Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Turning of the Tides ❯ Hinadori Kakeru Ikka ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter One: A Bird Flies Home

Mousse, Fenrish, and Shampoo all bowed as one to Ranma as they stepped out of the tearoom again. They didn't usually bow to him - only when he spoke to them as their sensei, not as a friend. It was always abundantly clear when he was which, too, as his oddly feral blue eyes took on a hard tint to them whenever he was taking control again.

As the three left - two to tell the students in the intermediate class to begin their sparring, and the other to find Setsumi and Minoru (Kasumi and Fenrish's children respectively) - Akane turned back to Ranma.

"So, what was it you don't want to tell me, Ran-chan?" she asked in a sweet voice.

Ranma groaned and sat back down. "You've gotta tell me what I'm doing wrong sometime, koi," he said softly. "I can't keep anything from you these days."

"Not unless you'd like to meet my mallet again."

Ranma motioned to the ground next to him, and Akane sat down after a moment, looking over to her husband. Obviously it was a little worse than the usual secret that she was used to. At least he was dressed in familiar clothes - he must have owed more black pants and red Chinese shirts than many stores...

"You know my Umisen-ken technique?"

"The ones that we sealed?" Akane asked. "I remember we sealed both the 1000 seas and 1000 mountains." She then stood up quickly. "Don't tell me someone actually stole the scrolls out from under us!"

"They didn't, don't worry," Ranma said quickly, stopping her just in front of the door. She was always jumping to conclusions, even still. At least she didn't hit him anymore before hearing what he had to say... most of the time, anyway. "And we didn't seal them all, did we? I can still enter the Umisen and move around without being seen, right? We sealed everything else, so I have never used them again."

"Ok," Akane said slowly. "So... this has to do with the Umisen, then... and you disappearing from view. Alright, Ran-chan, just what did you do this time?"

"Hey, why is it always my fault?" From the pointed look his wife was giving him, Ranma just sighed. "Fine, I guess I wouldn't be telling you if it wasn't. You know Fenrish's nickname for Akiko?"

Akane nodded with a bit of a grin. That woman seemed to have odd nicknames for everyone she held close to her, and they always were used to describe something about the person. "She calls her Henni-chan," she said. "Because she's always getting into things before thinking about it... sort of like her old man!"

"Hey!" Ranma objected. "I am not old!"

"But you are curious about almost anything you don't understand."

"I didn't argue that, did I?"

"So, this has to do with the Umisen and Akiko?"

Ranma grimaced inwardly and sighed again. "Not exactly. For once, it's not Akiko getting into things... but Renia." He held up a hand before Akane could interrupt him again. "She saw me vanish a couple of times, and finally asked me about it. I told her the basics - like how to disappear into the Umisen-ken - before I even thought about it. I guess she sort of, well, was paying attention, and..."

"My little girl can enter the Umisen?" Akane's voice was not nearly as chipper as it had been moments earlier.

"But she can't move around in it! She can only stand still, I caught myself before I told her anything else!"

He knew, even before the conversation had started, that it would be painful. He could take a hit from almost anything and barely notice. Akane's mallet made of purely condensed ki and fueled by her anger was not one of those things.

"Ranma no BAKA!"

Ranma-chan managed to sit up in the koi pond and spit out the water she had taken in before she saw Soun Tendo already working on repairing the door that he had just been thrown out of. Standing up and stepping out of the water, she shook her red hair out of her eyes and looked around the yard.

It was probably just as well that she was female now, given what he was going to be teaching the advanced that evening. He had asked Kasumi to delay supper by a few hours - to her great surprise, given how much Ranma always ate - and had even told his younger daughter that she could stay out a little later, so long as she and Chika stuck together. Earlier in the day, he had already set up several fire pits in the backyard, and now set about lighting each of them, taking a moment in front of each one to encourage her clothes to dry out a little faster.

"Ryu-sensei." She turned with a smile to Fenrish, who had both the children she had been sent to find in tow. "I see you have planned something different for today."

"Must you always call me that when I'm teaching, Fenrish?"

"I could call you Ryu-san, if you would prefer."

"That's... ah, never mind," Ranma-chan said, shaking her head. It was an old conversation, and she should have known better than to try again. Maybe that hit from Akane had rattled her brain a bit.

