Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ Have a Kaoih... ( Chapter 94 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"I want to thank you for helping to arrange everything, Lord Kuno," Natsume murmured to the handsome boy whom she was escorting back to his house, "Father was so pleased at the way things turned out, and we have you to thank for gaining our approval for the tournament this summer."

"You have little to thank me for," Tatewaki reassured his lady companion, "A few words in the right places was all it took to bring those Masters to your dojo, the rest was performed by you and your sister with admirable finesse. It is you to whom your father must give thanks for the acclaim that you have earned through your labors, especially in the way you dealt with that disgusting perver-ah…I mean your honored grandfather…"

"You do not need to mince words with me on that subject," Natsume replied, "I have no illusions as to the moral integrity of my great-great-grandfather, the man who trained me and my sister in the martial arts while telling us-a pair of naïve orphan girls-that he was our father, Tendo Soun."

"Indeed," Tatewaki remarked, "Such a cad who would abandon you to his vile perversions is not worthy of calling himself the Master of the Anything Goes school. I would say that, by your actions, you have gone a long way to redeeming your art from obscurity, for which you and your sister should take justifiable pride and for which your father will gain great honor."

"My sister," Natsume looked down, "I'm sorry for the way she acts around you sometimes. She really isn't like that most of the time, just when…well…she's been maybe a little…overprotective of late…"

"You don't need to apologize for her," Tatewaki replied, "I can well understand how she would fail to trust in me, given the way I first introduced myself to the both of you. One cannot call it a very auspicious way of creating a good first impression."

"But…you weren't really yourself when it happened…" Natsume protested.

"On the contrary, my sweet Mahogany Angel," Tatewaki replied, "I was more typical of myself, or-rather-the self I presented before others for the previous nine years when I was under my twisted sister's misguided influence. The self you see today is the new Kuno Tatewaki, forged in the likeness of a man who could perhaps one day be worthy of your esteem and affection. I have yet a ways to go before I redeem myself for my past sins, but for now I am grateful to have had your patient guidance on my road to recovery and a more socially acceptable outlook. I can hardly blame Kurume for harboring her doubts and qualms that my change is permanent and that I will be suffering no relapses."

"That will never happen!" Natsume said with force, "You will never go back to that drug-induced dementia from which you pried yourself through so much sacrifice and effort! You are too strong to allow yourself to fall back into that life, and I would never let you…"

"And I believe you," Tatewaki replied, "With you at my side I believe that anything is possible, and the strength you lend me would give me the power to scale mountains."

"That is because I believe in you, Tachi-san," Natsume said warmly, "I know that you are strong, and…I am honored to have played even the small role that I have in your recovery."

"Small role?" Tatewaki sniffed, "You are my light at the end of a long and very dark tunnel. I am flattered that you believe me strong, but strong is what I see in you, and it is from observing you that I have drawn much of my inspiration."

Natsume looked down and hoped that the light of the street lamps would obscure the rosy blush that colored her cheeks. All too soon the pair found themselves at the address of the Kuno mansion, at which point they knew that they would have to part company in the name of propriety and politeness. Asking to stay over at this late hour would imply something less than fully appropriate for an unmarried couple, even if the desire to further explore the dimensions of their relationship had been tugging on them of late. That was why they paused and prolonged the moment, turning to half-regard one another, allowing the silence that had suddenly grown between them to drag on for a long while before either of them dared to spoil the moment by attempting to frame it in words.

But at last Tatewaki said, "I…must go now…be well, gentle Natsume."

"I know…my Lord Kuno…" Natsume responded with great reluctance.

"I…" Kuno paused once again, then reached into his hakama and withdrew a single rose, which same he offered to Natsume, who accepted the rose without much hesitation.

"For you, my sweet, 'til we meet again," Tatewaki averred softly before reluctantly turning away and forcing himself to pass through the gates that guarded his family manor, "Be well…and have a safe evening."

"I shall, my Lord," Natsume murmured softly, "Tachi-sama…"

And with that she turned away, her thoughts very far from her earlier musings on the activities of her younger sister…

"…What I was telling you before about pathetic doesn't begin to cover the situation you're now in," Kurume was explaining to a bound and helpless Chinese boy, who was currently dangling upside down, wound up in his own chains and hanging from an overhanging rain gutter, "And what's the idea about attacking me twice in the same day using the same tactics? You think you were gonna do better on the second attempt after the first try failed, or something?"

