Ch5: Untamed Neko
Lance Alucard was kind enough to offer to preread this fic for me.
Thanks a lot mate
Engagement pending
Nabiki looked between her father and her sisters as they waited for Suon to make his important announcement. Through her own efforts at keeping the dojo's finances stable and on the positive side of the cheque book she had become quite adept at reading people. What she was reading from her father was both encouraging and disturbing. Soun was sitting straighter and his visage was sterner than usual, a sure indicator that something important had happened or was going to happen.
The person she remembered her father being before her mother's death, while not completely back was certainly a lot closer at that moment than it had been in a long time. She wondered what could have Caused such a change in her father when nothing that she or her sisters had done came even close to snapping him out of the shell he had built around himself.
That's why she was worried - whatever it was it was serious. "The son of a very good friend of mine and a master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes will be arriving soon," Soun started. "I received word today that since his father died in some sort of a training accident on their 11 year training trip he is coming here to visit. The engagement between him and one of you three girls was arranged before your mother died. After uniting the families together you would then be expected to carry on the dojo securing both the Tendo and Soatome family legacy."
Nabiki couldn't say that she was relieved at the news, she wasn't but she had feared hearing something much worse from her father. She had been expecting something like this for a while. It was a common occurrence in business for mergers to take place in order to bail out one side of the merger or the other, this she saw as no different. Why it had taken Soun so long to recognize that their finances where in such poor health though bewildered her.
'Wait a minute, did he just say family friend. No mention of wealth or prosperity,' Nabiki thought as she joined her protest with her sisters along with a not so subtle inquiry about his status. "Do you know anything else about him other than the fact that he is the son of your dear departed friend and a master of our sister school?"
Her fathers reply somewhat satisfied her though, it required some resources to trip around the world for eleven years. 'I just hope that he is moderately good looking and intelligent, the last thing I want to do is marry some dumb jock even for the sake of the family.' Nabiki didn't expect love in an arranged marriage but she hoped for someone that she could abide. It was almost a forgone conclusion that she would be roped into the engagement since she had taken it upon herself to handle all financial matters in the family. This family merger certainly applied.
"Ah we have a visitor, Kasumi could you kindly escort our guest to the table." Her fathers voice sounded across the table starting Nabiki out of her thoughts and making her realize that someone had knocked on the door. 'Surely father wouldn't have left it so late to tell us of the engagement,' she thought in disbelief.
Kasumi escorted a young man of about sixteen and a young woman into the room. The young woman was dressed in an overcoat that hid any other observation that even she might have been able to deduce from her appearance. Nabiki however was much more interested in the young man that Kasumi had escorted in especially after he introduced himself as Ranma Saotome and the young woman as his sister. While the young woman would become family she wouldn't be expected to marry her.
Ranma was smartly dressed in silken Chinese clothes, a red shirt and black kung fu pants. His black hair was tied back into a ponytail and he had the most amazing crystal blue eyes, definitely a looker. As she had found out though, often the hard way looks could be deceiving.
"I'm glad you got my letter master Tendo, you know why I'm here," Ranma started after taking a seat at the table earning him glares from each of Tendo's daughters, it almost sounded as if he were purchasing a side of beef not arranging a marriage.
"Of course Ranma," Soun replied jovially. "Meet my daughters; Kasumi, she's nineteen. Nabiki my middle daughter is seventeen and Akane is sixteen. Before we move on to business though could you please tell me how my old friend and training partner Genma met his end?"
After looking at each of three daughters, as Soun introduced them, with a questioning look Ranma simply nodded before starting his tale. 'Is it possible that he doesn't know about the engagement' Nabiki thought as she caught his questioning glance. Nabiki leaned forward to listen to Ranma's story 'after all the more I know about my possible fiancée the better any future relationship is sure to be.'
"When I was six Genma found a training manual that described an ultimate technique called the Neko-ken. It was quite simple to teach; you simply wrap the student in fish sausage and repeatedly throw them into a pit of starving cats." Ranma ignored the expressions on the three girls' faces as he continued his tale; he often received similar looks when he described his training methods to others. It was one of the reasons he often trained in private and rarely talked about it.
