Ranma picked himself up and headed to the Dojo, which lacked any signs of the bizarre events that had occurred not several hours ago. He performed a Jedi Mediation technique that allowed him to receive the equivalent of two restful nights of sleep in the space of a half an hour. After which, he spent the rest of the night pondering what had occurred.
He was reasonably sure that his mother did not have any sex-kami blood of any kind within her. What scans he had performed on her since his returned showed her to be perfectly normal human martial artists of the higher Art. Heck, No-chan could pass for Ranko's older sister, or even twin, if Ranma allowed his true age to show through.
This, of course, scared Ranma the most. He had seen hungry succubae with more restrain then his mother. He knew that she knew, who he was, and that it was him, as her victim, had excited her even more.
No matter, such an occurrence will never, never happen again, he vowed. He would not be caught off-guard again. A little voice had to comment that such an occurrence should never have happened in the first place.
He could only conclude that his mother suffered from some hormonal imbalance, curse, or mental disorder. If it was the first two, Nabiki and her Sith-alchemy or magic could cure her. It was the last one...
He had studied psychology and medicine, both out of curiosity and to assist in his study of bionics and cybernetics. He could think of several mental disorders that would explain his mother's "odd" behaviors and "questionable" actions.
Everything else aside, No-chan did possess a strong Force-presence, one that would require him by the Jedi Code to train her. Genma's Force-presence was negligible, yet was the source of most of his martial arts talents. Genma, through the Force, could instinctively feel the Flow of the Art. If Martial Artists were birds, they would have to always flap their wings to maintain their altitude, while Genma could use the air currents to keep himself aloft with less energy. Himself, and No-chan as well, could actual see the Flow. Thus, for them, there was no secret technique, for everything of the Art was visible to them. He could see everything that Cologne had done to perform the Hiryuu Shouten Ha, and it was a simple matter to copy what she did to duplicate it. Figuring out which component of the technique did what, so he could adapt it for his own, that what took time.
He was not looking forward to having to train No-chan, even before what happened last night. That what happened, happened. It just complicated things all the more. Many of the Masters only trained those of the same gender in order to avoid such complications. And yet, some of the greatest Knights had opposite gender Masters.
But that was all an issue that he could put aside for now.
Seeing that dawn was breaking, he washed, dressed, and ate a quick breakfast that the House-elves had prepared for him and headed out to the tournament.
Based on a tip that Ranma had sent anonymously, the Department of Education had sent a team of investigators into Furinkan Koukou to see if the tip about the practices and allegations of what was happening were true.
This being Nerima Ward, nothing was ever merely routine.
Case in point.
The local head of the Department of Education was a huge fan of Gatchman, thus each team of her department was a reflection of that. Too bad that was not the only influence going around.
Team Alpha leader, Codename Dove, was a perfect example. Not much was known of Dove, save she was in her mid-twenties, raised to be a ninja master from birth, and those that knew her, refer to her as "Princess-sama." It was her and her training that made Team Alpha as successful as it was.
She was also a good example of not judging a book by its cover, or an agent by her public record. Although, having an exemplar record of performance and professionalism, she did things her way.
The official policy on the placement of surveillance equipment was to place them in key, *public* locations, which was done. But, Princess also liked to put them in the boys and men locker-rooms, showers and stalls. When she found an entire cabinet filled with Ranma's record and photographs, she made copies of the various photos of otoko-Ranma, which the office staff had confiscated from various students (mostly female, but not always, and some of the staff-members). While very athletic, she did not see any reason why an entire file cabinet was devoted to a single student. She made notes of his schedule to ensure she could find him in her surveillance for further study. After finishing copying all the records, she went and met up with her team-members.
Her first stop was to visit Codename Owl. Princess had nick-named him 'Tiny-chan', so everyone called him that. Simply put, Tiny-chan was the team's computer expert/hacker, and Princess's boytoy. Tiny-chan was anything but. He had been an up-and-coming Computer Programmer until he was caught hacking into a system he should not have. Face with jail-time, he took up Princess's offer to join her team. From the day one, he knew Princess would control his very life, as she did everyone on the team, and that was fine with him. He knew he was not a looker or destined for money, so this was his best chance at getting some sex and a girl. That she told him what to dress, what to eat, what to do, and all, seemed but a small price to pay for all the sex he got.
Tiny-chan's uniform was a bit baggy, with several pockets that contained various portable computer equipment and access to his privates for Princess's hands and toys, which she took advantage of. It was an old game between them, Tiny-chan would have to give his report as she massaged his genitalia, during which he would need to ignore her expert hand, and act professional throughout, or face punishment of Princess's wicked design. It was a lesson one learned quickly.
Tiny-chan's report was that Furinkan, although budgeted for the latest, greatest, most expense computer systems, was not actually using any of it in any official capability. The computer lab was filled with second-hand systems, outdate by years, and the office computers were never logged into after their installations. Japan had prided itself on taking education very serious and being a technological super-power. That Furinkan was showing, almost the opposite, would cause many heads to roll.