"That's not it at all!" Mousse vainly protested, having an inverted view of both the short-haired girl and the alley in which they were presently located, "I just wanted you to stop following me around…"

"Oh, is that how you want the game played?" Kurume asked, "You don't mind stalking but you hate it when you're the one being stalked. Turnabout isn't necessarily fair play with you, is it, Monkey-boy? So, why do you think you deserve special consideration instead of Perfume and Ukyo? You think they're the only ones who can be stalked and not you?"

"Shut up!" Mousse snapped, "You don't understand me at all. How can you know anything about me or why I do what I must when you're not even a real Amazon? You've no right to judge me, and you can't come between me and my love for Perfume!"

"Can't I?" Kurume smiled, "Just watch me!"

Mousse struggled against his own chains, then growled and said, "Just because you think you have me at a disadvantage doesn't mean I'll just give in and surrender to you…"

"Would you shut up about those damned Amazon Laws of yours already? Sheesh!" Kurume growled as she ran her fingers through her short brown hair and sighed, "You really think that combat's all a game about dating? I'm trying to get you to lay off and see reason! You're so blindly obsessed about having Perfume for your wife you can't even see how you're ruining your life, and possibly ruining hers without getting even close to achieving your ambitions."

"I'm not blind!" Mousse snapped, then paused before adding, "I just have a little…visual problem is all…it's astigmatism…I'm far-sighted…I can't see anything up close too well without glasses."

"But you can see things perfectly at a distance, right?" Kurume asked, "So why don't you try standing back and looking at yourself as other see you? Even if you do it only for a second it's bound to change your outlook…or that's what Oneechan always tells me…"

"About your habit of stealing food?" Mousse countered, "I've heard the rumors…you used to be a food thief, always taking whatever you could find to fill that bottomless pit of yours, something to do with you having such a high metabolism. Otherwise you'd starve to death in a matter of hours…so who are you to criticize me and claim the moral high ground?"

"Okay, you've got a point," Kurume conceded, "But nobody's perfect. The problem is that I may take food to live, but I don't do it to hurt others. You, on the other hand, want to fight and kill a pregnant woman who can't really fight back, just so you can claim her wife as your own. Talk about dishonorable…"

"I don't want to kill her!" Mousse averred, "I-I only want to make Perfume safe…"

"Oh yeah?" Kurume countered, "And how are you going to do that? By hurting the one she loves, the mother of her baby? You know she can't withstand having one of her own, so what kind of father do you think you'd make for her? Are you so hung up on the idea of having her that you can't see how much it's hurting her to have you constantly hanging around making a mess of her life?"

"And what do you care what I do?" Mousse asked, "It's not even any of your business…"

"What, because I'm not an Amazon?" Kurume countered, "What has that got to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with it!" Mousse insisted, "You don't know what it's been like for me, you don't know anything about what I've been through! All my life I've been laughed at and ridiculed, called weak, stupid and half-blind! Even when I fought and became the top male warrior of our tribe I was still considered a laughing stock among my people!"

"Because they didn't like you or laughed at your handicaps?" Kurume asked, "Or did it have something to do with you chasing after a girl who always refused you? Is this about showing them that they were wrong about you…or right all along? Or is it just because you're a boy from an Amazon society?"

"A…little of all of that, actually…" Mousse grudgingly admitted, looking down and away from the girl currently holding him captive, "Look…the blood's starting to rush to my head…could you let me down from here? I promise not to be a bother…"

"What kind of a fool do you take me for anyway?" Kurume asked, but after a moment of thought she elected to free him anyway, having decided that she had made her point and could not-in good conscience-keep him prisoner any longer.

Mousse slipped from his chains as Kurume turned her back on him, and once the Chinese boy was on his feet again he studied her backside and said, "Why?"

"I've made my point with you," the short-haired girl replied as she tied her trademark ribbon in her hair once again, "Now you're free to leave, or go wherever the hell it is you go when you're not busy harassing people. If you want to waste your life, it's no business of mine, but stay away from Ukyo and Perfume, they're family now. I won't stand for having anybody mess with my family, you got that?"

"I got it," Mousse said, "But what makes you think I'm going to give up that easy?"

"You're such a jerk," Kurume flared, "Do you only care about yourself and what you want? Okay, maybe you have had a rough time of it growing up, that's no excuse for you running around trying to make people miserable all of the time. You're not winning any points with Perfume for persistence, and you sure haven't impressed me with your learning curve to date. If something you keep trying to do fails, why keep doing it? It won't change the outcome in the slightest, and all you do is wind up lonely."