"Because of the danger to the student, my father decided to minimize the risk by spending the next year concentrating purely on the conditioning part of my training. By my seventh birthday after I had swam to China across the Sea of Japan my father declared my readiness to learn the technique."
Ranma shook his head, "it still took me two weeks to learn the technique despite all the conditioning training I had done. Or rather to start to learn the technique, you see master Tendo the Neko-ken is not just a single technique or school of techniques but rather…a buttress. If you imagine martial arts as a wall with every technique learnt a brick extending and building upon that wall then the Neko-ken could be described as a buttress that helps support and strengthen the wall. I'm afraid that without you knowing the technique I couldn't be anymore specific,' Ranma apologized. 'My father died in the course of teaching me the Neko-ken."
Nabiki shook her head at the almost casual way that he described his father throwing him in a pit of starving cats at seven…. SEVEN. It made her wonder what else he had been through or been subjected to and exactly what kind of man his father was. There were a few holes in his story; the biggest though was how his father had actually died. That he had actually avoided merely describing the circumstances behind his father's death.
Still according to his story he had only been trained in anything goes for two years. It almost made her wonder how he could claim to be a master of the school based on two years of training in the school plus whatever self taught martial arts he had learnt over the years. Especially when that two years of training was done so long ago. Admittedly she didn't know much about martial arts especially their family school but how could anyone hold onto core principles when they had been taught them at such a young age and for a limited time.
Nabiki only had to look at Akane to know that it took more than being taught the basics and then some self-teaching to be able to master an entire school. Still until she had information to the contrary she would accept his self-proclaimed title. 'After all' she admitted to herself 'how can I judge him with knowing so little about martial arts, and besides his a guest.'
"Perhaps you would like to spar with Akane? She is the heir of our dojo." Nabiki sighed once again how could her father be so stupid, the master that she remembered from before her mother's death would never have made such a social blunder. They may have all doubted the legitimacy of his title but it was extremely rude to express as much to his face.
Nabiki supposed as a master of anything goes her father had a small justification but it would have been more proper for him to challenge Ranma himself, master to master. To imply that an almost rank beginner would be a test of his skills was just rubbing salt in. To question his status was insult enough and it seemed that Ranma noticed both stabs at his person.
What she couldn't understand was how without doing or saying anything he managed to totally change the atmosphere in the room. Where once it had been an almost neutral gathering, it now had a feeling of dread that permeated through the room. Ranma had without moving a muscle that she could see had changed his bearing from that of a martial artist, ready to react to any physical threat that came his way; to a large predator, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.
Only the restraining hand of his sister seemed to be restraining him. "Master Tendo, if you are questioning my title of master would it not be more appropriate for you yourself to challenge me rather than your student." Akane almost flinched at the way he said student, it was clear that he didn't think much of her skill. Although how he could judge without sparing with her Nabiki couldn't have begun to guess. "However if as a fellow master you would like me to evaluate your pupil's progress, well I would be quite pleased to oblige."
It was with great disappointment that the weak man that her father had been since her mothers death was back. "Please," Soun squeaked "Akane can show you where the dojo is." Soun could be seen to almost slump with relief as his three daughters, Ranma and his sister left to the dojo.
To say he had been intimidated would be an understatement. After that little demonstration if he had a choice whether to cross the dreaded master or Ranma then he would gladly cross the master.
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Akane almost sung with anticipation of proving that she was not just the best in Nerima but world class. When she beat this self-proclaimed master to a pulp would she be able to also proclaim that she was a master of her school as well?
Akane almost growled in rage as she remembered how the upstart had intimidated her father. As if that was hard to do, it was in her mind almost an act of bullying on his behalf. So what if she did it on occasion to get her own way, she was family so it was all right.
