Version 0.1 HTML

#include <alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h>
#include <fusion/std_disclaimer.h>
#include <hokuto_no_ken/std_disclaimer.h>
#include <ranma/std_disclaimer.h>
#include <souten_no_ken/std_disclaimer.h>

Note: Based off of and continuation from "Return of the Fist" (RAAC:/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/ranma.fotns.return-of-the-fist) by Anand Rao (anandr@earthlink.net) with permission and modification from the few issues of "Fist of the North Star" that Viz has released to the original, complete "Hokuto No Ken" series by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara and currently-being-released prequel "Souten No Ken" (Fist of the Blue Sky) series by Tetsuo Hara.

     As Ranma Saotome moved stealthy, more out of instinct then necessity, jumping from roof to roof, he could not help noting that Nerima had indeed changed in his absence. Even without his enhance senses, the changes seemed evident. Before, at any given point, there would be various people about, either training in the martial arts or competing in some martial arts contest. Now, there were no one out. Yes, he and the Nerima Wrecking Crew had causes some property damage, but the various Martial Arts Repair and Construction Schools would fix any such damage within, no more then a day... Yet, he could see various damage that had been, at least, a year old or more. With his enhance senses, he could feel the depression in the air, hear the worry of various parents for their children's sake, and smell the fear in the very air.

     Nerima had become a battlefield.

     Of late, the Light side was losing.

     How it had come to all that, he could not understand. After all, Nerima was not like this even before he came... So how could his absence, admittedly, of three years, cause all this?

     He understood that, historically, Nerima had always been an training grounds for Warriors and Martial Artists since the Kamakura Era, long before even Tokyo, itself, stood. But since the turn of the century, no true battles had been fought within the Ward, or so he thought.

     He had never been one to give credit to any conspiracy theory, but the information he got from Tobira...

     Tobira...

     Ranma shook his head. That had been happening a number of times lately. He found himself doing something that he had no true recollection of why he did what he did, only a vague feeling of necessity behind it. He had only meant to use the hikou Shinichi, to ensure she talked, just as he had done with the muscle-heads, but he found himself pressing additional hikous as well, one, to cause her skin to become super-sensitive in certain areas, and another, to control her reaction to that sensitivity, all to help break her will. Something he had never purposely done before. That it was not the first time that Tobira's will had been broken, nor that her will had ever fully recovered, which he could have only have found out by doing what he did, that only lessen his guilt for doing what did. Still, his instincts have never truly pushed him to do such things before. That Tobira could now be his spy in the Yakuza, unable to betray him without vast amounts of damage to herself, was never his conscious intentions, when he interrogated her. But that instinct was there. While it was part of the Lore of the Hokuto, that Kami-sama did affect the World through the Successor... neither he nor Ti Lin recall any previous Successor having one's actions dictated like that before.

     Still, ever since he return to Japan, he has had an uneasy feeling that something very-very bad was going to happen. And it had only gotten worse upon entering Nerima Ward. Something major was coming down the Future, and he needed to be prepared.

     All too soon, he arrived at the Tendo-ke.

     As Ranma approached the Tendo-ke, his senses told him that Daigoro-san's comments were understatements. For a moment, he had thought Ryouga was there, but the only male ki present was Soun's, and Soun's ki was weak compared to Ryouga's.

     He paused before entering... and realized that the door was locked.

     Locked...

     Out of everything he had yet seen since his return to Nerima, that the Tendo-ke's door was locked shocked him to his core. It was a concept that was completely alien to him. Yes, he knew of locks and such, but they were just for privacy, (although, that function never seemed to cooperate for him). Never in his life, on the Road visiting various Dojos, Temples and Training Grounds, nor his time in Nerima prior to his leaving to fully learn Hokuto Shin Ken, had he ever see or even heard of anyone locking their homes or Dojo. Not even after Shin had left him for dead, did anyone lock their homes... Heck, he did not even think the Tendo-ke had any lock when he left. But now, not only was the knob locked, but there was a dead-bolt and what felt like a chain on the door as well.

     Shocked, all he could think of, was to knock on the door, and see what would happen.

     After a moment, he felt his mother behind the door, with her sword in hand, demanding to know who it was.

     "Momma," he replied in a soft voice, still in shock. "It's me."

     He was troubled when Nodoka failed to reply, only standing there uncertain. Neither the lock, dead-bolt or the chain could truly keep him out, nor any martial artists of his father's caliber or above, still it was the very concept of that there was a lock on the Tendo-ke that troubled him. Even as run-down as the Tendo Dojo was and given Happosai's reputation, it was still a pillar of the community.

