CH3, Demon and devils, O my.
Vacation was over, and like fish returning to
their birthplace, students from all over Japan were converging on
their schools. Traveling down the alleys and lanes, converging on the
main streets, and forming a solid mass, as different in reaction and
behavior as they were similar in appearance. From above a witness
would have seen many different reactions to the prospect of the first
day of school. From the students who were eager to renew old
acquaintances, to the students who had 'heard' about their new
teacher, and were not looking forward at all to making their
acquaintance.
But even in this mass of humanity moving at
different speeds and with varying degrees of enthusiasm, the casual
onlooker would have found their eyes being drawn to one particular
pair of young people.
It was not that the boy was unusual, he was
very not unusual, and in any other company, would have passed without
a moments notice being taken, but his companion, now she drew the
eye. It was not just her clothing, though that was certainly enough
to attract attention. The black pants and red shirt were most unusual
attire for a young girl, and despite the looseness of her shirt, it
was not difficult to tell through the thin material that she wore
nothing under it. Many a boy on their way to school, walked into a
lamp post, or if they were unlucky a fire hydrant, upon noticing the
girl, and taking the time to give her an appreciative glance.
But even that was not the first thing that
drew the eye. Was it her hair, a brilliant red, done up in a heavy
braid that fell down the small of her back and reached nearly to her
waist. That braid danced and swayed as the girl capered with all the
appearance of great joy. But even that, despite its rich and unusual
color was not what first drew the eye to the girl. What in the end
caused every eye to look their way was that the girl was doing her
capering on the top of a narrow fence nearly seven feet in
height.
Tenchi looked up at the small girl dancing
along the top of the fence, and could not help but smile. Ranma
seemed to radiate joy, and just being in her presence drove some of
the dark shadows that had recently been haunting him away. He turned
his gaze away from her, and said in a half joking tone.
"I don't know what you're so happy about.
Missing school is no big deal to you. From what you told me, you've
missed more than you've attended. Aren't you afraid you'll grow up
ignorant and poor?"
"Don't got to worry about that. I'm going to
marry a sucker, and he'll support me in comfort. Ain't that right
sucker? Tenchi just snorted.
"Besides, It ain't missing school that's got
me so happy, that's just icing. It's what your old man did to pop
yesterday." Ranma exuberantly leaped high into the air, and managed
two and half somersaults before landing, one handed, back on the
fence. With a little shove she flipped back to her feet. "Yep, your
pop got the old man real good."
Tenchi's mind wondered back to the day
before. His father had just returned from work, and over supper, had
brought up the subject of school.
"Nani? You mean Ranma does not have a single
school uniform. That's no good, she won't be able to attend till she
gets at least one."
Genma looked a little embarrassed. "Well,
Masaki, you know how it is. We've been on the road for the last ten
years, spare money is hard to come by, all we had went to keeping us
fed, and to pay for transportation. I don't suppose you could lend us
a hand until I get my feet under me."
"I can do better then that," Nobuyuki
enthused. "I checked the notice board at work, and there's a vacancy
in the janitorial staff. I put in a good word for you, and if you go
in with me tomorrow, I can practically guarantee you'll get it."
Genma felt a little panicked at the sudden,
and unexpected, prospect of working, but he had long ago learned to
keep such things from showing on his face. "That's sounds wonderful
Masaki," he said, but then he let his face fall in seeming
disappointment, lifting a finger he shoved his glasses up the bridge
of his nose, and said in a serious voice. "But alas, I can't afford
to be away from my daughter at this time. This is a very unsettling
point in her life, and I have to be there for her. The job plus the
commute would mean she would be alone from the time she got up, till
the very late at night. You understand don't you?"
Nobuyuki's face went stiff, and he turned
himself away from the table, and away from Genma. Crossing his arms
over his chest, he snorted in derision. "Don't lie to me Genma. I
know exactly why you don't want to take this job."
"Cause he's allergic to work." Ranma
whispered to Tenchi as she raised a glass of water to her mouth.
"It's because you don't trust my Tenchi with
your daughter's virtue."
Ranma sprayed water all over the table, and
her father, who had facefaulted across the top of it.
Tenchi was big sweating, this was only the
second time he had witnessed Genma's transformation, and it was going
to take awhile to get use to seeing an enormous black panda popping
up out of nowhere. Then Ranma's distress became apparent, and he
swatted the choking girl on the back in an effort to get her
breathing going again. His father ignored them and kept on talking to
Genma.
