Ranma ½ is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain. Its sole purpose is to entertain using the characters and plots developed by Takahashi. ALL rights reserved

Shadows of the Land   Volume I :   The Journey to Aina

Chapter 2: A training we will go

Kasumi Tendo as usual was the first person to rise at the Tendo Dojo. A blissful smile crossed her face as she thought of all that had to be done. Everyone thought of cleaning work. For Kasumi, it was her way of having fun. She loved cleaning.

She walked slowly towards the Dojo. Hopefully she would be able to get a good bit cleaned before the others awoke. When she walked into the Dojo she couldn’t help but exclaim, ‘oh my.’ There, propped up against the wall of the Dojo were Ranma and Akane, sleeping blissfully. Kasumi stood a full minute watching the two, utterly amazed. Ranma was against the wall while Akane’s head had fallen into Ranma’s lap. She silently tried to creep away and was succeeding until she managed to kick one of the cans that still remained from the party.

Ranma and Akane awoke with a start and fearfully recognised Kasumi as she watched over them.

"Ranma you pervert!" shouted Akane.

"wha…" replied Ranma until he finally caught on. "Like I would do anything with a tomboy like you!"

Kasumi looked at the pair.

"Oh, father would be so happy when I tell him." She turned to leave the room when she almost walked into two figures. She could swear she had just left the pair on the other side of the room a minute ago.

"Kasumi you can’t!" exclaimed Akane, "you can’t tell anyone!"

Kasumi was confused. Why wouldn’t Akane want her to tell father that she was getting along so well with Ranma?

"Please Kasumi, don’t tell anyone, promise me you won’t?" pleaded Akane.

Kasumi thought about it for a few seconds, maybe her little sister did have her reasons.

"Ok little sister, but first you have to answer me one question."

"What’s that?"

"What’s going on between you two?"

Akane gave Ranma a questioning glance. He smiled back. Wordlessly he walked around behind her and pulled his hand around her waist. She reached into her bra, pulled out something and placed it on her hand. Only then did she show it to Kasumi.

"Nothing much, other that we are officially engaged," replied Akane shrewdly, before Ranma kissed her lightly on the forehead.

All Kasumi could utter was a rather loud, ‘oh my’

*****************

After the birthday party, Akane and Ranma had one week to prepare for finals. Ranma previously had brought up the grades on his papers from barely passing to a B- average. Akane had an A. Unfortunately for them, they had missed out quite a bit of work due to their absence for the last few weeks. As a result, they along with Ukyou had to report to Miss Hinako every afternoon for the whole week. She kept them occupied until late every night doing schoolwork.

At home, Ranma had been forced to use his old room since he realised that both himself and Akane were so tired in the morning that they would not get up before the others; even with Kasumi covering for them.

Miss Hinako even worked them during the weekend. Ukyou had received a pardon since she had to run her restaurant. Then, exam time came. Ranma, Ukyou and Akane studied late most nights. His mother had commented that a man should do well in school. That helped bolster his desire for passing the exams. Ranma really had no problems with English thanks to Cologne’s tutoring, but literature and history were killing him. Even worse, literature was the last test on Friday.

The days of that week went slowly by, with the bags under Ranma, Akane and Ukyou’s eyes growing with every day. Finally Friday came and so did the literature exam. Ranma came out of the exam looking broken and haggard while Akane looked as if it had been a breeze. Ukyou was Ranma’s twin sister.

They dropped Ukyou home and the weariness of all the other nights showed on their face and in their movements as they walked home dragging their feet. They made it home just in time for lunch, but before anyone had finished light snoring was heard from both Ranma and Akane. They had fallen asleep at the table and no one had the heart to wake them except Genma. Genma had missed training his son every morning since Nodoka had dictated to him in no uncertain terms that these exams came before training. A woman wielding a katana could be very convincing!

Genma and Soun were sneaking up on Ranma intent to wake him up when Kasumi entered the room.

"Oh father, Mr. Saotome, how nice of you to wake them up. Akane so wanted to cook tonight."

Genma and Soun’s faces turned green. From out of nowhere, blankets and pillows appeared under the sleeping duo, literally surrounding them from head to foot. They had even supplied a fan and cornered off the room from the outside using signals such as ‘WARNING, sleeping demons’, and ‘DANGER, atomic waste’. Within the boundary of the signs, they personally stood guard outside the door to make sure that no one would interrupt the sleeping pair.

