma briefly felt a flare of jealousy--his opponents were always concentrating so hard on killing, maiming, or marrying him, that it took away half the fun of the fight. What good was fighting somebody who wasn't having as much fun as you were? It made things too serious, the way they always went about it! How was he supposed to enjoy having somebody so dead-set on killing him?

 

Ranma's eyes constantly broke away and scanned the area about the vacant lot, looking for the usual suspects that could be counted on to screw up his life. He kept all of his senses extended on full alert, in the hope of cutting off anyone headed their way.

 

He doubted his and Akane's fathers would show up; they'd been told the two had things to do after school, but would be home just in time for dinner. Kuno Tatewaki wasn't too likely to show up, either--not after the spin Akane put on him when she sent him into L.E.O. after their last class! Ranma figured it would take the baka kendoist a good two hours yet to find his way back to Nerima--if he was even conscious, yet. Kuno's hand had strayed just a bit too far, when he tried to once more glomp his “Fierce Tigress.”

 

Akane had been Pissed!!

 

Kuno Kodachi wouldn't bother them, simply because Ranma had directly asked her not to. He wasn't quite ready to admit to everyone else that he'd long ago made friends with the supposedly insane gymnast; and Kodachi wasn't willing to spill the beans that she'd been pretty much play-acting her insanity, all these years. Besides, both of them were rather looking forward to the shock factor when everyone first saw Kodachi and `Ranko' together--having an intense session of `girl-talk.' They wanted to wait for just the perfect moment to spring it on everyone.

 

Kodachi wanted to hire Nabiki to take pictures of the moment. They didn't quite dare to spring it on the mercenary girl herself with photo-lenses present, though!

 

Ranma winced as Shampoo was sent flying through the air again, by Kyo's foot to her stomach this time. She'd tried to follow up with her bonbori after knocking him flat on his back. She hadn't expected him to recover almost before he landed, and he'd caught her in mid-spring. A smirk flickered across Ranma's face as the two spent a couple minutes dancing about one another, each looking for an opening.

 

His thoughts turned to Uc-chan, who had to mind her restaurant until after the evening rush--this was her main money-making time of day, she couldn't afford to miss it if she didn't absolutely have to. As she had no reason to suspect anything was up, he didn't think she'd crash the fight. If anything, she should be cheering Kyo on, since his winning would take Shampoo out of the running as one of Ranma's fiancées!

 

The problem would be getting that across to her, before she started thwapping people with that giant spatula of hers. Ranma wasn't certain how she could misunderstand what was going on; but then again, he was never quite sure just how any of his fiancées or rivals or everybody else managed to misunderstand the things happening near him!

 

Ryoga would likely be a problem simply because he might walk right into the middle of the fight before he knew where he was, with that damned directional curse of his. Ranma almost grinned, glancing about him at the tense and ready martial artists who were also watching the surroundings as much as they were the fight. He figured pretty much everybody on the sidelines would tackle the baka buto out of the way, if he showed up--even Kyo's kin.

 

Happosai was the one Ranma was most worried about. The old letch might well spoil the fight, just for the hell of it. After all, having the Amazons in Nerima sure livened things up! Why ever would he want to see them leave?

 

Kyo made another new crater in the ground when he didn't pull a blow fast enough after Shampoo dove out of the way. He managed to twist out of the way of the kick she aimed from the handstand she'd landed in, if just barely. They were both still grinning, obviously enjoying the fight. Shampoo seemed especially happy, as she had no reason whatsoever to hold anything back--Kyo could handle it. Ranma had never seen either one enjoying themselves so much!

 

The fight was going pretty much how Ranma had thought it would. He'd seen several openings Kyo could have used to end things by knocking Shampoo out, but hadn't. Seeing the light sheen of sweat starting to show on the Amazon's skin, Ranma figured the fight would go another fifteen minutes, max.