"If you can't trust my only son, my heir, my
reason for life, the last reminder I have of his dear sweet mother.
Well, if you can't trust him, I don't know how I can continue to
support this marriage." Both Tenchi and Ranma, who had finally
recovered her breath, perked up at this.
Genma big sweated, then after a minute he
wrote,
"My friend. How could I have ever doubted
you?" Nobuyuki cried, spinning around and jumping to his feet, he
embraced Genma, then looking over the shoulder of the seated panda,
he winked at Ranma and Tenchi, who's faces had dropped into
expressions that seemed to say, 'I knew it was to good to be true.'
Later on Ranma had realized just what Nobuyuki had maneuvered her
father into, and had been laughing ever since.
"Man, I never thought I see the day that
someone put something over on the old man like that. Serves the old
fart right. I hope he enjoys his days mopping floors and scrubbing
toilets."
Tenchi big sweated, and wondered what Ranma
would be saying if she had witnessed Nobuyuki's meeting with Tenchi
after supper.
After taking a little while to think about
the conversation at dinner, Tenchi had come to realize just how much
his father had praised him. He had been filled with happiness and
pride. It was doomed to be short lived however. Tenchi had been on
his way upstairs to get his books ready for school the next day, when
he had met his father in the hallway. Looking both ways to make sure
he was not observed, Nobuyuki had sidled over to Tenchi and given him
a small box.
"I've done my part son, now make your father
proud. Just be careful." Nobuyuki had wiped a tear from his eye,
turned, and marched away. Tenchi had looked after him in puzzlement.
Then he had looked at the small box in his hand, and seen it was a
box of condoms. His chin had sunk to his chest, and he had moaned,
"He never changes."
Tenchi decided it would more then likely be a
good idea not to mention that box to Ranma. Instead he asked, "So,
what do you plan on doing today?"
"Don't know, just bum around, get to know the
area, find out where the soft touches are, that sort of thing. You
want I should meet you after school?"
"That's fine, I need to pick up some food.
Knowing dad, the only thing in the house is likely old take out."
Ranma snorted, "Not likely, not with pop
there. There is no such thing as leftovers when he's around."
Tenchi wisely kept his mouth shut, not
knowing the meaning of the word leftover must run in the family, if
the way Ranma had eaten last night was any indication. Just as
Tenchi's train of thought reached that station, the school gates came
into sight. "Well, here we are. Enjoy your day."
"Thanks, I will." Ranma said with grin, and
with a final wave of her hand, jumped from the top of the fence, to
the roof of the building across the street, and from there, out of
sight. Tenchi sighed, and for a moment wished he could follow her, in
more ways then one, but then responsibility reared it's ugly head,
and head down, he trudged through the gate, and into the school.
"Gee, thanks mister, you sure are sweet."
The boy behind the bakery counter smiled at
the bubbly little red head, and wished his shift was over. "It's
nothing," he said. "How could I let a cute girl like you waste away
from hunger?" Then looking around to see where his boss was, he
leaned over the counter, and said. "If you come back at nine, I'll
take you out for a real meal. My parents are away, and I happen to
know they have a pair of steaks stashed away in the freezer."
"Oooo, that's sounds great." The kawaii girl
said, but then her face fell, "but my fiancee can't make it tonight,
could we do it some other night?"
The counter boy face faulted. "Aa, no, I
don't think so, my parents will be back tomorrow."
"O, too bad, maybe some other time. Bye."
Ranma walked down the street stuffing her
face with the contents of various boxes. Buns, cookies, meat
pastries, all disappeared down her throat. For awhile she had been
afraid that her new neighborhood was going to be a bust in the food
scamming area. It seemed as if every booth was maned by sour old
farts that never smiled, let alone gave away food to cute little
girls. Then a couple of hours ago, most every booth had suddenly been
maned by young boys, and ever since Ranma had been making out like a
bandit. She had made out so well as a matter of fact, that she was
almost full, almost. Suddenly an altercation drew her attention.
One of the old skinflints that had shooed her
away earlier was yelling at a boy dressed in a yellow shirt with
green pants tied tightly to his legs from the knees down. He had a
shaggy mop of black hair that was barely controlled by a yellow and
black head band. There was something about him that seemed familiar,
and Ranma moved closer in an effort to hear what the fight was
about.
"You little punk. You think it's funny
playing stupid jokes on busy men? You ask where Nerima is and I tell
you go south. What do you do? You go west. Then you have the nerve to
show back up here fifteen minutes later and ask me the very same
question. Well boy, why don't I just call an officer? I'm sure he'd
love to help you go where you need to go. RIGHT TO THE HOOSGOW!!"