"It looks like everyone's here now, Ran-chan," Akane offered after a moment, during which time Ranma had been sitting in front of one of the fires, looking at the flames. Akane put an arm around her husband - even though the person in question was female at the time - to let her know that she wasn't still mad about her earlier mistake.

"Great," Ranma-chan said, standing up again. "I've already told Ono what we are planning, and he is setting up in the tearoom as we speak. He has all the necessary salves to calm burns and prevent scarring and long recovery time."

Akane took a quick inventory of what Ranma had going in the backyard, and noticed at once that there were six fires going, clumped together in sets of three. "So, you've finally decided to teach them that, have you?"

Ranma-chan smiled and nodded. "Fenrish has told me that she senses a change approaching, and I've long since learned not to argue with her thoughts," she explained, thinking of the time seven years ago when the woman had told him that Akane was going to be giving birth to a child in nine months. They had had no idea at the time, and when he asked her later - once they had confirmed the facts - she had simply said that she sensed it through the kami. "Given that she can't actually give more details than that, I think I oughta teach you all a couple of the more advanced things I learned. I ain't teaching ya the sealed bits, so don't go thinking that."

"This is the Chestnut Fist?" Renia asked in surprise. She had been after her father and mother to teach her that for quite some time, and they had always told her that it was too early.

Akane nodded, despite Ranma not having said anything. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken," she said. "Incredible speed powered by the use of your own ki and highly trained muscles."

"I've taught you all speed, balance, endurance, and strength over the past years, right?" Ranma-chan pointed out. "You'll need three of those for this, and it won't be easy for any of you, no matter what you might think. It took me a week to learn it, if that means anything to you."

"A whole week?" Mousse asked in surprise. "I knew it took you a while, but I didn't think it was that long."

"One of the longest weeks of my life, too," Ranma-chan said with a grimace. "I was stuck as a girl because of the old ghoul." Even though not everyone there knew who he was talking about, no one asked, either. They rarely spoke about Ranma's past, and during training certainly wasn't a good time to break that.

"If it only took you a week, how hard can it be?" Minoru asked, looking over to him and away from the fire he had been staring at. "It'll probably take us about as long, right?" After all the pushing that the three children who were about the same age had been put through over the years, he figured it wouldn't be much different than that.

"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Ranma-chan asked with a bit of a smirk. Let the kids find out on their own just what that meant... "Acchan, could you work with Renia, Setsumi, and Minoru? I'll take Mousse, Fenrish, and Shampoo."

"Why doesn't mom hafta do it?" Renia asked. "I thought she was training in this class, too!"

Ranma-chan shrugged and nodded to Akane. The taller girl with blue-black hair nodded simply and picked up one of the bags of chestnuts that were sitting next to the fires. In one motion, she had dumped the entire contents into the flames.

Kneeling next to the fire, she looked at it for a moment. Only Ranma noticed her muscles tense up just a little before she started - it was so subtle that no one else had a chance of spotting it. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" In an instant, her hands and arms blurred towards the fire. Before anyone could say anything about it, she had dumped the contents of her hands into Renia's lap - every single chestnut that had been in the fire.

"Now you try," she suggested, standing up again and taking a step back.

"Sorry, Kou-sensei," Renia said with a small bow from her sitting position. She knew better than to question her parents when they insisted on teaching together, but sometimes the words just came out of her mouth before she could think about it. Her mother had once told her it was due to the infamous `Saotome Foot-in-Mouth disease,' which her father had then proceeded to demonstrate without even realizing it.

Akane took a step back to watch the three kids as they tried. She had learned quite some time ago that if she was going to be training her own children, then she would have to be able to separate herself from her emotions during that time period.

As she watched each of them struggle with the technique - none of them managing to get more than two out before being forced to put their hands in the water bowls that had appeared next to them without warning - she thought back to the conversation she had had in the tearoom with Ranma, and found herself looking at Renia carefully.

So, she knows the beginnings of the Umisen already, does she? she thought to herself. At least the rest has been sealed. It's actually rather amazing just how many of Ran-chan's techniques he ended up sealing. Goraikou Ryu Aoriashi, the Rising Dragon's Kick, had been the last he had sealed, after trying to use it in a fight against Mousse early on in his teaching. The residual ki had been so powerful that it had broken four of his ribs and left the Master of Hidden Weapons unable to move for almost four weeks.