Kasumi smiled while Nabiki shrugged at the two men. She had just paid off her teachers for the year. Straight A’s again, school was so boring.

Akane was the first to wake up that afternoon. She looked around and saw no one about. She walked over to a dozing Ranma, pulled the cover from over him and passed her hand through his hair. First she passed her hand through his hair, then she tickled his ears, while tugging at his pig-tail. No reaction. Then, she bunted him into the wall.

"Come on Ranma, since we’ve been here, all we’ve done is work, so let’s have some fun tonight"

Ranma muttered something incoherent about tomboys and violence.

Akane grinned at him and dragged him off the floor. She found Kasumi, told her of her plans and disappeared into the afternoon sun, tugging a still half-asleep Ranma.

Ranma had been harassed repeatedly by Akane and finally agreed to watching some romantic drama at the cinema. He couldn’t remember how Akane had talked him into it and then remembered the appearance of a certain mallet. It had quickly solved the issue.. Ranma and Akane sat on a thin metal pipe that carried the lights along the ceiling of the cinema. It was very silent there, away from all the distractions of the other patrons. You could in fact say that they had their own private balcony.

Ranma, of course, had perfect balance on the thin beam. Akane sat on his lap. His hands around her waist, her hands around his back.

Ranma didn’t enjoy the film at all. Too much mushy stuff for him, but apparently, Akane had enjoyed it immensely.

From the cinema, they were walking back to the Dojo, amidst a symphony of insults. They were competing to see who would come up with the best.

"Nihao Ranma!" shouted Shampoo. Akane had heard it early enough, but Ranma had been plastered onto the road, a tire track across his face for his trouble.

"Husband so silly. Always fall under Shampoo every time."

By now Akane’s eyes were burning brightly. She really, really wanted to hurt the Amazon but she literally forced herself to remain calm. The piece of wood she brandished as a weapon exploded in her hand.

"Ranma! Leave my Shampoo alone!" shouted Mousse as he saw Shampoo peeling Ranma off the ground.

Ranma looked at Akane, who stuck her nose up in the air, turned around and marched off without him. Ranma sighed.

When they reached home, Ranma and Akane started their usual fight, which ended in Akane entering her room slamming the door. Soun and Genma gave their disapproving glances to Ranma who blatantly ignored them. Nabiki took no interest while Kasumi had already got used to the acting scenes. Kasumi had tried dropping hints to Auntie Nodoka, but the poor lady did not recognise any of them. Kasumi had promised the pair that she wouldn’t tell; they never said anything about hints.

When all had gone to bed, Ranma entered Akane’s room from the window. He quickly checked for any new bugs from Nabiki. He knew he had to be very careful around her. He knew she suspected something but he did not know what she suspected.

Someone knocked on the door and hurriedly Ranma disappeared under Akane’s bed.

Kasumi entered.

"It’s ok Ranma, it’s just Kasumi." Ranma emerged from under the bed.

"Hi Kasumi, what’s up?" asked Ranma.

"Well I just wanted to know if you two were having intercourse?" asked Kasumi innocently. So innocently in fact that it had taken a couple of minutes for the full meaning of what Kasumi had said to sink in. Ranma and Akane blushed furiously, the floor had suddenly become very interesting.

"Uh…no…" stuttered Akane and Ranma simultaneously.

Akane knew they had come close many times to…but she knew that neither of them was ready for the consequences of that. For now, she would be content with just sharing a bed with him. God only knows how much she had missed him when they were studying and he had stayed in his own room.

"That’s nice," replied Kasumi as she left the two teens standing and thinking.

Ranma knew he had to break the silence.

"So Akane you packed for the trip!"

"What!"

"The trip I planned."

"Oh yeah, I still can’t believe you’re actually going to train me!"

Ranma didn’t reply, he didn’t want to train her but if she really wanted to train with him, he couldn’t refuse her.

Over the last two weeks, Ranma and Akane had spoken about training. They again made a plan. Ranma knew that if he went off to train for the next couple of weeks, Soun would demand that Akane accompany him. Of course the sisters would have to back up their father. Akane would blatantly refuse but in the end would give in to her father’s wishes. They got into bed with thoughts centring around the trip and Kasumi’s question.