"Nani?" The black haired boy exclaimed,
backing away from the furious old man. "But I didn't do anything. All
I did was ask for directions." He looked like he wanted to curl up
and die. His face was blazing red, and he kept darting looks at all
the people the old mans yelling was attracting.
"Asking for direction? Playing jokes on an
old man why don't you say? Well I can play jokes too boy. Like the
one where I tell the officer I caught you stealing food from my
booth."
"O dry up you old fart!" Ranma said. Both the
old man and the shaggy haired boy turned in surprise to look at the
source of the interruption. The old man with anger, the boy with
gratitude. "You go ahead call the cops and tell a lie like that, and
I'll tell them how you copped a feel while I was in here earlier."
While the old man turned red and began to sputter incoherently, Ranma
grabbed the hand of the black haired boy and dragged him away.
Several minutes later they arrived at the
train station. "There you go, you just buy a ticket, and you'll be in
Nerima in no time."
The black haired boy had been silent the
whole trip to the train station, now he tried to thank Ranma for
saving him. Tried, but without much success, he was mostly
incoherent, and did not seem able to look Ranma in the eye. Ranma was
pleased however to note, that it was not because he was too busy
looking at another portion of her anatomy.
In the last three months she had come to
recognize the several types of boys in her age bracket. By far the
most common, because they went out of their way to meet her, were the
brash type who hit on every cute girl they saw. Ranma enjoyed
manipulating them, and had ended up with many a free meal as a
result. They always had to push it however, and Ranma almost always
ended up breaking something fragile, which seriously compromised the
prospects for more free food.
Far rarer, because they never approached her,
was the terminally shy types. Ranma was only aware of them because of
the way they tended to peep at her from around corners and behind
bushes. They could be distinguished from the common garden variety
peeping tom by the fact that their faces were generally a bright
crimson. Ranma was very found of them. They tended to leave boxes of
chocolates and flowers where she would be sure to find them. The
flowers she trashed, but the chocolates disappeared rapidly down a
completely different disposal system. The best thing about these boys
was that they never got up the nerve to try anything, and as such
remained a constant source of candy for as long as Ranma was in their
area and gave them the slightest bit of encouragement.
This was obviously a prime example of the
species. Ranma looked away from him, taking in the sights around her,
waiting for him to get himself together enough to say thank you, and
maybe slip her a little something for her trouble. There was an ice
cream vendor at the train station, and a cone would hit the spot
right about now. To bad he was leaving on the train, he looked like
he might have been good for all sorts of no strings attached gifts.
Then her eyes fell on the station clock, and she suddenly realized
why the food booths had suddenly been filled with young guys. It was
six o'clock, school had been out for two hours.
"Sorry, got to go!" she shouted at the black
haired boy, already several feet away and accelerating. Her sudden
hasty retreat jarred the boy enough that he managed to get out.
"Wait, at least tell me your name."
"Ranma, Ranma Saotome," she called over her
shoulder, just before vanishing around the left hand corner.
"Ranma, what a sweet name." The rather
bemused boy said, then his eyes flew open and he shouted in shock.
"Ranma Saotome!?" He took several steps after the departed girl, but
then rationality reared it's head. "Hold it," he said to himself,
"Ranma's a boy, and that was a girl. The only way that could be Ranma
would be if . . . he . . . had . . ." Suddenly the boy's eyes widened
again, "Jusenkyo" he whispered to himself. Then he screamed, "Curse
you Ranma, how dare you play with me like that! I will have my
revenge!"
He rushed off intent on catching the fleeing
girl before she got to far. Reaching the corner he turned right, and
kept going . . . . . and going . . . . . . . . and going.
A few hours later filming on a climatic scene
in the galaxies most popular soap opera was interrupted as a strange
biped ran across the set, destroying the main support column as he
did so.
"I don't believe it, that's the third time
this month!!" The producer, and main sponsor, screamed as he oozed
out of the wreckage. "Get me the galaxy police, I want that barbarian
caught."
Ranma heaved a sigh of relief when she saw
that Tenchi was not waiting at the gate. Tenchi was a nice guy, but
he was a little bit of a pushover. She'd been afraid he'd have spent
the last two hours waiting for her. Hopefully he'd seen she was not
coming after a short time and was at home now. She started in that
direction, and the roof of the school exploded. She whipped around
and stared at the smoking building in surprise, and then she saw two
figures moving in an unmistakable pattern on the roof. A grin crossed
her face and she began to race across the yard towards the school. O
boy, o boy, she thought to herself, just what I need to make this a
perfect day, a fight.
