Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma OneHalf: First steps ❯ Book Four, Chapter 9 ( Chapter 41 )

Authors note: Sorry for the lag in updating, but I had some personal drama and work interfere. That and I was plotting out the next few chapters in detail. Heh heh heh heh............

Ranma One Half: First steps. Book Four.

Chapter Nine.

"There they are-"

"I'm telling you, they're up to something....."

"-first he takes the day off then her-"

"What could they be-"

Lia gritted her teeth and wished for the umpteenth time that she could kill her classmates. Walking beside her Matoko read her sister's mood and leaned over to her.

"Anything I can help with?" she asked.

"Do you think that you could use our classmates for sword practice?" Lia whispered back. "Using your katana?"

"It's tempting." Matoko answered. "But illegal."

"Just claim temporary insanity." Lia answered as they approached the front doors to Furinkan. "Brought on by the morons known as our fellow students."

Matoko chuckled as they stepped inside and headed to their lockers. After changing into their uwakabi the two girls headed up to their classroom. They were halfway up the stairs when a chorus of feminine screams signaled the arrival of Naota. Gritting her teeth Lia forced herself to not go tearing outside and give the mob of girls a demonstration of her chi claws.

With careful deliberation Lia stalked up the stairs and to their classroom and sat down. They had been there only a few minutes when Naota stepped into thee classroom, none worse for the wear with Kenji right behind him. Sitting down at his des he nodded to Lia, who gave him a glare in return that only four people in the room knew was fake.

While Lia continued to send glares at Naota Matoko penned a quick note and palmed it back to Kenji. Taking the note Kenji opened it and read it.

"Kenji, how did you and Naota escape?" the note read.

Jotting down a response Kenji then dropped a pencil and palmed the note back to Matoko while he retrieved the pencil.

"Easy. We sicced Hideo on them. They took one look at the resident mad scientist and pervert and ran away."

Matoko smiled and jotted a reply back on the note under Kenjis.

"Good job! :)"

Kenji read the note and passed his reply back to Matoko.

"Thanks."

Folding the paper up Matoko pocketed it as the teacher came in and began to set up the days lessons. Turning around he noted Naota and Kenji seated at their desks.

"Ah, Mr. Sano, Mr. Mashida , I want to see you after school." he said before opening his manual.

'Yes Sensei." the boys chorused.

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When the last bell rang for the day everyone filed out, glad to be released for the day and looking forwards to spending the rest of the Saturday at home. Naota and Kenji however, got to stay behind for their home room teacher. Standing by the blackboard they watched as the teacher shut the doors and walked up to stand in front of them.

"Okay, I'm going to be frank Naota." the teacher, Mr. Osagawa began. "If you don't buckle down now you are going to flunk out. I've taken a look at your scores and you used to have a margin for error."

"Yes Sensei." Naota said with a nod.

"But now.... If you fail one more class it's curtains." Osagawa continued. "And you are close to failing every class of yours, so any more tardies or in completes in anything..... Which brings me to my next subject. Kenji."

"Yes Sensei?" Kenji asked, looking like a deer in the headlights.

"Why didn't you bring Naota his homework?" the teacher asked.

"I'm sorry Sensei. I got distracted and forgot..." Kenji began before Osagawa cut him off.

"Well, maybe if you actually paid attention to what was going on around you this wouldn't have happened!" he snapped. "You might want to try that, then maybe your scores would improve!"

Kenji flinched and Naota smashed down the impulse to rip the teacher to shreds for speaking to his best friend and brother in everything but name. Keeping a neutral facade he played the part of a contrite student as the teacher continued.

"I want both of you two to shape up or I'm coming down on you two like a ton of bricks, got it?" he asked.

"Yes Sensei." they chorused.

"Good. Now get out of here, and this time, when you get home, try studying for a change." Osagawa snapped as he pointed to the door.

Nodding quickly they headed to the door and fled the classroom. They were two floors down when Naota glanced behind them.

"Remind me when we graduate to stuff his teaching manual where the sun don't shine." Naota muttered.

"Assuming I don't just go Quake on him." Kenji answered.

Stopping at the staircase heading to the ground floor Naota pointed down the hall.

"This way." he said. "I'm not in the mood for Furinkans hijinks today."

"Likewise." Kenji answered as they started padding down the hall.

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Lia looked up when the doorbell rang.

"Naotas here." she said as she got up.

"Could you get the door?" Akanes voice carried down the hall.

"I'm on it." Lia answered as she got up.

Walking down the hall she reached the mud room and opened the front door to find Naota and Kenji standing there, looking tired and disheveled.

"So what was Osagawas problem this time?" she asked as she stepped aside for the two boys.

