Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ In Darkness In Fire ❯ Contemplation and Progression ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: xzero

Finally, reaching the core of his aura, the center where she could feel control being focused from, she found something that she could not believe, the ki here was immense, like something she had felt , but it was as if he were unaware of it, unaware of this power that lie dormant. It was the same power that she felt in her father, and in her grandfather.

In Darkness In Fire

By: X-Zero

Disclaimer: I own nothing, short the situations, those are mine, the characters and settings are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

Athenais: You got it right on the money.

Wonderbee31: Genma has shown that he knows a great deal more than he's taught Ranma, he helped him develop the Moko Takabisha, showed him how to focus his ki correctly.

To all those who have reviewed: Thank you, your reviews are worth more than gold to me.

Chapter 2 - Contemplation and Progression

Another day, another set of repetitive chores, though the eldest Tendo girl could not complain, she had help now. Rinsing the dishes she had used to cook hours earlier, she looked out the window to see the Saotome heir taking down the laundry and setting it the the basket. Unlike herself, the young man didn't do so from the second story window, or even with the hooked line, instead he did so with a series of precise jumps, snatching the clothing off the line and depositing it in the hamper before landing without looking. He had been doing the chores more and more amazingly recently, and she saw that it fit well with the greater training regime he had started. She smiled softly, fond memories of conversations between them as they did housework, or even when she helped him on occasion with his schoolwork. Her dishes were finished quickly as she did them thinking of other things, fonder than soap suds up to her elbows. She began on dinner just as she finished, reaching into the refrigerator for the vegetables and meat, and searching her well-stocked cupboards for the spices and rice she would serve that evening, a simple meal of rice and stir fry. She chopped the vegetables quickly and precisely, only pausing when she heard the padded footfalls of her younger sister, "Can I help you Nabiki?" She asked sweetly, not bothering to turn around to face her, instead finishing with the vegetables and moving on to the strips of beef.

Tendo Nabiki had been awake since dawn, an unusual happening for the middle bowl-haired brunette, having spent several hours positioning her factors to be around the Saotome home, as well as the area through which Ranma would pass on his way there, she was hungry. She had found out nothing despite the weeks that had passed since he began visiting his mother everyday, he had been returning tired, so it could be assumed that she was either working him, or showing him what he did not learn with his father. Nabiki had always suspected that the clumsiness with which the woman wielded that blade of hers was merely a ruse. She would find out what was going on, nothing escaped her notice, nothing. She made her way downstairs quickly, and despite her haste, her footsteps were as silent as those of a ghost, she had stopped learning martial arts beyond the basics, but had not forgotten what she had learned, had not forgotten how to move. She always made a notice of it to move as silently as possible, she had in fact, done it so long that she no longer thought about it, instead did it by instinct, much as she knew Ranma responded to everything. At least, until recently, his words seemed to be chosen carefully, instead of the instinctive insults he used to hurl without care. He seemed to be wising up, and that thought made the middle Tendo smile. It was not a malicious smile, or even a predatory grin as she was well known for, but instead, it seemed the joy of someone who saw a student, a friend finally learning a lesson that you had been trying to teach. She had spent a great deal of time and energy trying to show Ranma the realities of the modern world, realities and truths that you didn't learn in the wild, such as street wisdom. People would swindle you out of everything you had if you gave them the chance, and she didn't want his naivety affecting all that she had worked for, all that she had done to keep this family from falling apart. Her growling belly stole her train of thought, and her small hand rose to her bare midriff, "Mm, food's starting to sound really good." She muttered to herself, walking into the kitchen through the open door.

In the kitchen she found Kasumi, unsurprising of course, though she hadn't seen her outside all day yet the laundry was down, and she had seen it up only an hour previous. Once again, a train of thought was lost when, without turning or showing any indication of seeing or hearing her, Kasumi spoke. "When do you suppose dinner will be done?" Nabiki asked, starting slowly toward the refrigerator for a snack to tide her off.

