Chapter Three

"It finally came," Ryouga mutters under his breath while looking around and realizing he's lost, "where am I now?"

"Take this!"

Turning towards the voice Ryouga saw one boy fighting against several other, older children. Behind the younger boy, there's also a girl around his age scared by the fight.

The younger boy style is crude but effective, and he shows his experience in this kind of situation by keeping the group in front of him and making sure the larger group can't leverage their numbers.

He also hits hard if the way the older boys cry is any indication.

'For a mundane boy he is surprisingly strong for his age', Ryouga thinks to himself, watching the last bully fall on the ground.

"Oh yeah, you like that, huh, huh? Do you like that you lo~ser! I'm the best!"

"Yuusuke, please stop, let them go so we can go to school."

Ryouga eyes widen when he hears the name, "Urameshi Yuusuke?"

"Yes, that's me", Yuusuke faces Ryouga, "are you together with those losers? Came here to take revenge on those small dick bastards that are only men enough to pick on a girl half their size."

"Yuusuke please!" The girl yells at her friend, embarrassed by his language.

"I don't even know those people," Ryouga points out the obvious, "but you shouldn't go saying things your mouth can't cash later."

A devious grim appears on Yuusuke's face and hinting at his demonic ancestry, "oh really? And who is going to make me pay? You?"

"Yuusuke, that's enough! You're going too far now!"

Ryouga stares at Yuusuke for a second and then turns to the girl, Keiko if his memory is correct, "right, sorry about this. I will cool him down in a moment."

"Wha-"

By cycling a small amount of Qi, Ryouga rushes towards Yuusuke, and in a blink of an eye he has the other boy on his grip, throwing him on the ground face first, arm twisted behind the back.

"What the heck?"

Yuusuke feels some pressure on his shoulder and wrist, and he cries in pain before trying to escape, only to feel even more pressure on his arms, holding his current position tighter.

"You bastard-"

"Yeah, no. You calm down here, just look at your situation right now and admit you lost your cool. If you stop acting like a cocky little brat I will let you go."

"Go eat a dick you little shit!"

"Take a good look here," Ryouga says while bringing Yuusuke's head up so he can stare at Keiko properly and still be pinned down, "tell me, which one is scaring her more? You, or I?"

He grits his teeth and is ready to give another rude remark, but his eyes meet those with Keiko who is on the verge of crying, making the ruffian avert his gaze and slacken his body.

"Just, just let me go!"

Realizing that Yuusuke calmed down Ryouga does just that, and surprisingly Yuusuke only glares back at Ryouga instead of restarting the fight.

Keiko, on the other hand, steps forward and slaps her friend on the cheek, the act drawing more sound than pain, before lightly hitting him on the chest while sobbing.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why are you fighting even when you don't need to?"

Seeing the contrived look in Yuusuke's face he decides to take pity on the other boy.

"Nah, he was just excited after winning that big fight, besides, what is a little fight between men? Don't you know that men talk with their fists? This is just a greeting between friends!"

Keiko slowly stops sobbing, and with red eyes looks between Yuusuke and Ryouga, as if expecting something.

"Y-yeah! What he said! We can all just be friends! Right, uh-"

"Ryouga."

"-what's his face said! Here, let's shake on it!"

He extends his hand forward, palm open in clear invitation, and against Ryouga's best judgment he trusts Yuusuke.

For a moment nothing happens other than Yuusuke trying to crush Ryouga's hand fruitlessly until his other fist lash out that Ryouga's manage to parry at the last moment.

"... you do know this will be our customary greeting, right?"

"I. Wouldn't. Have. It. Any. Other. Way!"

He huffs in exertion but is unable to make headway until he finally gives up.

"Whatever, I can take on you any day anyway."

"Maybe we should just go to classes," Keiko finally speaks, too emotionally tired to care about two boys being idiots, "we're going to be late."

Eventually, Ryouga truly becomes their friend, despite each of their eccentricities.

.  .  .

"Hey guys, did you hear what happened?"

Both Ryouga and Jonouchi look at their friend, who is shaking in place from excitement.

"No, but you will tell us anyway," Ryouga says with a sigh, since every time these past few weeks Josuke proposed something it would inevitably turn crazy.

Go fishing? Flash flood on the river and they need to swim their way up the stream.

Go to the arcade? Some thugs are squatting there and almost steal Josuke's ill-gotten gains in the crane machine.

A family restaurant? They get kicked out because it's school time and their parents are called in.

"A ghost appeared in school!"

Ryoga stares flatly at Josuke, his eyes flickering for a moment to Josuke's side as a vague silhouette manifest at his side. "Really."

"Yeah! And we're going to investigate it!"

"I think I'm going to pass this one," Ryouga is quick to reply, "my mother is going to teach me some techniques, really complicated stuff and will take all evening."