 

Ranma's gaze went distant for a moment, the fight fading from his sight as his thoughts went darker. He didn't feel he was quite ready to challenge the ancient Grand-Master of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu, yet...but he would, if the old letch tried anything before this match was done! He wouldn't hold back against Happosai, either; which meant his father's Master was going to get hurt, if he showed up.

 

There was too much riding on the outcome--Shampoo's very life depended on Kyo winning; as did Kyo's freedom, and therefore his sanity. Ranma hardly cared about his own future, compared to those stakes! Ranma had promised Kyo that he'd help him, somehow, all those years ago. Getting him together with Shampoo might well be the only thing he could do for Kyo, that would have any effect on the neko's fate.

 

There was no way in hell Ranma would stand by and let anyone interfere!!

 

-.-.-.-

 

Akane saw Ranma's face go grim as his thoughts turned to the old pervert. She had an idea, from the way his eyes were flicking about the area, that he too was waiting for an untimely interruption. She sighed, looking about once again for herself, before her eyes were riveted once more by the fast-moving forms of Kyo and Shampoo.

 

Akane's hand slipped into Ranma's as she watched the fight in fascination, neither of the two of them really aware of the contact; or of Ranma's squeezing her hand back in unconscious reassurance. Their new-found acceptance of their feelings for each other was too new for it to be comfortable.

 

Every move Kyo made had the grace, power, and sheer speed of the Neko-ken about it, though he didn't manifest the ki claws Akane had come to expect from Ranma's uses of the technique. Kyo's moves weren't in the air as much as Ranma's were, either, though he did end up sailing right over Shampoo and those bonbori of hers several times.

 

Kyo did no clowning around, as Ranma was wont to do in a fight. There were no words spoken, either; insults or otherwise. There was silence but for the smack of flesh meeting flesh, bonbori, or the ground, with the occasional grunt of effort. They weren't bringing out any fancy ki attacks; they were staying with the more `mundane' martial arts moves, that involved pure physical skill. Moves that didn't endanger bystanders or damage the landscape quite so much, Akane noted wryly to herself, memories of most of Ranma's fights flashing across her vision for brief instants.

 

The two were obviously ki-enhancing their bodies' strength and stamina, though. The sheer speed of their movements, and the significant damage that happened when the ground was impacted by a missed blow or thrown body, was proof of that.

 

Kyo's and Shampoo's faces showed an intense concentration on the fight...along with more than a trace of enjoyment. It wasn't long before they were grinning like loons, actually. They didn't have to hold back their true skill in this fight; and they both enjoyed the Art for itself, just as Ranma did. Fighting a worthy opponent was worth much more to them than simply winning, no matter the stakes.

 

The fight, itself, was more important than winning it...

 

Akane frowned, eyes gazing inwards again, as she suddenly wondered how she had lost that most basic enjoyment of the martial arts. She remembered when she was a little girl, and her father was just starting to teach her. She hadn't been angry very much of the time, back then...back before her mother died, and her life--just--fell apart.

 

Her thoughts turned to her fiancé, her mind wandering through split-second flashes of thought even as the fight progressed. He seemed to enjoy fighting for its own sake--but winning was definitely important to him. Akane remembered the couple times he'd lost, since coming to live with her family. There'd been a sense almost of desperation about him, until he'd mastered a way to win against the person who'd beaten him. She remembered thinking once that he seemed to think he was nothing, if he wasn't the absolute best at martial arts. Her angry irritation with him had made her shrug the thought off, chalking it up as just his impossibly large ego.

 

But...what if it wasn't really because of his ego? What if his massive ego was just a blind, to hide his real reasons? After finally admitting their feelings to each other, he'd been slowly allowing her to see some of the real Saotome Ranma that was usually hidden behind that false brashness...and she was finding that she really knew next to nothing about her own fiancé.