"It should be done soon enough, though there is some snack food in the fridge if you are hungry, we are having stir fry tonight, as I'm not in the mood for cooking much else." Nabiki would never admit to being shocked, though the blank look on her face would say otherwise, at least until she covered it. She was being derailed far too easily today for her liking, far too easily. She nodded, though she knew her older sister could not actually see her, and reached into the refrigerator and drew a couple apples, and a pitcher of lemonade. The tall glass set right next to her on the counter must've been placed by Kasumi while she had her head in the refrigerator, though how she knew that her sister would go for the lemonade was beyond her. For not the first time, it dawned on the middle Tendo that her sister hid a great deal beneath the serenity that she displayed, though she knew firsthand that that serenity was not a mask, merely a single side of her sister that was there for public display. She poured her lemonade and returned the pitcher to the fridge, leaving her sister with as much silence as she entered, only as she reached the door, Kasumi began humming a tune that she did not recognize.

Genma sat opposite his old training partner and played with him their game of go, something they had done almost everyday for the last year and a half, a tradition that seemed to start for no particular reason, over this playing table, the two men spoke about matters of great importance, at least, important to them. It was over a game of Go that they devised the arrangement for the unification of their two clans what seemed ages past. Granted, they were incredibly drunk at the time, and so have no clear memory of the agreement, though neither would admit to it. They moved quickly through the game, as it was not the subject of their focus, not important really, not even enough so to cheat as was common, a part of the game itself so much as the strategy that was used.

"Tendo..." "Saotome..." Each began, not each trying to continue, "... I have come to a decision." This time though, both stopped, looking at the other until the elder Saotome decided to continue, and the Tendo patriarch nodded. "This is something that has been coming for quite awhile, and while it grieves me to admit, I don't believe Ranma or Akane will ever marry, at least, not each other. Over the last year or so, we've sat blindly, watching them argue and fight, and while Ranma always helps her when she needs him, I have seen their latest interactions. If anything, I believe that taking from them the pressure of marrying, especially while still in high school, if only barely so, will do more harm than good for our families. So tell me old friend, what is it that you had to say?" Soun stared at Genma in disbelief, eyes wide in shock. He could not believe that his friend had just summed up all that he had to say, all that his regained or newfound clarity had told him. His reflections these past weeks had all been leading to this, he had even taken into counsel his eldest daughter, though you would never guess from the goings on of the house. "Genma old buddy, I agree. In fact, you said exactly what was on my mind. I myself have been watching, and have seen my daughter's eyes when she believes none are watching, when she thinks all are too preoccupied to notice. Her eyes tell me that she doesn't see Ranma as a husband, perhaps in time that may change, or if not, at least they will be family, but never do I believe they will wed, nor so do I believe that either of my other daughters would take kindly to a switch of the engagement. The kami know what happened when Nabiki was made to shoulder the agreement, she milked your son for all he was worth, and while I do not approve, she has done what she can to make ends meet while I have been grieving." Soun sighed at that, unable to remain stony faced as he was usually, at least, as Genma remembered of his usual, before he was married, long before he was a widower. Their conversation was done, and neither man particularly felt like talking, much yet had to be deliberated, how would they put this to their children? A question that would plague the minds of both men for some time, too long.

Akane was out with her friends, as they quite often were, when situations weren't demanding her attention, such as a fiancÃ©e crisis, or being the prisoner of strange Chinese nobility. She sat, basking in the amiable silence as the two other girls none too politely ravaged ice cream like starved dogs. She giggled in the face of this fearsome sight, and quickly the giggle developed into full-blown laughter, until the other parts of the trio took noticed, having the good grace to look bashful. They meekly wiped the frozen desert from their faces with a napkin, and settled back from the empty messy dishes that had at one point been the resting place of banana splits. Soft sighs escaped the lips of the pair, before Sayuri, the darker of the two brunettes leaned forward. "Hey Akane, how have things been recently? Yuka and I have noticed that you haven't been as stressed as usual recently." Yuka nodded vehemently, "Yeah Akane, what's the deal? Ranma's been really weird lately too, I mean, what's up with him ignoring Kuno-sempai? He usually bashes his head in, but yesterday, he just ignored him like he wasn't worth his time." Yuka already understood that Kuno truly wasn't worth Ranma's time, despite that fact, Ranma always rose to the challenges that Kuno offered, no matter how strange.