"And I need to go buy beer for my father," Jonouchi reply is just as quick, and has the power to turn the atmosphere awkward between them.

"So, we got to go."

The two boys try to leave, but Josuke's hand is on their shoulders, with a nearly inescapable grip holding them in place.

"Josuke," Ryouga warns his friend but the pompadour lover isn't intimidated.

"I'm cashing my win on you two."

Both Ryouga and Jonouchi glance at each other before grimacing. Their parents eventually found out they never quite stopped their childish gambling, so they instituted a rule where they must pay their due if they want to keep playing.

Josuke is an open book to his mother, while Raikou always knows what her son is up to regardless of what he does or where, and Jonouchi's parents can just ask either of the former two who will then be glad to answer.

"You do know that we can cash in our wins against you and make it even, right? Hell, if Jonouchi cashes in his winnings you will be owning him until the end of the year."

Josuke grimaces before trying a different tactic: begging while trying to sound cute.

"Come on~ aren't we friends? Please~?"

In Ryouga's opinion, it sounds obnoxious and stupid but allows it to happen since it will be incredible blackmail material in the future.

"Alright, fine," Jonouchi finally relents, "I can stay for a little bit longer than normal today, but I really can't stay here all night since I need to take care of my little sister."

To that Josuke have nothing to say, and Ryouga's reply is nearly as impeccable as Jonouchi.

"And if I come home too late I will just tell mom it is your fault."

"... please don't, your mother is scary."

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

"Hah, good one!" The more normal friend laughs, "I need to remember that later."

"Alright, fine, we will only stay for a little while and then we leave."

'There's no way this will go wrong,' Ryouga sarcastically thinks to himself, 'for real though, I doubt nothing is going to happen, the only question is, which flavor of weird will come out of the woods this time around?'

"Thank you guys, you're the best!"

.  .  .

A few hours later, when school ended the three friends walk around the school grounds, looking for anything particularly unusual.

"Hey look, I found a book!"

Josuke excitedly calls out his friends in the first room he enters, already finding something interesting.

"What kind of book is it?" Jonouchi asks, feigning disinterest but despite the finding and previous complaining he warmed up to the exploring idea.

"Some kind of sketchbook, there are lots of drawings here."

The drawings are crude renditions of monsters and strange scenes without context, made by a kid still learning to draw and hastily made. A few pictures, however, stood out among the rest: a man wearing black robes and a strange hood on his back, despite already wearing a droopy pointed hat, a white dragon with blue eyes, a large vaguely Egyptian-looking giant bound in chains, a blond girl with a wand making a cutesy pose and lastly a small sequence of scenes.

At first, the spiky-haired boy is standing alone, then from the sides, a boy with a large sword on his shoulders appears from the right and a girl with silver hair appears on his left, on the next image they are all grown up, with the boy giving a noogie on the spiky-haired boy, and the silver-haired girl grown into a woman kisses the boy.

There is more imagery in the book some of the more distinct being a giant demon with the lower half of a snakehead standing on a grave, a geometrical shape with hands at the side, some type of tree made of darkness and eye-like nodes, and finally four dragons standing on each corner of the page with a magician pointing his staff upwards and the shadow of a larger dragon drawn on the middle.

"Isn't that ominous at all." Ryouga mutters under his breath, recognizing most of the references, "can I have this book? My father travels a lot so he might know something about those images."

"Eh, sure," Josuke hands over the sketchbook, "it looks lame anyway."

In the next room, they don't find anything too interesting, until Ryouga trips on an anthropomorphic pink rabbit doll, with one droopy ear and an eerie smile on its face.

"Let's put it on the Evidence Bag," Josuke takes out a large plastic bag and put the strange doll, "it can go to the lost and found room later."

The next room is clear of anything even remotely suspicious, as is the next and the third consecutive room, but in the fourth room, Jonouchi finds something.

"Hey guys, I think I found some kind of balloon here, but check this," he points to the mouth of the balloon, "there's some kind of mysterious liquid coming out of it."

"Nice job Jonouchi! Now all we have to do is-"

"Go fetch the broom closet cleaning supplies, clean this up, and never speak of this again!"

The two boys turn to Ryouga sporing an expression of disgust on his face, "if you're not going to do it I will. And don't touch it, or else you might get sick!"

"Sick! Why?" Josuke asks in an innocent tone, "is it some kind of poison?"

"... in a manner of speaking, and we need to figure out who is the teacher of this classroom," Ryouga silently mutters the last part to himself.

The three friends work in silence, with Ryouga occasionally making disgusted expressions whenever he came close to the balloon, and after putting it on a separate trash bag Ryouga vowed to show it to his mother. He is sure she will deal with this issue as appropriate.

Eventually, the trio of boys explored everything they could during their allocated time.