     He sent a very small bit of his ki through the door and into his mother's aura, to let her know it was him... to which, she dropped her sword, basically threw the locks and the door open, and hugged him as if he would disappear into the ether.

     It hurt him to see his mother crying into his shoulder, but all he could do was hug her back carefully, and whisper that everything was going to be all right now that he was back.

     Nodoka quickly took him inside, forgetting the door, and ushered him into the Dojo, where she told him to remain until supper-time. With backward glances, to ensure he did not disappear, she moved towards the kitchen, informing the others of his return.

     With a half an hour until supper being complete, he took started to meditate to pass the time.

     Even in meditation, Ranma could easily hear Kasumi in the kitchen asking Akane to go tell him as it was time for dinner, as well as listen to hustle and bustle in the Nekohanten and the Ucchan's, the Kunos in their mansion, and others all over Nerima getting on with their lives, although as cautious as the Tendos. He noted, absent-mindedly, that Ukyou's voice was absent from the Ucchan's and that Shampoo's Japanese had improved as she greeted various customers.

     He felt Akane as she moved from the kitchen to the Dojo. He noted her ki, and had to admit, given the circumstances involved, she was a half-decent martial arts hobbyist. Unfortunately, she lacked the very fire that drove him and the others in their quest for the Art. In his time in Nerima, before Shin, he had seen the others and himself advance, at least, by a kyu (class) or even a full dan (level)... all, save Akane. Now, he could feel that she had, at least, risen one, possibly two, kyus since his departure for China. He could feel the number of challengers that had sought him out from the dojo itself. They accepted Akane's challenge, in hopes to avoid wasting their time. He hoped that she took full advantage of the learning opportunity that was presented to her, while wondering if she even realized what an opportunity she had.

     No matter. He remained in his seated mediation position as Akane entered the Dojo, but rose before she could say anything. With his eyes, he noted that she was a lot smaller than he remembered her; but then he had matured and grown, literally, under Ti Lin's care and teachings. He stood a few centimeters above Soun now. And he had the bearing of a seasoned Warrior now.

     He noted her staring at him in puzzlement and a touch of worry in her features. He also noted that Akane had that look in her face that he had come to associate with Soun when he first came to Nerima, a look of profound loss and self-defeat. It seemed that Akane was truly Soun's daughter. He surmised that she did not take the opportunity for what it was, to learn from various people to improve herself, but only to wallow in self-pity at her defeats. The Akane he knew was an energetic girl, not the lethargic girl in front of him.

     So he was not too surprised when she said in a quiet voice, "Supper is ready, Ranma."

     He smiled at her, nodded, and then replied in a friendly tone, "Thank you, Akane-chan."

     A small, quick smile appeared as she took in his reply, but it just as quickly left, replaced by the sad-look she had wore upon entering. With a bit of effect, it seemed to him, she turned around and headed back to the dining room.

     He kept pace with her, and examined her body and soul as they walked. He noted that both her legs and right arm had been broken, several times, in different locations, in his absence. Her right leg had not healed correctly, several months back, giving her a slight limp to her walk.

     Once in the dining room, they both took their customary seating. Ranma watched as the others filled in. Nabiki was next, and seemly the least changed, but then according to the Tendo-ke's Wa, she had not been here too often, in fact, this was her first visit home in a year. She wore a simply college-logo t-shirt and jeans, with an economics textbook that she was reading as she sat down. Then Soun came in. If Akane looked like he did when Ranma had first come to Nerima, Soun now looked like the walking dead. His movements seemed mechanical, at best. After sitting down, he had a lifeless, spaced out look to him. Lastly, Kasumi and Nodoka appeared out of the kitchen with the meal. Nodoka, he observed, carried almost everything, while a withdrawn Kasumi followed behind her with the tea, held in her left hand, which was weird since she was right-handed. It seemed, to him, that Genma's death, his departure, the gang activities, and all the defeats Akane had, had a sucked the life out of the Tendo household.

     The passing out of the food by Kasumi and Nodoka was mechanical, yet efficient, with Nodoka passing out the heavier items, while Kasumi poured the drinks. Still, there was almost an art form to what they were doing and interacting with each other. Although, Kasumi had sent Akane to get him, by habit, he was forgotten at the serving of the meal. He decided to serve himself and let his mother and Kasumi sit down, rather than troubling them.

     The family ate in silence. Nabiki reading her book while eating and everyone else just looking at their plate like robots feeding themselves. If he did not know better, he would have truly thought them all androids.

