Sunday, 26 February 2017

Story: Ghost Tendo


"That is a girl."

The entire Tendo family stared at their new guests in complete silence. Firstly, the panda. Secondly, the girl. Who was rather obviously a girl. Boys only get chests like that when they have some serious health problems, and you could tell at a glance that this really cute girl was fit in just about every reasonable measure.

"Dearest, I said that's a girl!"

That was the ghost of Mrs Tendo addressing her still living husband. Although it must be said, given his complexion at that very moment, the "still living" part may well be in dispute.

"Hi, I'm Ranma!" the girl nervously said. Mrs Tendo drifted off towards young Ranma, peering her up and down as though assessing a slab of meat at market. "Sorry about this."

While the ghost flitted around, unseen by the girl - for she was not part of the Tendo family - the three sisters were were hanging back, uncertain of what to do now. Soun himself was frozen to the spot.

"You're a girl," he said, pointing at her rather blankly. Yes, actually. Definitely a girl. A very cute, petite and stacked girl. "But you were supposed to be a boy! I knew Genma was an idiot -" The panda rankled. "- But how could he mix up gender so fundamentally?"

"Oh, dearest. It's alright," his ghostly wife said in her usual soothing tone. "I know. I know how much you had pinned on this, but... We'll think of a backup plan! The dojo is doing really well, and I'm sure dear Ranma will be an excellent addition to the dojo's training team."

Oh, no. Much like anyone who loved their spouse so dearly they came back from the great beyond, Mrs Tendo was liable to get a little worried when her husband started staring blankly into space, turning pale, looking like he was about to fall over - Oh, gosh! She moved to catch him, he fell right through her, she still wasn't used to that. Fortunately Akane's reaction time was as quick as ever, and she caught her father before he did himself an injury.

"Easy, Daddy!" Akane grunted. She lifted him up over her shoulder and carried him off inside. "You just need a nice lie down, and... Um..."

"A blanket," Mrs Tendo said, switching immediately into motherly director mode. "Nabiki, fetch a blanket for your father. Kasumi, prepare some tea. Your father had his hopes pinned on marrying one of you to the son of his friend, but that's obviously not happening anymore."

"Unless Akane goes for it..." Nabiki whispered, earning her quite the death glare from sister and mother alike. Ooh, how many times did the two of them have to explain this to her? Akane was not gay!

Ah, they'd been ignoring their guest due to Soun's fainting. Mrs Tendo drifted off towards the young lady, who was being really quiet. She must be a bit of an introvert, possibly intimidated or confused. She felt it, really she did. The poor dear has found herself the centre of attention in a most unfortunate manner. Mrs Tendo drifted closer, for a better look.

Ranma was really quite a pretty girl. No makeup, but you couldn't tell to look at her. Probably a bit of a tomboy... No bra either, goodness. That was going to cause her problems later on, especially considering how impressive they were. Definitely a tomboy type. Nothing wrong with that of course, just so long as she wasn't the sort to get into trouble...

Hrm? How peculiar. Was it her imagination or - Ah! There it was again. A trick of the light? Strange. Peculiar. And this was a ghost making that assessment! Although it really did look like there were two people sitting in the same place. An adorable pigtailed girl and also a handsome pigtailed boy...

"There we go," Akane sighed. She'd put her father down, gently on the floor and now Nabiki was tossing a blanket over him. Ah, and a cold compress. Good girl! Nabiki did have her moments.

"But he said he had a son!" Soun whined.

"Oh well, never mind that," Akane said, turning her attention towards Ranma. There was a bit of a bounce to her step. "You practise martial arts, right?" Of course. Anticipation for a new sparring partner. That was so terribly like her. Ranma nodded and smiled up at her. "Good, so do I! While you're here, want to see our training hall?"

"Sounds good!" Ranma said, flipping up onto her feet. Ooh, that quick movement was giving her quite the headache. What was she looking at just now? Boy or girl? "So, what's your name?"