She ignored the fact that Soun had insulted him and that Ranma had provided a way for Soun to back down without loss of face. A situation that judging from both elder daughters faces that they seemed to be aware of. It showed intelligence on his behalf though they had also noticed subtle prompting from his sister that in their minds bore further looking into.
Looking back at Ranma and his well-dressed sister she scowled, what were they whispering about? Probably insulting her behind her back, well she would show them. Once she was finished with Ranma she would beat the snot out of his sister as well. Akane was by this stage almost snarling as she worked up a rage that had become integral to her fighting style.
Reaching the dojo Akane stalked to the far corner and turned to state the conditions of the match. Before she could open her mouth though Ranma interrupted her, "since I am here to evaluate your skills in anything goes don't hold back. The match will end when I say. Begin"
Akane who had become more and more red in the face by being interrupted jumped forward to pummel this impostor who had upstaged her in her own dojo.
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Tef smiled approvingly at how her brother had handled the situation so far from his comfort zone with so little prompting. It hadn't been until he had finished his ten-year training journey and begun looking for her people and family that he had realized the importance of communication.
Naturally it had been his adoptive sister that he had turned to for help 'or training as he called it' she thought with amusement. Not that she minded of course Tef had made it her mission to understand why people behaved like she did in an attempt to explain that night so long ago. The night where she had wondered outside alone still occasionally gave her nightmares, but Ranma was always there to calm her.
Ranma was always there for her whenever she needed him, whether it was to protect her from another mob, something that had stopped as soon as she started dressing so concealingly, or to celebrate her birthday. Though they were not family by birth, Ranma always treated her like his own family. She could tell that he missed his as much as she did her own. Though he hadn't been able to legally adopt her into his clan he had assured her that it did not stop him from adopting her into his heart. Saying something like that was very unlike her adopted brother since he still had problems dealing with people in a less than formal manner but very sweet nether the less.
It often disturbed her how people reacted to her throughout their journeying. Sure in all their searching they had not been able to find any more of her kind and as such she was quite unique. But the outright hostility that she received at the hands of the people and later the rumors of slavery confounded her. How could any society that claimed to be civilized behave in such a way?
So until she could find a place that she could live without the threat of slavery or the fear of suddenly finding a murderous mob on her doorstep she out of necessity had to remain with her brother. Tef felt safe with her brother, he had after all yet to let her down. Even if she had a choice though she would not voluntarily leave his side, they had been together too long and been through too much.
Since Ranma was her mouthpiece with the world then it was frustrating to see that he placed so little importance on the ability to communicate well. When he started his search for her people and family he had discovered to her relief that communication was a very necessary skill and it was not something that came naturally to him. He was a lot better now than he was when he had first come to her for help. Now he came across as slightly uptight and not a total jerk. This made gathering information so much easier.
She had watched him as he introduced the both of them and almost nodded as he covered his confusion at the girls' presence in what should have been a private affair. Tef had smirked proudly when he had failed to rise to Soun's insult and instead left a way for the old man to back down without losing face after a suitable level of intimidation, she had no doubts that if he had really wanted to harm the old man then her hand on his arm would not have prevented it.
As she accompanied him to the dojo she just reiterated that to injure or harm the hosts is just not done, even with provocation. She needn't have bothered since Ranma was now in his element, martial arts. He may deny vehemently being a martial artist citing Shampoo as an example but in her opinion it was Shampoo that was no martial artist and not Ranma.
Still she felt a little sorry for Akane, even if he was just evaluating her skill level she was still in for some serious pain as he pushed her to her limits. The smug grin on her face that slowly turned into a snarl just made Tef pity her more, Ranma she noticed had seen that very expression and was sure to make her regret whatever she was thinking. Even she new enough of martial to tell that this girl lacked restraint and that was very dangerous thing in a martial artist.
She wasn't too worried at Akane's fate though; Ranma took martial arts very seriously and would never go too far. He had seen an example of someone who had gone down that path in Shampoo and she knew that it continued to have an enormous impact on his behavior.