"Well, we found a few disturbing things, for all the wrong reasons, but what exactly were we looking for, Josuke?"

Josuke shrugs, "I don't know, I just heard there was a ghost and odd things were happening, that's all."

"Whatever, there's nothing else for us to see here. Let's just go home."

The two friends follow Jonouchi lead since it is getting late, but when they turn on the corridor they see some kind of strange shadow ahead of them, with the appearance of a hunched woman.

The figure straightens its back and immediately they hear a haunting laugher echoing, and one heartbeat later-

"Hahahahaha!"

The feminine creature is rushing after them.

"What the hell!" Jonouchi quickly dives for cover while Josuke is batted away, his Stand flickering for a moment to defend him and preventing the bulk of the damage.

'Is this a Youma?' Ryouga internally screams before raising his fists to defend himself on instinct, but when the monster grabs his fist with incredible power he feels his strength leaving him.

"Shit it is!" Ryouga yells before using all his strength to struggle and escape, his feet hitting on the monster's wrist joint and freeing himself.

"You bastard! Get away from my friend!"

Jonouchi hits the Youma with a fire extinguisher before unleashing its contents on the creature's face, making it roar in pain and confusion.

"If you think you can hurt my friend," Josuke proclaims while standing up, the visage of his stand becoming stronger by the second, "you have another thing coming!"

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"Dora! Dora dora dora dora dora dora!"

His stands manifest fully, the Youma staggering from the impacts and leaving Josuke exhausted.

Unfortunately, the damage done on the creature isn't enough to finish it off, and much to the boys' horror they see it slowly recovering from its injuries right in front of their eyes.

"Damn it, I guess I need to use my secret technique for this!" Josuke dramatically proclaims between pants.

"Shit, you have to use that? Thankfully I'm familiar with this technique." Ryouga takes a few deep breaths, stepping away from the monster.

"Technique, do you two have something to deal with it?"

Josuke voice is hopeful, even as he keeps inching away from the recovering monster.

"Yeah, you have to use your legs," Ryouga starts explaining.

"The legs? And then, what's next?" Their mundane friend asks.

"Runaway!"

Both Josuke and Ryouga turn to run, with Jonouchi right behind their heels until he surpasses them.

The three friends run to the stairs, jumping several steps until reaching the bottom, only for them to see the monster waiting for them right at the beginning of the stair steps, a wicked grin on her face.

The trio feels time slow down as they slowly fall in the air, and then in a blink of an eye, the monster is reduced to a bloody mist.

They fall on the ground in a tangle of limbs, blood, and ash, but otherwise are unharmed.

"Ara ara, so this is where you are."

"Mom?"

Ryouga cleans up his eyes from the blood and sees his mother standing in front of him, wearing a truly scandalous form-fitting bodysuit, pieces of armor protecting a few strategic places, an Oodachi in her left hand, and a longbow with a quiver in her back.

"My, my~. My beloved son is growing so fast, already taking steps into inheriting the family business."

"Wha, what?"

Josuke and Jonouchi are both speechless when they see Ryouga's mother, who they thought was just a normal, if scary, housewife.

"What do you mean, 'family business'? I thought dad was just a photographer?"

"My side of the family, silly boy," she says while straightening up her son and cleaning him up with a tissue, "we hunt monsters for a living, and these days killing the remnant enemies of an old moon kingdom is profitable."

'Oh god there's Sailor Moon too', Ryouga sighs inwardly, too tired to protest his mother fussing.

After finishing she also helps Ryouga's friends, making them minimally presentable to their parents.

"Now children, just because the world doesn't try to hide certain things from the public eye it doesn't mean you can start talking about what you just saw today, alright? We don't want to cause panic on those who don't know any better," her kind smile looks predatory when addressing Ryouga's friends, "do you understand?"

The two boys' reply came immediately.

""Yes madam!""

"Good, now run along, your parents must be worried about you two."

They quickly fled the scene leaving the mother and son pair on the school.

"You did well dear," the Hibiki matron says with an affectionate tone, "but since that leftover trash is starting to cause trouble, I must give you tougher training for your protection."

"... yes, mother."

Inwardly Ryouga wonders if it isn't kinder to just kill him right now.

.  .  .

After the Youma incident slowed down for the following weeks, with nothing noteworthy happening in town until Summer Break arrives.

"Did you take your summer homework dear?" Hibiki Raikou asks her precious son.

"Yes, Mom."

"Did you get all your essential supplies? Rations, blankets, towel?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Good", crouching down she gives her son a tight hug before looking at her child in his eyes with a sniff, "you grow so fast, I still remember when I was cleaning up your diapers."

"Mom ~ please, I'm not a baby anymore." Inwardly Ryouga is astonished by how his mother always makes him feel like a child, despite still having a large chunk of memories from his previous life.