He hadn't even attempted to use the two moves he had only ever used once - Shishi no Ryuujin and Kegenmi Kouryuu Raikou - before sealing them away. They were so powerful that they had torn apart a devil, and he had no wish to see them used on another human being. After writing them out carefully, he had taken the scrolls and coated them in wax, to ensure no one could get at them without a lot of effort. It wouldn't be unsealed by mistake, that was for sure - they would have to be needed for something very dangerous.

Her blood still went cold when she thought about it, and it had been more than fifteen years ago now. Roar of the Dragon God and the Temporal Holy Dragon Raid. Two moves that she had no desire to see ever again, either.

She pulled herself out of her musing at a cry from Renia. "Alright, all three of you into the house to see Ono," she said sternly. "Once he's given the okay, you can come back out to keep trying." She then looked to Minoru pointedly. "Not as easy as you thought, is it?"

"No, Kou-sensei. Gomen."

On the other side of the yard, Ranma-chan was hovering over Mousse, Fenrish, and Shampoo. She hadn't really wanted to group the three together, as putting the two women together often spelled bad things happening, but it had been the best choice she had.

"You doing it all wrong, Fenrish!"

"Don't try to correct me, Zaa-chan!"

"I told you not to call me that!"

Inwardly, Ranma-chan groaned again. Outwardly, she stood before the three with her arms crossed before her, just observing them work.

"Would you two mind holding off on your fight until after we have finished here?"

Ranma-chan looked back to the three of them in surprise. Mousse had rarely actually stepped between the two while they were fighting before. She hadn't been sure if it was because he had been hoping for Shampoo to admit her love for him or not, but the fact remained that he usually kept his distance when the two were going at it.

"I'm sorry, Muu Tsu," Fenrish said almost at once, bowing her head towards him and then towards Shampoo as well. "I will not say another word to her for now." For some reason, the Amazon girl just rubbed her the wrong way, but she couldn't explain why.

For her part, Shampoo looked back and forth between the two for a moment before letting out a little huff and standing up quickly. "Fine. Shampoo work with fire later, then." Before either could object, she had turned and walked into the house. The move had startled Ranma-chan, as she hadn't left her training like that in years.

Maybe Fenrish was right. Maybe something was about to change.

"You two stay here and keep working," Ranma-chan said when she saw the two look to each other. "I'll go after her in a minute, after she's had a chance to calm down."

"Thank you, Ranma," Mousse said softly.

"Yes, thank you, Ryu-sensei. Gomen. I do not know why I was trying to upset her like that," Fenrish offered after a moment. "I should not rise to such things during training."

"No, you probably shouldn't," Ranma-chan admitted. "But you weren't the only one. It usually takes two to fight." She did have to say usually, because she could remember the times when Akane had come after her in the past when she really hadn't done anything wrong. Often, she had done something, but there were a few occasions...

She forced her mind away from such subjects as she watched the two work. She and Akane got along so well now, it was hard to even think of the time when they had fought constantly and never let the other get close.

Fenrish and Mousse. There was a combination that she honestly hadn't expected to work, not with the way Mousse had been clambering after Shampoo for all those years. Yes, they both practiced the Hidden Weapons art, but that hadn't really been what had brought them together. After all, a master/student relationship wasn't that common, as they usually turned out badly.

It was actually something much simpler. While Shampoo had actively gone out of her way to avoid Mousse, Fenrish had done the opposite. She hadn't really clung to him or anything... she had just been nearby in case he had wanted to talk to her at all. When she had opened up to him about a bit of legends that involved things he was interested in - from the hidden weapons themselves to, oddly enough, ducks - he had started turning to her when Shampoo had spurned him.

But that wasn't the only thing, either. When she did something that upset him, she actually apologized for it. Shampoo, on the other hand, usually said it was his fault anyway. When this happened enough times, and Fenrish stepped in a couple of times to assure him that he hadn't done anything and it really was Shampoo's fault after all, that had really made a difference.