     It became obvious that since his departure, silence during the meal had become the norm. He needed to change that. So he put a bit of his ki into his voice, to ensure everyone at the table heard him, he stated to no one in particular, "A month, no more."

     Everyone could only stare at Ranma stupefied as if first noticing him at the table, even though his mother had told everyone of his return.

     Finally, unable to contain herself, Nabiki asked, "A month for what, Saotome-san?"

     "Why, for long it will take to get the Dojo back up and running, Tendo-san," Ranma said sweetly to Nabiki. Speaking seemly to the air, he remarked, "Wouldn't you agree, Seiji-san."

     Soun could only blink his eyes in confusion. Akane and Kasumi casted nervous glances around, as Nabiki blinked at the unfamiliar name.

     "Or would you prefer, Happosai?" Ranma inquired. Although, still puzzled, everyone but Happosai, calmed down. "Come now, Happosai-san, you should know that there are only two fates for those who study Hokuto Shin Ken."

     "Death or succession," a pale Happosai replied nervously as he came out of the shadows. The various dark emotions floating around Nerima, his student's death, his inability to deal with Shin, and all had obviously taken their toll on him. He moved as one who felt all his years.

     Nodoka and the Tendo sisters paled at Happosai's pronouncement. Neither they nor Ranma, when he left, had known the Law of Hokuto.

     "Have a seat, Happosai," Ranma commanded. In a gentler voice, he stated, "I will abide by Kouryuu-dono's decision."

     Relief flooded Happosai's body as he sat down, bring some of the old Master of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu back, but he was still cautious of this new Ranma.

     Concern in her voice, as only a mother fearful of losing her only son, Nodoka asked, "What this about death?"

     Ranma sighed and with sad smile answered his mother, "That is the Hokuto Law. There is to be only one Hokuto Shin Ken Master, any other students are to die..."

     "And there is more then just death of the body," Happosai added quickly in an attempt to lessen the shock of the news.

     Ranma nodded, and continued, "Yes, there's the death of the mind and the death of the spirit, in this case, fighting spirit.

     "Those that fail to become the new Successor face three possible outcomes: first, they could be killed out-right, the Death of the Body; second, their knowledge of Hokuto Shin Ken could be erased, the Death of the Mind, for that removes anything associated with the Hokuto School, which includes memories, skills, or more; and third, they can have their fists sealed, the Death of the Spirit -- fighting spirit -- thus never again able to fight, even to defend themselves."

     "Is not that a bit harsh?" Kasumi wondered.

     "No," Ranma replied without any hesitation or doubt. "Hokuto Shin Ken is far too powerful to take any risks with improper use."

     "But, what does that have to do with Happosai?" Nabiki asked.

     Ranma answered with another question, "Do you know where Ganso Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu came from?"

     Akane blinked and a bit of her old self shined through as she simply stated, "Happosai created it."

     "True," Ranma agreed, "But you do not think he made it from scratch, do you?"

     "Hey," Happosai protested. He quieted down after a look from Ranma.

     "As I said, those are the fates of those that study Hokuto Shin Ken and do not become the next Successor," Ranma lectured. "As it happens, one of the students from sixtieth Successor had his fists sealed, since he was not selected, but his knowledge of Hokuto Shin Ken was not removed. Although he could not use it himself, he was able to impart a bit of it to a student of his, who passed that knowledge on to his student, creating 'Hokumon No Ken (Fist of the North Gate)[1].' Sanga was the fifth Successor of this line.

     "This Hokumon No Ken was but a small lake to the large ocean that is Hokuto Shin Ken. It was still very powerful, even though it lacked any of the gokui of the Hokuto. It was because of this lack of the gokui that it was allowed to continued, although it is monitored from time to time. Over the years, Sanga had three students it seems, Seiji of Japan and Cologne of the Chinese Amazons. Sanga's first two students were ignorant of the origin of Hokumon and its actual name. Since neither could fully master Hokumon, they only incorporated parts of it into their own styles... Cologne used only some of the tsubo point knowledge and some ki techniques from Hokumon and added it to her village's Wu Shu. To further distant himself, Seiji wisely changed his name to 'Happosai,' and turned what he knew of Hokumon and other martial arts styles into Ganso Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu. Correct, Happosai?"

     "Hai," Happosai replied.

     "I thought you said that Sanga-san had three students?" Nabiki pointed out, "Happosai and Cologne-san are only two..."