For her merit, Akane managed to respond gracefully, unless being left working one's jaw like a fish out of water was not considered graceful. She did recover quickly though, her features twisting into a pensive gaze as she thought with a finger held to her lips. "You know, you're right, I guess it's just because Ranma hasn't been around much, he's been spending alot of time after school and the majority of the weekend every week with his mom, and well, we just haven't had the time or energy to argue, scary as it sounds." She dared not tell them more, she knew that neither of them would ever betray her, but Nabiki's factors were everywhere, and always listening. "As for Ranma, well, I guess the baka is finally growing up, he's been more quiet recently, and when he does talk, I think he thinks beforehand. I saw him in the dojo awhile back, training with weapons though, and that kind of worries me. But... This is Ranma, what do I have to worry about?" She knew at that moment that there was something to worry about, it shone on her face, and she could practically hear the bad suspense music begin in the background.

"If you're sure." Shrugged Sayuri, while Yuka looked thoughtful, though she hid it quickly, before either of her companions could notice. She actually had conversations with Ranma on the rare occasion that she retreated to the roof of Furinkan during lunch periods, during the same time that he was hiding from his fiancÃ©es. She pitied him sometimes, before she remembered his words on pity. "I don't need pity, it's my life, and even though it sucks, it's mine to deal with." He always began grumbling about his father, and how he didn't exactly make things easy on him.

"Yuka... Yuka, it's time to get going, it'll be dark soon." Sayuri offered Akane a smile before departing with the ashen brunette. The youngest Tendo smiled widely and moved from the booth. Waving, she bid the vendor a goodbye and left, taking to the cool evening air, and walking carefree in the direction of her home.

Ryouga sat in the light of his campfire, as usual, the fanged martial artist had no idea as to his present location, his only clue that he had seen a man hunting with a long blowgun a few hours previous. It bothered him, as he was distinctly aware that such was a rare if ever sight in Japan, meaning that he must've found his way to some other country, though he could not recall crossing any large bodies of water. That thought sent a shiver down his spine, water... He cursed loudly, startling a flock of birds into the air, but doing nothing to sate the anger that swelled within him. It was Ranma's fault, had he just been a man and stayed for their duel, he'd not be cursed, he would be free to pursue his love openly, and never be that helpless pig again. He sighed loudly, knowing that that was just a damn excuse, Ranma was not responsible for his situation, and only during these moments alone could he quell his anger long enough to see that. He knew that by the next time he saw Ranma, he'd be caught up in his depression and would strike blindly. He knew that Ranma always tried to be a friend to him, always did what he could to help him. He hadn't seen the pigtailed boy in weeks though, the last time he had seen the Tendo home, he had been away at his mother's home, visiting. He had wanted to see him, to see his friend from childhood, from the days they had spent sparring in middle school. He had considered Ranma his rival since that first bout, he was the standard by which he would measure himself. They were always in close competition with one another, always striving to improve. Never was this rivalry malicious, when one improved, the other would strive to match, and because Ranma had a sensei, something that had been denied him because of his families curse, often it was he trying to catch up. That had been the greatest source of irritation and conflict between them. Put simply, he was jealous of all that was handed Ranma, though slowly he was coming to the understanding that his rival didn't want all these things, because they were simply not worth their cost to him. Ryouga pondered these things long into the night, and when he did sleep, it was dreamless.

Somewhere between the Tendo compound and the Saotome home, Ranma was doused thoroughly with cold water, and this was how his, or rather, her mother found her, drenched and smelling no little like something dead and decaying. The elder woman pinched her nose closed and invited her son turned daughter inside. "Go ged a showah." She said, pointing in the direction of the bath. "I be waidin oudside." She explained as she cantered quickly outside toward the training area.

She sat there amidst the training devices, and thought on the training they had run through, he was being modest claiming to know the basics of the traditional weapons. She could recall clearly the time she tested his knowledge.

Flashback

Ranma held in his hands a bokken made of white oak in a ready stance, "blade" held tucked into his sash. Upon Nodoka's prompting he flew into a kata, not at his usual speed, but close. He whirled in a simple, for his standards, kata that reeked of the style covered within Musashi's book, "A Book of Five Rings." He flowed between the attitudes, and displayed incredible talent, but despite his skill, he still held the weapon stiffly, his forms were perfect, but mechanical. He would win most world class competitions with his skill, but until he learned to treat the sword as an extension of his arm, it would not sing for him.

Next he was to display his proficiency with pole arms, a naginata resting easy in his palms. "Yosh!" She barked, and he began, slow deliberate motions with his weapon were the start of the form. These crisp strike were meant to show both power and control, two of the main points in the use of the naginata. Speed was often discarded for control, as with familiarity strength would increase. His display ended with a dual handed rapid succession of thrusts, each quicker than the last, before one of them struck low in a sweep with the back of the blade, and pole was spun end over end to be embedded in the ground, a fatal maneuver. She nodded slowly, smiling. "Very good, Ranma. You have a great deal of skill, but are still lacking a great deal, you have a long road ahead before you can master the art of weapons."

