The Journey is the Destination Chapter 18 By poetheather The Principal is up to his old tricks and what is Ranma going to do in the face of such insanity?

She reached out her hand and knocked on the door.

“Come in kekki!” called out Principal Kuno.

Ranma opened the door and walked into the office. It was all done up in tropical tacky and had several palm trees about the place. The smell of coconut oil was heavy in the air and hula music was playing faintly in the background as if setting the mood. There behind a desk that seemed to be made of bamboo and palm fronds sat the Principal, the small palm tree on his head adding slightly to his height, bobbling slightly with each move of his head. “Yes Principal Kuno? You asked to see me.”

The plan was to continue the use of the plan, by having Ranma try to be polite and respectful to the psycho, regardless of how difficult that would be. Hopefully the abnormality of it all would throw pineapple head enough that this whole situation would diffuse itself. Hopefully.

“My daughter and son be both injured cause of you kekki, I tink you should be suspended fo’ tree days, unless you let me cut your hair.” The grin was filled with the usual level of Kuno madness and some of Ranma’s hopes were dashed.

Ranma blinked at him. He was serious? Why would anyone agree to something so ridiculous? “Uhm… no. I’m sorry Principal Kuno but you can’t cut my hair.”

“Than you be suspended kekki!” The grin of victory grated on Ranma’s nerves and she had to suppress her instinctual need to start pummeling the fool. It would make her feel better but would it actually deal with the issue?

Ranma stood there thinking quickly trying to come up with some better response to this problem. What should she do? Maybe she should just go along with the suspension and let her mother know about it? Normally she would have fought against the Principal, but what if she simply accepted things and left? It would be very different from the way she usually responded to these sorts of things.

“Of course, if you can get dis note from me before the end o’ the day, you will not be suspended fo’ tree days.” The man cackled and dropped down a hole in the floor, probably to his underground jungle.

Ranma stood there, shaking her head in disgust. Even though most of who she was wanted to chase after the fool in order to beat him into submission, leaving was sounding better and better. If she left than she would at least avoid the usual Principal insanity for a few days and it would certainly confuse Pineapple Head. Maybe that would be the best choice? The fact that her father would call avoiding this running from a challenge made up her mind for her.

She pushed the desk down the hole, turned and left the room, telling the Secretary, “I need to get my stuff and head home as I have been placed on suspension. Can I get a pass?”

The woman nodded and prepared the note and the letter to the girl’s parent’s about the three-day suspension the girl was facing. She had expected the redhead to go after the Principal, as that was what Ranma normally did all the time. That Ranma was still here was a bit confusing and the fact that he was a girl wasn’t helping matters.

Ranma took the notes the secretary handed her and headed back to class, humming happily to herself. In a lot of ways, things were looking up. She bowed as she came in to the class and showed the note to the teacher. The teacher looked at the girl, a bit confused and said, “Gather up your things.”

Ranma bowed, headed back to her desk, got her bag, and put her books in there. “Akane, could you make sure that you get all of my homework assignments for me.”

Akane nodded. She could easily take care of that. “What did he want?”

“I’ll tell you when you guys get home. I want to get out of here before Pineapple Head realizes that I am not chasing him.” Ranma smiled and left the classroom, almost skipping from the building.

She enjoyed the walk home, thinking about all of the stuff that had happened recently. So far this plan of hers was working, mostly. Her life had calmed down, Ukyo was her sister, Nabiki was not instigating stuff, and she had gotten better at staying out of the chaos that seemed to follow her as a matter of course. Walking away from the Principal and that challenge had not been easy. She had wanted to get that letter, so she wouldn’t look bad at home and she could stay out of trouble, but this way she avoided all the insanity of running through a fake jungle, having pineapple bombs thrown at her and who knew what else. Anytime she had gone after the Principal it had been almost more trouble than it was worse. The Kuno family was just a few straightjackets shy of a nut house.

Ranma then came to a realization and froze in place, standing in the middle of the road. Since this whole crazy mess had started, this was one of the few times she had ever been alone. There was no one else around her and she was checking, half expecting the old ghoul or Sasuke, the Kuno’s ninja to pop out. Ranma chuckled and spun in a lazy circle, her slight smile turning into a full blown grin.

Why couldn’t her life be relaxed? Her whole life had been nothing but excitement piled on excitement and she was done with that level of insanity. She had killed a fricking God! Well, granted he had only been dead for a little bit as Saffron had just been reborn from another egg, but still she had killed an Immortal being. Her fights had been getting more and more desperate ever since Jusenkyo and she hated that. Her friends and fiancé always seemed to end up in danger and all she could do was fight to save them. She didn’t need that. They didn’t need that.

The Tendo dojo was coming into sight and she sighed, happily. She had a home and a family and life was good. She really was content. Now if she could only keep it that way, things would be perfect. She knew it couldn’t possibly stay that way for long but it was a pleasant thought. Maybe she just might get lucky this time.

She opened the door, came inside, and called out, “Tadaima!”

“Okaeri!” called out both her mother and Kasumi, each from different places in the house. Ranma cocked her head, trying to place her mother, as Kasumi was where she normally was. She shook her head and tried not to worry about it. Ranma took off her shoes and slid on her house slippers. She then headed inside with her letter, somewhat amused by the way things had fallen out that morning. Hopefully her mother would see it that way as well.