Her next stop was getting Codename Sparrow's report. Sparrow was an old man, also born and raised ninja that had been in the Government's employ for as long as anyone could remember. Some even whispered that he had been a Hitokiri in his prime, during the Bakumatsu a hundred years ago, although that was false, nor was he that old. Although, he did serve in World War Two, where he lost his voice to friendly-fire accidentally. It should be noted that many in his unit could not stand his constant singing, especially as how his singing had endangered his unit several times.
His assignment was to go through each classroom, teacher's office, student’s desk, and locker looking for criminal activities or questionable items. A relatively simple task for a ninja, thus Princess was a bit surprised to see Sparrow in such a sorry-state. He was covered in soot and various scraps over his body. His report painted a similar picture; the teachers were operating with sub-standard equipment, out-dated books, and in many cases did not even bother to keep grades recorded. What records were found showed that the students of Furinkan were below the national average. He also remarked that there was a larger then average amount of hentai material focusing among a small, selective group of girls and surprising one or two boys, and a lack of female undergarments. Female gym outfits were booby-trapped and several decoys existed for reasons unknown.
Her last stop was to check on Codenames Eagle and Falcon. These two, she purposely left for last, as she had to keep her cool with them. Falcon was a homosexual that everyone but Eagle could see; that Falcon was very interested in Eagle was also as apparent to all but Eagle. Falcon was the team's "bad boy," always getting in trouble with the Higher-Ups and the Law, only his quick thinking and knowledge of the system keep him out of jail and on the team. Falcon was excellent in discovering cover-ups and secret criminal activities, at least, when he was not trying to get in Eagle's underpants. Eagle, on the other hand, was as straight-as-an-arrow as they came. Eagle took his job very seriously and cared for nothing but his job. Eagle was Princess's pet-project. Since he had joined her team, she had been trying to get him to loosen up, as well as, try to get into his underpants as well. Neither Falcon nor Princess had any luck, as Eagle was a mid-twenty virgin with no social skills.
Their report, echoed the others, and pointed to someone, possibly, Principal Kuno, or a group of some ones, skimming money off the school budget and into his own pockets, as well as running a sub-standard school. The scandal was they were discovering was big... and if they could get evidence that implicated Principal Kuno....
On his way to the tournament, Ranma noted various ambushes had been sent up. While lacking hard-evidence, the Force told him it was more of Kuno's underhandedness. For one that claimed to be a Samurai, Kuno acted more the sneaky Ninja, instead. But then Kuno was a deceptive one.
Registration did not take long, although, the look he got when he registered as a student of original Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu was... interesting. It had been a long time since any had questioned him. Not even Malfoy thought him a liar. He did know that his great-grandmother's school had several branches, but he did not know that the original, founding school had been kept only within the family-line.
He frowned as he watched Kuno's grand entrance. Everyone present treated him like royalty, listened to his words as if he was a Buddha, and went out of their way to "assist" him in his needs. That he treated everyone as "lowly peasants" just annoyed Ranma. The temptation to just strike Kuno down where he stood was tempting, but brings him to the Dark Side. Something he was not willing to risk, especially on something as minor as Kuno.
He did smile a bit as he noticed at several of the Furinkan Student Kendo Club had shown up, although, hiding away from Kuno. He also noted that Reiko and Ayano where there, and dressed outfits that showed off their excellent figures to the fullest. He smirked at the various annoyed and jealous stares the two femme fatales where getting. And he laughed at the shock of many when his two disciples rejected Kuno's offer of "companionship" and called him a "little boy."
He had to admit that Kuno did have some skill at Kendo, around first or even second dan black belt. But Kuno seem to be, purposely, matched up with only green-belts and those that had no chance against him.
As the matches progressed, Ranma find it difficult to limit himself just to traditional Kendo. His mind flashed with various kenjutsu and non-Kendo techniques, which would have ended his matches quicker, but he was there to beat Kuno at his own game.
After six hours, the semi-finals where held.
As Ranma got into position, Kuno came to the ring as if he owned the place and had already won. Almost everyone was in Kuno's corner cheering him on, save Reiko and Ayano, who stood alone with him.
Kuno began his speech how it was pointless to face him and that he was undefeated. In a calm, rational voice, Ranma rebutted each of Kuno's so-called points, much to the surprise of the crowd.
Kuno's ranting increased with the murmur of the crowd. At a fever pitch, he charged at Ranma before the match even started, with the intent to silence and beat him.
Ranma calmly met each attack with the appropriate Traditional Kendo counter, which infuriated Kuno even more. In his calmness, the Force beckoned to him, but he did not wish for there to be any doubt that he could defeat Kuno with anything but Kendo-skill.
Although dismissed for his insanity, Kuno held a black-belt in Kendo, and was no easy push-over. Especially, as Ranma had to hold himself back from using non-Kendo techniques, which would disqualify him. Plus, he wished to show that he could defeat Kuno at his //own game//.
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