Up on the roof of the school, Tenchi was
running for his life. The demon from the cave had followed him, and
now in the guise of a cute girl named Ryouko, was intent on revenging
herself on Tenchi for the crimes of his ancestor Yosho. He dodged
left, just in time to avoid being fried by a bolt of energy that blew
a large hole in the roof. Suddenly the steady stream of force bolts
stopped, and Tenchi ducked behind a roof vent to catch his breath,
then remembering the way the demon had cut one of the other vents in
half, he rolled out from behind it, looking frantically for the
demons present location. What he saw caused him to freeze in
shock.
A small girl with waist length red hair done
up in a single braid was facing off against the demon.
"Ranma, get out of there!" Tenchi yelled.
"It's the demon from the cave."
"This is the dried up old mummy you told me
about?" Ranma asked in surprise.
Tenchi big sweated at the look Ryouko shot
his way. "Dried Up _ Old Mummy!" she hissed from between
clenched teeth. A ball of energy formed in her hand, and then when
she closed her hand tightly, it extended into a glowing sword. Once
she reached that point however, Ryouko did not seem to know which
person to attack. Then Ranma took the decision away from her.
"Demon? Then I guess I don't got to worry
about hurting you." Ranma said. Ryouko looked surprised, then
gestured for Ranma to give it her best shot, smiling a fang filled
grin as she did so. The smile disappeared quickly however when she
only just managed to fade out of the path of Ranma's kick. Ranma
cursed, and just barely managed to duck under the glowing bar of
Ryouko's energy sword as she materialized behind Ranma. Tenchi
watched in amazement as Ranma and Ryouko proceeded to put on a
dazzling display of agility and speed.
The demon would throw a force bolt, and Ranma
would be long gone by the time it got to where she had been. Ranma
would throw a kick or punch and Ryouko would fly above her attack, or
fade from sight and reappear close behind Ranma. Ranma soon learned
to move quickly when the demon faded, and was generally no where near
the place that Ryouko appeared, but she kept up the tactic, trying to
guess where Ranma was going to be when she reappeared.
Ranma stood panting, looking at the figure of
the demon who was leaning against the side of the stairwell, smirking
at her. She was not even breathing hard. Ranma on the other hand had
to use all her will power to keep her legs from trembling, she was
down to her last chance, she had strength enough for one more try,
and then she was done for, which meant she had better make it count.
Damn her, she thought, how the hell does she do that disappearing
trick? Is it an illusion? Does she have some way to make herself
invisible? Maybe she's moving so fast I can't see her do it. Naa,
that can't be it, if she were that fast the fight would already be
over. Ranma started to replay the fight in her mind, trying to find a
solution to the current deadlock..
One of the prime tenets of the Anything goes
school of Martial Arts, was observation. Ranma could recount move for
move, second by second, a fight she had been in weeks before, now she
applied that ability to her current fight, replaying every move the
demon had made, looking for a weak spot. Then her eyes widened, and
she called up every instance where the demon had pulled the vanishing
trick.
She's not moving her body when she shifts
between locations Ranma thought to herself. What ever position her
body is in when she vanishes, she's in the same position when she
reappears. Right down to the most miniscule tensing of muscles. That
eliminated the possibility that she was moving in such a way as to
render herself invisible. Now the big question was, could she see
what was going on when she was traveling from place to place. Ranma
was pretty sure she could not, but there was only one way to find out
for sure.
"All right demon, this is where it ends."
"All rested?" Ryouko said, giving a yawn
before moving away from the stairwell, and towards Ranma. "Good. I
was getting bored. Let's finish this so I can go back to playing with
Tenchi."
"O, I'll finish it alright, but the only ones
you'll be playing with are your fellow demons in hell." Ranma said as
she started her rush. As had already happened many times before,
Ryouko vanished just before Ranma's blow could fall.
As soon a she faded Ranma began her windup.
Spinning in place, she used every muscle in her body, and the last
dregs of energy in them, to accelerate her foot to where she
estimated the demon's head would be when she reappeared. It was a
show boat move, something Ranma would never use in a fight, it was
impossible to do it without telegraphing your intent well before it
could land. If the demon could see in her invisible state, then Ranma
was toast, if not, well, she was in for a very rude awakening.