"Since I am here to evaluate your skills in anything goes don't hold back. The match will end when I say. Begin," Tef had seen enough of Ranma's fights to know that Akane had started using some lethal moves after some time at failing to hit the elusive master. What had this Master Tendo been teaching this girl for her to be so lacking in restraint? It really was an embarrassment to him and their school.
That Tef knew would make this sparring match very painful for Akane as he tried to deliver a very clear lesson, 'lose your temper and you'll lose the fight'. Ranma was generally very forgiving but there were a few things that he held very dear to him and one of them was his school of martial arts. The sister school was so closely tied that she knew that he would not be very tolerant of any embarrassment coming from there either. She knew he had worked so hard and sacrificed his childhood for the sake of his school and the embarrassment that Akane was presenting him with would ensure that the lesson would be a little harsher than normal.
"Your speed is almost non existent, who have you been sparing with an untrained idiot?" She heard Ranma ask as her repeatedly dodged Akane's frantic and rage driven assault. "Your strength needs a lot of work" He commented as her briefly caught a blow that was aimed at his throat.
Tef watched as Ranma shook his head, a gesture that was clearly visible despite the fact that his entire body occasionally blurred between dodges. "If you want an opponent to take you seriously then you've just got to stop telegraphing your moves."
Suddenly Ranma was on the offensive, "your defensive is worse than your offence. You have holes that are just begging to be attacked." Each hole was punctuated with a light tap from Ranma making them obvious to Akane and the spectators. Just as Akane seemed on the verge of putting out a visible battle aura in rage, something she had seen Ranma do frequently Ranma jumped away from Akane. An action that only served to frustrate her more than the dodging had done. For the first time in as long as Akane could remember she had been unable to smash the object of her rage.
"I've seen enough, Master Tendo" Ranma addressed Soun who had entered the dojo in time to see the finish of the match and commentary. He was also just in time to see Akane grab the family katana from the Tendo family shrine at the end of the dojo and attack Ranma from behind yelling "the match isn't over until I SAY!"
Ranma effortlessly avoided Akane's attacks, not even bothering to turn around while staring pointedly at Soun. The unspoken "rein in you student" rang clearly throughout the dojo amongst Akane's grunts of effort. Kasumi, Nabiki and Soun seemed horrified at Akane's actions; Tef just shook her head thinking 'another Shampoo, that's all we need.'
"Your student barely ranks a beginner Master Tendo and her lack of control will prevent her from becoming much more." Soun just nodded sadly both he and Ranma completely ignoring Akane despite the fact that it seemed she was doing her very best to turn Ranma into a delicacy.
"Akane," Soun snapped causing Akane to halt her attacks though clearly she wished to continue her ineffective efforts. "Leave us, there are some family and school matters that need discussing and until you show yourself capable of thinking about how your actions effect both you will be excluded from such." It was an utterly humiliated sixteen-year-old girl that almost fled from the dojo.
A/N – Soun may be trying to turn his life around but to expect a complete personality change is just not very realistic. He has spent the last 9 years grief stricken, losing his backbone. To suddenly regain it would be out of character.
- Ranma as a master of the Saotome School cannot be a proper judge of Akane's level in the Tendo School. However the Tendo schools and the Saotome School were derived from the same original source meaning that the basics would be the same. Also Ranma has just finished eleven years of collecting a familiarity of many different schools worldwide so a martial artist of Akane's caliber would not be outside of his area of expertise.
- Ranma has spent ten years thinking that martial arts are the only thing that matters. Even with Tef's companionship he still has not learned advanced communication skills despite the fact that Tef has spend her own time doing so. A year of him slowly changing his attitude may not be time enough to become a famous orator but it will give him enough skills to get by in most situations.
- At this stage I'm very worried about my characters becoming discontinuous. So to everybody who is reading this if my characters seem to be doing something that you feel is out of character within the guidelines I have established I would appreciate it a lot if you could either post a review or just email me and let me know.
- Yes I know this is a little short but I felt it was a good place to stop. Please don't forget to place reviews even if it is just – hurry up with the next chapter, at least then I'll know people are reading it.