"Alright dear, then it's time for you to spread your wings a little," she says while pointing towards the mountains ahead, "you need to improve your martial arts, and for that, you need to fight against people other than me. With that in mind let your heritage carry you towards your next destination, alright?"

"Ok," Ryouga replies before shouldering his backpack, "you're much more casual about our family curse -slash- blessing than dad, why is that?"

'Supposedly even those who marry into the family gets the curse, it must have caused problems to mom too.'

"I don't see it as a curse dear, after all, it lead me to your father, and from our beautiful union, you were born. Now, don't dally around, time to start your journey! Make sure to run to get the most of it!"

With an encouraging push, Ryouga starts on the road, wondering for a moment if he will encounter a wild pokemon in the tall grass.

Taking his mother's advice he travels in a dash, letting his instinct guide him to his next destination, passing through valleys and mountains, dirt roads and highways, until he crosses the sea on a fishing boat towards the mainland, and then quickly traveling towards the countryside.

That's how after three days of travel he appears in a small village in China.

"Well, this looks like my destination. What does this place have in special?"

"You're courting death!"

Crash! Blam!

A man is violently throw out from the front gates, skipping on the ground multiple times until landing in a conveniently placed mud puddle.

"You're nothing but trash," a young man yells back at the fallen man, "you're not qualified to be my acquaintance, let alone her husband! You can forget about your betrothal!"

With a huff, the young woman turns back to the village, and the fallen man slowly stands up.

"Fou! Da! Tian! One day I will defeat you and take back my childhood friend! Just you wait!"

After his angry declaration, he turns and limps away, leaving the premises as quickly as he can.

"That's the most xianxia thing I have ever seen in my life, did I cross over to another setting entirely?"

Ryouga ponders the question for a moment before realizing something. "Fou Datian, foudatian, foudation, foundation?"

Looking up he sees the big plaque above the gates.

Nujiezu, or Joketsuzoku in Japanese.

"How did I miss that?"

Shaking his head Ryouga decides to walk enter the village, 'maybe I will learn something new before canon timeline rolls out?'

As soon as Ryouga steps into the Village he feels several eyes staring back at him but otherwise, he's left alone, and letting his feet carry him he ends up witnessing another altercation.

"Be mine Shampu!" A boy yells while jumping into the air, ready to strike with a wooden sword at his opponent, and the girl in return counters with a simple punch to his face sending him flying several meters away.

"Oh, Deja Vu," Ryouga says out loud, startling the pair for a moment, "Sorry, I just saw a similar scene played out at the village gates. Anyway, my name is Hibiki Ryouga."

"What is a barbarian doing here," the boy arrogantly says while fixing his glasses.

"I have double citizenship and have both Chinese and Japanese passports since I was born in this country."

"A barbarian raised them."

"Mu Tsu, don't be rude to the other boy!"

Ryouga frowns at the rude remark but decides to remain silent, for now. If he gains formal permission to stay and learn at the village there will be plenty of opportunities to beat up Mu Tsu or Moose like in the anime.

"I want to request an audience with the Elders of this village so that I can stay for a while, and hopefully learn some martial arts while here. Is that possible?"

"The Elder Council isn't going to entertain your request, barbarian! Know your place!"

One thing Ryouga learned through his life is that as a Japanese in the mainland he's essentially persona non grata and while he's not going to bow and scrape like a wimp he can understand this cultural friction, that's why in most cases he will employ a tactic that served him well until now.

"Or is it not necessary for me to stay, miss Shampu?" The Japanese boy says with a traditional greeting to the girl.

"You dare utter her angelic name from your filthy m- blergh!"

"That's enough, you idiot boy!"

In a flash, a small figure lands on Moose's head staff first before graciously leaping away from the broken boy.

"Well, now. What do we have here."

Ryouga is quick to greet the newcomer. "Greetings, Elder of the Nujiezu. My name is Hibiki Ryouga."

"Someone knows his manners, differently from a certain brat." She doesn't bother to hide the glare directed to Moose despite being in front of an outsider, which shows how much he managed to get on her nerves today. "What can I do for you, little boy?"

"I am in a martial arts journey this month and I humbly request to remain in the village to improve my martial arts, and perhaps learn something new."

"Kekeke, you have a lot of nerve asking to learn our secret techniques to my face boy."

"My mother taught me to be honest, and my father taught me to get to the point quickly least I regret my hesitation later in life."

"Those are wise parents, Hibiki Ryouga. Very well, as one of the Elders from the Nujiezu Elder Council, I permit you to remain in the village."

"What!" Moose jumps back with a yell, before being hit once more on the head and greeting the ground once more.

"Stop yelling!" With a cough her continues, "I can make some use out of you while you're here, and if you prove yourself good enough I can even give you a pointer or two."

"Thank you, honorable Elder."