 

Like that dumb jock image he let everybody see, that she now knew was false. Akane had decided to make a project of improving Ranma's grades--only to find out, to her chagrin, that the baka knew their schoolwork better than she did!! She'd been especially stunned when her fiancé demonstrated that he was quite fluent in English...spoken and written. His `worst' subject!

 

She'd nearly malleted him in frustration, except he'd looked so sheepish, and downright embarrassed about it...and she'd somehow noticed the touch of sadness in his down-turned face. A panda wandered across her vision just then, over Ranma's shoulder--Genma in cursed form passing by out in the hallway--and Akane glared after Ranma's father, her threatened mallet disappearing as her redirected temper cooled a bit.

 

Then she had realized that Ranma was letting her in on one of the biggest secrets of his entire life, and her last lingering bit of anger melted into a warm and fuzzy feeling of happiness. He was finally, finally--sharing things with her!!

 

And she'd almost malleted him for it! Mortification had burned bright in her face for several moments, until she caught sight of Ranma's concerned face. He was obviously still wary of her mallet, but concerned enough by her expression to chance a tentative touch to her shoulder. She hadn't even heard him calling her name, so wrapped up she'd been in her own thoughts. She wasn't certain how she'd managed to not burst into tears with remorse then, for all the times she'd hit him in the past.

 

After some intense, almost-patient grilling, Akane got Ranma to tell her--

 

Scratch that. Akane smiled her happiest, most radiant smile at him, and a cuteness-stunned Ranma spilled his guts for every question she asked for the next half hour. If she'd known she had that kind of effect on him, she'd have made an effort to smile a lot more often!

 

Nabiki had been right. She'd been a real baka with regards Ranma!

 

Ranma did not want his father knowing that he wasn't a dumb jock--not until he hit his majority, at least. Preferably not until he'd taken the Grand Mastership of Anything Goes away from Happosai! Genma thought of his son as his meal ticket in his old age. If the lazy panda figured out that his son wasn't going to be easily manipulated any more, he might start desperate measures to “fix” the situation. And everyone knew that Saotome Genma taking desperate measures was a sure recipe for a big, messy disaster!

 

Akane was rudely jerked out of her musings as Kyo jumped to avoid Shampoo's latest lunge--and the Amazon turned her forward momentum into a double roll across the ground, coming to her feet practically on Akane's toes. The youngest Tendo nimbly skipped back a step, even as a concerned Ranma visibly restrained himself from picking her up and jumping away.

 

Shampoo never looked at them, her eyes all for her grinning opponent. Two sets of red eyes, crimson and scarlet, glinted amusement at each other over about thirty feet of distance. Kyo had reversed a lightning-fast spring towards a follow-up into a dash back towards the center of the lot--they'd agreed to keep the fight on the lot itself, after all, until one or the other was knocked out.

 

By their almost glowing faces, they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. There was no doubt they'd be prolonging the fight as long as physically possible. They were very nearly playing an elaborate game of martial arts “tag.”

 

As the action went back to the intricate, almost dance-like strike-and-block of well-matched, skillful opponents, Akane's thoughts wandered back to her fiancé. She'd finally understood that Ranma really didn't have much of a sense of self-assurance, outside of his martial arts...and, annoying as it was for her to admit it, he really was as good at the Art as he boasted.

 

Seeing how Genma habitually treated his son, Akane had reluctantly realized that maybe Ranma felt he couldn't afford to fight for anything but a win any more, no matter what his real feelings were. She'd seen the happiness light up his face when he and Ryoga would fight, though the emotion was usually quickly replaced by disappointment as Ryoga impossibly blamed Ranma for everything that went wrong in the Eternally Lost Boy's life.

 

Those words of blame that she'd previously ignored out of confusion to their source, suddenly took on a new meaning for Akane, as she watched Kyo twist impossibly and drop to avoid a bonbori to the head, retaliating lightning-fast with a leg-sweep that Shampoo leapt over--only to be nearly caught on landing by an unexpected sweep by his other leg, before he flipped to his feet and away from the Amazon's down-swung bonbori; which Shampoo fluidly threw her weight onto, her chin nearly touching the ground in a hand-stand before she launched herself into the air, somersaulting to land gracefully on her feet.