"And why should you care how I wind up?" Mousse asked, "Nobody else does."

"Yeah, and you might try thinking about why that is sometime," Kurume half-turned to regard him with a flatly angry expression, "If you never show anybody the good side of your personality-assuming you have one-then why shouldn't they think you're a creep and a moron? But you know something? You'll never know whether or not people can like the real you-warts and all-if you never give them the chance to get to see a better side of you, and I think you've got to have one somewhere. I mean, everybody deserves a chance to make a better life at least once, don't they?"

"I…" Mousse suddenly found that he could not phrase a proper rebuttal to her statement, and all he was left with in the end was a slew of memories of far less pleasant encounters when people had scorned him for a fool, often far more aggressively than had Kurume.

So why was it her words made him feel six inches small, like a "dirty ape" who deserved to be locked up in a cage and fed only water and bananas? It just was not like him to let the opinions of others have such an affect on his self-image.

"You think on that the next time you want to come around and challenge me," Kurume flared, and then like a shot from a cannon she took off at high velocity, moving so fast that she was only a blur to the naked eye, a superhumanly swift mongoose who could never be caught by the strongest chains that he might have used to restrain her…not that he had any particular reason to make her stay, unless it was to buy himself enough time to think up a stronger argument to counter his accusations.

The seconds stretched out as Mousse remained where he was standing, then all at once he looked up and said, "Hey! Who said I was challenging you?"

Silence alone answered his query, leaving him to speculate in private on the meaning of the girl's very odd behavior before shrugging his shoulders and grumbled, "Women…Amazons or Japanese, there's just no figuring them out…"

Ranma and Ryoga sat facing one another, palms extended to where they were almost touching. Their eyes were not so much focused on each other as in the space between those palms while Genma calmly and patiently coached them along as they summoned up their Chi, projecting it forward into the palms of their hands until the two fields were touching, at which point sparks actually flared between them.

"Tone it down, boys," Genma urged, "The object of this lesson isn't to overwhelm and overpower each other with the relative strength of your egos. This is about matching resonances and allowing your auras to gradually synchronize together. Now keep projecting at a lower level until you agree on a harmony, and then we'll begin the next stage of this process."

Neither boy verbalized their assent, but they did as their sensei instructed and eventually the color tones of their auras grew to match one another, at which point Genma nodded with approval, seeing this advanced form of the Touched Soul was progressing the way he had intended, and then he said, "Good…now…slowly intensify your ki until you both can harmonize at a stronger level of projection. If one of you starts to fall out of phase with the other, slow down and allow the other boy to catch up. Let's work this up gradually until you have achieved a new level of parity. The stronger the level you can harmonize at, the better this will work when we go on to the next phase, and that's where the real fun will begin," he nodded with thinly veiled amusement.

The space between the two boys grew slowly bright, and then a ball of energy flared up in the space between their hands, starting at first a soft rosy color and gradually shifting upward along the scale until it was a bright blue-violet coloration. The trailer was filled by the power of their radiance as the two boys maintained the sphere between them, gradually strengthening it until it was a compact mass of spiritual energies with power enough to flatten a small building…which was, of course, a risk given the narrow containment dimensions provided by the trailer. If the ball fell out of balance or one boy wavered slightly in his focus and concentration it could well mean disaster, and as the ball continued to intensify it soon contained sufficient power to destroy a major skyscraper.

"That's good," Genma decided at this point, "Now level off and try to contain the power at this level. Keep your focus on the ki ball and don't slacken off. This is where it starts to get very interesting, Boys…don't be intimidated by what you see as the Soul Energy contained within that sphere begins to show you a reflection of yourselves that you may find rather unexpected."

Both Ryoga and Ranma gazed into the sphere that they had created, and slowly images began to form as they saw their own faces looking back at them, albeit slightly distorted, like in a funhouse mirror. As they continued to gaze they saw their faces flow and distort all the more as they morphed into very different identities, ones that looked back with curious, even dumbfounded expressions.

"Hey…" Ranma exclaimed aloud, "I'm a…girl?"

"I'm a pig?" Ryoga also exclaimed, then corrected himself by saying, "No…wait…I'm a girl now…"

"And I just turned into a…a cheetah?" Ranma blinked, "What the hell…?"

"Don't let yourselves be distracted by the images that you see," Genma cautioned, "These reflections do not necessarily show a mirror image of the truth but rather a product of your own thoughts and imagination. You must learn to see beyond your own reflection, just as I do when I look into a mirror and see a panda staring back at me."