"I won't accept it!" Moose once more stands up, and this time the Elder doesn't intervene. "You came here just to take away my Shampu from me, didn't you? I challenge you to a duel!"

Ryouga stares back at the moron in front of him before turning to the Elder. "If he tries to kiss me I'm contractually obliged to kill him first."

The Elder ignores the frantic denials of the addressed boy. "I see you're well informed. Your parents?"

"I heard the rumors." Ryouga dryly answers before setting his stuff aside.

"Very well," the older woman turns to Moose, "you will have your duel, but no blood feuds!"

Knocking her staff on the ground twice and making a loud echo, she declares the start of the match: "Begin!"

Moose doesn't waste time and pull a pair of swords under his sleeves, moving with greater agility than when he fought against Shampu earlier. Ryouga has to admit that a month ago Moose would make mincemeat out of him.

Kicking a stone at Moose the other boy blocks the projectile with both swords, allowing Ryouga to cross the distance for a punch, and when Moose tries to retaliate with a sword slash he feels the grip on one of his swords loosen, and he quickly jumps back while abandoning his weapon.

"Your tricks won't work on me!" Moose says while letting a chain fall from his sleeve.

Not being bothered by the display Ryouga picks up the sword and once more engages with Moose, performing an overhead slash towards his opponent, who freezes for a moment before trying to parry with his remaining sword and newly brought ax.

All three weapons shatter on impact, and Ryouga finishes the fight with a powerful punch to his opponent gut, bringing him to his knees.

"Enough!" The Elder declares before rushing towards the fallen boy. "I hope that you learned something from this, Mu Tsu."

"You... damn... cheater..."

"Alright, for real now, get off your high horse you hypocritical ass! You demand a duel, you fight with weapons against an unarmed combatant and when you lose you call me a cheater? No wonder you're so weak!"

"You -blargh!"

Once more the Elder hits Moose on the head and this time he loses his consciousness, "how come this boy grew up to be so rude," turning back to Ryouga she adds, "the offer is still open. Perform well and I can teach you some of our secret techniques, even invite you to join our tribe if you want. Oh, and you can marry my granddaughter."

Shampu looks offended at the offer, but differently from Moose, she has more sense than contradict the Elder like this.

Shrugging and giving Shampu an awkward smile he accompanies the trio towards his temporary residence.

.  .  .

"You're late," Elder Kun Lun says with a hit on Ryouga's head, making the boy wince at the blow.

"Sorry, but I'm not used to reading Shampu tracks yet so I got lost."

"Get better sooner then," the Elder mercilessly replies while sending to the punishment corner, where Moose was already there.

Picking up the rocks and starting his exercises he glances at the bespectacled companion.

"Did you tried to fight against Shampu again?"

"Shut. Up."

Ryouga quickly dodges a thrown rock, almost losing his balance.

"No talking."

Not wanting to waste the morning he makes sure to perform the exercises as fast as he can, though for educated martial artists like him that means "don't skip on the exercise" by making undue pauses or slowing down the repetitions, thus putting his maximum effort to this punishment duty.

After finishing his daily punishment however, his real training begins.

"Now my dear students, what day it is today?" Elder Kun Lun says with undisguised glee, making the two Juketsuzoku children groan in annoyance.

"That's right students, today is footwork day."

Ryouga sagely nods. "You never skip leg day."

"That piece of wisdom is both timeless and boundless," the older woman agrees, "today we will be working on your charging and retreating speed.  Mu Tsu, Shampu, on your marks."

They position themselves to a certain area of the training ground, Ryouga quickly following them.

"Begin!"

The elder two disciples charge ahead with incredible speed for their ages, matching the speed of seasoned adults for a few moments, and Ryouga tries his best to keep up with them.

He doesn't enhance his body with Qi since he didn't felt any of the two doing the same, meaning they're doing this purely through a physical technique, a "Form" or "Ritual" as his mother taught him in the past.

Thankfully his mother is very thorough in his martial education and makes sure he 'learns how to learn', to be able to dissect a technique and combat style on the fly to appropriate it for himself or to counter it.

It's not a technique he mastered yet, but the more opportunities he and variety in opponents he has, the better he will develop this skill. Or so his mother claims.

Shampu and Moose finish the charging segment first, and then immediately run backward and leaving Ryouga behind. When Ryouga finally reaches his destination and starts going back he takes another hit from the Elder.

"Don't look back, your opponent is still in front of you!"

'How did she hit me?' Elder Kun Lun is sitting several meters away from them, yet as soon as his neck turned he was hit by the staff, and when he looks back in her direction she's sitting there as if nothing happened. Even the smoke from her pipe isn't disturbed in the least.

Retreating turns out harder for Ryouga, though he is still able to observe the two disciples while he's behind.

