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Chapter 3: Nodoka’s Lessons
"Son?"
Ranma looked up nervously as his mother advanced towards him from the shadows of their house.
"H-hai, Okaa-san?"
"Will you come with me?"
"Um, hai, Okaa-san." Ranma’s reply was tinged more curiosity then anything else, but he still wondered if she was still upset about the incident that morning.
**********
Nodoka led her son deep into the nadir of the residence. Down a flight of stairs to the cellar. Back past the shelves of stored goods. Through a door locked with a key hung around Nodoka’s neck and hidden behind a stack of false boxes that moved aside with a simple push. Ranma was becoming steadily more nervous as they descended further into the bowels of the ancient building. Down yet another flight of stairs to an extensive cavern system.
Nodoka paused for a second to allow her son time to adjust to the new environment before forging on. Ranma just gaped at the natural pillars and flows that lay before him.
Finally, after several minutes, he noticed that Nodoka was leaving him behind and ran to catch up.
"Where are we going, Okaa-san?" He asked, falling back into a slightly more regular stride after catching up with her.
"Have patience, my son. You will know our destination soon."
**********
Ultimately, the pair did arrive at their destination. A heavy oaken door filled the portal before them, blocking them from further passage. A great number of carvings decorated the door. Dancing sprites to fanciful birds of fire gamboled about the ancient door. Personally, Ranma thought that the birds were supposed to be representations of Phoenix, but his recent experience at Phoenix Mountain rather quickly disabused him of that idea. Nodoka stood before the door and looked at him expectantly. Ranma alternated between staring at her and at the door.
That was the tableau that the pair presented for no short period of time. Presently, however, Ranma got impatient.
"Well?!"
"Well what, my son?"
"Well are you gonna open that door or something?"
"No."
"Why not?!"
"That is your duty, my son."
"Why?!"
"Marcus Aurelius Antonius, Emperor of Rome, stated once in his Mediations that ‘A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions’. What is your worth, my son? Do you not aspire to enter this portal?"
"Huh?"
"Do you wish to go in, or not?" Nodoka sighed.
"Why didn’t you say so?! Yes I wanna go in!" Ranma was getting frustrated, so he marched up to the door and stared at it.
"There’s no handle."
"I never said there would be one."
"Then how am I supposed to open it?!"
"To quote Colonel General Heinz Guderian, ‘When the situation is obscure, attack.’"
"Uh.."
"You are a martial artist, are you not?"
"Of course I am! I’m the best there is!"
"When you are faced with a brick wall and you must get to the other side, how do you do that?"
"I either jump over it, go around it, or go through it!"
"Apply that situation here."
Ranma turned back to the door and began staring at it again. Finally he spoke, more of a mumble really, but words nonetheless. "Well, it’s stuck in the wall so I can’t go over it. There’s no way around I can see that doesn’t involved breaking walls. Well, I guess I should just go through it then."
Taking a step back and preparing himself, Ranma took a deep breath, exhaled, then charged straight at the door in a rush that would make any linebacker’s coach proud. He rammed shoulder-first into the door.
There wasn’t any explosion, or crashing sounds of destruction. In fact, what occurred was the almost total absence of sound. The door vanished as soon as Ranma’s shoulder touched it and, as he was expecting resistance, his momentum carried him on through the now open portal. He crashed headlong into a long table, slid full-length down its polished surface, and landed head-first and upside-down in the large throne-like chair at the other end.
Nodoka walked in moments later shaking her head ruefully.
"It was not necessary to charge the door, Ranma. A simple touch would do."
Ranma groaned from his awkward position, but didn’t make much of an attempt to extract himself. "Why couldn’t you just tell me that?"
"I actually expected you to attempt to strike the door with your fist, not ram through it."
Finally, Ranma’s hands reached up and grasped the arms of the chair. He lifted himself up in a rather beautiful arm-lift into a perfect handstand, used his arms to propel himself into the air, flipped over the back of the chair, allowing his hands to push off the tall back, and landed neatly on the ground behind it.
"Since you seem to like quotes so much, I’ll use one a pop’s favorites. ‘One must crate an ear-resistible batterin’ ram.’"
"That’s ‘One must create an irresistible battering ram’, my son. It is a quote from Mikhail N. Tukhachevskiy’s Deep Battle."
"Hey, how come ya know so much, huh?"
"I read." Nodoka replied, gesturing at the many books and scrolls around her, as it appeared that they were in a rather nice looking library, "I paid attention in school, which is something that I understand that you are lacking in. I fully intend on correcting that rather misfortunate fault in you, my son."
"Fault?!"
"It is the cause of your father, my son. I am certain that you knew not of it."
Ranma quickly interested himself in the many books around them in order to hide his rather relieved exhaust.
"Who wrote all these books, Okaa-san?" Ranma asked, pulling down a rather heavy one with some kind of weapon engraved on the leather spine.
"Many, many people. Some of them were great warriors. That book in your hand there is The Encyclopedia of Amazons written by an American by the name of Jessica Amanda Salmonson."
"Amazons? Ya think it talks about Shampoo or Cologne in here?" Ranma asked, flipping through the pages.
"I rather doubt it. That book is like a who’s who of famous women warriors since the dawn of time. Enju and Itagaki are in there. As is Hida, Ike Gozen, Jingo Kogo, and Kane-jo or Okane as she was sometimes known."
"Okane, huh? Kinda like Akane. What’d she do?"
"Okane was a peasant from the Omi province. She was renown as a strong woman. It is said that one day, while carrying her laundry, she saw that a mighty stallion had gone wild. No one could capture it without becoming harmed. Okane, while still carrying her laundry, merely stepped upon its trailing reins as it ran past her. The stallion screamed and tried to kick her, but it couldn’t move as she held it still."
Ranma just kind of stared dumbfounded.
End Part Two
Author’s Notes: I thought I’d throw in some things here. One, there was orginally more planned for chapter 3, but I decided at the last minute to end it like I did. And if you’re wondering, yes, the quotes are really from who I claim there from. And yes, the Encyclopedia of Amazons really does exist. Also if you’re wondering, those names are from real (mostly at least) people. Enju was a swordswoman-avenger, daughter of Numada Shoji. She was fictionalized in the kabuki play Ume no Hana Aioi Hachinoki of the mid-1700s. Itagaki was said to have led a charge of 3000 warriors of the Taira clan against 10000 Heike in 1199 A.D. "She rode her warhorse expertly, guiding it skillfully with her knees, and at the same time wielding her razor-sharp naginata with amazing speed." She had resolved to die boldly and was respected even by her enemies for her courageous action and skill. Hida was a woman samurai best remembered for saving the Minamoto banner in the thick of battle, as recorded in Heike Monogatori. Ike Gozen was a 12th century martial nun of Japan, of the Zen sect that appealed to many samurai, and a Fujiwara clanswoman. She was skilled with naginata and saved Yoritomo’s life on a battlefield early in his career. And finally, Jingo Kogo was a martial empress of Japan, skilled with sword, bow, and naginata. She conquered Korea in 201 A.D.. She is also called Okinaga Tarashi. She brought back many things from her journeys, including Japan’s first written language. She is considered the Mother of War.
Yes, the story of Okane is as I wrote it. Yes, it’s real. And I thought it was neat, so I threw it in. Okane, the strong woman, managing to conquer the Wild Stallion whom no one else could win. It was a nifty parallel I thought.