Kasumi came out of the kitchen and spotted Ranma heading deeper into the house. “Why are you home early Ranma?”

“I got suspended for hurting both Kodachi and Kuno. Pineapple Head almost made me chase him for a letter excusing me but I just ignored him.” explained Ranma. “It’s a bit unfair but what can you do.”

“Oh my. Well, put your stuff upstairs and I will get you some tea. Your mother is going out to the dojo to practice right now.” Ranma nodded and headed to the room she shared with Akane and changed into much more comfortable clothes, namely the China overalls that she had gotten from Akane. She adjusted her ponytail and smiled at her reflection. It was odd realizing that she was cute. Of course she was still a guy, but that didn’t change the fact that she was cute.

With a toss of her hair, Ranma left the room and leapt over the railing, dropping to the middle of the stairs. Once she made it the rest of the way downstairs, she spotted where Kasumi had left her some tea on the table and Ranma picked it up, heading outside, sipping the warm beverage.

She had never seen her mother practice and it intrigued her. Her mother was really comfortable with the sword and despite her apparent clumsiness the sword never touched the ground regardless of what happened. It was clearly an extension of who she was. Her mother even tripped from her center, as if it were an act of some sort rather than being truly clumsy. While it was true that her father disdained all weapons, but there was no denying that the sword was intriguing her. The Saotome Honor blade was beautiful and it was quite telling to her that only her mother carried it or used it. Naturally, her father only had a vague idea of what true honor was. This was something Ranma wanted to get to know better and she looked forward to having an opportunity to do so.

When she got to the dojo building, her mother was sitting in seiza, with the sword through her obi. She was sitting there calmly, serenely; palms resting on her thighs, looking like a statue. Ranma could tell that her mother had noted her presence, as the woman’s battle awareness was tangible. This was certainly a side of her mother that she had never seen before.

Suddenly, her mother exploded out of that seated position into action, the blade flickering through the air in a speed that was near that of the chestnut fist, first in a cross body cut and then into a series of diagonal cuts and occasional thrusts. Sure, the sheer number of hits were not the same as she could achieve, but the lethality of them more than made up for that. It was stunning and the kata held an intensity she herself had only felt in combat.

The flurry of action slowed. Nodoka swung the blade in an arc and then snapped it down, as if slinging blood from the steel. Then she gracefully sheathed the katana and bowed, the pressure Ranma had felt winking out in an instant. The woman took a few breaths and then turned to face her daughter. The redhead’s eyes and mouth were wide in surprise from what she had seen. “Wow!”

Ranma’s mother smiled at her, clearly pleased that her daughter had witnessed her Art. “Did you like that?”

Ranma just nodded, still too busy soaking in what she had just seen. Words could not describe what she had just witnessed. She was used to martial arts and after having met Kuno had believed she had known about the uses of a katana. She had been very wrong.

“I’m glad. Now, why are you home early young lady?” Her mother grew stern.

Ranma gave a quick recap of the morning’s events, handing over the letter, still a bit amazed by her mother. While her mother was scanning the contents of the letter, Ranma asked nervously, “Mother, can you teach me?”

Nodoka looked up from the letter, most of what it had said forgotten in that instant and stared surprised at her daughter. “Really Ranma? You would like to learn this?”

“Absolutely. That was amazing Mother. Please teach me.”

The smile Ranma got in response dazzled the girl, her mother looking years younger. “It would be my honor Ranma. Your father always disparaged my skills with the blade, saying that a true martial artist needed no such crutch like a weapon.”

“Pops is a baka, through and through. I really want to learn this. Please?” Ranma put on her cutest face, her lots of free ice cream face. She was quite serious about this and had thus pulled out all of the stops. This was something she wanted to learn and would do anything she could to make that happen.

Nodoka looked into her daughter’s face and thought about her child’s male form trying to make the same look work. That got her giggling which made her daughter look crushed, as if she had been denied this. That only made her giggling turn into full blown laughter. She laid a hand on Ranma’s slender shoulder and said, “Of course I will teach you Ranma. This is after all part of your legacy.”

Ranma grinned happily at that and jumped up and down in excitement. It was a girl thing she was starting to make sense out of. “Does this mean I get a sword as well?”

“At first a practice blade, but then we’ll see. You do know that the Saotome Honor blade will be yours, don’t you?” asked Nodoka, wanting to make sure her child understood what was going on with the blade she always carried with her.

Nodoka gathered the answer to her question from the surprised look on Ranma’s face. “Really?”

“Yes. Honestly, it’s like your father had completely forgotten about what his responsibilities were in raising you.” The annoyance was clear in her voice.

Ranma started a little, taken aback by that, “Pops knew about this?”

“Of course he knew. He was the Heir to the Saotome Anything Goes School, I was the head of my family’s school of Iaido and other weapons, and the plan had been to teach you both styles, to give you both weapon and non-weapon training, in order to make a truly complete school. Of course he screwed even that up.” Nodoka hugged her daughter. “Come on, we need to help Kasumi some, and after lunch we will start you with the sword. Sound like a plan?”

Ranma nodded eagerly, grinning in anticipation.