************

Early in the morning, Ranma literally had to tear himself away from a sleeping Akane. She just looked so cute and adorable and he just wanted to stay with her whole day. He brushed the few intruding hairs from her face, being careful not to wake her. He stared into her face for a while, then gave her a kiss. Then, like the wind, he was out of the window.

Ranma went to his room and went back to sleep. He began packing as soon as his father had left the room. He met everyone including Akane at the breakfast table and after inhaling most of his food ran back to his room and produced a backpack.

"Since school’s out, I’m going on a training trip," announced Ranma.

His father and Soun looked at him with open eyes. Then they looked at Akane.

"Well Akane, you must accompany your fiancée on his training trip" commented Soun.

"What! I ain’t going anywhere with that kawaiikune tomboy!" bellowed Ranma.

"I’m not going anywhere with that pervert!" shouted Akane

"Foo-lish b-o-y! If you don’t let her come, your mother will doubt your manhood. What man would not carry a woman out alone in the woods."

"Oh my daughter’s growing up so quickly," cried Soun between tears.

"Yeah Akane, think of it as bridal training," commented Nabiki in a morose tone.

Akane glowered at her parents and her sister very convincingly.

She went to her room to pack some of the stuff she needed. Ranma had already spoken to her about it and they had planned out everything. Akane was surprised to see how much planning had actually gone into the trip. She was really impressed with Ranma about that.

When Akane came downstairs with her backpack, Ranma and the others were already outside the gate waiting for her. Ranma said his goodbyes along with Akane and they ran down the street with Ranma in the lead. After they were out of sight from the others, Ranma slowed down and stopped allowing Akane to catch up to him.

"So where to know?" asked Akane.

"Well I guess we could visit some places pop carried me," he replied. But Ranma knew exactly every place he would carry her, he had really planned for this trip.

Ranma took Akane’s hand and together they headed into the forest. Akane did not know if Ranma had any idea where he was going, but then he had been travelling most his life. She had complete faith in him. And why not? He had saved her from Princes, Spells and Death, and she in turn had saved him from himself.

Ranma did not wait long to begin training Akane. He was bounding from tree to tree at a pace that any normal person wouldn’t dare try to keep up with. Akane saw him speeding up and knew her training had begun. With the load on her shoulders and a somewhat restrictive dress on, Akane found herself hard pressed to keep up with Ranma. She knew that Ranma had been keeping tabs on her all the time. He hadn’t even broken out into a good sweat, and wasn’t even near all out speed.

Akane had to admire that. All the martial artists she had met because of Ranma had been very well trained. Now she was finding out the hard way how it was done. The Ranma who had been training her before was unsure how to go about actually training her. This Ranma knew exactly what he wanted to do with her. She was finding out first hand what it was to really be training. Not the kind that her dad had given her and certainly not the kind she had gone through for the match with the Dojo destroyer. No, this was real training, this was the real thing.

Akane had fallen way back behind Ranma and was huffing and puffing. She checked her watch, they had only been running for an hour and Ranma had kept mostly to the floor of the forest. She caught up to him.

"Now that you are all warmed up," joked Ranma, "we can start the real training!"

"What!"

Akane looked at him in disbelief. That was just a warm up! He had to be kidding. She looked at him again, he wasn’t kidding! Ranma took Akane’s pack from her and effortlessly jumped into a tree.

"Come on Acchan, this is part two" shouted Ranma as he ran.

Akane noted that even with the two packs on his back, Ranma did not slow down his speed. Now instead of running on the ground, they were leaping through the trees. These trees however, were smaller than the ones back in Aina. Akane found herself slipping from time to time, but the training Ranma had previously given her on the slippery rocks near the river had helped her with her balance tremendously.

Akane looked at Ranma who always seemed only a few steps in front of her all the way, even though Akane had slipped and had to stop sometimes to regain her balance. Akane marvelled at how both Ryouga and Ranma had managed to lift things that seemed so heavy. Ryouga’s umbrella was an example. She was baffled at how Ryouga could carry that heavy thing around. She had tried to lift it once but struggled to even move it. Ranma had shown her that even in his girl form, the umbrella was no challenge for him.

