Sasameki Koto and Ranma ½: Martial Arts Mix
Chapter Two
By next day Sumika's leg was much better, the bruising faded and the pain gone. She found that trial stretching didn't hurt, and was astonished at Kasumi's healing techniques. She could think of more than one training injury that Kasumi could have helped with, and made a note to talk to her about her skills later.
Following the sounds of conversation Sumika joined the others observing the morning practice of Genma and Ranma Saotome. Up till then Sumika had felt she was pretty good in the martial arts, but watching those two fight showed her there was a level way beyond anything she had seen before. The two men were inhuman blurs, bounding about with incredible speed and dexterity, striking with combination attacks then separating once more.
"Good morning, Miss Masamune," Kasumi smiled, the slightly older lady keeping an eye on breakfast and the fight.
"Good morning, Sumika smiled back, "and please, call me Sumika."
Kasumi agreed to do so before she went back inside, then Sumika walked over to where Akane was sitting, watching them fight as she laced up her runners. "Wow," Sumika murmured as Ranma and Genma did another unbelievable high speed attack.
"Incredible, huh?" Akane asked, smiling a bit... sadly. The young woman was dressed in running shorts and a t-shirt, her short hair slightly windblown. "How are you feeling?" she asked Sumika curiously.
"Very recovered," Sumika said honestly. She smiled slightly as she took in Akane's clothes and asked, "Going for a run?"
"Yup, I do almost every morning," Akane admitted.
"Me too," Sumika nodded. A bit tentatively she asked, "Would you mind if I join you? I don't want to miss a run but I could use a guide." She smiled wryly as she added, "I wouldn't want to get lost like I did getting here."
Akane nodded briskly, "All right." She flashed a smile as she warned Sumika, "But I won't slow down for you."
"I wouldn't expect you to," Sumika answered confidently. She left the courtyard where the sparring was still going on, "Just let me change to my gi."
A few minutes later and Akane and Sumika set out, jogging a brisk pace along the back streets and alleys of Nerima. It was a older part of Tokyo with smaller, more old fashioned buildings, in fact running along the streets left Sumika feeling like she had gone back in time a few decades. Still it was a oddly charming place, with friendly shopkeepers and residents.
"ATTACK!" the voice roared.
'Okay, maybe it's not so friendly,' Sumika blinked as the nearby alley erupted with a crowd of apparently angry men.
The boys were all teenagers, Sumika assessed them with a glance, and were a oddly mixed bunch. There were people in martial arts gi, kendo uniforms and various sports gear, with some waving everything from cricket mallets to baseball bats. All of them looked hostile, though, and they were charging right at them.
"Akane!" the first boy yelled as he waved around a wooden practice sword, "Today you will be defeated!"
"Kuno, you idiot," Akane muttered.
Sumika had many faults, but one of her worst could be considered a complete inability to walk away when a woman was in trouble. Even in circumstances where it would be best to stay out of something, she simply couldn't do it. And this situation REALLY pissed her off.
"Friends of yours?" Sumika had to ask, just to be safe. This was a different part of Tokyo, after all, and things might be done differently here.
"No," Akane said flatly, taking up a fighting stance.
"Good," Sumika said.
Before Akane could move Sumika raced forward to meet the first rank of men, striking hard and fast. The North Pole style, at it's core, was about striking with precision and power, which she used to their fullest now. Pressure point strikes dropped the first three men as she swept by to face the next rank. She blocked a hockey stick and a bokken with her forearms, wincing slightly as she felt the flesh bruise, then fiercely kicked a boy in front of her right in the crotch. As the man's face changed color Sumika ripped the bokken out of one boy's grip, jabbing to increase her range as she used pressure points on more of the boys.
Akane watched in stunned disbelief as Sumika handled her morning fight with remarkable ease. Normally these idiots jumped her at school, but apparently someone had the bright idea to jump her on her morning jog. However, Sumika was quickly showing the boys that it had been a very, very bad idea, in the process delivering a beat down Ranma might appreciate.