"All right, Pop," Ranma allowed, unable to help feeling slightly shaken at the sight of his own face morphing into that of a gorgeous redhead.

"I'm not a pig," Ryoga said flatly, "I don't know where a thing like that could have come from…"

"Hey, you heard Pop," Ranma teased, "It's a reflection of the inner you…"

"Shut up, Ranma," the other boy snapped.

"Don't lose your focus!" Genma snapped, "If you fall out of harmony now…"

"Hey, what's going on in here?" an unfamiliar voice demanded, causing both boys to turn away with a glance towards the trailer entrance.

There was no time for Genma to give a verbal warning, nor could he spare the moment to reprimand his two charges for allowing their concentration to waver together. He reacted instinctively to preserve not only his own hide but theirs by uncoiling from a sitting position with his foot lashing out with a kick aimed precisely at the ball of force hovering between the two boys. Like a shot it took off and punched a basketball-sized hole in the ceiling of the trailer, then kept on rocketing skyward until it was high overhead, at which point it detonated like a giant skyrocket exploding, filling the night sky with a light like a strobing phosphorescence.

Both Ranma and Ryoga blanched together as they stared up through the hole to the explosion far above them, both feeling more than slightly chagrined as they realized what might have happened had that ball gone off with them inside the trailer. Assuming they all would have survived, it was very likely that they would have found themselves sitting amid the smoldering ruins of a very large crater.

"What the hell was that?" a feminine voice whispered from the trailer doorway.

"Nothing much," Genma replied matter-of-factly, "Is there something we can do for you, Girl?"

"Girl?" the attention of the two boys swiveled back towards the trailer entrance.

A young girl who looked roughly about their own ages was standing there dressed up in an elaborate and showy costume consisting of a nearly transparent body-suit lined with feathers and sequins. She was staring back at them with a pair of very round blue eyes (their color was difficult to determine in the dim light, but the girl was holding up an electric lamp in one hand that gave clear definition to her fine features). For a few seconds she said nothing, then she spoke up at last and said, "You three are the Rubes Mom's letting crash in her trailer? Who the hell are your people?"

"Who wants to know?" asked Ranma.

"Excuse me," Ryoga spoke up, "Did you say…your mother?"

"Sure," the sequined girl replied, "My mother owns this Circus. My name is Kaoih…Sanosuke Kaoih. And you guys?"

"Saotome Ranma," Ranma replied, "This is Hibiki Ryoga, and my pop over there is Saotome Genma."

"Saotome…Genma?" the girl blinked, staring past the two boys to the barely illuminated face of the sitting Genma.

"Kaoih, eh?" Genma replied gruffly, "Been a while since I set eyes on you, Girl. Five years to be exact…and you sure have grown…you're an almost spitting image of your mother."

"Ah…thanks," the girl replied before remembering the reason for her visit, "What were you guys doing just now? It looked like you were starting a fire, or making some kind of homemade fireworks…"

"We were practicing a very advanced ki technique, if you must know, Girl," Genma replied, "Which, by the way, you just interrupted."

"Well, excuse me for being worried," the girl named Kaoih replied, "But when you spend your whole life growing up in a circus, you learn to be wary of anything that even smells like a fire. Next time put a sign on the door or something to warn people that you don't want to be interrupted…"

"We didn't mean any harm," Ryoga said.

"Besides, it was just practice," Ranma insisted, "Not like we were expecting to get interrupted."

"Mind your manners, boys," Genma urged, "We're sorry if we alarmed you, Kaoih-chan, you had a perfectly good reason to be worried. I guess the sort of technique we just used is a little too dangerous to be practiced indoors…which reminds me…did your mother make those inquiries, like I asked?"

"You mean did she find an abandoned building nearby that's been condemned and is about to be torn down?" Kaoih responded, "Sure did, in fact I was supposed to give you that address, which was the reason I was coming this way in the first place."

"You mean this isn't your home we're using?" Ryoga asked with a faintly apologetic expression.

"Hardly," Kaoih made a face, "I'm a big enough girl now that I get to have my own trailer…unfortunately Mom's crashing with me tonight because she said she'd given her bedding over to you Rubes. Just don't make a mess on the sheets, okay? Or else I'll have to burn them in the morning."

With that the girl withdrew, leaving Ranma to say, "Now that was rude…and who was she calling a Rube?"