 

Akane found herself back in her thoughts. Ryoga--he had found what buttons to push, to get Ranma to lose his concentration! Just as Ryoga hated for Ranma to call him after P-chan, Ranma got upset when Ryoga insisted on blaming Ranma for his own mistakes. All this time, Ryoga has been using one of Ranma's favorite tactics against him!

 

A relieved giggle threatened to burst from Akane's lips. Ranma's constant fights with Ryoga and all his other rivals suddenly took on a different light in her mind, thanks to Kyo and Shampoo's fight. Akane's eyes widened and she gasped softly--suddenly, truly understanding just why the boys were always fighting every time they saw each other, no matter how hard she tried to stop them; no matter what they said during them.

 

They enjoyed those fights!! Just like she used to.

 

Not the getting hurt part; but the actual fighting, itself. Akane knew, intellectually, that Ranma's insults during a fight were a part of the fight--the effort to make an opponent lose their temper, which would make them lose their concentration; and thus start to make mistakes that Ranma could exploit. She knew he did this, even during sparring--but her heart had still listened to the words he used, instead of ignoring them like she knew she should. It was especially painful when he flung them at her.

 

That was why Ranma was always insulting her...if she could learn to ignore those insults from somebody whose opinion mattered to her, then she'd certainly be able to ignore them from other opponents, and therefore be less likely to lose a fight due to her own fit of temper. Just like, if she could get her speed up enough to actually tag Ranma when they sparred, she'd likely be fast enough to hold her own against any other opponent who came along!

 

The sudden, crystal-clear knowledge of exactly how and why her fiancé had been attempting to train her oblivious self, hit Akane like one of her own mallets. Nabiki had told her--but she hadn't really understood, deep inside. Here she'd been, demanding Ranma take her seriously as a martial artist--and stand still, so she could hit him--! She felt like hitting herself, just then.

 

What kind of opponent just stood still and let you hit them?! Of course he'd ignored her childish demands! Instead, he'd been carefully gauging her speed, keeping his dodges just outside her limits, so she'd get faster and faster over time as she pushed herself. He'd made her run after him, leap things she'd never considered possible before...he'd never let her catch him until she'd had a good workout, though she'd never bothered to notice before.

 

With Ranma, everything was training. Eating, walking to school on fences, cooking and cleaning to help out Kasumi...he didn't do anything that he couldn't turn into some type of training. And he'd been training her, but she'd been blinder than Mousse--she hadn't wanted to admit that she was getting better, all because of Ranma's efforts.

 

She'd gotten so wrapped up in purposefully training for more power, destroying cinder blocks by the truck-load, that she'd completely neglected all other aspects of the art! If Ranma hadn't gotten her chasing him so often, her training would likely have stagnated inexcusably!

 

Akane tore her thoughts back to the present and paid determined attention to Kyo and Shampoo's fight, which had only actually been underway for about ten minutes. Her thoughts had been racing faster than she'd realized! As she concentrated on the details of the fight, the youngest Tendo grimly promised herself a long night of self-confrontation, once the Amazon problem was settled.

 

Then she'd have to have a nice, long talk with her not-so-block-headed fiancé. They still had a good many things to work out.

 

-.-.-.-

 

Nabiki had calmly come out in the open and taken up a spot across the lot from her sister and Ranma, away from everyone else. She carefully unlimbered her camcorder, after a pointed glance of inquiry at Cologne while holding the bag up. The Matriarch had nodded in agreement to her mute request, a slightly sardonic smile on her wrinkled old face as she proceeded to rub the thumb and forefinger of one hand together, while shaking her other, raised forefinger slowly from side to side.