     "Yes," Ranma remarked. "I'll leave the third student and current Hokumon Successor unnamed since he does not concern us at the moment, so there's no point in mentioning him at this time.[2]

     "Anyways, which is why the 'Death of the Mind' would be very bad for me. For Ganso Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu is a descendent of the Hokuto, if once removed, so I would of lost not only Hokuto Shin Ken, but also Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu as well. And having my fists sealed with how my life is would have been just as bad."

     Everyone just sat there looking at Ranma.

     "Getting back to the original conversation," Ranma continued. "Soun-san just needs a few weeks to get back into shape, and a week or so for a priest to purify the Dojo before we re-open it to the public."

     "A few weeks?" Soun and Happosai responded doubtfully.

     "Yes," Ranma replied. "That was my father's plan."

     "Gen-chan had a plan?" Nodoka asked surprised and a touch of awe and hope in her voice.

     Ranma nodded as he said, "Yeah... I'm as surprised as you are. More so, since this plan will actually work."

     "Nani?" Nabiki and Nodoka wondered.

     Ranma just smiled and handed over to Nodoka a scroll. She opened it, started to read it, and then dropped it startled. She blushed, picked it up, and handed it backed to Ranma. He just waved the scroll off to Happosai, who looked at it and nodded. Happosai, knowingly, skipped the beginning parts, which were obviously meant solely for Nodoka's eyes. Most of Genma's scrolls were like that.

     "Basically, it divides Ganso Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu into two halves... The two halves, of course, are the Saotome and Tendo Ryuus. Saotome Ryuu would concentrate in the areas of unarmed techniques and aerial maneuvers, while Tendo Ryuu would concentrate on weapons and ground maneuvers. Both halves would teach a little of the other, and when both halves are used together, that's the Ganso Ryuu."

     It sounded so simple to everyone, and worse, it made sense. But since it came from Genma... Ranma had found the scrolls and books among his Father's personal effects, which Nodoka had refused to deal with, thus leaving the responsibility to him, upon his return. Everyone tried to see what was wrong it, but could not. So, as with all things that was not easily understood in Nerima, everyone just shrugged and moved on.

     Nodoka, Nabiki, Happosai, and Kasumi asked Ranma of his time in China, while Soun and Akane sat silently, not playing any attention to their surrounding. He told of the sights he saw: the mountains, the forests, the rivers, the various temples and Dai Chin's Dojo. He even spoke of the Nanto Capital that he and Ti Lin had gone to see the Nanto Emperor, to ensure that the Nanto would not be troubled over one of the Nanto Rokusei Ken Master's death. For as bad as Shin was, he was still one of the ruling Nanto Masters.

     In turn, Ranma asked what their viewpoints on what had been happening in his absence, but no one wished to tell him. It was obvious that, while they would not give voice to their fears of what was happening, their faces did. Nabiki did mentioned, in passing as a joke to relieve the tension in the air, that a temporary truce among the fiancees had been called until his return. Many had taken the time during his absence to go on training trips or in Ukyou's case, expand her business into neighboring Wards.

     Soon the conversation turned to the college, how Nabiki and Akane went to the same college, Nabiki as a business major, living on campus, and Akane as a liberal arts major, staying at home. Just as Nodoka was about to ask Ranma what his college plans were, there was a sounding of the Dojo Challenge bell in the back.

     Upon the hearing the bell, Ranma excused himself, got up and headed towards the Dojo with only Soun and Happosai trailing after him in apprehension. He noted the fear on Kasumi and Akane's faces. Which puzzled him, no gangster would waste their time with such formality, so it could not have been any of them.

     As Ranma walked into the Dojo, he noticed a young man, slightly older than himself, waiting there. His sense told him that the young man, boy really, was around Ukyou's martial arts level, a lot of training and focus, but lacking in formal instruction and vision. He noted that the boy's ki was somehow familiar. It only took him a few seconds to match the ki of the boy's to one of the older break in Akane's left leg. Of course, only someone with his knowledge would be able to tell that after the amount of time that had passed, which Ranma figured was about a year ago. The boy stood there in a traditional kempo gi, with a red-banana, and finger-less gloves, trying to give off a 'bad boy' attitude and smile. Even before, such a person would have pissed Ranma off, but now... and knowing that he was involved in braking one of Akane's legs...

     The boy had a puzzled look on his face when he saw Ranma, and from the disappointed look on his face, he was looking forward to beating on Akane again.

     Being formal, Ranma bowed to the boy and stated, "I am Ranma Saotome, and you have come here to challenge me, correct?"