"Akane," she answered as the two of them walked off together. "And I'm really looking forward to seeing what you can do. You wouldn't believe some of the training I've been through."

<hr>
Let us step back in time a little, to the tune of two years. We find Akane Tendo in that very training hall working through a kata, pushing herself as hard as she could. She throws a punch. She scowls. She turns just so, blocks against an invisible enemy, and snap kick. She holds the pose a little longer than the kata requires, and the frown deepens. In another version of events, this would have gone no further. But here...

"Akane, dear!" her mother called out, poking her head through the wall. "Your father wanted me to remind you, he's having the advanced class in about half an hour. Please make sure to leave the training hall in good condition for class."

"Yes, mother," Akane said, lowering her foot back to the ground. Without another word she walked across to the side of the room, grabbed a broom and started sweeping the floor.

"Is something the matter?" the ghost asked, drifting further into the room.

"What makes you say that?" Akane asked, turning away.

"A mother knows," the ghost replied. "It also helps that us ghosts have a few extra senses. Like frowny face detection. It's especially potent on girls who are much cuter when they smile."

Being a teenager, Akane had that natural compulsion that came with the age: I can sort this out myself. I don't need parental guidance anymore, I'm mature enough to make my own choices! That's how the thought process goes. Naturally that line of thinking ignores the fact that, a very scant few exceptions aside, most teenagers don't have remotely the worldly experience necessary to properly apply their newfound "maturity", resulting in some very poor decisions.

"If you don't tell me, I'll tell Nabiki where you've been hiding your diary..."

She wouldn't, and Akane knew it... But she also knew that meant Mother was being serious. She was slipping into that particular tone of voice, so she gripped the broom and tersely said, "It's nothing, really. It's just, I've hit a wall in training and I don't seem to be getting any better. I've been spending all my training time this week trying to work out new ways to push myself, that's all."

The ghost sighed and moved to stroke Akane lovingly on the head, then held back its hand, looked at that hand for a moment, sighed wearily and moved onto the more immediate issue. "You could always join the advanced class," she suggested.

"I can already tie them all into pretzels," Akane said. She might be pretending to be a little upset right now, but there was a bit of a proud little twinkle in her eye. "But I know I can get better than this. Ah! If only I could work out what's holding me back."

"I'll have a word with your father," her mother said, brooking no argument or discussion. "At this level of martial arts, it is essential to have someone around who knows what they are doing, to ensure that you do not hurt yourself. Don't give me that look, I'm sure there are some techniques he'd love to teach you. Just wait here a moment."

<hr>
Akane's first impression: Adorable. Ranma was like a little lost puppy. You just wanted to pick her up and squeeze her and pet her and tell her everything would be alright. It really was such a relief that Ranma turned out not to be a boy. Mother was rather open minded, but she would hardly force Akane to try dating another girl! Now Akane could focus more on martial arts without having to worry about some boy distracting her, and better still she had a brand new sparring partner of currently indeterminate skill level.

The indeterminate part was actually her next objective. Being cute or shy was hardly an indicator of lacking martial arts skill. If this pigtailed girl really was trained in martial arts then a brief spar would be a superb way to break the ice. Much though he was an utter dummy one thing Kuno said certainly rang true: Swordsmen get to know each other best by crossing blades.

"So? How about a friendly little spar?" Akane asked. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

"Thanks, and... Uh, same."

Oho! There we go! A lot more confident all of a sudden. Akane stepped away and slid into her usual defensive posture, crouched slightly with legs spread apart, one hand up by her head and the other by her waist. She waited for Ranma to do something similar, but she just stood there. Upright, hands behind her back. Smiling brightly. She looked utterly defenseless...

But she wasn't. Akane's eyes flicked out towards the wall. It seemed as though Mother was taking a peek, paying attention to Ranma especially. Whatever. Let's see how good she is.

Akane started with a fairly light flurry of punches and kicks with no real power behind them. Ranma leaped, leaned and ducked out of harm's way every single time.