After several minutes with this warm-up, they proceeded to other series of exercises meant to improve their running speed. From the feet, calves, legs, hips, and core, Elder Kun Lun gives pointers to her apprentices in a soft voice fitting for individual training, while completely ignoring Ryouga.

'I suppose this is expected,' Ryouga reflects bitterly, 'she's not going to teach me properly until she finds me worthy until then I need to steal the technique by watching it from afar.'

It is in that moment that Ryouga realizes why Ranma became so good at learning martial arts with a glance because he doubts Genma could break a better deal than "let my son watch your training", and would also explain why Ranma rare spars against Akane were such one-sided, insult fest of questionable quality.

Blam!

"Agh!"

"Stop being distracted!"

Gritting his teeth Ryouga returns to his training, using this opportunity to further train his senses.

"Serves you right you filthy barb- blargh!"

"That goes for you too, Mu Tsu!"

After the morning training ends Elder Kun Lun goes back to her daily tasks while Moose and Shampu focus on their apprenticeships.

For Ryouga, Moose behaves similarly to his anime counterpart, though his brashness can be excused by his age and inexperience. Shampu, on the other hand, gives an altogether different impression than both the anime and manga counterparts.

Since she's not acting like an obsessed, love stuck girl in a Rumiko Takahashi manga, Shampu gives an air of aloofness and silent pride. She's almost cold towards other people, being polite to her elders while dismissing most of her peers save a pair of younger twin sisters.

'To be fair, she earned that pride,' after all in all the spars of her age group, and some slightly older, she never once was defeated. 'It's exactly that kind of overconfidence that let her be one-shot by Ranma in the manga.'

Shampu never attacked him or was rude to him, so Ryouga ignores the cold shoulder from the girl during and outside training.

'So long as I'm not being drawn into their drama, this is fine.'

That sentiment would come back to haunt him a week later.

As it turns out, "Footwork Day" is every day, every year. On the flip side that gives Ryouga plenty of opportunities to learn the technique, and after one week he's able to keep up with Shampu and Moose pace, even if he's still behind them.

"As expected of That Woman' son," Elder Kun Lun praises Ryouga and he wonders what kind of relationship the two of them had in the past, "though you need to work more on your flexibility if you want to improve your footwork beyond the basics."

"I understand," Ryouga bows to the elder woman, "thank you for the advice."

"Say, boy, how about a match between you and my granddaughter Shampu? I think you two could learn a lot from each other."

Freezing at the older woman's words, Ryouga looks for a method to escape, but sadly for him, the elder closed off all routes already.

Sighing, he nods. "Alright, I was lacking proper sparring partners anyway."

"Good, good. I will schedule the match for tomorrow."

Silently watching the crafty old woman leave, Ryouga for the first time sympathizes with Moose's plight, until he hears a familiar routine on the distance.

"Shampu, be mine!"

"Haya!"

"Blargh!"

The bespectacled boy skips on the ground like a stone on a lake's surface until his head hits a tree.

'No, he's just an idiot.'

Glad that the world made sense once more, Ryouga returns to his camp to rest and prepare for tomorrow's spar.

The next day he is escorted to a ring where several villagers are watching from the sidelines. Together with Elder Kun Lun, there are also two other elders waiting for the spar to start.

"Ah, you came just in time today, good," Elder Kun Lun says with good humor, "I'd hate to see you missing for a week straight and make us wait all that time."

"... I see my family reputation is well known."

"Hmph, let's just get this over with," one of the two other elders impatiently says, "I still have plenty of unfinished tasks today."

"Very Well Elder Pa Fu Yun, let's begin," with a solemn tone Elder Kun Lun starts the proceeding, "we are all here to witness the fight between my granddaughter Shampu, which remains undefeated in her generation. To challenge her is Hibiki Ryouga, the son of That Woman."

The crowd gasps and start whispering in rushed tones about That Woman, Ryouga's mother Hibiki Raikou, as if speaking her name out loud would summon her to the village.

'Seriously, what mom did to those people?'

Shaking his head he bows to his opponent and settles into his fighting position, resting his arms at his side with legs slightly spread apart.

"You're not taking any fighting stance?" Shampu calls him out with annoyance, and her opponent shrugs back.

"That's how I was taught."

She glares back at Ryouga, trying to either intimidate him or show her annoyance, but Shampu's opponent considers the attempt cuter than anything.

"Are you ready?" Elder Kun Lun calls, and when both fighters agree she continues, "the rules of this fight are as follows: if the opponent concedes, loses consciousness or is thrown outside the ring then you're victorious. Now, let this official Nujiezu match begin!"

Both fighters stumble once hearing that.

"Grandmother! Are you going to force me to marry him if I lose?"

"Elder, are you going to force me to marry her if I win?"

The girl looks back at the boy with mixed emotions, not sure if she should feel glad for him to consider her feelings, angry for him implying he could beat her or outraged that he doesn't think she's good enough for him.

