The Journey is the Destination Chapter 23 By poetheather Now the training begins and Ukyo and Akane get a taste of the kind of training Ranma did while growing up.

With a touch of a finger in a specific spot, the boulder exploded, showering the area with rock and dust. Once the area cleared of falling pieces and the dust had been whisked away by the wind, Ranma smiled at the small group. “Breaking Point. It is far more useful for destroying objects and cannot really be used on a person. This is a great skill to help you get through walls and the like or to destroy things thrown at you. The secret of this training though is that it will toughen you up, by repeatedly hitting you with boulders and then the exploding rock, until you get it.”

“Okay, we know this already Ranma. Ryoga uses this technique all the time.” grumbled Akane, still unhappy for the earlier than usual start. The Sun hadn’t even been up when Ranma woke everybody up and began getting ready for the day. They had stretched until breakfast was ready and as they ate their food and drank their tea, the Sun came up. This did not make her happy.

“Akane… learning this technique is your task, because you are still working on your skills, you are the most vulnerable of us. This will help you take more damage and be able to last longer in a fight, giving you more opportunities to hit your target. Once I get Ukyo started on what I have planned for her, I will come back and we’ll start.”

Akane yawned as she nodded. It did make sense, much as it galled her that almost everyone seemed t be a better martial artist than her.

Ukyo looked a little worried when she realized that she probably had something equally insane waiting for her. Being hit repeatedly with boulders didn’t sound like fun to her and she just knew something equally evil was in the works. She did not have to wait long. Ranma took her into a different part of the forest, farther away than Akane was. “Okay Ucchan, you are going to have fun today. Today we are going to be working on your speed. Konatsu, I need to find beehives and whack them. Ukyo, you need to swat the bees that are going to swarm you before they sting you. I figure Konatsu can hide from them and be alright. Just keep doing this until you get faster or it gets to be lunchtime.”

Ukyo groaned and nodded. This made her yearn to be hit by boulders. “Is this how you trained for speed?”

Ranma nodded, smiling evilly at her. “Yep, and once you are faster we’ll work on the chestnut fist. No weapons allowed though. That would be too easy.”

The redhead wandered back to Akane whistling happily. This training would allow her to get even with Akane for all those mallet hits over the years and would still be training and even for Akane’s benefit. In addition, Ukyo would get paid back as well for her part in screwing with Ranma’s life. She did not want them seriously hurt, but the pain they were going to go through should balance out the pain they caused her. This would help them both become better martial artists and manage to balance out their debt of pain caused. This was going to be so much fun!

* * * * *

Ukyo and Akane lowered themselves into the water of the hot spring, groaning appreciatively at the heat that was soaking into their sore and bruised bodies. The wounds of their morning activities were still on their bodies, as Akane had various small scratches from the impacts that had bled for a while and Ukyo still had a few places on her face and arms that were still swollen from where she had gotten stung. They had each helped the other wash before getting into the hot spring, as neither of them could move well and certainly not well enough to get their backs. Konatsu had hovered worriedly, wanting to help his beloved Ukyo but Ranma called him back to the campsite to work on dinner.

“’kane?” The Chef’s voice was tired and slow, her eyes closed, focusing on the warmth.

“Yes Ukyo?” asked Akane right back, her head resting on the edge of the hot spring, her eyes also closed.

“I am sorry for all the fights we had.” apologized Ukyo softly.

“Same here. I was getting tired of them and at least you weren’t like Shampoo and completely psychotic.” stated Akane, sitting more upright to better face the chef.

“Well, I knew Ranchan didn’t need any more of that kind of grief. I just wanted him and that was it. Hating you was never really a part of that. I just wanted what you had. I wasn’t even able to manage that.” Ukyo was looking down at the water when she said that, her shoulders slumped forward in defeat.

Akane moved across the spring and hugged the chef and one time rival. “Try to think of it this way Ukyo… you got the Saotome name before I ever did. You are a Saotome first.”

Ukyo looked up at the short haired girl in surprise, a that thought hadn’t really registered completely and she began laughing. Akane joined in and their laughter filled the area. Konatsu down by the fire helping Ranma with whatever needed to be done for the meal was smiling, commenting, “It is nice to hear Miss Ukyo laugh.”

“Yeah. She has a good laugh and it is nice to know that the two of them are becoming friends.” commented Ranma and she stirred the stew she had been cooking that was filled with chicken, vegetables and wild mushrooms. It was a fairly basic meal, that had lots of good stuff for the body and would help the two girls in keeping their strength up.

Konatsu was watching the rice cooking in another pot as well as getting the tea ready, two tasks that he could manage without destroying anything. “Do you really think this training is necessary?”

Ranma nodded, looking a bit sad. “Yeah, I do. Cologne is pretty smart and probably figured out my plan really quickly. I figure I am looking at having to fight Shampoo over the Kiss of Death or something else. The old ghoul knows how I feel about my friends and I’m fairly sure that she won’t hesitate to use hostages if it is to her advantage. I don’t want Ukyo or Akane to get hurt, so I want them as prepared as I can get them.”

Konatsu nodded in agreement. “Well, the training will help then.”