"What's the matter?" Akane asked, backing off a little to create some space between them. "Not going to try to hit me?"

"Not when you're holding back so much."

Why, that cheeky little... Well, alright then. Part of the purpose of a spar was to feel each other out. So far she'd learned that Ranma was really, really fast. Her fighting style was probably centred around dexterity rather than strength. Although assuming that she was physically weak would be a grave tactical error, as it was equally likely that dexterity was simply her preferred method of attack.

That was fine by her. Akane's preference was pretty much the exact opposite anyway. It was time for her to use the Tendo family's ultimate technique for piercing an opponent's guard, which she'd finally mastered just last week: The Tendo Flicker Movement!

Akane flickered, and then reappeared right in front of Ranma within the beat of a hummingbird's wing. At that instant Ranma's eyebrows shot up, her face went pale and her hands emerged from behind her back. Yet that surprise was equal to Akane's own when those hands managed to expertly deflect her attempts to poke Ranma in the ribs. She really was fast!

Changing tactics, Akane grabbed hold of Ranma's hands, interlocking their fingers and pushing back against them. The pigtailed girl slid backwards across the floor, but then braced herself and came to a complete stop. Akane couldn't budge her even a single inch further, even throwing her entire body weight into it.

"Hey now, this is more like it," Ranma said, no trace of that shyness from before. She had practically flipped a switch: Introvert to extrovert in the blink of an eye. "Got any other tricks like that?"

"A few," Akane grunted, wondering what sort of strength training Ranma had gone through to be able to match her strength and also still be faster. "You're a lot stronger than you look. Faster too! How did you catch my flicker technique?"

"Dunno exactly," Ranma replied. She put a little more pressure forward, and Akane felt herself sinking to her knees. "Pops focused a lot on speed training. My old man's an idiot in almost everything, but when it comes to martial arts he knows his stuff."

Ah! Could it be...? If their fathers were friends then it was entirely possible Ranma's father had deliberately trained her to counter the Flicker technique! He'd probably seen it a few times and became worried about countering it. Or maybe Akane hadn't mastered it as much as she thought she had. Maybe both at once.

Either way Akane's battle instincts were telling her that she was outmatched here. Ranma was faster and stronger, and right now held the upper hand in terms of position. Rationally she should give up the spar... But Akane was a proud martial artist. She wouldn't give up that easily, not while there was a way to fight back!

So she stopped resisting and deliberately fell backwards, sticking her foot up in the air intending to brace it against Ranma's chest and toss her overhead. Instead, the pigtailed girl leaped over the foot and landed squat over Akane, pinning her hands to the floor and leaning down to smile that warm pretty smile right in front of Akane's face.

"I win!" Ranma chuckled nervously. "Say, I haven't had a workout like that for a while."

"Me neither," Akane said in disbelief. This was it. This was what she was waiting for. A real sparring partner! Someone she could aspire to defeat. The two girls pulled themselves to their feet and wiped sweat from their brow. It had been a short spar, but intense. "I look forward to training with you in future, Ranma. Thank goodness you were a girl, this simplifies things quite a lot."

"Ahahaha! You don't say! Um, excuse me a minute! I need to go and make sure the panda didn't lose any of my stuff. Back soon!"

There went her new friend and sparring partner. Akane sighed while watching her go. Amazing. Simply amazing. That strength, that speed. All wrapped up in that cute little package, with a cute face, amazing figure and the skin of her hand wasn't rough like you would expect but smooth, powerful, warm and pleasant to the touch.

"Akane, I was wondering if you'd noticed anything strange about her," Mother suddenly interjected. "It's a little hard to explain, but there's something... There about her. She's no ordinary girl."

"No," Akane agreed. "No, she's really not."


  1. Mother warns Akane about the curse before Akane walks in on him.
  2. Mother is pulled away by something else needing immediate attention, doesn't have the chance to warn her.
  3. Mother calls a family meeting before bathtime.
  4. The Saotomes notice something weird going on.
  5. Something else

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