For her part Elder, Kun Lun practically radiates smugness, taking great amusement in this situation.

"Don't worry dear granddaughter, you can just not give him the Kiss of Marriage if he wins," that immediately sours Shampu mood, since while it is true a female warrior from her village can refuse to perform the Kiss of Marriage if she has any objection to the potential groom, and no other special circumstances are in play, she still wants to remain undefeated before marriage as her mother did.

The way her great-grandmother implies about her defeat also doesn't sit well with the girl.

Just by looking at Shampu's expression Ryouga isn't very pleased by the prospect either, marrying someone against their wishes is a recipe of disaster without including supernatural martial arts into the mix.

'I'm also fu, I mean, I'm seven for crying out loud!'

"Then just win and get this done with," the matchmaking grandmother lazily replies to her granddaughter, "now, are you two going to fight or not?"

Both combatants look back at each other, their bodies stiffening for a single breath, and then they both charge at each other.

Despite Shampu closing the distance first and starting her attack earlier, she's the one who has to dodge her opponent attack first. "Aya! How?"

Ryouga's mother fighting style primary focus is about unleashing overwhelming violence from a neutral position and to continuously attack from one strike to the next until he returns to his neutral stance. The philosophy behind his stance isn't about how to position his arms, legs, and body, but rather it is to find a way to change from one motion t another without breaking his stride, flowing continuously like a waterfall raining attack upon attack on his opponent.

Thus, his fighting style is hyper-aggressive, focused entirely on dodging his enemy attacks without back-stepping. While still lacking the necessary speed to fight like his mother, he often uses his higher endurance to parry attacks and keeping to the spirit of the martial art.

With her better flexibility and speed, Shampu can easily dodge her opponent attacks, but the relentless nature of blows sent her way make it nearly impossible to retaliate, that is until she finds a gap in her opponent defense and strikes him with a punch.

Blam!

Blam!

"Aya!"

"Ugh."

Both fighters hit each other with a cross-counter blow, the impact shaking Shampu's head before she throws herself on the ground to avoid a follow-up strike and rolling backward to escape retaliation.

Shampu holds her stinging face, tears still falling down her face from the attack, 'I can't take any more of these,' she ends up thinking after realizing how strong her opponent punches are.

'I can't take any more of these,' Ryouga thinks similarly since most of the power from that cross-counter blow came from himself and he can knock himself out if she lands a lucky punch that strikes him first, and right now neither child has the advantage of reach to hide behind.

Eventually, Shampu catches her breath, "you're strong, I admit that now. You forced me to- aya!"

Shampu dodges another punch at the last moment, once more being on the defensive until she manages to retreat in an instant.

"Did nobody told you it is rude to interrupt your opponent when she's talking!"

"No," Ryouga answer curtly, using this opportunity to regain some lost stamina, while internally bemoaning the difference in speed between each other.

"How many times do I need to tell you to stop talking during a match, Shampu? Do you want to become like Mu Tsu?"

A chill runs down Shampu spine at her grandmother's rebuke, since while she considers the strangely obsessed boy her dear friend he has certain habits she doesn't want to develop.

A similar chill runs down Ryouga's spine, in his case because the notion of two Moose existing is frightening, 'though considering canon Shampu behavior, I can see how those two ended up being friends.'

Both children look at each other and an understanding, a connection forms between them at that moment.

"They're already making longing looks at each other," Elder Kun Lun says with a fake sniff, "should I sent the cooks to prepare the wedding feast now?"

Despite the situation, both fighters blush before shaking their heads. Taking a deep breath, they both charge at each other once more.

This time it is Shampu that attacks first, her fist almost landing on the boy's face, but he swiftly disappears from her vision, attacking Shampu with a sweeping kick!

She dodges each strike while Ryouga practically break-dances on the ground until he forces Shampu back on the edge of circular the ring. Trying to escape, Shampu rushes to the side but is interrupted by Ryouga, who manages to grab her by the neck and then starts kneeing her on the ribs.

"Gahhak!"

Placing her palm on Ryouga's chin she uppercuts him straight into his jaw, stunning him long enough for her to escape.

When Ryouga gathers his bearing back he sees Shampu in the middle of the ring, clutching her side. Checking the mobility of his legs and the stiffness of his body Ryouga is certain about the outcome of this spar.

"You can't win Shampu," he states the obvious, "if we continue for longer you will get hurt."

"The, the fight is not over, until, until it's over."

No one watching the fight believes in her words, or even believe she believes them herself.

Looking at the Elders in attendance Ryouga asks once more about the status of this fight. "If I win, does that mean I have to marry her?"

"Yes," the other Elder speaks in place of Kun Lun, "this is an official match between a Nujiezu warrior and an outsider. If she cannot win and brings shame to the clan, the least she can do is become the winner's woman."

