Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to the wonderful Romiko Takahashi and her licensees (Viz Communications in North America). This work is strictly for the non-profit enjoyment of fans. No copyright infringement is intended. My thanks to Greg Young who has been the pre-reader for this series. Also my thanks to those others who have given me feedback and pre- read chapters. Unforunately I lost your e-mail addresses when I switched machines or I would give you all the credit you deserve for writing those thoughful critiques that I ignored. Thought of the Mongoose A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Tom Wrensch Part 1: Mokoyashi-sensee ================================= "Mousse is messed up pretty bad this time." Akane said. "Yup. Having arguments with delivery trucks is *not* good for your heath." Ukyou quipped. "That's for sure. Say, which way is out?" Akane asked. The hospitals in Nermia tended to be large. Finding your way around wasn't easy, even for the regulars. "This way sugar." Ukyou said as she pointed toward the elevators. "And I gotta run now. The dinner rush will be starting pretty soon." "Thanks for coming with me Ukyou. See you tomorrow." "Ja." Akane strolled slowly after Ukyou's running form. She was glad Ukyou had been willing to come. She hated going to hospitals by herself, they reminded her too much of her mother's final days. Ranma was *supposed* to have come along, but he'd had to stay after classes the last few days to get some extra help in English. "I hope Mousse doesn't have to stay here too long." She said to herself. "Excuse me?" Came a weak voice from a room she was passing. Akane looked around to make sure she was the one being addressed. As no one else was around she stuck her head in the room. "Yes? Can I help you?" "I just thought I heard you refer to someone named 'Mousse'. Is that a Chinese Amazon name?" Said an old woman from the room's single bed. "Umm, yes. How did you know?" "Oh, I'm very familiar with the Chinese Amazons. Do you have a minute to talk?" "Sure, I guess so." Akane sat in a chair by the bed, talking a good look at the woman as she did so. She was quite old and had a unhealthy yellow tinge to her skin. "I'm Ayako Mokoyashi." "Nice to meet you, I'm Akane Tendo." "Ah! A Tendo!" The old woman cackled a bit. "Does your family still follow the Anything Goes style of martial arts?" "Why yes." Akane was a bit surprised. The Anything Goes school was very small and not well known to the general public. Though it could be thought of as famous, or perhaps infamous, in the martial arts community. "Are you a martial artist?" Akane asked. "Yes, dear, as are you from the way you move." "Yes. I've been studying Kempo and the Anything Goes style since I could walk." Akane admitted. "I'd love to compare notes on our schools, but I need to ask you about those Chinese Amazons you know." "Oh, well, Mousse is on this floor of the hospital. He's a bit nearsighted and had a run in with a truck." "Any other Amazons in the area?" The woman asked intently. "The only others I know of are Shampoo and her great-grandmother Cologne". The old woman gritted her teeth and hissed at Cologne's name. "I take it you've met the old troll?" Akane asked dryly. "I've been tracking that evil old woman for almost seventy years." "Wow. What did she do?" "Took my fiancee from me. Those Amazons have this law about outsider males who beat one of their woman... "Sound familiar." Akane said bitterly. "So I finally found her... familiar?" "My..." Akane started. She didn't really want to call Ranma her fiancee, but it would be too complicated to describe their relationship any other way, so... "My fiancee," she continued, "beat Cologne's great-granddaughter Shampoo. Now they keep trying to get him to marry her. So far they haven't succeeded, but I always worry the they next time they might." For some reason she couldn't explain, Akane started crying softly. The old woman reached over and took Akane's hand. For a few minutes they just stayed like that, Akane trying to get her unexpected tears under control, and Ayako seemingly lost in though. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know why I lost control like that. It's not as if I get along with the stupid jerk or anything." Akane finally said. "Akane, I think we might be able to help each other." "Huh?" "I've finally found Cologne." She made the name an insult. "And have a way of defeating her, but I'm stuck here. From what the doctors say I may be here for the rest of my life." "You, you're..." "Yes child, I'm dying." "I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?" "Yes, as a mater of fact there is. You can come back tomorrow and start learning the technique I developed to defeat Cologne. Use it to keep your young man from her. Don't let what happened to me happen again." Akane looked at Ayako for a moment, then her face changed to a look of determination. "Yes. I would be honored to learn from you." The old woman gave Akane's hand a firm squeeze. Then sighed and laid back into her pillows. "Go now child." She said. "I am very tired. Return tomorrow and we will begin." "Yes Mokoyashi-sensee. I will come right after school." The old woman didn't respond and appeared to be asleep. Respecting her need to rest, Akane slipped quietly out of the room. The old woman opened her eyes to slits to watched Akane leave. "So Cologne. While I wanted to do this personally, this is better in many ways. Your defeat by this child will be quite an embarrassment." * * * * Akane peeked around the corner of the door to see if Mokoyashi-sensee was sleeping. "Good, you're here. Please come in, you have much to learn in a short time." The old woman said. Akane stepped into the room. She had taken the time to change out of her school uniform into a pair of Ranma's black