The demon appeared, bare inches away from
where Ranma had estimated, easily close enough to correct her foots
trajectory. With a sound audible for several hundred feet Ranma's
shoeless foot crashed into the demons chin, causing her head to whip
to the side and forcing her to take a step backward in order to stay
on her feet.
Ranma let out an yell of accomplishment as
she let the follow through from her kick carry her around in a circle
until she was again facing the demon. Her victory cry died in her
throat, and her eyes bugged out as she saw the demon straightening
up, to all appearances non the worse for having been hit by the most
powerful blow Ranma had ever thrown.
Lifting a hand to her chin, the demon wiggled
it back and forth slightly, then using her thumb, she wiped the
corner of her mouth. Holding her thumb in front of her face she
looked at the tiny smear of blood on it. Then she grinned broadly at
Ranma. "Nice move red." She said mockingly, then her smile turned
sinister, and she rubbed her fist in the palm of her other hand. "Now
it's my turn."
Ranma just stood there, unable to move, she
had given it everything she had, had delivered a perfect blow, one
that should have finished the fight, and all she had done was amuse
the demon. What was worse, she had temporally depleted her reserves,
the fight had taken a lot out of her, and the effort she had just
expended had left her utterly drained. Given a few seconds to rest,
she would be able to recover. It did not look like the demon was
going to give her those seconds. She stood there, arms hanging a her
side, lacking even the strength to make a token defense, as the demon
drew back her fist, but before anything could happen, she felt
herself being picked up by the waist and carried into the
stairwell.
Tenchi took the stairs three at a time,
barely fazed, thanks to a healthy jolt of adrenaline, by the hundred
and fifteen pounds of curvy, but very muscular, red head in his arms.
Ranma just hung there limp, offering no objection to being
manhandled. Suddenly an explosion at the top of the stairs blew them
off the steps and sent them tumbling head over heels down to the
lower hallway. They rolled up against the far wall with a thump. For
a moment Tenchi sat there waiting for his head to stop spinning. Then
a voice from above galvanized him.
"Don't hurt yourselves," the demon's voice
mocked. "I want to do that myself."
"Still want to stay and fight?" Tenchi asked
from his position on the floor beside Ranma. Ranma just looked at him
blankly. Tenchi groaned, Looks like it's up to me, he thought,
Ranma's out of it. Dragging the unresisting girl to her feet by one
hand, he looked around wildly for someplace to hide. Spying the open
door to the science classroom, he headed towards it, pulling Ranma
along behind him.
Tenchi quickly, but quietly, slid the door
shut and hunkered down beside Ranma, below the level of the windows
lining the hallway. He held his breath as he watched Ryouko's shadow
move across the far wall, and then sighed in relief when she failed
to discover their presence.
"She playing with us." said a quiet voice
beside him.
"Huu," Tenchi said, turning to look at Ranma.
The vacant look had disappeared from her face, and had been replaced
by an expression of deep thought, she looked like she was in
pain.
"I said she's playing with us. I thought she
had a few tricks, but was nothing special. The way she took that kick
. . . she could take us anytime she wanted. So, she's playing with
us. But why?"
"Maybe she wants to make me suffer, she is
out for revenge for Yosho's locking her away all those years ago
after all."
"Hmm, maybe, but there might be something
else. Then she straightened up, her face taking on an excited look.
Tenchi!" she exclaimed, "you said the magic sword was nothing but a
mass of rust, despite the hilt looking good. Where's the hilt?"
Tenchi was puzzled, but he answered Ranma's
query. "In my book bag. It's probably still in my desk where I left
it. Why? What good is it? The rest of it fell apart back in the cave.
I only kept the hilt because I was in such a hurry to get out of the
cave I forgot to put it back."
"Which is probably why the demon is walking
the halls right now. I bet you anything the magic is in the hilt. I
thought it was awfully funny when you said it was still in perfect
condition after seven hundred years. I may not have much education,
but I've heard a lot of stories in the last ten years. It's sometimes
seemed like pop went out of the way to take me to places where weird
stuff happened a long time ago. You, the sword, and that demon are
classic. Descendant of demon killer awakens demons, demons do nasty
things, then just before he gets killed, he discovers his legacy and
destroys demons. If I've seen it once, I've seen it a million times."
Ranma laughed out loud, "We ain't got a thing to worry about."
Tenchi laughed along with her, "That's great,
you've really seen this sort of thing before? I thought that sort of
thing only happened in stories these days." A sudden explosion caused
Tenchi to revise his statement, "I mean, I didn't think they happened
all the time, so you've seen demons in real life before. That makes
me feel better."