Ranma chuckled. “It’s not like it can really hurt them.”

Konatsu nodded. Ranma looked things over and then told the ninja, “Go get the girls. Food is almost ready and I am sure they will appreciate it.”

The kunoichi leapt to his feet and sped off, reaching the girls in a moment. He got next to the pool and said, “Dinner is ready.”

The two girls nodded and stood, groaning in pain. Despite the heat, there were still a number of muscles protesting. Konatsu helped them out of the water and handed them their towels, trying not to look too much. The two girls just wrapped them around themselves and walked barefoot back to camp, almost stumbling due to their lack of energy. They all but collapsed on the blanket, leaning against each other to stay upright. As they began to close their eyes, Ranma chided them, “You both need to eat something before you sleep or you will regret it. Your body needs the fuel. Besides, if you make it through the meal awake I think you will have earned a massage.”

This perked up the two girls. Akane asked hopefully in a little girl voice, “Massage?”

Ranma nodded at the two of them, grinning happily. “Yep. Now, eat up. You want to have enough food to have the energy to make it through training, right?”

The girls nodded and began to eat, slowly and carefully, clearly not wanting to strain over strained muscles. Akane had some trouble gripping her chopsticks and instead was using a spoon to eat, as eating stew with your hands is not a good option. Ranma almost felt sorry for them, but the beginning was the hardest part of any training and things would get better the more they got used to this, just as they were going to get better at the particular tasks. At least she wasn’t going to use any of her dad’s really stupid training ideas, these were all the ones she kind of agreed with and saw the point of. If only she could find some really good sized bee hives for the training. The ones that were used today were kind of on the small side and so didn’t have a really large number of bees to come after Ukyo. And if they could find some wasps, that would be good as well as if you didn’t swat them they would keep stinging you.

She pondered working on tree running, but was not sure it would be a needed skill in what was coming. Akane was basically ready for roof hopping, as she had the strength and focus for it, if she could just better control her ki. However, would they need to roof hop for this fight? Ranma bit her lip in thought. It might possibly be needed. Ranma would save that training for the end, as he didn’t think that it would be a major stumbling block for Akane.

Once the girls finished eating, Ranma smiled at them and asked, “Ready for your massage?”

Both girls nodded their heads eagerly.

Ranma and Konatsu stood and helped the two sore girls to their feet. As they had discussed over the dinner preparations, the two not sore ones helped the other dress for bed and then began the massage. Konatsu was using more of a shiatsu technique on Ukyo, hitting specific points to get her muscles to relax. Once they relaxed, he began to use his strong hands to knead the chef’s muscles into a jello like state that made the chef blissful. Ukyo simply moaned happily, peaceful under the male kunoichi’s hands. She really needed him to do this more often.

Ranma, in the other tent, had used her ki to warm her hands and pushed healing energy into Akane. She knew that she was not all that skilled at this particular trick but was sure every little bit would help the girl she loved. Akane moaned happily, “Oh Ranma… your hands are so warm.”

“Just relax now Akane. I’ll make sure your body is taken care of.” She started on the back with some long slow strokes, making sure to get the major muscles to soften and release some of the trapped tension. Then she moved and worked from Akane’s feet up to her lower back, making sure all places felt her warm touch, kneading certain areas with pleasure and trepidation. Ranma then worked the back again, focusing on the muscles of the lower back and the shoulders, knowing that a lot of the tension was stored there.

There were more soft moans of pleasure when Ranma began to work on Akane’s hands, working out the smaller muscles that had taken a great deal of damage today. She lifted each hand after she was done and planted a soft kiss on the palm of each. A happy sound was the response. The arms followed and then Ranma said softly, “Akane, you need to roll over.”

After a moment, the tomboy rolled over, her eyelids fluttering as if trying to open, her body almost boneless. It was clear she was thoroughly relaxed by the massage to this point. Ranma worked the feet again and then the front of the legs. She could feel the knobby bone calluses on Akane’s shins, from blocking kicks and kicking other things. It was like a ridge line of mountaintops under her hand. Her hands pressed gently on the girl’s abdomen, her hands moving in a clockwise pattern, trying softly to work out some of that tightness.

When she began working on the upper chest and digging into the tender muscles under the breasts, Ranma was completely nervous and half expecting a beating. She just wanted to give the most through massage she knew how to and that included working this area. Akane’s response surprised her and almost made her stop in surprise. The tomboy, instead of malleting, softly murmured, “Hurts…”

Once Ranma finished that area, she moved to the girl’s neck and began to work that tension out. There was a lot, as the anger Akane had often had had tightened those muscles considerably until they stood out like tight cords. The redhead pressed on several muscular knots in an effort to loosen them and then directed a lot of energy to getting things there relaxed. Akane moaned appreciatively as his fingers kneaded the muscles.

Taking a bit of a chance, Ranma then began to massage Akane’s face, working out the tension held in the various smaller muscles. The girl was enraptured by her beloved’s face, thinking about how beautiful her tomboy was and how much Ranma loved her. She bent her head down and whispered, “I love you.”

She kissed Akane gently on the lips.

Akane’s response was to snore in her face.