They continued their cat and mouse chase in the trees for another hour until they came to a river.

Ranma hardly had time to react when he found himself in mid-air faced with a river in front of him. He lifted the packs into the air and threw them back onto solid ground as he landed with a splash. That was enough of a warning for Akane who had slowed down only to find soaking Ranma-chan in the water.

"Why does this always happen to me!" complained Ranma-chan.

Akane just laughed as a completely drenched Ranma-chan made her way from the river.

"Oh so you think that’s funny eh!" glared Ranma-chan, "well what about this!"

Ranma-chan went back into the water and with the speed of the Amaguriken literally threw a wall of water at Akane. Akane had no way to block water and tried to dodge, but Ranma was too quick for her. Realising that escape was futile, Akane dived into the river after Ranma-chan. When she surfaced she found no Ranma. Instead, Ranma was on the shore with a pile of pebbles at her side.

Akane recognised instantly it was a training technique and scrambled out of the water just in time as the first batch of stones came. She was able to parry a few, but one or two sneaked through and hit her, hard. If she thought Ranma was going to stop, she was wrong. She had enough time to see the second batch come at her. There were too many of them so Akane decided to jump over them. She barely got on her feet when another set of stones appeared from a different direction. Soon Akane was blocking and dodging from every direction. She was near panicking. She could only recognise Ranma as a red blur as she dashed around Akane kicking and pelting stones. After about fifteen minutes of that, the barrage stopped and Akane dropped to the ground exhausted. She only recognised Ranma by the red shirt.

"What the hell was all that about!" shouted Akane. Her blood was boiling and her hands and feet were aching. If she had enough strength to mallet Ranma she would, but she was too tired.

"Well I never said training would be easy. The only way you will get better is if I press you. Right now, if you took on Ukyou, you might be able to dodge some of her mini-spatulas, Shampoo is a different story though, and I don’t think you would last very long against Mousse."

Ranma went to his pack and pulled out a flask. Akane’s hands and feet were red from where she had blocked the stones. From the flask Ranma poured the ointment into his hands and rubbed Akane’s hands and feet.

Akane gasped as her limbs burned momentarily. She wanted to beat Ranma to a pulp for what he did but she knew he was right. How could she possibly think she could get better without hard training? Her anger dissipated and Ranma noted the change.

Ranma-chan passed her hand through Akane’s hair then went off to the side to build a fire. Akane got up momentarily and watched as Ranma-chan started the fire, then started plucking at her wet clothes. It was only then that Akane realised how well Ranma had planned the attack.

With dry clothes, anything that had hit her would have really hurt her, but with her wet clothes hanging around her, most of the stones that had hit her were buffeted by the wet clothing. The water had also prevented her from getting nasty bruises. Akane had often asked Ranma in the past to train her and he blatantly refused. Now she knew why, a couple of months ago she would have thought of this as suicide rather than training. Only know was she realising the amount of crap Ranma had gone through in those ten years, to become as good as he was now. She had a new-found respect for her fiancée.

Pleased with her fire, Ranma-chan began removing her wet clothing, placing them around the fire. Naked she sat on the backpack near the fire waiting for the clothes to dry. Akane would have not even dared to take off her clothes until she realised that they were probably in the middle of the forest somewhere and she had one of the most powerful martial artists in the world as her protector. What the hell was she afraid of?

Akane peeled off her clothing wrapped herself in a blanket and placed the wet clothes near to Ranma’s on the fire. Ranma-chan never even looked at her. Her gaze remained transfixed on the fire. Akane sat down next to her.

"If you want to stop and go home now," stated Ranma in a low tone, "I’ll understand."

Akane just smiled as she latched onto her fiancée and held her in a fierce hug.

"Thanks Ran-chan. I knew it took a lot of guts to do that, but finally someone is treating my training seriously."

Ranma smiled at her. He had been planning that all along. To get Akane ready in a short space of time, Ranma really needed to push her. He was worried that she would react badly if he really started training her seriously. This was the test to see if she really wanted to train with him. She had passed. Ranma smiled.

"Um Acchan, could you undo my pig-tail please?"

"Uh sure!"

Akane undid the pig-tail and handed the dragon’s hair to Ranma. Ranma’s underwear had dried quickly, but the rest were another matter. During the whole time, Ranma had found it hard to occupy his mind to prevent it from staring at a half-naked Akane that he knew would be under the blanket.