"Well, not in real life, but just about every
anime I ever saw always worked that way. Let's go get that demon!"
Ranma started towards the door, only to be brought up short by Tenchi
catching hold of her arm.
"You mean to say," Tenchi hissed at her, "you
expect me to risk my life because it always turned out ok in the
anime. Are you crazy? Those are real energy blasts she's throwing,
not drawing's on an animation cell! . . ." suddenly Tenchi's eyes
glazed over, "the energy blasts, every time she draws energy, the gem
on her wrist glows. I forgot about them, their in the legend too. She
gets her power from them, all we have to do is get them off her, and
she's powerless." Tenchi laughed out loud. "It's so easy," he
enthused.
"Right, and how do you plan on getting close
enough to get a hold of them." Ranma said in a quelling voice.
Tenchi held up a finger, his face radiant,
but then he big sweated and dropped his chin to his chest, "I never
thought of that," he said. Then he lifted his head and sniffed the
air. "Do you smell that?" He said. Then he pointed frantically at a
pile of rubble under one of the holes Ryouko had blown in the roof.
"Gas, the explosion has broken one of the gas lines, we have to get
out of here. One little spark, and we'll be history." Tenchi grabbed
one of Ranma's hands and started to drag her towards the door. She
jerked herself free.
"Would you stop doing that! I ain't a girl! I
can look after myself!" She shouted at Tenchi, then her eyes widened
in shock, and she slapped a hand over her mouth. It was too little to
late.
"There you are, you naughty people. Did you
really think you could hide from me?"
Ranma and Tenchi looked around the room
frantically, trying to find the source of that mocking voice, then
they both saw her at the same time, their hair stood on end, and
their eyes bugged out in shock at the sight of Ryouko's head,
sticking out of the wall, for all the world like some sort of macabre
hunting trophy. Then the head smiled at them, and with a shudder they
watched as her body moved into the room along with her head, passing
through the solid wall with casual ease.
"No way!!" Tenchi moaned, "she can walk
through walls." Then his eyes widened as he saw Ryouko beginning to
draw energy into her hands again. "Stop, there's gas," he shouted. To
the apparent bewilderment of Ryouko.
Tenchi and Ranma raced down the hallway,
trying to put as much distance as possible between them and
Ryouko.
"I can't believe I used that old gag," Tenchi
said. "Look! Out the window."
"I can't believe she fell for it," Ranma said
in return.
"O shit!!" Ranma cried, looking behind her at
a wall of flame advancing down the hall towards them. "Run like fuck,
she shouted. To late as it turned out. The pressure wave in front of
the blast picked them both up and tossed them like leaves down the
length of the hallway, barely in front of the wall of flames that
accompanied it. Tenchi did a face plant and slid fifty feet on his
chest, Ranma gracefully turned her body in mid air and tucking
herself into a ball, rolled with the impact, bouncing to her feet as
soon as she stopped moving.
"Well, that's that," she said. "One barbecued
demon, hold the sauce." Beside her, Tenchi clapped his hands in
prayer, and then looked sheepishly at Ranma.
"Sorry, old shrine habit. It's too bad, she
was sort of cute."
"Cute!! Cute!! Are you crazy. Cute. I don't
believe it. Maybe if you like girls who could wrestle gorillas, who
would as soon cut you in half as look at you. Cute, for gods sake, I
don't believe you, she just tried to kill you." Unable to continue,
Ranma turned her back on Tenchi in annoyance. Crossing her arms over
her chest, she glowered at the flickering flames that were
illuminating the hallway with a ruddy glow. "Cute." she muttered
again in disgust, then "Boys' with all most as much disgust.
Ranma's eyes suddenly widened, and spinning
in place she caught Tenchi's arm and dragged him into a mid hall
stair well. When he would have protested she clapped a hand over his
mouth and gestured towards the hall they had just left. She mimed
fangs, using her free hand's fingers held over her mouth.
"Nani, you don't mean?" Tenchi whispered.
Then he big sweated when he heard coughing coming from the direction
of the flames, followed by a voice yelling out. "I will never forgive
you!!"
"We're doomed," Tenchi moaned. But for some
reason Ryouko did not appear immediately at the head of the stairs,
and they were able to make there way down them and into a lower
hallway without interference.
Tenchi led the way towards his home room, and
once there, he found his book bag in his desk, right where he had
left it.
"Great," Ranma said, when Tenchi showed her
the hilt of Yosho's magic sword. "I was right, look at the condition
it's in. It could have been made yesterday. I bet these jewels in the
handle are the source of the magic."