'Sumika's fighting much better than yesterday,' Akane thought wide eyed as Sumika scattered the boys with a sweep of the borrowed bokken then took out two more opponents, 'it's like she's a totally different person.' Akane's eyes widened slightly as a thought occurred to her, 'Does she only fight like this when protecting someone else?'
Casting the now broken wooden sword aside Sumika faced the shaken remnants of the fighters, dropping them with more traditional blows. A final young man had some ki skills, his own wooden sword much more powerful, but Sumika dodged and calmly hit him on the side of the head, staggering the tall, black haired boy.
"Ugh," the tall black haired boy didn't fall as he shook off the blow and muttered, "you will not defeat the Blue Thunder so easily!"
"This one's MINE," Akane growled as she raced forward. He swung swiftly but Akane dodged with the ease of long practice, hitting him with a massive uppercut, so hard his relatives probably felt it.
Sumika watched him drop as she murmured, "Wow." As Akane walked back to her side she asked curiously, "Does this sort of thing happen to you often?"
"Yes, actually," Akane admitted. As the two went back to the dojo at a somewhat easier pace she explained about her upperclassman Kuno and his demand that anyone who wished to date Akane would have to defeat her in battle.
"Is he kidding?" Sumika blinked, looking at her dumbfounded, 'Or insane?"
Akane laughed as they reached the dojo itself, "Some have said so." She smiled as they went in, "Get cleaned up, I think Kasumi should have breakfast just about ready."
"Right," Sumika agreed, blushing slightly.
As a female guest she had been offered the floor in one of the three girls' rooms, and had ultimately taken Kasumi up on the offer. The older woman had been very kind and Sumika had been reluctant to accept, but Kasumi had insisted. She ducked into the room to retrieve clothes from her pack then headed to the washroom to clean up. Changed and clean she joined the others at the table, but not before offering to help serve.
"I'd offer to help cook, but I'm pretty bad in the kitchen," Sumika admitted sheepishly as she looked into the kitchen.
Kasumi offered her dishes to carry in as she asked curiously, "How bad?"
Sumika shrugged slightly as she confessed, "Well, the last time I was in a kitchen, there was a fire. And explosions."
"I see," Kasumi chuckled as they carried the food in.
Ranma and Genma seemed focused on stuffing as much food in as fast as possible, while the Tendos generally ate at a slower pace. Everyone also kept a eye out for Genma's wandering chop-sticks, and he got a rap on the wrist from Kasumi when he tried to steal a bit from Sumika's plate.
"She's a guest, Mr. Saotome," Kasumi frowned at him.
"Ah, sorry," Genma shrugged, his round glasses gleaming on his bald head. Clearly, he didn't want to annoy the cook.
Sumika ate at the Tendo's pace, her chopsticks moving smoothly as she scooped up rice with other items on her plate. As she ate the long sleeves of her shirt rode up enough to reveal the bruises forming along her arms, and Akane felt a stab of guilt.
Ranma picked up on it too, the black haired boy frowning as he asked, "Somethin' happen when you guys were out?"
Sumika looked a bit embarrassed as she answered, "We had a little trouble, nothing serious."
"It was Kuno and his bunch," Akane noted, "instead of jumping me at school they decided to jump me jogging."
"And some of them jumped Sumika?" Kasumi looked alarmed.
"No, Sumika jumped them," Akane told then proudly, "took down nearly thirty men, and damned fast too. I was impressed." She smirked as she added, "Tho I did step in to take Kuno down myself. I figure I deserved that after he wrecked my jog."
Ranma looked over at Sumika curiously and asked, "Think you could have taken him?"
Sumika looked over at the young man calmly. "You never know until the fight's over," she told Ranma honestly, "but probably. He seemed to have a lot of raw power but not much speed, as long as I stayed ahead of him I'd be all right."
"Yup," Ranma agreed, "if you're not that powerful, speed is pretty damn critical." He gave Sumika a thoughtful look, "You wanna spar, later?"
"Oh no," Sumika quickly answered. She smiled slightly, "I could barely kept track of you when you were sparring with your father, you were moving so fast."