The vest Akane knitted for Ranma was really a blessing. Ranma found it was extremely comfortable in both forms. In his girl form it provided enough support, but did not hinder her movement.

Ranma looked at the sun and decided that it was time for the other part of her training. Ranma rummaged through his backpack until he brought out the necessary ingredients to make soup. Akane looked at him. He looked at her.

"I promised that I’d teach you how ta cook," stated Ranma emphatically, the fear in his voice evident, "but you have to listen to me."

Akane nodded her head vigorously. Ranma pulled out a little book from his pack back. It was a small note pad that Akane immediately recognised.

"Where’d you get that?" asked Akane unbelievingly.

"I found it in your desk and I couldn’t find a better place for you to use it," replied Ranma. "Now go get some water from the river and put it to boil," commanded Ranma

Akane grudging obeyed and placed the pot over the fire. Ranma teaching her martial arts was one thing, but Ranma teaching her to cook; she found it a bit insulting to her womanhood!

"Now put some salt into it."

Akane reached for what she taught was the bag of salt. Ranma-chan saw her reach for the wrong bag and touched Akane’s hand. Akane stopped. Ranma-chan pulled out a different bag, and put her finger in it. She tasted the powdery white substance and put some on her finger again. She thrust out her hand to Akane who licked it from her finger.

"That’s what salt tastes like. You put it in the water when you are boiling it."

Akane gave him an annoyed stare.

Ranma let Akane take out a pinch, which she threw into the water. Ranma-chan passed her hand into the now warm water. She now he, proceeded to pull out some provisions. He handed Akane a knife to cut up the meat. She was slaughtering the meat, chopping like a mad lady. He put his arms around her.

"Slower Akane, you must cut it slower."

Akane was getting annoyed with the slowness involved in cooking, but having those hands around her was sufficient incentive not to lose her temper and fling Ranma away. If she did that, she would sorely miss those hands. In fact, his breath against her cheek was causing her cheeks to become flushed.

Ranma put his hands on hers, and slowly guided her movement. First she tackled the meat, then the provisions. He allowed Akane to check when the water was near boiling and then she threw in the ingredients along with some spices Ranma had given her. Then they waited.

Ranma handed Akane a bowl and took one himself. He dished out the food

"Now, the cook should always taste the food first," stated Ranma emphatically.

Akane cautiously tasted the food. Her eyes opened in surprise, it was tasting like…like real food. She had made the mistake once of tasting her cooking before and was sick for the rest of the day. She looked at Ranma who had already downed his first bowl.

"Well?" asked Akane.

"Well what?" asked Ranma, playing dumb.

"Well how is the soup stupid?" answered Akane, her voice rising.

"Well I think it’s the best food you’ve ever cooked," replied Ranma nonchalantly.

Akane was going to clobber Ranma, thinking he was going to make a crack about her cooking. Her mallet appeared for a microsecond, until Ranma’s words sank in. She rushed over and hugged him.

"Do you really mean it?"

"Hey you yourself tasted it," answered Ranma in defence.

"Oh Ranma," replied Akane as she threw herself at him. He caught her with open arms and an empty bowl as she crushed him.

After lunch, Ranma and Akane continued through the forest in the same way as before; first on the ground, then in the trees. After two hours of travelling, Ranma stopped so Akane could get some rest. After fifteen minutes, he repeated the training, but this time, he had compassion on his tiring fiancée and slowed the pace considerably.

As the sun set, Ranma and Akane took to the tallest tree to watch nature’s own theatre in the sky. Ranma had already found a small clearing for the night. As usual, Genma and Soun had somehow managed to remove one of the tents, not like it really mattered to Ranma and Akane. They ate the left over soup for supper and practised some simple katas for an hour.

Akane was amazed at how demanding Ranma was that she perform these basic katas perfectly. She didn’t know why, but she knew he had some reason for telling her to do it. Akane watched Ranma, then in a moment of lost concentration, she lost her balance and fell flat on the forest floor. Ranma looked at her, trying to suppress it but he couldn’t. It was too precious.

"Bwahahahhahhahhah! Acchan you’re such a klutz! I can believe you actually fell! Hahahhahahh!"