"Oh, the usual 'you're gonna flunk' BS." Naota answered as he pulled off his shoes. "Nothing major."

"Okay." Lia said, shrugging her shoulders. "The dojos open. You wanna spar?"

"I'd love to. Let me go get changed." Naota answered as he stepped inside the house.

Ten minutes later Naota was changed and was stepping into the dojo where Lia and her father waited. Ranma went to the sidelines to watch while Lia and Naota walked to center of the practice area. Bowing to each other they stepped back and went into their ready stances.

Lia started off by invoking the Umi -Sen -Ken and disappearing. Naota was expecting this and already had his ears focused on Lia before the match started. Unfortunately he wasn't focused on her right foot, which caught him in the solar plexus and knocked him back six feet.

Landing on his back Naota rolled onto feet and wasn't the least bit surprised to see that she was still in the Umi- Sen -Ken. He immediately to use his other senses to search for Lia.

"No footsteps. Either you're standing still Lia, or..." Naota thought as he caught the slight scent of cucumber and heard the momentary 'ba-dump' of a heartbeat. "You've managed to combine the Umi -Sen -Ken with your sk8ter technique."

Whipping around Naotas left arm blurred into a wreathing bundle of snakes as he lashed out with burst of hyper-fast Chestnut Fist punches. Lia blurred into existence as she ducked under them and transition into a sweeper kick. Naota saw the kick and jumped to avoid it.

As Naota rose into the air above her Lia flexed her body backwards, propelling herself along the floor using her chi. As he tracked her Naotas conditioning was in effect, putting him into 'battle mode'.

While he tracked her his eyes Naotas brain was processing everything else his senses were telling him about what was going on in the environment around him. Which with his demonic senses was quite a lot. Also added into this was his newly discovered 'chi sense', which was telling him how Lias chi was interacting with the floor.

In the back of his brain it 'clicked', and suddenly he knew how Lia was using chi to skate around and cling to surfaces. And so being a true(1) Hagakure ninja he immediately used Lias biggest strength against her.

Lia and Ranma were both thoroughly surprised when Naota dashed forwards from mid -air and planted a kick in Lias mid section, knocking her out the open patio doors and into the yard.

Landing with a 'thump' Lia lay there for stunned for several seconds as she tried to figure out what had happened.

"What the hell was that?" she thought. "How did Naota do that?"

Sitting up, she looked in the dojo and saw Naota standing in his usual crane stance. Smirking slightly he held out his hand and beckoned for Lia to come inside.

"How-?" Lia asked.

"I figured out your trick." Naota answered. "You warmed up now?"

Lia grinned as she hopped to her feet. "Oh, it's on now." she said before charging into the dojo.

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Naota flopped backwards and sighed.

"Ye god, I'm tired...." he said.

"As well you should be." Ranma said from his usual position at the table. "You and Lia were doing high level chi techniques for an extended period of time."

"No kidding." Naota answered.

"If it's any consolation, Lia is as tired as you are." Ranma said as he looked at his daughter.

Lia groaned and rolled over onto her side. "Can't feel legs....arms..... ears...... fingers........ toes....... hair...... tail.........."

Patting his daughter on the head Ranma nodded knowingly.

"I know. But you were sparring with a demon Lia." he pointed out.

Lia simply groaned and rolled over. Ranma snorted with amusement and looked back at Naota.

"So....You want to stay for dinner?" he asked.

"Seeing as how I can't move, do I have any choice?" Naota asked.

"No." Ranma answered.

"I thought so."

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The sounds of a happily purring Lia drifted through the Saotome living room as the dinner dishes were cleared from the table.

"That, as usual, was delicious Matoko." Naota said as he placed his dishes in the sink.

'Thank you Naota." Matoko said as Naota headed back into the main room. "I have a new recipe I want to try tomorrow, so if you want to you can stay."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world Matoko." Naota answered.

"That reminds me." Ranma said from his position at the table, where he was reading the paper and serving as a pillow for Lia "I want to work on that chi technique of yours. There's a lot of potential in it."

"Ditto." Naota answered. "What time do want me over?"

Ranma shrugged as he went back to his paper. "Six. You, Christian, and Mamimi can go at it a few rounds for your warm up."

"Okay." Naota said. "See you at six."

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"And what have we learned Christian?" Ranma asked as he sat at the edge of the practice area.

Christian simply scowled and slouched down where she was sitting.

"Chris -chan learned that-" Mamimi began but Ranma held up his hand, stopping her.

"No, Christian has to say it." he said.

Mamimi nodded and looked at Christian, who scowled and slouched down some more. Finally, after several awkward seconds Christian sighed and looked up at her father.