In Ranma-chan's mind, the real turning point, when Mousse had stopped looking at Shampoo as the love of his life entirely and had begun turning to Fenrish instead, was something relatively small. Akane had told her about it, in fact - he wouldn't have noticed, other wise, he was sure of it. Fenrish had asked for Mousse's opinion on something - something relatively minor, like what he had wanted for supper one night when Kasumi had gone out - and everything had changed.

"That was quite good, Mousse," she offered suddenly. The two who were working looked up to Ranma-chan, who shrugged. "You got six of the twenty out, and haven't even been working at it for more than an hour yet."

"Thank you, Ranma."

"Ryu-san!"

Ranma-chan spun around in an instant at Shampoo's wild call. She almost never called him that - given that it was the name that Fenrish seemed to have given him - but when she did, it didn't usually mean good things.

"I'll handle things here, Ran-chan. Go!" Akane said, sliding the tearoom door open as she tossed her a kettle of hot water. Ranma-chan didn't take the time to look at the kids inside getting treated before dumping the water over his head and leaping over the house.

To most people, such a feat would have seemed unreal. To those in the advanced class, it seemed relatively simple, though it would have been easier to land on the roof and then take a second jump to land in the front. For Ranma, it was almost easier than walking.

He landed in a crouch behind the purple haired woman and looked around carefully before standing up again. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, he stood slowly and turned towards her. "What's wrong, Shampoo?"

"Shampoo sorry she left the training early," she said with a small bow to him. "Should have better control of temper... don't want to be like Akane, right?"

"You could never be like Akane," Ranma said with a grin. He knew she was teasing him, and he could dish it out just as effectively. It had taken a few months of living under the same roof, but by now he was actually comfortable around the woman who, at one point in her life, had been out to kill him and marry him at the same time.

"Shampoo know that," she said with a smile. "But shouldn't have left early anyway."

Ranma nodded. "Well, at least you know that. I'll have Acchan work with you later on it, okay?" His wife and Shampoo actually got along rather well now, which was a minor miracle in and of itself.

She smiled to him, and then looked out the front gates. "You know why I call you like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ryu-san." Ranma shook his head. "Shampoo only call you that when strange girl coming closer to home. Don't want everyone to know Ranma is here - she might be another fiancée from the past..."

Ranma couldn't help but laugh at her statement. After marrying Akane, no less than six other girls had come forward to announce that they were supposed to be the ones to marry him. After explaining the situation to each of them, he was surprised when they just turned around and left again.

He had no idea that Akane had been standing behind Ranma, literally glowing in her anger. He also had no idea that Nodoka had taken each of them aside when he had taken a moment to ask Kasumi to get some tea. His mother had set each of them perfectly straight on the matter, promising great harm to them and their families on behalf of her son. The fact that she was standing directly in front of the mantle that held the Saotome honour blade might have played a factor in it, too...

"So, a girl's coming that you don't know, then?"

"She not a student yet," Shampoo said with a nod. "Met all the students so far. Nabiki insists on it, and Shampoo tell her all about each of them. She wants to make sure we don't take students who would refuse to pay."

"Alright, so you don't know her. Where is she, then?"

Shampoo pointed to the right, and Ranma stuck his head out the gates and looked down the street in that direction. He saw a tall girl dressed in dark green walking straight towards them. The only way he could really tell that it was a girl was by her hair, though. She wore it very long, and had a pink ribbon tying it back. She also had a small flower tucked behind her ear - something no guy would probably ever do.

An image of Konatsu and Ukyo flashed through his mind suddenly, but he shook them off. He'd go with his instincts on this one, too. Hopefully, he'd be right for once.

On either side of the girl, though, were two that he recognized. His younger daughter Akiko was almost skipping alongside her, though she was doing it along the chain link fence beside them. She was the daughter that reminded him the most of Akane, with her short blue-black hair and deep green eyes. She also had his wife's spirit, without a doubt. He dreaded the day someone upset her and she pulled out that mallet that his wife's family had been nearly famous for...

On the other side of the new girl was Chika. Ranma considered the young girl to be one of his daughters as well, even though she had only been a part of their lives for a couple of years. She had been left in a nearby park when her parents had taken off, and Akiko had run into her and brought her home in hopes of being able to help her. She had never told them who her parents were, and it had taken them quite a while to get her to even talk to any of them save Akiko herself.