End Flashback

Ranma finished his bath quickly, wanting dearly to return to his training. He would admit now that he was a lot less prepared for the unusual weapons his mother was teaching him to wield, before she would let him touch another weapon, he had to master the fan, the umbrella, and basic gardening tools, he spent a great deal of time doing calligraphy and gardening when he was here. In each lesson he began to see the greater purpose, he understood that calligraphy took precision, and farming tools were some of the earliest weapons. He smiled, remembering the aches in his muscles, and tugged his undershirt over his head. He slung the crimson silk over one shoulder and left the bathing area, heading for the back yard, walking slowly and enjoying the peaceful aura of the house. Despite his slow motion, he reached the sliding door to the yard quickly enough. He opened it and went outside, watching as his mother sat in the center of the rough mats she had laying in her training area. She had her eyes closed and a peaceful smile on her face. He just looked at her for a moment, trying to capture this image in his mind, trying to memorize his mother. He had never had an image of her from his childhood, and he always wanted to remember her as she was now, smiling and serene. This was the mother he had imagined during his childhood, before he thought she was dead. This is what he imagined she looked like, what little he could remember, memories of his life before the Nekoken were hazy, like a half-remembered dream. After that day, his memory had been sketchy, he could remember anything he'd seen, regardless of how short a glimpse he had of it, but names, dates, these things escaped him.

"Are you going to join me, or will you spend the rest of the evening standing there?" Nodoka asked, shaking Ranma from his thoughts. Whoa, I almost forgot about that, she can sense ki as easily, and more accurately than I can. He thought to himself as he stepped onto the rough mats and sat opposite his mother and sensei. "What are we doing today, sensei?" He asked, the warmth of a son to his mother fading as they ceased to be related, she was his sensei, and he her student, nothing more. Her regal grace never faltered, despite the power she exuded, both intellectual and physical. "Today you will be practice with the staff, your skills with it are great, but you fail to grasp the true power of it. It is not only a weapon, look to it for other uses, and never forget that you are a master of unarmed combat, infuse those skills with your tools, use the two in harmony, not separately." She was right, he realized, since he had began using weapons, he had been mastering the skill apart from his usual method, he had been learning something new, instead of adapting the new and mixing it into the old. He had neglected his specialty, it dawned upon him then that he had a great deal of work to do. He needed to make these weapons part of his bag of tricks, he needed to integrate them into his strategies, into all that he was. "Yes sensei, I will do it." And he did, his training reached deep into that night, and when he slept it was for a few hours, and when he awoke, he ate breakfast and trained more, every hour bringing him closer, but it would take days of this, days he did not have.

Outside of all that exists, in a place where nothing existed, yet existed everywhere at once, a tall dark woman with green hair streaming down her back stood holding an apparently ivory staff, this staff was in the shape of a key, a heart filled with a garnet orb at the top. She stared into a hole in the nothingness, a gap within the every shifting chaos of time. This gap was surrounded by ornate doors depicting angels and demons, this was what was known as the gates of time. The image within the open gates was that of a woman, auburn hair cut short with a small jade clip behind her left ear. She stared directly ahead with gray eyes that glinted like naked steel in the light. "How?" The woman howled, "I thought they were all gone, sure, there was one like them at the tail end of the Tokugawa, but I got rid of him, got rid of his entire family." A tear fell from the corner of an eye. Even the children, she knew they had done nothing, but their existence was a threat to the Earth, just as it had been to the Silver Empire. "I have to be rid of this woman, before she can ascend." She turned, and her deep eyes drilled into the woman's image, burning it into her mind. "The threat must be eliminated." She declared solemnly, fading from sight.

To Be Continued...

A/N: The plot thickens and things are progressing forward, I decided to introduce the beginning of the SM element in this chapter, as I had planned this chapter covers some of his training. Don't worry, it won't be for another couple of chapters that the two elements meet. I hope to keep a somewhat steady pace in this fic, as it is becoming easier to write as I progress. A couple sticky spots slowed it down some, but I should hopefully have enough free time away from RL to continue at this pace for another chapter or so. X signing off.