     Neither Soun nor Happosai made any indications of anything being amiss with Ranma avoiding any titles. Nor his seemly dismissal of the boy as a martial artist.

     The boy laughed and said, "So you're the great and mysterious Ranma Saotome... I've been looking for... You don't seem like much to me."

     Ranma gave the boy a friendly smile and replied mysteriously, "You do not see very well then. Shall we begin?"

     The boy nodded and charged in straight at him, hoping to catch Ranma by surprise with his boldness and speed. The boy's speed was less the Ukyou's, he had plenty of time to analysis the boy's style, find several weaknesses, and do a crossword puzzle or three, yet, he allowed the boy's punch to just miss him by a centimeter.

     For the entire match, Ranma was the boy's shadow. Everything the boy attempted to do, Ranma dodged it with only a centimeter, no more, no less. The boy tried flashy move after flashy move, all without any success. To the observers, Ranma was Art-in-Motion, while the boy was clumsy. The boy was as focused as a fog bank, while Ranma was as tight as a laser beam.

     It was clear to both Soun and Happosai that Ranma was simply limiting himself to his opponent's skill and defensive moves only. Yet, Ranma was clearly the superior fighter. Since neither knew that the School of Hokuto believe in fighting an opponent on equal footing, they thought that Ranma's behavior was a left-over from the old Ranma.

     In a short time, however, the boy exhausted himself with all his flash and wasted posing, just collapsed face first into the Dojo floor mat, unable to move. Upon seeing this, Ranma sighed, wrote out a note, which he put in the boy's pocket, and just walked out of the Dojo, with Soun and Happosai trailing behind. In the time it took for Soun and Happosai to catch up to him, he had pulled out his cell-phone pressed a button and speak a few words into it and returned it to his pocket, before either saw it or heard the very short conversation.

     Upon returning to the dining room, Akane in a haunted voice asked, "Who... Who was the challenger?"

     "Just some two-bit street fighter looking to make a name for himself," Ranma replied causally, as if it was an every-day event. Which for him, it was. To change the subject, he said, "So what's on TV?"

     Nodoka commented that some special was on, but that she and Kasumi needed to clean up after dinner. Ranma would not hear of his mother missing some program on TV while he was perfectly capable of cleaning everything himself. With very little convincing he was able to send his mother, Soun, Happosai, Nabiki and Akane off to the living room. Only Kasumi was reluctant to go while there were still dirty dishes around. He knew using the Hokuto he could force her to go watch TV easily, but he did not wish to, so he compromised and allowed Kasumi to help him. It also gave him a chance to examine Kasumi more, and find out why she only took the kettle and only used her weak, left hand.

     With Ranma there, and taking the lion's share, cleaning the dishes from the meal was easy. He noted that at no time did Kasumi try to hold anything in her right hand, only her left. In fact, he could not recall at any point when Kasumi used her right hand much at all during his time there.

     After finishing, Ranma felt forced to make Kasumi show him her right hand. He could see and feel the tears forming in her eyes as he examine it. He did use a bit of the Hokuto, to calm her, as he examined her hand, wrist and arm. He noted that Kasumi were a bit wide in surprise, at either his expert touch or his ability to affect her ki and emotions so easily, he wasn't sure. Nor was he sure where Kasumi's blush came from.

     What he found did in his examination did not sit well with him. He noted that her right hand had been severely injured at some point seven months prior or so. Both the time frame and the ki was wrong for that street fighter he had faced earlier to have done it. In fact, he realized that the ki that injured her was female, but not matching either Shampoo's, Ukyou's or Cologne's. He did see that while the bone themselves had healed, the nerve endings and muscles had not. Thus preventing her from gripping or holding anything with her right hand.

     Ranma sighed, and using the Hokuto gently, he asked Kasumi to tell him what happened. Kasumi replied that some Warrior-Princess from China had come looking for him while he was away in China. Said Warrior-Princess was not happy that he was not there, and had took her frustrations out on Akane and Kasumi, who had been in the Dojo as a witness to the challenge. Kasumi said that Akane had both her legs broken by said Warrior-Princess, and then went on to destroy Kasumi's right hand before Happosai-san drove her off. While the hospital was able to mend Akane's legs, they could not completely fix Kasumi's hand. Towards the end of her tale, Kasumi began to cry. The old Ranma would have panicked then, but the new Ranma, with coaching from Ti Lin's spirit, took Kasumi into his embrace and let her cry herself out. With a gently smile, Ranma asked, "Feel better?" Kasumi nodded, a bit embarrassed. "Now that you do," Ranma stated calmly, "I can see about fixing your hand."