Now, getting her to stop talking when she thought she knew something was the challenge.

Ranma pulled back and looked to Shampoo. "So, you've no idea who she is, then?"

"None."

"Well, I can tell you this much - she isn't a fiancée of mine!" he said with a grin. "She's not nearly old enough. I'm guessing she's about as old as Renia or Minoru."

"Shampoo think so too, but not want call your real name anyway. She could be a new student, ne?"

Ranma shook his head and looked back to the house. "Do you all get some weird, twisted pleasure out of hearing all the students calling me Ryu-sensei all the time?"

Shampoo shook her head, wearing a completely innocent expression suddenly - the first clue that she was lying through her teeth. "No, Ranma," she promised him. She then cracked a smile. "Enjoy seeing your reaction to them calling you that, not enjoy hearing them say it."

Ranma shook his head and stepped out into the street to greet his girls, who ran to him as soon as they saw him and threw themselves into his arms. "Hey you two. You're back awfully early. Okaasan won't have supper ready for another hour or so." Although okaasan was technically the term for mother, everyone in the house had taken to calling Kasumi that, while the kids' real mothers were often called otherwise.

"We were bringing Maina back, Ryu-san," Akiko said as she pulled away and leapt over him and onto the Tendo grounds. "She wanted ta train with you."

"She did, did she?" he asked, looking away from Chika, who had dove between his legs to get passed him and join Akiko, and towards the other girl, who still hadn't said a thing. "So, you must be Maina, then?"

"Are you Saotome Ranma?"

"You've heard of me, I take it?" Ranma asked. It wasn't all that uncommon for people from out of town coming up to him and addressing him by name. The School of Anything Goes was rather well known - Akane had been accosted a few times as well.

"My own okaasan sent me here. I have a promise to keep to her, Ranma-san. Just like you have a promise to keep to her," she explained easily, the words having been rehearsed hundreds of times since she had parted ways with her mother and sensei to go on ahead. "I'm here to marry your son. My name is Kounji Maina."

----------------------

Henni-chan: Curious girl. Fenrish's nickname for Akiko, Ranma and Akane's younger daughter. Given because Akiko always seems to get into everything.

Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken: Chestnuts in a Fire. A technique of Ranma's, taught to him by Cologne years ago now.

Kou-sensei: Phoenix teacher. Fenrish's nickname for Akane, given her affinity to use flames and oddly phoenix like abilities through her ki, much like Ranma can use dragon like abilities.

Zaa-chan: Running water girl. Fenrish's nickname for Shampoo, but is more of an insult that anything. Shampoo takes it - correctly - to mean Fenrish thinks she is more apt to running away than standing her ground.

Gomen: Sorry

Now, for a touch of background information on techniques mentioned in this chapter. I do not intend to do this all the time, but in this case, well... I wanted to. Hope no one minds.

Goraikou Ryu Aoriashi: Rising Dragon Kick. A move of Ranma's that is done by charging the enemy, then dropping back to kick upwards. Even if the initial kick misses, the residual ki that is left from the sheer power of the kick is enough to knock over a large building - certainly enough to seriously harm most enemies.

Shishi no Ryuujin: Roar of the Dragon God. Ranma's battle ki charged to such a degree that it forces the enemy to turn towards him. It was used to force Harito's Devil form to leave Akane alone and focus on him. The ki is so powerful that anyone not intended for the battle will be unable to get anywhere close to the fighting.

Kagenmi Kouryuu Raikou: Temporal Holy Dragon Raid. The move Ranma created out of anger and fear for Akane's life. He first calls on the dragon gods to help him, and then, moving so fast that it can not be seen until he finishes, Ranma comes at the enemy from all sides - almost literally at once - striking one plane again and again from all angles until tearing through. This is the move that tore Harito's Devil form in half.

Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken: Chestnuts Roasting in a Fire. The technique was originally meant as just a method of improving speed, but Ranma adapted it for use in fights, too. The punches are so fast that hundreds appear as only one or two. It is of interest to note, incidentally, that Akane learned this simply by observing Ranma and taking part in his other training. She pulled this off - for the first time - in the Village of No Return against those who tried to fight Ranma dishonourably.

---------------------

Until the sun sets upon a broken world...
The Shadows