"Actually, their Ryouko's. Yosho used the
sword to take them from her, I remember the legend."
"That must be what she's really after then,
we have to keep it away from her."
"No!" Tenchi said firmly. "Not we, it's the
sword and me she's after. You get out of here, I'll hold her off
until you're well away."
Ranma glowered at Tenchi, then she reached
out and grabbed his collar, and with a yank, pulled his face down
level with her. "Just what the fuck are you trying to pull here, I
say when I go or stay, what the crap do you think I am, a girl."
Tenchi blushed, and letting his eyes drop
slightly, said. "Well actually, it's just, well . . . yes. But just
for a minute!" he hastily said, "it's just your shirt, it's sort of,
well, it made me forget for a minute."
"What about my shirt?" Ranma said, looking
downward. Then she cursed slightly, she had not come through the
battle unscathed, and her shirt was much the worse for wear. Her
breasts were clearly visible through the various rents. "Damn it, and
I just got this shirt, shit, that un-cute mummy is going to pay for
this." When Ranma had looked downward, she had retained her grip on
Tenchi's collar, and had inadvertently dragged his face down into
close proximity with her breasts. When she looked back at Tenchi, he
was blushing heavily, and had a slim streamer of blood trailing down
from his nose. She looked at Tenchi's face for a second, then
followed his gaze to her chest.
"Pervert!" she yelled, in disgust, shoving
him up against the classroom wall, "I told you, I'm a guy, don't go
turning weird on me. This stupid engagement is bad enough, with out
you acting sick. I thought you believed me when I said I was really a
guy."
"I did, I did," Tenchi hastily affirmed,
"It's just . . ." Anything else he might have planned on saying was
drowned out as the outside wall of the classroom blew in.
Once again Tenchi and Ranma raced down a
hallway, only this time instead of the blast rolling down the hallway
after them, a series of individual blasts, shattered the exterior
wall, one right after the other. Each one next to the previous,
herding them down the hallway.
"Bitch!" Ranma cursed. "That un-cute mummy is
playing again, she wants us outside where there aren't so many hiding
places. When we get outside, I'll distract her, you use the
sword."
Tenchi was too winded to reply, but he
gripped the bag in his arms tightly, determined not to lose their
last chance at living though this. He wished Ranma had listened to
him and snuck out the back, but remembering how well she had fought
on the roof, he was comforted by her presence beside him, and was
glad she had stayed. They raced out the front door together and
managed to make it through the gate, before Ryouko caught them.
Tenchi was jerked backward as Ranma grabbed
the back of his uniform and put on the brakes. Tenchi came to a stop
about one foot in front of Ryouko, who just stood there smiling at
him. Tenchi frantically scrambled backward, while Ranma took
advantage of the fact that Ryouko was focusing on Tenchi, to sidle
out to the side, trying to move around behind her. She did not really
expect to succeed, but if she could draw Ryouko's attention, then
Tenchi might have a chance.
She was not expecting what happened.
"Don't be scared sweety pie. I won't hurt
you." Ryouko said, totally ignoring Ranma, then with no warning swung
her sword full
at Tenchi.
"Nooo!!" Ranma screamed, how could she have
been so stupid, the demon had only wanted them to show her where her
jewels were. Now that they had recovered the hilt, she had no further
use for them. Ranma started forward, sick with fear and self
loathing. There was no way she could get there in time, but she could
at least try to cause the demon some pain before it killed her.
She was still several yards away when
Ryouko's sword impacted on the book bag Tenchi held between two hands
in a futile effort of defense. Then the sword that Ranma had
witnessed cutting through every thing in it's path, stopped. A
brilliant glow of energy flared up from between Tenchi's hands, and
Ryouko was flung backwards a dozen yards.
All three of them watched in amazement as the
glowing hilt to Yosho's legendary sword hovering in mid air. Ryouko
was the first to recover. "Impressive," she said, then unleashed a
barrage of energy bolts at Tenchi, all of which flowed around him and
the hilt
doing no harm to either.
Ranma's heart, which had been sick with
dread, leaped back to life. Yes, she thought, I was right, the magic
is in the hilt. She watched in glee as Ryouko launched an attack at
Tenchi, only to be brought up short when a glowing bar of energy
sprang from the hilt in Tenchi's hand to match the demon's weapon,
and parried her sword. Then she felt a spurt of admiration as Tenchi
launched a furious counterattack. It looked chaotic, but Ranma could
make out an underlaying sword style she was not acquainted with. That
surprised her, "looks like Tenchi has hidden talents," she mused to
herself.