Elder Kun Lun remains silent, but if Ryouga's measure on the older woman is correct she's not pleased for the other Elder having any say in her granddaughter's future.

"Alright then," Ryouga takes one step back, getting out of the ring, "oh, what a tragedy, looks like I lost."

The guest Elder jaw hits the ground, comically open at the sheer audacity of that boy.

"Well, it looks like my granddaughter chastity is safe for now. Those that owe me money can pay me later, as for the rest you may go, there's nothing else to see here."

When the crowd tries to protest Elder Kun Lun releases her aura, the tyrannical pressure sending everyone watching run in fright, except the guest Elder and the two children fighting.

"Fine, be like that Kun Lun. Don't you think the Elder Council will allow you to coddle your granddaughter forever."

The response comes harshly from Elder Kun Lun. "Should I remind you why I am the first Elder of the village, Guang Cheng?" Said Elder huffed before leaving without another word.

"Now children, why don't you finish this?" Elder Kun Lun says with a kinder tone, "sorry things escalated like this, it looks like I'm losing my touch."

Ryouga doesn't believe her for a second but doesn't have the energy to contradict her, either.

"Ready or not Shampu, here I go!"

He rushes after her, ready to give this fight a proper ending, but when he comes closer the girl loses her strength and falls on the boy's arms.

"Hmm, this kind of ending is also possible," muses the elderly woman, chuckling to herself.

"Elder Kun Lun, help! Shampu collapsed!"

She approaches her fallen granddaughter, who is no doubt exhausted from the fierce combat right before lunch. The Elder can't help but wish for her eventual son-in-law to be as thoughtful about her only granddaughter as this boy is.

The next day Shampu is back to full strength thanks to her grandmother's work, but before training the girl approaches Ryouga alone.

"Yes?" Ryouga asks slightly worried she might decide to attack him, but she surprises him when she bows to him. "What?"

"Grandmother explained why you did that, you didn't want to force me into a marriage, and I ended up collapsing right after everyone else left. I don't remember anything after that so I was already knocked out. Thank you for being considerate about my health."

"Ah, it's fine," Ryouga eventually finds his voice, "my mother always tells me I shouldn't take the outcome of spars personally, and never strain myself when there's nothing at the stake. There was no reason to force you into marrying me when you didn't want to, besides I'm the one who's supposed to challenge you for your hand in marriage, right? It feels wrong to abuse your traditions like that."

"Thank you," she says with a touch of pink to her cheeks, "grandmother also told me I was becoming arrogant due to hearing  I was 'invincible in my generation' too many times."

"I'm glad I helped with that, honestly speaking, that uppercut almost knocked me out on the spot, so you're pretty good too."

She gives him a shy nod, and the two falls into a comfortable silence while waiting for the training time.

"Say, what happened with Moose? He disappeared yesterday. I thought he would appear during the match especially when talk of marriage was thrown around, but I still can't hear him."

"Moose?" Shampu lips curl up at the nickname, "now that you mention it, he didn't come after me today either."

As if Shampu mentioning his name summoned the near-blind boy they hear him yell from a nearby tree.

"I finally escaped that old hag tying me up only to see you filthy barbarian flirting with Shampu! You're seeking death!"

Blam! Blam!

"Blargh!"

Both Ryouga and Shampu look at each other and their extended fists, before laughing and giggling at the situation, the incredibly dense and delusional boy forgotten on the ground.

.  .  .

Hibiki Ryouga, Person Of Interest report summary.

Age, seven years old. Typically carries camping equipment whenever he goes and wears sturdy clothes for long travel. Always wears a striped bandana gifted by his mother, who is That Woman.

Thanks to his training he's at least twice as strong and tough as a normal child of his age and weight, and his overall capabilities can further increase thanks to his precocious mastery of Qi. Already his fighting style shows the influence of That Woman's touch, meaning he will become a demon on the battlefield, just like That Woman.

His martial comprehension can be considered a genius level, but it can't be discarded the possibility of That Woman training his perception and martial theory, which makes her even more of a threat than previously thought.

His recent sighting pattern indicates he recently mastered a movement technique, making capture without the assistance of martial experts or use of extreme force unlikely.

We assign him the threat level of Half-step one star, similar to martial arts school heirs or those trained directly under experts. As the son of That Woman, he's also assigned the provisional threat level of five stars, due to his capture or injury by certain organizations incurring That Woman wrath and immediate retaliation. (See [READCTED] incident for more details)

We are still unable to find accurate information of his father Hibiki Raiga, That Woman's husband, with the rumors of that man being related to [REDACTED] due to his alleged invulnerability being yet unconfirmed, and Hibiki Raiga sightings are even rarer than his son or That Woman.

Signed, Ye Jin

Ancient Martial Arts Observatory Agent

Ministry of State Security