 

Nabiki easily understood the gestures to mean the Amazons were to get a copy of any tape she made of this fight--for free. This wasn't a problem, as she'd already decided it would be her wedding present to Shampoo. As for selling copies to others...well, that could be negotiated, if Kho Lon got stingy with her. No longer having to worry about Shampoo making her own doorways right through the walls of the Tendo-ke in her pursuit of Ranma should lower their expenses enough to make up for a good bit of yen, though.

 

Knowing the combatants were likely to be moving much too fast for her to hope to anticipate which way they'd be jumping, she quickly set up the tripod and set the camcorder to broad-angle, maximum definition. She hooked up her cell phone again so the camcorder's memory could be dumped straight into her e-mail account. The last thing she wanted was to run out of memory, just moments before the fight's conclusion!

 

A quick check of the battery indicator showed a good four hours of recording power left at her current settings. Nabiki smiled and made a mental note to thank Hitome both for having such high-quality equipment available, and for keeping it properly maintained and ready for use.

 

Nabiki noted early into the fight that the purple-haired Amazon didn't have quite Kyo's feline grace, but her tightly controlled power and determination seemed to make up for it, along with the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken training that had brought her speed up enough to at least appear formidable next to him. The mercenary girl noted that neither fighter was making any unnecessary moves; their every smallest twitch was part of an attack, or parry, or dodge. The two were using more pure skill than was usual in Ranma's fights, which tended to extreme property damage when certain attacking martial artists forgot to control themselves.

 

Not that Shampoo and Kyo weren't putting much power into their attacks. The ground about the vacant lot was quickly littered with brand-new craters and torn-up grass, mute testimony to the power behind many of their strikes. They were simply exerting extra skill in an attempt to not hit anything but their intended target.

 

Nabiki suspected they were actually playing, after a fashion, even while showing off their skills to each other...an eccentric sort of courtship, indeed. The way their faces were lit up with pure enjoyment as they felt out each other's skill was a dead giveaway. She snorted in amusement--it was very Amazon!

 

She doubted any of the spectators were registering in their minds as anything more than objects to avoid. Their obvious, intense enjoyment of the fight brought back memories of when Nabiki, herself once trained in her family's style, before her mother's death. She'd nearly forgotten that she had once enjoyed sparring with both of her sisters. The middle Tendo daughter had not practiced the Art in so long, she was sadly sure that taking it up again would mean starting all over at the very beginning. It was just as well she didn't have the time for it.

 

It was difficult for most of the spectators to follow half of the battling pair's moves, especially once Shampoo took things to Amaguriken levels. The Sohmas and Honda Tohru all had vaguely stunned looks on their faces, as they tried to keep track of the fight. Even Sohma Kazuma hadn't realized just how good his adopted son was--and Sohma Yuki's eyes couldn't possibly have gotten any larger! Nabiki almost giggled when she caught sight of his expression through the camcorder's viewfinder. She casually wondered at the back-story there, making a mental note to do a good bit of research on the Sohma family later, if only for her own amusement.

 

She had a feeling Kyo might appreciate a copy of that particular shot, too. A sly smile slipped over her face, unnoticed. She could use that to find out how susceptible the Neko-cursed Sohma boy was to her subtle style of teasing.

 

It was something of a challenge, keeping the whole fight on tape. The lot was broader than the camera's broad-angle pickup; she had to pay careful attention to keep it aimed correctly, the way those two were bounding about. She couldn't back up any more without losing too much definition, though.

 

Some of the expressions of the spectators piqued Nabiki's curiosity unbearably--including her own little sister. That distraction nearly made her lose track of the fight a couple times! It looked like some major revelations were thundering through Akane's head. Nabiki's lips tightened and her eyes narrowed at her little sister's image in the viewfinder, as she hoped that at least some of the lecture she'd given the girl a week ago had stuck.

 

Akane had certainly been getting along with Ranma a great deal better, since then...and judging by their linked hands, and the way Akane was almost leaning into Ranma's arm, Nabiki had hope that her little sister was finally opening her eyes.