Then a scream of fury from Ryouko made her
realize that she had better start to play her part. Apparently Tenchi
had called her a monster and she had taken grave exception to it.
Well anger bred carelessness, time to take advantage of that. Darting
forward, her body low to the ground, she snatched up a rake that some
one had carelessly left laying on the ground. She whirled the rake in
an intricate pattern around her body in order to attract Ryouko's
attention to herself, when she got it she lashed out with a vicious
blow that Ryouko could not possibly ignore, she hoped.
With an angry growl Ryouko knocked it aside
with a casual elbow that bent the heavy iron handle almost in two,
and then snapping a hand out, she fired a force blast at Ranma that
picked her up and smashed her into the nearby fence. Where she hung
limply, the breath knocked out of her.
Tenchi felt the sword twist in his hand, and
suddenly he was being pulled along behind it as it dragged him
towards Ryouko. With a hiss it swung through the air, and cut off the
hand Ryouko still held extended towards the fallen Ranma. Slicing it
cleanly off her arm just behind the jewel imbedded in her wrist.
Tenchi watched in horror as the severed hand flew through the air and
vanished in a puff of flame. The jewel that had been attached to it
bounced several times before exploding in a fierce, but localized
explosion.
"Yatta," Ranma yelled from where she was just
getting to her feet. "Way to go Tenchi."
Tenchi did not share Ranma's pleasure. He was
looking at Ryouko who was standing there with a sad look on her face.
Blowing out a puff of breath she said sadly, "Oh well, another battle
lost. My miserable lot." Then she blinked as she noticed for the
first time that she was missing an appendage.
Tenchi felt he had to say something, "I'm
sorry! It was the sword, I didn't mean to cut your hand off." Ryouko
blinked at him. Then she smiled, and for once, it was not a mocking
or derisive smile. Holding up her shortened arm she touched a finger,
that trailed sparks as she moved it through the air, to the stump.
Then pressed the stump to the palm of her remaining hand. Drawing it
back, she showed that she now had a brand new hand where had been
only a charred ruin.
Tenchi applauded enthusiastically, but
trailed off sheepishly as he saw the look Ranma was directing at him.
"Geez Tenchi get a grip. She was ready to kill you a minute ago."
Tenchi held the back of his head with one
hand, and laughed nervously, "But she's helpless now. Isn't she?"
Ranma started to tell Tenchi to finish the
demon off, but stopped, now that Tenchi had the sword she was no
threat, and she looked so sad. It had been a good fight, it would
leave a bad taste in her mouth if they were to end it by killing the
demon girl, but what were they going to do with her if they didn't.
Ranma was not looking forward to herding her back to the Masaki
shrine so Tenchi could seal her back up in that cave. But what else
were they to do?
Ryouko took the decision out of their hands.
She bowed to them, or rather to Tenchi, said, "Farewell," and sank
out of sight into the ground.
Tenchi and Ranma looked at each other. "Do
you suppose she's gone for good?" Ranma said, a wistful tone in her
voice.
"I don't know, I'm just glad we all
survived." Just then what remained of the school exploded with a
force that almost threw them to the ground. Tenchi looked in horror
at the remains of his school, then he started to head for home at a
rapid pace. "Let's get out of here. I don't want to be here when the
police and fire trucks arrive." Ranma nodded her agreement, and they
both headed for home.
Ranma sighed in relief as she made her way
towards her room, It had been a good fight, her strategy had worked,
it was too bad she couldn't have thrown the final blow herself, but
the sword was Tenchi's ancestor's, so it was unlikely it would have
worked for her, but at least she had come up with the solution.
Suddenly she heard Tenchi cry out in shock. With a groan she turned
and started back towards his room. What now, she thought. Then she
suddenly snapped fully awake, the demon, is she back? She rushed
towards Tenchi room, ready for anything, a smile on her face.
Whew, well that's another one done. To think
I originally saw this one ending after Sasami and Aeka were
introduced. I just can't seem to compress my stories.
Real life has slowed my output down a lot,
but I will keep plugging away at this. Lots of replies will no doubt
encourage me to write faster^_^ hint, hint.
Many thanks to my Pre-readers. Tzigane Wade Tritschler Jim Nutley
Green Eyes and Eimii, the lovely Pain Magnet, who had better get
going on SHOTR, if she does not want to find out just how magnetic
she is.^_^
Till the next chapter. T.H. Tiger