fighting pants and a sleeveless white shirt. She felt self conscious wearing Ranma's cloths, a feeling that was intensified by the male attention she'd attracted since changing into them. She would much rather have worn her usual yellow gi, but that just wouldn't be appropriate in a hospital. "Well, I can see why Cologne is having problems getting your fiancee away from you. You are a very attractive young lady." "Umm... Thank you." "Today you are going to learn a kata. It is quite involved, though not terribly long, and will be difficult to learn since I cannot show it to you." "Yes sensee." Two hours later an exhausted Akane was more than ready to leave. Mokoyashi-sensee was an exacting teacher who expected nothing less than perfection from her student. "You did an excellent job today Akane." Mokoyashi-sensee said. "Practice that kata as often as you can and remember that you must learn to pace yourself so it takes exactly one hundred seconds to complete." "Can I ask a question Mokoyashi-sensee?" "Of course." "Why exactly one hundred seconds? I've always learned that katas should be performed at varying speeds." "A good question Akane. If all goes well you will have your answer in a few weeks." * * * * "How was that?" Akane asked. Ranma looked at the stopwatch Akane had purchased a few days earlier. "One hundred seconds on the nose." Ranma answered. "Again. What's with the timing on this thing?" "Actually I have no idea, but Mokoyashi-sensee insisted." Akane stretched. "I guess I should do one more before dinner. Would you mind timing me again?" "Okay, but you have to answer a question first." "What?" "Why the new look?" "Huh?" "The cloths. You always wore that yellow gi before." "Oh. Well, I can't really wear the gi at the hospital, and it's pretty hard to practice in a dress." Akane answered with a slight blush. She had continued to wear the black pants and white sleeveless shirt combination to the hospital, though the one's she'd bought fit better than the one's she had borrowed from Ranma. Much as she hated to admit it, she liked the kind of attention she'd been getting when she wore them. "Oh." was Ranma's only reply. "Don't you like the way it looks?" Akane asked him. "Umm... Honestly?" "Yes, honestly. I promise I wont pound you for it." "Well, it makes you look older... you know, more mature. And it looks..." "Yes?" "Umm... well it looks sexy." Ranma was looking at the floor as he said it, but that didn't hide his furious blush. "So you like it?" Akane teased. Ranma nodded his head without looking up at her. "You said you'd time me one more time before dinner. Ready?" As Akane went through the smooth graceful moves of the now-familiar kata she was more than just a little aware of Ranma's eyes on her. She had been quite surprised by his willingness to spend hours timing her as she went through the kata over and over again. She blushed as she realized there was one good explanation for why he'd be willing to watch her move for hours on end. Without even realizing it she found she'd finished up the kata and came to a stop facing Ranma. "Exactly one hundred seconds." Ranma told her. * * * * "So you think I'm ready for the next step?" Akane asked. Mokoyashi-sensee grinned at her. "If you can hit one hundred seconds exactly when you're as distracted as you must have been, I'd say you're ready." Akane grinned back. She'd found the older woman easy to talk to and had told her about Ranma's comments on her outfit and the way he'd watched her work on the kata. "The technique I'm going to teach you can be used in many different ways. If you master it you will be nearly unbeatable." The old woman's voice turned very serious. "Before we go any further Akane, you must promise me you will not teach this technique to anyone else. You may only pass on the technique to your husband and children when you have them. It is simply to dangerous to teach to just anyone." "I promise, on my honor." "Good. The next step is mostly mental. I will teach you some meditation techniques to help, but the key is combining the correct mental state with the kata you've learned..." * * * * "Ready Ranma?" "Yeah." Ranma said with a yawn. "But this is the last time okay? It's getting really late." He leaned against the wall and held the stopwatch ready. Akane started the kata again. It was a good thing she could now do the moves without thinking, the concentration required for the mental part of the technique made it impossible to pay attention to anything else. About halfway through the kata she began to feel the odd pulling on her hands and feet that Mokoyashi-sensee had told her to expect. With an effort she controlled her excitement and focused even harder on the exercise. She finished the kata to find Ranma frowning at her. "Sorry, Akane." He told her. "Ninety-seven point six." "Yes!" She shouted, grabbing Ranma and spinning him around the dojo in her happiness. "Umm... I take it that was good?" He asked. "Yes! Yes! I did it!" She said. "I need lots more practice, but I did it!" "Great. What did you do?" "I..." Akane realized she had her arms around Ranma and stepped back in embarrassment. "I can't tell you." She answered. "Why not?" He asked, sounding a little hurt. "I promised I wouldn't teach this to anyone but my husband and children." "So I gotta wait?" Ranma realized what he'd said almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "I mean... I..." He stuttered. Akane put her hand over his mouth. "Unless you want to get married right away? I could wake Daddy..." Ranma's eyes grew huge and he bigsweated. Akane giggled. "Nabiki's right, you are fun to tease." * * * * "So how is it going Akane?" Mokoyashi-sensee asked. "Not too well. I haven't been able to get below sixty-three seconds. If I do some speed-training I might be able to get down a little lower." "No, Akane. This