Chapter 16 - A Rocky Calm
By Lord Archive
Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and several
other companies and are used without consent. Oh My Goddess characters
belong to Fujishima Kousuke, AnimEigo, and others- also used without
consent. I'll return them... I just need to get Urd to send them back
into time....
"Ranma!" Akane yelled and grabbed a man with red hair.
He looked at her, confused. "Oro?"
"Kenshin! Who is she?!"
"Oro!"
"You're not Ranma." Akane let go of him.
"Oops, over did it. Bye." Urd left 19th century Japan.
-----------------------------
Akane skipped up the stairs to the Tendo's home attic. Truthfully, the
area was not meant to store anything with its low ceiling. When this
area was made, it was to help insulate the house. But the unused space
was used to store a lot of things. Mostly the odd trinkets acquired by
various members of the Tendo family, including things her father
acquired while training under Happosai, her great-grandfather's war
journals, and even an old sakabato sword that strangely showed no signs
of rust.
None of that stuff was important to Akane. The pile of scrolls that
rested near her father's samurai armor; however, were exactly what she
was looking for. Particularly since they hadn't been there the day
before. Akane's eyebrow arched as she noticed a note resting on top of
the scrolls.
In case you've been considering skipping the match against
Mikado, don't. The battle against Saffron is more important
than you think and Ranma will need the experience he will gain
from that match and any others you might have hoped to avoid.
Skuld
PS: Destroy this paper.
PPS: If you want to talk over ice cream, I'll make sure I'm
available.
Akane collapsed to the floor. How did Skuld know she had planned not to
reenact the match? She didn't want some guy to steal Ranma's lips. They
belonged to her and she would be damned if anyone took it from her.
Akane's face set with determination. There would be a simple way to
answer this. She could kiss Ranma before they would meet Mikado.
Akane looked over the paper and wondered how she was suppose to contact
Skuld if she decided to take her up on the offer. She really wanted to
talk about this.
There was no time to waste now. They would be meeting Mikado next
weekend. If Ranma was going to survive the Shiryou no Bonodori, he would
need the Dairokkan technique. She looked through the scrolls and
eventually found the one she needed. It was labeled Gansekiken, and
Akane remembered that was the name known to outsiders. It would be best
if she tried to remember to refer to the technique by that name. Akane
quickly glanced down the stairs and rushed to her room with all of the
scrolls.
-----------------------------
"Uncle Saotome?"
Genma raised an eyebrow. "What is it Akane?"
"I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"Oh?"
Akane nodded. "I found a scroll, while cleaning the attic, with a
martial arts technique and was wondering if you would help teach it to
me and Ranma."
"I might consider training it to Ranma, but I don't think I should train
you."
Akane's eyebrow twitched. "Why not?"
"You're a girl."
"So? I'm still a martial artist and from the looks of the scroll, it
would be a valuable technique."
Genma waved her off. "I doubt it. You just don't find martial arts
techniques like that."
"Like what? Under a pile of old panties?"
"WHAT?!" Genma was instantly leaning into Akane's face. "Where is that
scroll?"
"I'll give it to you if you teach the technique to me."
"Yes. Now give it to me!"
Akane pulled the scroll out of her sleeve and handed it to him.
Genma greedily grabbed the scroll and read it over. He then stopped. "I
can't read this. It's in Chinese."
Akane sighed. "There's a Japanese translation at the bottom of the
scroll."
Genma laughed sheepishly. "Fiendish of them to hide it like that."
Akane rolled her eyes.
-----------------------------
Calm, absolute calm was what he needed. The rocks would come flying at
him soon enough and he would have to defend against them. This wasn't
too different from some of his father's other training techniques.
However, this time the rocks weren't held by a contraption and in front
of him. Some of the rocks, like those thrown by Akane and Genma, would
not be attached to ropes, while those thrown by his classmates were.
Each of the rocks were, of course, the size of medicine balls.
Without warning the first rock streaked through the air and Ranma meet
it with an axe kick, breaking it into two. He broke the next two rocks,
but the fourth caught him in the side. The fifth was blocked while the
sixth one nailed his shoulder. The next two struck his back and Ranma
was knocked to the ground, which caused the remaining seven rocks to
miss.
"Pathetic boy!" Genma snapped. "You call yourself a martial arts and you
can't avoid some measly rocks."
"Shut up, you stinking panda! I only just got started. I'll have this
technique down before the night is done!"
Akane groaned. It would be a long while before she'd get her turn, since
Ranma wouldn't stop until he learned it or was unconscious. She wasn't
pleased that Genma had upped the number of rocks. An expert finishes at
ten, and yet he was starting Ranma at fifteen.
Kuno smiled evilly. He was thankful to Nabiki for informing him of the
opportunity to inflict pain on Saotome. There was no way this technique
could possibly help the fiend, and a good possibility that it would kill
him. Well worth the ten thousand yen the mercenary had charged him.
Hiroshi had similar thoughts. Saotome had overreacted to his questions
and returning the pain was just want he wanted. Especially in a way that
there would be no retaliation.
Kasumi frowned. She wished they had never asked her to help. She didn't
want to hurt anyone yet the rock she threw had hit him.
Nabiki smirked. Where once she would've charged people to see this, she
had opted, in most cases, to get them to help instead. It wasn't
everyday someone got to participate in helping a martial artist learn a
powerful technique.
-----------------------------
Ranma stood calmly. He would do it this time. Punch after punch smashing
rocks. He counted twelve, and then the rocks stopped coming. Ranma was
puzzled and stood for a moment. He then sensed something and whirled
around to see five rocks streak towards him.
"Sloppy, real sloppy, boy."