Lance Alucard was kind enough to offer to preread this fic for me.
Thanks a lot mate
Engagement pending
Nabiki looked between her father and her sisters as they waited for Suon to make his important announcement. Through her own efforts at keeping the dojo's finances stable and on the positive side of the cheque book she had become quite adept at reading people. What she was reading from her father was both encouraging and disturbing. Soun was sitting straighter and his visage was sterner than usual, a sure indicator that something important had happened or was going to happen.
The person she remembered her father being before her mother's death, while not completely back was certainly a lot closer at that moment than it had been in a long time. She wondered what could have Caused such a change in her father when nothing that she or her sisters had done came even close to snapping him out of the shell he had built around himself.
That's why she was worried - whatever it was it was serious. "The son of a very good friend of mine and a master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes will be arriving soon," Soun started. "I received word today that since his father died in some sort of a training accident on their 11 year training trip he is coming here to visit. The engagement between him and one of you three girls was arranged before your mother died. After uniting the families together you would then be expected to carry on the dojo securing both the Tendo and Soatome family legacy."
Nabiki couldn't say that she was relieved at the news, she wasn't but she had feared hearing something much worse from her father. She had been expecting something like this for a while. It was a common occurrence in business for mergers to take place in order to bail out one side of the merger or the other, this she saw as no different. Why it had taken Soun so long to recognize that their finances where in such poor health though bewildered her.
'Wait a minute, did he just say family friend. No mention of wealth or prosperity,' Nabiki thought as she joined her protest with her sisters along with a not so subtle inquiry about his status. "Do you know anything else about him other than the fact that he is the son of your dear departed friend and a master of our sister school?"
Her fathers reply somewhat satisfied her though, it required some resources to trip around the world for eleven years. 'I just hope that he is moderately good looking and intelligent, the last thing I want to do is marry some dumb jock even for the sake of the family.' Nabiki didn't expect love in an arranged marriage but she hoped for someone that she could abide. It was almost a forgone conclusion that she would be roped into the engagement since she had taken it upon herself to handle all financial matters in the family. This family merger certainly applied.
"Ah we have a visitor, Kasumi could you kindly escort our guest to the table." Her fathers voice sounded across the table starting Nabiki out of her thoughts and making her realize that someone had knocked on the door. 'Surely father wouldn't have left it so late to tell us of the engagement,' she thought in disbelief.
Kasumi escorted a young man of about sixteen and a young woman into the room. The young woman was dressed in an overcoat that hid any other observation that even she might have been able to deduce from her appearance. Nabiki however was much more interested in the young man that Kasumi had escorted in especially after he introduced himself as Ranma Saotome and the young woman as his sister. While the young woman would become family she wouldn't be expected to marry her.
Ranma was smartly dressed in silken Chinese clothes, a red shirt and black kung fu pants. His black hair was tied back into a ponytail and he had the most amazing crystal blue eyes, definitely a looker. As she had found out though, often the hard way looks could be deceiving.
"I'm glad you got my letter master Tendo, you know why I'm here," Ranma started after taking a seat at the table earning him glares from each of Tendo's daughters, it almost sounded as if he were purchasing a side of beef not arranging a marriage.
"Of course Ranma," Soun replied jovially. "Meet my daughters; Kasumi, she's nineteen. Nabiki my middle daughter is seventeen and Akane is sixteen. Before we move on to business though could you please tell me how my old friend and training partner Genma met his end?"
After looking at each of three daughters, as Soun introduced them, with a questioning look Ranma simply nodded before starting his tale. 'Is it possible that he doesn't know about the engagement' Nabiki thought as she caught his questioning glance. Nabiki leaned forward to listen to Ranma's story 'after all the more I know about my possible fiancée the better any future relationship is sure to be.'
"When I was six Genma found a training manual that described an ultimate technique called the Neko-ken. It was quite simple to teach; you simply wrap the student in fish sausage and repeatedly throw them into a pit of starving cats." Ranma ignored the expressions on the three girls' faces as he continued his tale; he often received similar looks when he described his training methods to others. It was one of the reasons he often trained in private and rarely talked about it.