 

She so dearly wanted to grill someone about the Jyuunishi-cursed Sohmas, and their connection to Ranma. The Neko-cursed Sohma seemed to have been holding back a very great deal of his true martial arts skill from his family; the astonished looks on Sohma Shigure's and Honda Tohru's faces were especially priceless! The explanation she'd heard of his attacking his cousin Yuki to get the Nezumi-cursed boy into the martial arts was only the barest bones of the story; she wanted details!

 

Part of the reason she was so good at her `business'--was her unquenchable curiosity. Even if she hadn't started selling information, she'd have been ferreting it out for herself, just so she'd know.

 

Her attention was drawn back to the fight when Shampoo caught Kyo in a moment of underestimation--he was thrown clear across the lot when one of her bonbori nailed his shoulder, his body tearing up clumps of grass and throwing out a spray of dirt and gravel as he skidded to a stop, flat on his back. He had bounded up in an instant, one arm hanging limp, smirking even as he worked his shoulder back into place with his other hand. Shampoo held herself back to let him recover, not wanting the fight to end yet.

 

The non-martial artists present all winced visibly at the nearly audible pop of the dislocated joint being put back. His smirk changing to a full grin as he brushed dirt off his now-shredded t-shirt, Kyo blurred as he charged straight back at Shampoo, who was smirking and beckoning him on with raised bonbories.

 

Nabiki concentrated strictly on the fight after that, not wanting to miss an instant. Up, down, over, about--the two bounced about the vacant lot like a pair of graceful ping-pong balls, all the while moving their bodies in ways that most normal people thought impossible. The mercenary girl certainly didn't envy them the pain they were going to be in for a couple days after this fight was done, even if they were able to speed up their own healing by use of their ki. She couldn't help but wince at some of those blows, and wonder how bones weren't being broken like the occasional rock was! And they must be straining muscles, if not outright spraining them, by twisting like that!

 

The fight lasted for a grand total of forty-seven minutes and eight seconds, by the camcorder's time-stamp. Both fighters were sweating heavily and panting from effort before they were finally ready to finish it. Nabiki and the others watched with suddenly rising excitement as Kyo exerted himself, his expression suddenly dropping the grin and going determined, and got into position to knock Shampoo out with one swift strike from behind. She'd been too slow in recovering after putting too much into a strike that Kyo had somehow managed to just barely leap over; his stiffly bladed hand had flashed down to connect with her head even as he sailed overhead.

 

At first, no one thought he'd been able put enough power into the blow to do more than tap her. The orange-haired young man had looked comically surprised when the Amazon collapsed bonelessly even as he rolled, leapt to his feet, and spun about practically in one fluid move. Kyo stood and stared dumbly at her crumpled body for a few seconds, before realizing that the fight was over--he'd won.

 

He'd then taken a minute to lean forward, hands braced on knees, to get his panting breath back under control. Concerned red eyes stared intently for a couple minutes to make sure she was down for the count, before looking up at Cologne.

 

The Amazon Matriarch had moved to stand over her fallen great-granddaughter. She quickly and formally confirmed that the girl was out cold, then looked up at her new Son-In-Law with a broad smile on her withered face. “You have won...Son-In-Law. Xian Pu is defeated.”

 

-.-.-.-

 

I'm not exactly all that knowledgeable about martial arts moves and such--so I hope I've faked my way through this fight in a passable way! ::sweat-drop:: I decided not to go whole-hog and research specific names of moves and all that because, after thinking about it for a while, I realized there's probably a whole lot of readers who don't have any more clue than I do about what those moves are--I'd have to describe them in detail anyway; so why waste time I could spend writing?

 

Besides, I tend to skip over reading long, highly detailed fight scenes, myself. I can feel my eyes start to glaze over, unless they're spectacularly well-written; my attention just wanders away from the story...I wouldn't want to fall asleep writing one!