     "But, Ranma," Kasumi protested, "All the doctors said that was impossible."

     "For them, maybe, it is," Ranma replied calmly. "but they do not have Hokuto Shin Ken's knowledge of the body and ki."

     Kasumi watched with mixed emotions as Ranma touched various spots on her hand and forearm seemingly at once. Then he gently pushed on her forearm down to her hand as if pushing something out from her forearm out through her fingers. Afterwards, there was a bit in tingling in her fingers as he massaged her wrist and fingers, one by one, and then, for the first time, since the Warrior-Princess had injured her, she could move her fingers and gingerly, weakly grip something.

     "Thank you, Ranma," Kasumi said with a kiss.

     Ranma blushed and stammered out, "It was nothing."

     The others in the living room were surprised to see Kasumi with a smile on her face and a big bowl of popcorn in her hand. They were shocked to see Kasumi both hands properly again.

     Nabiki voiced the question of their minds, "How --"

     "There is little that Hokuto Shin Ken can't do," Ranma replied.

     With that everyone settled in with their favorite snack food and watched the rest of the television show.

     Several hours later, everyone but Ranma headed to bed. Before she headed to the guest room, Ranma stopped his mother and said, "Mom, Pops left something else behind in our special spot, beside that scroll."

     "Oh?" Nodoka wondered.

     "Here," Ranma replied and handed her a book. "Originally, I guess, Pops wanted to document our training trip and all, but that lasted only for a little while, about the first five pages. The rest of the book are... poems he wrote for you."

     Ranma blushed a bit at that last part.

     Nodoka smiled and said, "Thank you, Ranma. I'm sure your father is very proud of you."

     As he watched Nodoka continue on to the guest room, he thought, //Who would ever imagine that Genma was such a great romantic poet.//

     His son would not have, yet he could not find any evidence of plagiarism. It was one of those mysteries of Life.

     Once everyone was off to bed, Ranma headed out of the Tendo-ke and moved swiftly to NIT's Medical Building. There he entered an office of one of the medical professors that was still occupied. Within the office was Doctor Ichiro Choshi, a sixty-two year old Chinese-Japanese physician.

     "Greetings, Choshi-sensei," Ranma softly greeted the old doctor in his native tongue.

     Doctor Choshi jumped upon Ranma's greeting him, since he was sure that he had locked his office and never heard anyone enter his office.

     "Be calm, Choshi-sensei," Ranma remarked in Japanese, with a touch of the Hokuto in his voice.

     Choshi-sensei was surprised to find that his heart and nerves where calm, even though they had but a second ago been racing. He tried to give Ranma his patented look of annoyance at him, but it was wasted.

     "And who might you be?" the doctor inquired.

     "I'm Ranma Saotome," he replied, "The student that my Sensei, Ti Lin-sama, told you about."

     The doctor thought over the names for a bit, then nodded in recognition. He asked with a smile, "And where is the lovely Ti Lin-sama?"

     With a sad look on his face, Ranma replied, "buried with her Ancestors."

     The doctor's sad look matched Ranma's.

     "Ti Lin told me that she set up everything I would need with you, Choshi-sensei," Ranma stated to break the silence that had fallen over them.

     Choshi-sensei nodded, reached into his desk, and pulled out a stack of papers which he handed over to Ranma saying, "Fill these out as best you can and give them back to me."

     Ranma took the papers, sat down, and started filling them out as the doctor went back to grading his student's exams.

     For the next few hours, the only sounds was pen on paper, the occasional shuffling of papers, and the sounds of the cleaning crew going about their rounds.

     Ranma, then, handed the papers back to the doctor and asked, "Is that it?"

     "Not quite," the doctor replied, "your papers must be checked and a review board to be convened."

     "And that will be when?" Ranma inquired.

     "Tomorrow morning," was the reply.

     With that, Ranma left as quietly as he came, heading back to the Tendo-ke to sleep. [=== End of Part 2 ===]
[=== Notes ===]

[1] What, you thought Amoeba was the only one to try to duplicate Hokuto Shin Ken? "Hokumon No Ken (Fist of the North Gate)" comes from the _Hokuto no Ken - Jubaku no Machi (Fist of the North Dipper - Cursed Town)_ novel by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. I am assuming that it existed a century or so prior to the Novel, which is set after the _Hokuto No Ken_ series.
[2] Does anyone really need to be told who this is?
[=== End of Notes ===]

Last Updated: Tue May 2 00:12:01 UTC 2006
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