"Because of the danger to the student, my father decided to minimize the risk by spending the next year concentrating purely on the conditioning part of my training. By my seventh birthday after I had swam to China across the Sea of Japan my father declared my readiness to learn the technique."
Ranma shook his head, "it still took me two weeks to learn the technique despite all the conditioning training I had done. Or rather to start to learn the technique, you see master Tendo the Neko-ken is not just a single technique or school of techniques but rather…a buttress. If you imagine martial arts as a wall with every technique learnt a brick extending and building upon that wall then the Neko-ken could be described as a buttress that helps support and strengthen the wall. I'm afraid that without you knowing the technique I couldn't be anymore specific,' Ranma apologized. 'My father died in the course of teaching me the Neko-ken."
Nabiki shook her head at the almost casual way that he described his father throwing him in a pit of starving cats at seven…. SEVEN. It made her wonder what else he had been through or been subjected to and exactly what kind of man his father was. There were a few holes in his story; the biggest though was how his father had actually died. That he had actually avoided merely describing the circumstances behind his father's death.
Still according to his story he had only been trained in anything goes for two years. It almost made her wonder how he could claim to be a master of the school based on two years of training in the school plus whatever self taught martial arts he had learnt over the years. Especially when that two years of training was done so long ago. Admittedly she didn't know much about martial arts especially their family school but how could anyone hold onto core principles when they had been taught them at such a young age and for a limited time.
Nabiki only had to look at Akane to know that it took more than being taught the basics and then some self-teaching to be able to master an entire school. Still until she had information to the contrary she would accept his self-proclaimed title. 'After all' she admitted to herself 'how can I judge him with knowing so little about martial arts, and besides his a guest.'
"Perhaps you would like to spar with Akane? She is the heir of our dojo." Nabiki sighed once again how could her father be so stupid, the master that she remembered from before her mother's death would never have made such a social blunder. They may have all doubted the legitimacy of his title but it was extremely rude to express as much to his face.
Nabiki supposed as a master of anything goes her father had a small justification but it would have been more proper for him to challenge Ranma himself, master to master. To imply that an almost rank beginner would be a test of his skills was just rubbing salt in. To question his status was insult enough and it seemed that Ranma noticed both stabs at his person.
What she couldn't understand was how without doing or saying anything he managed to totally change the atmosphere in the room. Where once it had been an almost neutral gathering, it now had a feeling of dread that permeated through the room. Ranma had without moving a muscle that she could see had changed his bearing from that of a martial artist, ready to react to any physical threat that came his way; to a large predator, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.
Only the restraining hand of his sister seemed to be restraining him. "Master Tendo, if you are questioning my title of master would it not be more appropriate for you yourself to challenge me rather than your student." Akane almost flinched at the way he said student, it was clear that he didn't think much of her skill. Although how he could judge without sparing with her Nabiki couldn't have begun to guess. "However if as a fellow master you would like me to evaluate your pupil's progress, well I would be quite pleased to oblige."
It was with great disappointment that the weak man that her father had been since her mothers death was back. "Please," Soun squeaked "Akane can show you where the dojo is." Soun could be seen to almost slump with relief as his three daughters, Ranma and his sister left to the dojo.
To say he had been intimidated would be an understatement. After that little demonstration if he had a choice whether to cross the dreaded master or Ranma then he would gladly cross the master.
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Akane almost sung with anticipation of proving that she was not just the best in Nerima but world class. When she beat this self-proclaimed master to a pulp would she be able to also proclaim that she was a master of her school as well?
Akane almost growled in rage as she remembered how the upstart had intimidated her father. As if that was hard to do, it was in her mind almost an act of bullying on his behalf. So what if she did it on occasion to get her own way, she was family so it was all right.