"She looked very pretty," Ryoga mused, "I wonder who her father is. I don't remember Sakura-san saying that she was married."

"She told me once that the man who got her pregnant had abandoned her a very long time ago," Genma said gravely, "And if I ever meet the cad who did that to her…"

"How about later on that thought, eh, Pop?" Ranma asked, "How about we get back to training? I think I know how to do that Touched Soul ki-summoning projection thing again, how about you, Ryoga?"

"I'm good for another go at it," Ryoga nodded.

"Sorry, Boys," Genma urged, "I've decided that's enough training for now. It's better if you both turn in and get some rest. We're going to have to get up early in the morning so that we can check out the address that Sakura was kind enough to provide."

"An abandoned building, Pop?" Ranma asked, "What's the deal with that?"

"You'll find out, Son, just as soon as we get there," Genma nodded gravely.

"That's where we'll practice the Yamasenken?" Ryoga asked, "In a condemned building?"

"Can you think of a better place?" Genma replied, "Now, get some sleep and I'll wake you just as soon as it's sunrise."

"Whatever you say, Pop," Ranma shrugged as he went to his sleeping back and began to unpack it, "Sleep well, Pig."

"Shut up, Ranma," Ryoga growled back, "You sound just like a woman when you say that."

"Hey, now you take that back!" Ranma rounded on the other boy, spitting the word, "Porky!"

Genma sighed as he sensed the impending brawl that was about to take place, then like a shot he moved forward with both hands to stun the boys in their respective "Sleep" spots, rendering them silent and unconscious. With a smug look of satisfaction he lay back on his borrowed bedding and stared at the patterns of the stars in the new "Sun-Roof."

"It's good to be the Master," he decided, and drifted off to a deep and satisfying sleep that lasted well into the morning…

Like that the sun suddenly appeared over the horizon, and the two young men and one older man were up and about their business, with Sakura and her daughter playing tag-alongs as they showed the way to the place identified as a condemned building. The exterior was not much to look upon, but the place looked gutted and burned out as though a recent fire were to account for it's current "condemned" status.

"There it is," Sakura revealed, indicating the seven-story abandoned structure, "I spoke with the owner last night and they told me that the place had been the sight of a recent firefight between the police and a heavily armed gang of criminals. I didn't get too many details, but apparently a bomb went off inside and ruined some of the structural supports. Are you sure you want to train here? It looks and sounds pretty risky."

"Don't worry," Genma replied, "It's perfect for our needs. You and Kaoih had better stand clear, though, I wouldn't want you to get hurt during our training."

"So, what's the big deal, Uncle Genma?" replied the younger girl, who was presently wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of old trousers with a matching pair of plain worn sandals, "You guys gonna knock this place down or something?"

"Something like that, Girl," Genma revealed, "Let's just say that I'd feel a lot better about not having to risk any innocent bystanders. We're trained to handle little things like condemned buildings that might fall down at any moment…and besides…the training I mean to conduct here is highly secret, read: 'Forbidden.'"

"Oh, we girls understand you perfectly, Genma-chan," Sakura assured with an affable little smile, "You boys have fun and don't make too much noise, it might disturb the neighbors."

"Fair enough," Genma said as he led the way in through the building, casually removing the boarded-up door with little more than a palm-thrust.

Sakura and her daughter waited a few moments before each turned and smiled at the other, then by silent assent selected a high window and vaulted up into a place of easy access, intending to watch the fun from relative concealment.

Unknown to them all, an even more stealthy shape detached itself from hiding in a dark alley to creep up on the condemned building, intending to also watch what would happen within without anyone being the wiser.

Inside what had once been the interior lobby, Genma and his two young wards took stock of their surroundings, scanning walls stripped bare of anything that was either useful or of value, leaving behind a scene of burned-out desolation. Gruffly satisfied that no one would mind if they added to the damage of the place, Genma turned around and said, "Ryoga…you can start things off. Care to give a demonstration of what you've learned of the Yamasenken?"

"Sure thing," the lost boy agreed, moving a bit away from the other two men before squaring his stance and saying, "I believe the first maneuver was like this…"

And with that Ryoga slashed out at empty air with a double-handed "tearing" blow that was accompanied with a forward kick that conveyed as much speed as it did destructive potential.

"The Fierce Tiger Opening Gates Blow," Ranma said aloud, "Good way of making an entrance while announcing your presence like a loud Bakusai Tenketsu."