"Ranma!" shouted an angry Akane as her mallet appeared.

"Uh oh."

"Get over here you coward!"

"You have to catch me first!" he teased her as he stuck out his tongue. "nyah nyah!’

"Ooooooooh! Come here and take your punishment like a man!"

Ranma and Akane circled around the campsite Ranma teasing her constantly.

"You’re so slow!" shouted Ranma as he ran

Akane was slowing down, she was quickly becoming winded as the day took its toll on her. She had to catch him! She threw the mallet at him hoping... yes, it hit him square in the back. She lunged, eager for the kill, pinning him.

"So who’s slow?" threatened Akane.

Ranma looked up at her and smiled.

"I wondered where that kawaiikune tomboy I fell in love with went."

Akane froze at the comment, malleted him for the insult and kissed him for a very long time for the compliment. Breathless, she moved away from him until her legs were knocked out from under her. She turned around to find a smiling Ranma.

"Fist rule of the Saotome school: Never turn your back on an opponent."

"Ranma, get back here!" she shouted as he nimbly escaped her mallet.

Finally she caught up to him and brained him, or he let her catch up. She knew it was the latter, but she also knew he would never admit it, besides, she liked knocking him around a bit. Akane was relieved when Ranma said it was time for bed. She changed into her pyjamas while Ranma practised some of his more complex katas. She watched him from the tent.

He was so fluid and graceful. She had seen Ryouga doing katas before and Genma, but they were amateurs when compared to Ranma. He held a certain grace to his movements which flowed one into the other as do the waves of the ocean when they follow each other, crashing against the shoreline. Not once did his body stop or jerk. His movements were not filled with strength as Ryouga’s or with power as Genma’s. They simply flowed like a smooth graceful ballet, like water running down a window pane as the rain beat upon it.

Akane sat there mesmerised, until Ranma finished his katas and joined her in the tent. Akane, although she was tired, was not feeling sleepy. She did however feel sore all over.

"Ran-chan, how well did I do today?" asked Akane.

"You did as well as I expected you to and better." Ranma wrapped his hands around her in a loving embrace.

He slowly started to massage her back. She moaned in appreciation as the tightness of her muscles was slowly relieved.

"Ran-chan, how did you get Cologne to teach you?"

"Actually, it’s the other way around. She wanted to teach me."

"Oh!" (pause) "So how did she ever get you to learn Chinese and English?"

Akane felt the blood rush up to his cheeks. "She tricked me," he replied in a lowly voice

"What!"

"She told me the only was she would teach me any new techniques was if I learned a chapter a week from her old books. She gave some kinda learning potion or something. You can’t imagine how boring that was. She even challenged me to learn them saying ‘no boy could ever learn the secrets of the Amazons and that kind of jive. And boy, was she exacting. She had me sit down for three hours reading Chinese short stories. Every time I stuttered or said something wrong, she would make me start over."

**************

Flashback...

"I hate this.." muttered Ranma from under a book. ‘Chinese for Dummies’ was the title

Ranma finally lost his temper and slammed the book against the table. Cologne gave him a measuring look.

"I knew he couldn’t do it..." she muttered

"What’s that ya old mummy!" (whap)

"I said, I knew you would not be able to learn Chinese."

Rubbing his head, Ranma shouted at her, "Oh yeah, I’ll show you!" He returned to the table, sipping the drugged tea.

Sucker!

Flashback...

"I saw the tree of dem..." (whap)

"Again"

"I saw the three of dem.." (whap) Ranma rubbed his head, trying to hold his tongue as well.

"I saw the three of them as dey..." (whap) Damn! He was starting to really hate this!

"I saw the three of them as they walked merrily prancing down the road. Fine I’m done, are you happy now!"

"Good, finally! Now we can do the rest."

Ranma stared in the book. There were fifty more paragraphs. It was going to be a long night. He rubbed his head; and a painful one too!

************

"I don’t believe how smart she really is. All that time she had was training me. All those hours of reading and correction, not to mention her bopping me on the head gave me patience. She actually forced me to think. To think about the art. To think about life. She’s a good teacher (snore)...."

"Acchan?"

Ranma watch his slumbering fiancée and held her in his arms as she slept against his body. Oh well, Maybe next time he’d be able to tell her.

"Sweet dreams love..."

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