The Gauntlet

Akane sat at the dining room table in her gi, having just finished her breakfast. It was a beautiful morning; the birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the sliding door was open to the yard and the dojo beyond. Her father and Mr. Saotome were sitting on the porch, huddled over the shogi board. Kasumi was shuttling back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen, clearing the dishes from breakfast.She thought about the crazy plan Ranko had suggested. Everything was ready, but now that it was time, she didn't know if she could go through with it. Her idea would send shockwaves through her family, and what happened next, she had no idea. Sure, it could remove a big obstacle for their relationship, but at what cost?Soun emphatically slammed a piece down on the shogi board. "Ha! Got you, Saotome!"His opponent surveyed the board, grumbling and removing his last piece. "Good game, Tendo. Another?"Soun shook his head. "No, I have some city council business to handle. And weren't you going to patch the dojo roof today?"Genma glowered. He hated doing chores like this. "I suppose I can take a look at it." He stood, stretching, and his back popped a few times. "I'm too old to be doing stuff like this! This is why we had kids, eh, Tendo? Then again, my useless lump of a son isn't much help, abandoning his family like he did."Akane gritted her teeth, trying to calm herself. The closer she and Ranko became, the harder it was to even look at her girlfriend's father, let alone listen to him constantly put her down.Soun sighed. "Saotome, I'm sure Ranma is doing what he thinks is best. After all, he's eighteen. He is practically a man now."Akane chuckled grimly. If you only knew, Dad, she mused.Genma laughed darkly. "Please. At the first sign of trouble, he ran away. That's not a man. That's the act of a coward."That was too much. After everything Ranko had fought through, Akane would not let it stand. Akane stood, slamming her hands down on the table. "You stop talking about her that way! You stop it right now, Mr. Saotome!" She regretted using the feminine pronoun; she worried that doing so would tip them off to even the tiniest part of Ranko's new life, but she had been too angry to measure her words.Genma turned to look at her. "Akane, you should be the angriest of all. He abandoned you, too. He had a responsibility to you and to your father, and he ran. Clearly, his engagement to you didn't matter to him at all. He threw you away."Akane growled at him, gripping the table. She wasn't sure if she was holding it to steady herself, or to prepare to use it as a weapon. "You don't even know if Ranma is alive or dead, and you talk about him like he's dirt! How dare you?!"Genma shook his head. "Oh, he's not dead. I'm sure he's out in the woods somewhere, probably lost. Maybe he ran to his mother, like all weaklings do. Truly, I'm surprised he hasn't come crawling back in disgrace already. I'm sure it'll be any day now."Akane's hand made its way up the seam of her gi top, her anger rising. If she went through with this, there was no turning back, but maybe Ranko was right - maybe it was the only way. And Ranko's jerk of a father really had it coming.Genma turned to the open door, looking up at the sky. "I truly am ashamed to call that honorless whelp my son."Akane quaked in rage. "That's it! I've had enough of this!" She reached into the pocket inside her gi top, pulling out a tri-folded piece of paper lined with immaculately-inked formal kanji characters and slamming it on the table in front of him hard enough to rattle the empty teapot and cups off of the table. Here we go, Ranko. Hope you know what you're doing, she thought to herself.Genma turned and laughed. "Oh? And what's th…" He fell silent.Soun walked over and looked down at the paper curiously, and recoiled in horror. "No, Akane, you can't!"The black-haired girl growled through gritted teeth. "I can, and I will."She turned to the balding, bespectacled man, her eyes flashing with fury. She spoke with a simmering rage – not loudly, but every word was sharpened into a razor's edge. She wanted this to hurt. For Ranko's sake."I, Akane Tendo, challenge the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts for your dojo!"