"Not quite the same thing," Genma corrected, "The Fierce Tiger projects all your energy in a directed forced entry, ripping apart an enemy's defenses as if they were nothing. You can see how it might be difficult to withstand such an all-out attack as it leaves little avenue for evasion, and trying to resist it is folly."

"So how do you counter something like that, Pop?" Ranma asked.

"We'll get to that soon enough," Genma replied, nodding to Ryoga as he said, "Continue."

"The Demon Deep-Sea Chasm," Ryoga affirmed, moving forward again with both hands slashing the air with such speed and force that it literally tore at the space in front of him, causing a pair of "air-knives" to jet forward, striking a distant wall and smashing through bricks and mortar.

"Kinda like when you hurl those bandanas of yours, huh?" Ranma mused nonchalantly.

"Except that those knives are composed of air rather than ki-reinforced cloth," Genma again corrected, "Ryoga is moving his hands so fast that they are creating near-vacuum slashes that jet through the air at near-sonic speeds and can strike an opponent at a considerable distance."

"Next would be the Welcome Gate Iron Fingers Blow," Ryoga said as he took another step forward and slashed upward with the fingers of his left hand coming together to present a solid "Snake-fist" style blow. He paused to examine his own gesture then said, "Coming up like that at a sharp angle, I can see how it got to me right through my defenses. I hardly even saw it coming…"

"That's because the purpose to the Senken is sneaky," Genma replied, "That's why it's called a dishonorable system."

"I thought it was because of the other thing," Ranma remarked matter-of-factly, "The next maneuver is the In The Pockets Round Hug Death, but if Ryoga does that to a pillar around here he's bound to bring the roof down on both of our heads."

"True enough," Genma nodded, "We'll skip that one for now and move on to the Gold Cord Tight Binding Seize. Ryoga, you can practice that one on Ranma."

"With pleasure," the Lost Boy declared, a smile suddenly, whipping out his belt and somehow managing to expand it to near rope-size.

"Hey, wait a minute-!" Ranma started to protest when he found himself being ensnared in the belt-turned rope, rendered helpless in mere seconds.

"Well done, Boy," Genma nodded, "You performed that flawlessly. Ranma is effectively helpless."

"Ha-ha," Ranma growled, trying to move his arms, which were now pinned to his sides, "Very funny, now get me loose from this, will ya?"

"Why?" Ryoga smiled, "I kind of like you better this way, Ranma."

"Let him go, Son," Genma urged, "Now show me the rest of what you've learned about the Yamasenken…all except the final two maneuvers."

"All right, Sir," Ryoga replied as he undid the bindings on Ranma, then went on to perform several more attack forms that had been on the scroll that he and Ranma had committed to memory.

Six full motions later, Genma nodded and said, "Now…Ranma, you perform everything Ryoga just did, and do it in sequence."

"Heh, you bet," Ranma grinned, and at once executed one maneuver after the other, right up until he whipped out a rope and snared it around a surprised Ryoga, thus returning the favor.

"Ranma, you-!" the Lost Boy started to protest.

"Uh-ah, Buddy," Ranma replied, "Turnabout's fair play, remember?"

"Stop fooling around, Boy, and finish your demonstration," Genma growled, urging Ranma to untie his sparring partner then continue going through the Yamasenken. When at last Ranma had completed the tenth maneuver, the elder Saotome nodded in satisfaction and said, "Very good…you've both got the basics mastered. The last two maneuvers are the finishing moves, so we'll pass on them for now until we're ready to further escalate matters."

"What's next then, Pop?" Ranma asked, looking both alert and ready.

"Now," Genma replied, "I'll show you both the Umisenken."

Both boys looked alert, Ranma and Ryoga sensing that the real demonstration was just about to get underway, but to their mutual surprise they found Genma moving forward to a clear space before turning around to face them, his expression grave as he assumed a defensive posture.

"Now," Genma urged, "Both of you come at me using everything you have, including the Yamasenken."

"Both of us, Pop?" Ranma asked.

"Are you sure that will be all right?" Ryoga added.

"Foolish Boys!" Genma snapped, "I created the Yamasenken, "You think I don't know the counter?"

"Well…okay," Ranma said as he nodded to Ryoga, "Together it is, then."

"If this is how you want it, sensei," Ryoga affirmed, preparing himself to launch the Fierce Tiger attack.

To their surprise Genma just hunched his shoulders down and curled up his hands in the classic "Snake" style, and as they looked it seemed as though the outline around Genma started to blur and distort as the man himself seemed to fade into the background.