"That was a dirty trick!" Ranma retort from the ground.
"A martial artist must be prepared for anything!"
>THAWK<
"Uncle Saotome, shouldn't you have been prepared to block that?" Akane
questioned as she retrieved her rock.
Genma twitched from where he lay.
-----------------------------
Ranma smiled. Gansekiken was his. The rocks flew at him. From the left,
behind, in front, right, left, behind, right, behind, left.... Rock
after rock came at him. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.... All were
destroyed by a single punch to each.
"Enough," Genma said with pride. He had pushed the technique more than
it needed, and was improved because of it. No one would be able to stand
up against his son now. But just to make sure....
Ranma smashed the rock his father had thrown. Twenty-two rocks in all,
and he had beaten it. The technique was his.
"Congratulations, Ranma." Akane ran up to him and was filled with
emotion. Should she hug and kiss him now? She might get away with it,
but they were in front of everybody. Her father and Genma might try to
get them married immediately if she did that. While she didn't mind it
in the least, she knew Ranma would.
Kuno threw down a rock in disgust. "Saotome's vile sorcery is at work
since no one could not be hit by such a skillful attack. I must learn
how to counter his evil ways!"
Nabiki smirked. "You mean when you threw your rock at his back?"
Kuno glared at her and then marched away.
Akane shook her head. Even though Kuno knew about Ranma's curse, the
idiot was still a pain in the ass.
"All right, Akane, your turn." Genma wasn't entirely happy to train
Akane, but she did find a good technique.
"What?!" Ranma blurted. "You're teaching her the technique?!"
"Of course, boy. She needs to keep up with you, doesn't she?"
"No she doesn't! She'll get hurt doing this!"
Akane glared. "It is my decision to learn this. If it wasn't for me, you
wouldn't even have it. I need to do this to get better!"
Ranma clenched his fists. "Fine! Be macho and try to learn this. See if
I care if you break your skull!"
Akane stood in the center of the clearing, while Ranma stomped off.
"Begin!" she barked. Only five rocks were thrown and she blocked only
two of them.
"Again." Akane stood up and waited for the next volley. This time she
broke three of them.
Ranma watched as Akane tried to learn the technique. He knew she wasn't
doing it right. She was determined enough, but she was also angry. For
some reason he was glad to see her upset. It was a part of her that she
had been keeping buried. He didn't know why, and was afraid to ask.
Ranma shook his head as Akane was knocked down again. "You've got to be
calm! If you're angry, you'll never notice where the rocks are coming
from."
Akane glanced over to where Ranma stood and smiled a little. She had
been a bit angry because of what Ranma had said. She should have
realized why he said it. He was worried. But he also gave her a hint at
how to detect the rocks. She had to be calm.
The ultimate calm was the soul of ice for Hiryu Shuten Ha. Ranma had
tried to teach it to her, but she couldn't get it. Maybe she could try
to attain it now. With that calm she could do this easily.
"Again." Akane called. She tried to maintain the calm she felt. But she
couldn't hold onto it. The fear of the rocks hitting, the desire to not
disappoint Ranma or her father, and many other emotions interfered. But
she noticed she was a lot closer than she had ever been before.
Ranma grimaced as Akane only stopped one. But knew it was necessary. She
may have taken a step back in completing it, but she was closer to
learning it.
Calm. She needed to be calm. To feel the air around her as the rocks
violently pushed it aside as they approached her, to be the coldest
calm, to feel everything but yourself. The death of yourself on the
inside as nothing is left for you on the outside. The calm that resulted
in feeling nothing.
Ranma saw the change occur in Akane. She had gone cold. Colder than he
had ever known her. There was an emptiness about her that seemed to
swallow up everything around her. In a voice of ice, he heard her say,
"Again."
The rocks started to fly at her. One after another the five rocks were
smashed. The others who hadn't been throwing the rocks joined in, and
those too were destroyed. When the volley ended Ranma threw two as fast
as he could. Those were also demolished.
Akane shook her head and looked at Ranma. Reassured that he was there,
and not dead.
Genma frowned as he approached. "She beat you, boy. She got the
technique in less tries."
Akane crossed her arms, more to hug herself than to look defiant. "I
wouldn't have figured it out without his help."
"Are you all right?" Ranma asked, ignoring his father.
"I'll be a bit sore tomorrow, but otherwise fine."
Ranma looked at Akane and tried to figure out how to ask about what she
did, but he had no clue.
-----------------------------
"Hey, Akane, are you okay?"
Akane sighed. "Yes."
"You sure?"
"No."
"What happened when you learned that move? And don't tell me you found
you center or some other crap."
Akane looked at her 'younger' sister and back at the ceiling. "In a
sense I did find my center, a center that doesn't exist anymore."
"Japanese, Sis. Japanese."
"Remember what I said about shutting down mentally after... he died."
Nabiki nodded.
"I tapped into that. I shut off all my feelings, like I had then."
"Akane, is that safe?"
"I don't know. I doubt I'll truly be able to use the technique. It's not
something I want to feel again." Akane turned toward her sister. "I'd
like to get some sleep, so if you don't mind."
"Good night, Sis."
"Good night."
Akane curled up into her bed. "Please don't leave me, Ranma."
-----------------------------
Author's Notes:
Thanks to my pre-readers: Kim Trieu, JJang, HPackrat, Saotome-sama, and
Michael Chase.
Also thanks again to Saotome-sama for the fan art to The Insanity
Continues: Naked, Alone, and No Place to Go located at
http://www.mich.com/~archive/anime.html
(
geocities.com/tokyo/fuji/9061) (
geocities.com/tokyo/fuji) (
geocities.com/tokyo)