'Not many people can do that, when Ranma's going all out,' Akane noted thoughtfully. To be honest she was curious about how Sumika would do, too.
"Just a practice match," Ranma pressed, "nothin' too serious."
"Uhm," Sumika really didn't want to get pounded on, and gave Kasumi a glance.
Correctly interpreting the look Kasumi hid a smile as she addressed Ranma. "She's still recovering from her kicking Ryouga.," she pointed out reasonably, "give her a few days."
"Yeah, yeah," Ranma sighed.
Breakfast ended, and Ranma, Akane and Nabiki headed off to school as Sumika helped pick up the dishes from breakfast. "Thank you," she told Kasumi quietly.
"You're welcome," Kasumi said as she and Sumika cleared the remaining dishes of food. "But why don't you want to fight Ranma?" she asked as Kasumi began to wash the dishes, "Most martial artists line up to fight him."
"I'm not in the same league," Sumika admitted as she rinsed and dried the dishes before stacking them on a towel on the counter, "I think I'm more likely to pick up useful skills training against Akane or working with Mr. Saotome or your father."
Kasumi looked amused, "Akane seemed quite impressed with your skills."
Sumika blushed slightly. "They were mostly untrained," she said seriously, "and in that kind of brawl numbers actually work against you. Most of the time they were getting in each others way rather than attacking me."
"True," Kasumi agreed, reaching for a dish as Sumika was dipping a bowl in in for a final rinse. Their fingers met under the suds as Sumika fumbled her bowl, the other woman looking amused as they straightened things out.
"Sorry," Sumika muttered, astonished at how clumsy she felt around the slightly older Kasumi.
"It's fine," Kasumi chuckled warmly as they finished up. She dried her hands on a fresh towel as she asked, "Can I take a look at your arms?" she asked politely.
Sumika took the towel and dried her own as she said, "I'd appreciate it, they're a bit sore."
They stayed in the kitchen, the light being fine as Kasumi tried to roll a sleeve up to get at Sumika's forearms. She looked at Sumika, "Could you take off your shirt? It would be easier and Father will not come in here."
"Sure," Sumika answered, fighting down a blush as she pulled the long sleeve shirt up and off, revealing her bruised upper arms and the plain white bra she wore.
"No matching bear print?" Kasumi teased.
Sumika blushed, "Kasumi!" Laughing cheerfully Kasumi examined Sumika's bruised forearms, her touch remarkably soft. "Where did you learn to do this?" she asked curiously.
"A local physician, Dr Tofu," Kasumi murmured, "he's also lent me books to help me study." She gently massaged Sumika's arm as she mused, "You have a good, strong layer of muscle, it protected you from more serious damage."
"No permanent harm?" Sumika asked optimistically.
"Just more bruises," Kasumi agreed. "I'd suggest using arm guards next time, you could have quite easily broken something."
"Well, hopefully I can stay out of trouble," Sumika answered, then blinked as Kasumi snickered. "What?" she asked.
Kasumi got her chuckles under control as she apologized, "I'm sorry." With much more of a straight face she continued, "Ranma and my sister Akane are rather... prone to drawing trouble their way. I really doubt you'll be able to stay out of trouble around here."
Sumika shrugged as she smiled at Kasumi, "Well, at least the company is nice." As Sumika realized what she said she blushed, but Kasumi just smiled warmly.
"Thank you, Sumika," Kasumi smiled, and it looked like she was going to say something else as a loud crash shook the building.
"What the...?" Sumika blurted as she ran into the living room, quickly pulling on her shirt as she did so.
Soun Tendo blinked as Kasumi ran out after her, and his expression darkened before he blurted out, "Murasame! What are you doing with my daughter?"
Sumika couldn't even form a reply as the front door crashed inward, revealing a busty purple haired woman on a bicycle. "Nihao!" she waved cheerfully then asked, "Where is strange woman seen with my Ranma?"
"Shampoo?" Kasumi blinked.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Sumika sighed.
To be continued...