"I learned that you don't pull a cat demon's tail." she said.

"And why is that?' Ranma asked.

"Because it hurts." Christian answered.

'Exactly. And what do they do when you do that?" Ranma asked.

"They put you into a really frilly dress and put your hair into pigtails." Christian answered through gritted teeth.

"And will you do it again?" Ranma asked.

"No." Christian answered.

"Good." Ranma said. "Now you and Mamimi can watch Naota and I spar."

Getting to his feet Ranma began to walk to the center of the practice area when the doorbell sounded. Stopping he glanced at the clock above the porch doors.

"Kinda early for visitors....." he mumbled to himself. "I got it!" he called as he headed for the dojo doors.

Naota found himself alone with Christian and Mamimi as they waited for Ranma to get back. Christian glowered at Naota while Mamimi sat in contented silence. As the absence of Ranma became prolonged Naota began to practice a kata to keep himself occupied.

He was starting to get into it when the door to the dojo opened and Akane stuck her head in.

"Naota? You're needed in the other room." she said.

"Oh? What for?" Naota asked.

"You'll see." Akane said as she stepped inside the dojo.

Akane hid it well, but Naota could tell by her tone and body language that something was amiss. And as he headed into the hall he caught a whiff of her scent, and he could tell she was emotionally upset- angry in fact. This made a feeling of unease gnaw in his belly as he headed down the hall and into the main room.

As he came into the main room Naota saw Kenji sitting at the table with his back to Naota with Lia and Matoko fussing over him.

"Yo Kenji, whats up?" Naota asked as he came in.

Kenji turned to glance at his friend, and thats when Naota saw the black eye and several large bruises forming on his friends face. Blinking he crouched down and looked at Kenji. Naota started to open his mouth to say something when he caught the scent on Kenji.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Kenji nodded and Naota sat down cross -legged across from him.

"What happened?" Naota asked.

Kenji sighed and looked down at his hands.

"Father and I had an argument." Kenji began in a low voice. "He was getting on my case about my grades, and how if I didn't apply myself I wouldn't get anywhere in life, and....."

"And?" Naota asked.

"And... and I got creative with my answer. He didn't like it." Kenji answered as he glanced down at his wrist.

Naota followed his glance and then he saw that Kenji was holding his right wrist protectively, and that it was at an odd angle and swollen up.

"So I see." Naota said.

"And thats why I came here." Kenji said in the same low voice he had been using from the beginning. "I was wondering if I could stay with you for a bit until he calms down."

Naota nodded and patted Kenji on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you can stay with me. They won't mind." Naota said. "And your moving in permamently."

"But..." Kenji began but Naota held up his hand, silencing Kenji.

"No buts." Naota said. "I assume he's at work?"

Kenji nodded as Naota stood up.

"Good. I'll get the important stuff. We can get the rest later after I've explained the new arrangements with your parents." he said as he headed to the hall.

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The way over to the apartment block that he and Kenji was short if you were roof hopping and thoroughly pissed to boot. Naota landed in his usual place and jogged over to the block. He took his time going up to their floor, stopping to take out the security cameras and 'fix' some of the lights in the landings so he could talk to Kenjis father uninterrupted and with no witnesses or evidence.

Reaching his floor he walked down it, past his apartment to Kenjis and rang the doorbell to the Mashida apartment. Naota listened to the footsteps of Kenjis mother as she came to the door and opened it.

"Now before you say anything Naota, keep in mind-Urk!" Mrs. Mashida began before Naotas arm snapped out and grabbed her by the throat.

"I suggest for your continued breathing that you shut up." Naota said a calm and level tone. "All I'm here for is Kenjis stuff. Is that clear?"

Mrs. Mashida nodded and Naota stepped into the apartment, still maintaining his grip on her throat. Shutting the door behind him Naota released her and walked down to Kenjis room.

Stepping inside he gave he room a quick once over and mentally tallied what he would have to grab. Once that was done Naota walked over to the closet and took down a gym bag that was stashed there. The first things to go into the bag were the essentials: shirts, socks, pant, underwear, etc.

Once Naota had emptied the drawers of Kenjis dresser he headed over to Kenjis desk to grab what he considered essential. Which in this case consisted of Kenjis hard drive and all the removable media on the desk. Dumping out a shoe box Naota put the stuff in before replacing the lid and putting the box into the gym bag.

Pulling out the portfolio Kenji kept under his drawing table Naota put the manga pages that Kenji was working on into it, along with spare pads of paper and his Zip -a- Tone(2). While he was at it Naota also grabbed the 'essentials(3)' for Kenji and stuck them into another shoe box.