technique is not about how fast you can move your body, it's about how fast you can move your mind. Sixty-three seconds is better than I could do." "I'm sorry Mokoyashi-sensee. I understand how this can make me a better fighter, but I don't see how it's going to let me beat Cologne." "There's one more piece to learn Akane. Sit down and I'll try to explain." Akane pulled the visitors chair out of the corner. When training they had to move all of the tiny rooms furniture into the corners to make enough space to work. Even that wouldn't be enough if Akane hadn't been fairly short. "You know that in a fight, speed is more important than strength. You've told me your fiancee is very fast and has learned the Amazon chestnut fist technique?" Akane nodded. "The Chestnut Fist technique focuses on training the body to move faster, much faster. It may not be obvious to you yet, but the speed of the chestnut fist is limited by how well the user of the technique can control that speed. Being able to punch someone a hundred times a second doesn't do any good if you can't direct where those punches go." "The technique I've been teaching you starts with the control. First you develop a better sense of your own internal time flow, then you learn to alter that flow consciously. You've learned to increase your internal time flow so it's almost twice as fast as it was, and you can do much better than that. You can now think and react much faster than you could before." Akane nodded again. "But my body can't operate as fast as my mind, so while my mind can operate twice as fast, my body is still operating on the normal time rate." "Yes, very good. The next step is to learn to use your ki to extend your higher internal time rate to your body." "Can...can you do that?" Akane asked in wonder. "Oh, yes child. Before I became ill I could use my ki to do that kata you've been using in eight seconds." Akane's mouth hung open. Mokoyashi-sensee chuckled at her reaction. "I told you it was a powerful technique." They spent the better part of the next hour discussing approaches to using her chi to extend her internal time sense. Toward the end Akane could see that the old woman was getting very tired. "I'd better go now sensee. You need your rest." Akane said. "Just a moment. Look in the closet over there." Akane opened the small closet. It was empty except for a wooden metronome on the top shelf. "I didn't have anyone to help me, so I used that metronome to keep time when I was developing these techniques. I want you to have it." "Sensee! Thank you. I don't know what to say." "There's something in the drawer too." Akane opened the tiny drawer in the base of the metronome. It contained a small, flat book. A bankbook. In her name. A bankbook showing a fairly hefty balance. "Mokoyashi-sensee, I can't accept this. Your family..." "My family, such as it is, has not seen fit to visit me in the hospital, or contact me for over thirty years." The old woman said. "My brother's grandchildren will not be forgotten, but you are the one who has eased my final days. The doctors say I will not last out the week. It is best I give this to you now, so there is no question later on." "Your training is done child. You still have much to learn, but what you need to learn you can learn on your own." "Sensee..." Akane said as tears ran down her face. "I don't want to lose you." "Don't worry child, I will be watching over you. At least until you whip Cologne's butt!" Akane laughed through her tears. "Akane, would you bring that fiancee of yours tomorrow? I'd like to meet him." "Of course." "You better go now. I'm very tired." * * * * "Here's the room. You better behave yourself Ranma, or I'll mallet you into next week!" "Okay, okay." Ranma complained. "You've already threatened me, now can we go in and see this sensee of yours?" Akane almost gasped when she opened the door and saw Mokoyashi-sensee. She was very pale and frail looking and was wearing an oxygen mask. Akane knelt by the bedside and took the old woman's hand in hers. "Grandmother?" Akane whispered. The old woman's eyes opened. Akane could see a bit of a twinkle still hiding behind the dullness that had covered those vibrant eyes. "Thank you for coming Akane-chan." She whispered back. "Is that your young man?" Akane nodded. "Let me talk to him privately for a moment." "Privately?" "Please Akane-chan." "I'll wait outside." Akane slumped outside the door. The old woman who she had grown to love over the last month was going to die, soon, and she couldn't do a thing about it. It seemed as if those she loved always went away. Her mother had died. Her father was a shadow of the man she remembered from before her mother's death. Kasumi hid behind her household duties and that bland quiet smile. Dr. Tofu had disappeared and no one seemed to know where. Ranma was still here, but there were so many trying to take him away too. Kodachi, Ukyou, Shampoo and Cologne. Some were trying to take her away from him too, like Kuno and even Ryoga. She wiped her face with the back of her hand. Mokoyashi-sensee was leaving, but she had given Akane the power to protect what was hers. She would *not* lose Ranma. "Akane?" Ranma asked. She looked up at him. "You better go in there. I'll call home and tell them we're not coming back 'til late." "Y-you don't have to stay." "You're going to stay aren't you?" Akane nodded and wiped away some more tears. "I have to." "Then I'm staying." "Thank you." She walked in and sat down next to the old woman, taking her hand. She smiled up at Akane and closed her eyes. Ayako Mokoyashi died four hours later. === End Part 1 === C&C *very* welcome, flames ignored. Please send comments to twrensch@geocities.com. My completed stories and relatively complete drafts are posted at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/5201/.