She ignored the fact that Soun had insulted him and that Ranma had provided a way for Soun to back down without loss of face. A situation that judging from both elder daughters faces that they seemed to be aware of. It showed intelligence on his behalf though they had also noticed subtle prompting from his sister that in their minds bore further looking into.
Looking back at Ranma and his well-dressed sister she scowled, what were they whispering about? Probably insulting her behind her back, well she would show them. Once she was finished with Ranma she would beat the snot out of his sister as well. Akane was by this stage almost snarling as she worked up a rage that had become integral to her fighting style.
Reaching the dojo Akane stalked to the far corner and turned to state the conditions of the match. Before she could open her mouth though Ranma interrupted her, "since I am here to evaluate your skills in anything goes don't hold back. The match will end when I say. Begin"
Akane who had become more and more red in the face by being interrupted jumped forward to pummel this impostor who had upstaged her in her own dojo.
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Tef smiled approvingly at how her brother had handled the situation so far from his comfort zone with so little prompting. It hadn't been until he had finished his ten-year training journey and begun looking for her people and family that he had realized the importance of communication.
Naturally it had been his adoptive sister that he had turned to for help 'or training as he called it' she thought with amusement. Not that she minded of course Tef had made it her mission to understand why people behaved like she did in an attempt to explain that night so long ago. The night where she had wondered outside alone still occasionally gave her nightmares, but Ranma was always there to calm her.
Ranma was always there for her whenever she needed him, whether it was to protect her from another mob, something that had stopped as soon as she started dressing so concealingly, or to celebrate her birthday. Though they were not family by birth, Ranma always treated her like his own family. She could tell that he missed his as much as she did her own. Though he hadn't been able to legally adopt her into his clan he had assured her that it did not stop him from adopting her into his heart. Saying something like that was very unlike her adopted brother since he still had problems dealing with people in a less than formal manner but very sweet nether the less.
It often disturbed her how people reacted to her throughout their journeying. Sure in all their searching they had not been able to find any more of her kind and as such she was quite unique. But the outright hostility that she received at the hands of the people and later the rumors of slavery confounded her. How could any society that claimed to be civilized behave in such a way?
So until she could find a place that she could live without the threat of slavery or the fear of suddenly finding a murderous mob on her doorstep she out of necessity had to remain with her brother. Tef felt safe with her brother, he had after all yet to let her down. Even if she had a choice though she would not voluntarily leave his side, they had been together too long and been through too much.
Since Ranma was her mouthpiece with the world then it was frustrating to see that he placed so little importance on the ability to communicate well. When he started his search for her people and family he had discovered to her relief that communication was a very necessary skill and it was not something that came naturally to him. He was a lot better now than he was when he had first come to her for help. Now he came across as slightly uptight and not a total jerk. This made gathering information so much easier.
She had watched him as he introduced the both of them and almost nodded as he covered his confusion at the girls' presence in what should have been a private affair. Tef had smirked proudly when he had failed to rise to Soun's insult and instead left a way for the old man to back down without losing face after a suitable level of intimidation, she had no doubts that if he had really wanted to harm the old man then her hand on his arm would not have prevented it.
As she accompanied him to the dojo she just reiterated that to injure or harm the hosts is just not done, even with provocation. She needn't have bothered since Ranma was now in his element, martial arts. He may deny vehemently being a martial artist citing Shampoo as an example but in her opinion it was Shampoo that was no martial artist and not Ranma.
Still she felt a little sorry for Akane, even if he was just evaluating her skill level she was still in for some serious pain as he pushed her to her limits. The smug grin on her face that slowly turned into a snarl just made Tef pity her more, Ranma she noticed had seen that very expression and was sure to make her regret whatever she was thinking. Even she new enough of martial to tell that this girl lacked restraint and that was very dangerous thing in a martial artist.
She wasn't too worried at Akane's fate though; Ranma took martial arts very seriously and would never go too far. He had seen an example of someone who had gone down that path in Shampoo and she knew that it continued to have an enormous impact on his behavior.