Having gathered what Kenji would need for the immediate future Naota zipped the gym bag shut and shouldering it, stepped outside. Mrs. Mashida was sitting in the living room on a couch and looked up as he stepped out.

"I'll be back for the rest later." Naota told her. "And your husband is going to be late coming home from work today."

With that Naota turned on his heel and left the apartment. After dropping Kenjis stuff off at his place and giving his Grandfather a quick rundown on what had happened Naota headed back to the Saotomes.

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Ichisake Mashida(4) was tired. He had just gotten off of a long day at work and was bone -tired. He had spent the day going over the projected fourth quarter reports with some of the higher ups and they had been particularly displeased with them.

"What a day....first the boy gets out of line, then one nonstop panic attack after the other out of the executives at work." he muttered to himself. Reaching the second floor landing he scowled. " And now the lights are out. Perfect."

Continuing past the landing and up the stairs Ichisake rubbed his eyes and sighed with relief when he saw the third landings light was still burning. As he reached the third landing Ichisake turned and began to start up the staircase to the fourth floor when his legs were swept out from under him.

He fell forwards, his jaw hitting the concrete stairs and breaking teeth. As stars swam in his vision Ichisake was grabbed by the collar and yanked to his feet before being spun around to face.....

Naota Sano.

"Hello Mr. Mashida. We have to talk."

Ichisake narrowed his eyes and glared at Naota. "And what exactly do we have to talk about?" he asked.

"Not much. Just about Kenjis future." Naota answered him. "And the part you and your wife are to play in it."

"What are you talking about?" Ichisake asked.

Naota reached behind him and withdrew his suppressor -equipped SOCOM from his waistband and placed the muzzle under Ichisakes chin. Flipping the safety off Naota cocked the hammer and looked him in the eye.

"You and your wife are not to go near him. You are not to have any contact with him. Ever. As of today he is no longer part of your family. If you ignore what I have said, you will pay the consequences. Is that clear?" he said.

Ichisake nodded slightly and Naota withdrew his pistol. Releasing Ichisake Naota stepped back and turned before heading down the stairs. Shakily he bent down and retrieved his briefcase and walked carefully up the staircase to his apartment.

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"He's back."

Ranma looked up from his discussion with Ono at Lias statement. The front door opened and then Ranma heard naotas soft footsteps in the hall as he headed to the main room.

"Well?" Ranma asked.

Naota sighed as he sat down. "It's been taken care of." he said. "I talked it over with Mr. Mashida."

"Is he still alive?" Ranma asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Naota said. "I wold have gladly killed him, but his life isn't worth a yen, much less going to hell."

"You could have asked me. I would have did it for you." Ranma said.

"You have no idea how tempting that is." Naota answered. "But thats a discussion for another time. How's Kenji? And where is he?"

"Upstairs in the guestroom." Ranma said. "Ono sedated him after patching him up."

"Thank you Doctor." Naota said with a bow. "And how is he? His right wrist was pretty swollen when I left."

Ono sighed and glanced at his hands before responding. "His wrist is broken Naota. He won't be drawing anytime soon."

Naota growled and folded his ears back. "Bastard did it on purpose." he muttered.

"I wouldn't doubt it." Ono said. "Though from what I could get out of Kenji, this was rare."

Naota nodded. "It was mostly emotional abuse."

"Although that scar on his left wrist has me worried....." Ono began but Naota held up his hand.

"That was an accident. He was cutting paper with a razor and it slipped." Naota said. "Though he didn't do a thing about it and would have bled to death if wasn't for me."

"When did this happen?" Ono asked.

"When we were fourteen." Naota answered. "During the Empty Year."

Ono nodded and continued with the original topic. "And anyways, it was a clean break, which means that there shouldn't be any complications."

"Good." Naota said. "The last thing Kenji needs is to lose his art."

The three males nodded in agreement over Naotas last statement. Glancing over at Naota Ranma spoke.

"Do you want to stay the night?"he asked.

"I had better." Naota said. "He's messed up right now, and I'm the only other thing in his life thats stable right now."

Ranma nodded as Naota stood up. "Going somewhere?" he asked.

"I'm gonna go watch over Kenji." Naota answered. "He'd do the same for me."

Ranma nodded. "Go." he said as Naota headed to the stairs."There's more to discuss, but it can wait until later."

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(1) but unwilling

(2)that's what they use for shading and light effects in Manga. It's a sheet of sticky plastic that you can cut and paste onto the art you're working with

(3) for the artistically un-inclined, thats pencils, pens, spare nibs, erasers, feather duster (to sweep away erasure crumbs) and his French curves.

(4)Kenjis father