And all at once he struck, his speed so blinding that neither boy even saw it coming!

Ryoga landed face-first upon the floor while Ranma went flying backwards to slam into a far wall hard enough to shake it.

Genma resumed his stance where he had been a moment before, then straightened up and said, "Did you see that, Boys? That was the Umisenken."

"I-I-Incredible…" Ryoga gasped, finding it hard to get breath back into his lungs.

"W-W-What did you just do, Pop?" Ranma gasped as he fell (more like 'peeled' himself from the wall) forward, catching himself with his hands as the rest of his body felt momentarily paralyzed from blows that had struck him all over his body.

"Hit you where you weren't looking, Boy," Genma replied, "The Yamasenken is direct and forceful, but the Umisenken is stealthy and elusive. You can't hit what you can't see, and what you can't see you can't counter, not unless you know where to look and what to be on guard against."

"I…I have to learn that…" Ryoga faintly panted, "Just as soon as the floor isn't moving…"

"Then teach it to me," said Ryu Kumon, who stepped out from the shadows to confront the trio, "I want to learn that style too."

"You again?" Ranma looked up, "Where the hell did you come from?"

"He must have followed us here from the circus, Son," Genma turned to regard Ryu and said soberly, "It's two days yet before the challenge. Do you want to jump the gun before my boys are ready?"

"I don't care about them, Old Man," Ryu replied, "It's the Umisenken that I'm after. You know it, you created it, you can show it to me, just as good as you could your son."

"It's not for you to have," Genma replied, "At least not until I think you're ready. Your father died because he used the Yamasenken improperly, I'd hardly trust his son with the Umisenken before I know that you would use it more wisely."

"That's for me to decide, not you," Ryu growled, "I didn't really see what you did just now, but I can tell it's a lot more powerful than the Yamasenken, so I want it to complete my dojo."

"Only when I think you're ready," Genma repeated soberly, "Ranma, Ryoga? Are you boys in fit enough shape to travel?"

"Let me think about that…" Ryoga gasped.

"I don't have to think," Ranma said as he slowly got up back on his feet, "I just know you're in for some serious butt-kicking, Kumon…"

"You and what army?" Ryu sneered, "You may have just learned how to perform the Yamasenken, but I've been practicing it for years and am a lot better at it. You want to try your luck with me…HEY! Where did the old man get off to???"

"Pop?" Ranma turned to find that his father was no longer with them, only a moment later he heard the sounds of what seemed like miniature explosions going off all around them as walls were burst inward and a significant column was torn up by its moorings.

"THAT STUPID OLD MAN!" Ryu roared, "He's bringing the building down on top of our heads!"

"That's right," said Genma as he paused to pick Ryoga up off the floor, "Just like the Yamasenken destroyed your dojo. I suggest you leave right now before the four of us get buried."

The roof shook ominously, and a section at the rear of the building began to collapse inward, revealing a hole in the wall that was soon filled in by the floors above it collapsing. Ranma hardly needed to hear his father's voice urging him to run when he and Genma began sprinting for the section of the building that had still been left standing. Even that part was starting to show signs of joining the rest of the ruins in their immanent destruction, and when they found their way to the path outside partially blocked off, he did not even have to break his stride as Ranma launched himself forward and cried, "FIERCE TIGER OPENING GATES BLOW!!!"

The poor wall in front of them never had a chance as the three martial artists burst out into the open.

"Geez, Pop!" Ranma complained as he started to turn around, "Think maybe you could give us a little more warning the next…"

Feminine screams caught their attention, forcing Ranma and his father to look up, while Ryoga (still slumped over Genma's shoulder) picked up his head and said, "That sounded like…!"

"Here," Genma passed Ryoga along to Ranma and without hesitation charged back into the building.

"Huh?" Ranma said as he steadied the other boy, incredulous that his father would actually be charging INTO the line of danger for a change. He found himself tensing anxiously with a desire to follow his father in as more of the building began to collapse, only to be surprised as the wall on the third floor burst outward, and into the open hurled both Genma and Ryu Kumon!

His father was clutching Sakura in both arms as he lightly dropped down to the pavement, while Kumon was holding the younger girl known as Kaoih in his arms, and both men just managed to clear the way when the last of the building fell inward like the proverbial house of cards, vanishing into a cloud of swirling dust kicked up by the hundreds of tons of brick, steel and mortar. The sounds were horrendous as girders twisted like pretzels while the basement level of the building collapsed under the weight of the crashing building, and before too long not a bit of it was left standing in an upright position.