"Since I am here to evaluate your skills in anything goes don't hold back. The match will end when I say. Begin," Tef had seen enough of Ranma's fights to know that Akane had started using some lethal moves after some time at failing to hit the elusive master. What had this Master Tendo been teaching this girl for her to be so lacking in restraint? It really was an embarrassment to him and their school.
That Tef knew would make this sparring match very painful for Akane as he tried to deliver a very clear lesson, 'lose your temper and you'll lose the fight'. Ranma was generally very forgiving but there were a few things that he held very dear to him and one of them was his school of martial arts. The sister school was so closely tied that she knew that he would not be very tolerant of any embarrassment coming from there either. She knew he had worked so hard and sacrificed his childhood for the sake of his school and the embarrassment that Akane was presenting him with would ensure that the lesson would be a little harsher than normal.
"Your speed is almost non existent, who have you been sparing with an untrained idiot?" She heard Ranma ask as her repeatedly dodged Akane's frantic and rage driven assault. "Your strength needs a lot of work" He commented as her briefly caught a blow that was aimed at his throat.
Tef watched as Ranma shook his head, a gesture that was clearly visible despite the fact that his entire body occasionally blurred between dodges. "If you want an opponent to take you seriously then you've just got to stop telegraphing your moves."
Suddenly Ranma was on the offensive, "your defensive is worse than your offence. You have holes that are just begging to be attacked." Each hole was punctuated with a light tap from Ranma making them obvious to Akane and the spectators. Just as Akane seemed on the verge of putting out a visible battle aura in rage, something she had seen Ranma do frequently Ranma jumped away from Akane. An action that only served to frustrate her more than the dodging had done. For the first time in as long as Akane could remember she had been unable to smash the object of her rage.
"I've seen enough, Master Tendo" Ranma addressed Soun who had entered the dojo in time to see the finish of the match and commentary. He was also just in time to see Akane grab the family katana from the Tendo family shrine at the end of the dojo and attack Ranma from behind yelling "the match isn't over until I SAY!"
Ranma effortlessly avoided Akane's attacks, not even bothering to turn around while staring pointedly at Soun. The unspoken "rein in you student" rang clearly throughout the dojo amongst Akane's grunts of effort. Kasumi, Nabiki and Soun seemed horrified at Akane's actions; Tef just shook her head thinking 'another Shampoo, that's all we need.'
"Your student barely ranks a beginner Master Tendo and her lack of control will prevent her from becoming much more." Soun just nodded sadly both he and Ranma completely ignoring Akane despite the fact that it seemed she was doing her very best to turn Ranma into a delicacy.
"Akane," Soun snapped causing Akane to halt her attacks though clearly she wished to continue her ineffective efforts. "Leave us, there are some family and school matters that need discussing and until you show yourself capable of thinking about how your actions effect both you will be excluded from such." It was an utterly humiliated sixteen-year-old girl that almost fled from the dojo.
A/N – Soun may be trying to turn his life around but to expect a complete personality change is just not very realistic. He has spent the last 9 years grief stricken, losing his backbone. To suddenly regain it would be out of character.
- Ranma as a master of the Saotome School cannot be a proper judge of Akane's level in the Tendo School. However the Tendo schools and the Saotome School were derived from the same original source meaning that the basics would be the same. Also Ranma has just finished eleven years of collecting a familiarity of many different schools worldwide so a martial artist of Akane's caliber would not be outside of his area of expertise.
- Ranma has spent ten years thinking that martial arts are the only thing that matters. Even with Tef's companionship he still has not learned advanced communication skills despite the fact that Tef has spend her own time doing so. A year of him slowly changing his attitude may not be time enough to become a famous orator but it will give him enough skills to get by in most situations.
- At this stage I'm very worried about my characters becoming discontinuous. So to everybody who is reading this if my characters seem to be doing something that you feel is out of character within the guidelines I have established I would appreciate it a lot if you could either post a review or just email me and let me know.
- Yes I know this is a little short but I felt it was a good place to stop. Please don't forget to place reviews even if it is just – hurry up with the next chapter, at least then I'll know people are reading it.