Sakura stirred from a near-daze to gaze past the shoulder of her rescuer, then in a low whistle she said, "Whew…called it really close that time. You always were one for bringing the house down, Genma-chan."

"If you ask me, that was a little excessive," Ryu said as he set an equally dazed young girl down beside them, "If all you wanted to do was deny me the Umisenken you could have simply said no."

"Would you have listened to me if I had, Boy?" Genma asked.

"No," Ryu admitted, "But it would have been a lot less trouble."

"W-W-What did you just do, Uncle Genma?" the girl named Kaoih asked in amazement, looking from the Saotome Elder to the handsome young man who had just saved her.

"That, my dear," Sakura said grandly, "Was a little demonstration of why he's known as Genma the Destroyer. There's not a structure made by modern man that could withstand a Saotome when he's in the mind to bring it down."

"Genma the Destroyer?" Ryoga repeated.

"Pop…you had a nick-name as 'The Destroyer?'" Ranma marveled.

"I don't take much pride in it, Boy," Genma replied, "But yes…I've been called that, and a lot worse."

"I can believe that," Ryu frowned, "The Umisenken…I still want it."

"Then you'll have to wait for it, Boy," Genma replied, "I'm not passing it into anyone's hands unless they can prove to me that they know how to use it. That there is an example of why it's called the forbidden system."

"Hmm…" Ryu growled as he turned a sober look towards the ruins, only to become aware of a gentle feminine hand on his shoulder which caused him to turn a look in Kaoih's direction.

"Would it kill you to wait a couple of days?" she asked, "You've been searching for fifteen years, right? A tough guy like you ought to practice a little patience, and if you want something bad enough, then you ought to be willing to work for it, right?"

"Ah…" Ryu seemed to be considering his words carefully as he stared at the brown haired vision of loveliness before him, and then Ranma and Ryoga were treated to an amazing sight as the other boy looked away, his cheeks flushing a mild shade of crimson.

"Two days, Son," Genma said adamantly, "Those are my terms, take it or leave it."

"Very well," Ryu frowned as he forcibly turned away from Kaoih, "Two days then…but I'll be waiting at the rail yard."

"Why not stay with us until then?" Sakura called out brightly, "My offer of a job still stands if you're interested, and I'm sure we can find something for him to do to pass the time, eh Kaoih-chan?"

"Mother!" the brown haired girl appropriately colored.

"I'll…think about it," Ryu averred as he started to walk away, resisting the impulse to glance over his shoulder.

"Y'know something," Ranma said, "I don't know whether to kick that guy's butt or shake his hand."

"He saved the girl," Ryoga responded, "That has to mean something."

"He's not really such a bad sort," Sakura mused, "I've known his kind before…very serious, dedicated to their art, hardly time enough for anything else but training…"

"Yes, I suppose men like that are hard to approach or understand," Genma agreed, "Unless they also share a passion for the art. Eh…?" he turned a questioning look as he belatedly took notice of Sakura's amused expression.

"Let's return to my circus, shall we?" Sakura mused, "We have another bright day ahead of us, and the show must go on. Then I'll share with you a bottle of sake if you'll tell me more about your recent travels, Genma-chan."

"Well I…did you say sake?" Genma replied, his eyes lighting up on the magic word being tossed out so lightly.

Kaoih studied the expressions of the two adults, looking from her mother to her "uncle" Genma, and then in a soft-yet-sour voice she growled, "Geez…why don't you two rent a motel or something…?"

"Huh?" Ranma asked.

"What was that?" Ryoga added.

"Oh…nothing…" the brown haired girl replied as she surreptitiously studied the two handsome youths with her blue eyes, seeing similar eyes looking back at her from the face of at least one of the two boys, while noticing other familiar qualities in the expression of the other. Rather than make known her suspicions, however, she merely said, "You boys know anything about taking care of animals?"

"Ah…" Ranma paused, "Why do you ask?"

"Do pandas count?" Ryoga wondered.

"Close enough," Kaoih nodded as she began to lead the way back towards their camp, seeing the excuse of urging them to share in her morning daily chores as a way of getting to know these two better. With any luck she might persuade them to indulge in some "harmless" conversation in which many interesting things were likely to be revealed, including more information concerning the curious OTHER boy who had just saved her from a collapsing building.

After all, she silently mused to herself, how often did a girl get the chance to spend quality time with her two (previously unknown) half-brothers…?

Continued

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