Ranma 1/2
Under the
Cresent Moon
Part V
"What!" cried Ranma balling his fists.
"Yes, these wards have been destroyed from the inside." He felt the paper in his hands for a bit longer. "Quite recently, if I might add."
"Shouldn't the slayer feel the presence of whatever did this?" interjected Ukyou.
"That depends. There are many thing used that cannot be detected. Wards for instance cannot be detected unless you are specifically looking for them, and even then, they are harder to destroy. These puny things," the old man gestured to the rapidly deteriorating soot in his hand, "are finely woven yes, but lack the complexity of a true master."
"Like yourself," added Ranma.
"You're a quick learner my boy," grinned the old man as he winked at them with his one usable eye. "Now let's meet this slayer of yours. I'm quite anxious to see what the new breed looks like."
"Um... excuse me?" interrupted someone from behind them. Neither of the three appeared to be alarmed however.
"Hello Kasumi," greeted Ranma.
"Hello Ranma, and who is your friend?"
"Oh this is...ah..."
"His grandfather," added Ukyou while giving a Ranma a small smile.
"Oh dear, where are my manners," answered Kasumi. "Would you like some tea?"
"Thank you dear, that will be wonderful, but I was hoping to see young Ranma's student. I heard she was very good."
"Akane's in the Dojo warming up," informed Kasumi. "Let me take you to her."
"No no, that quite all right. That's why I have my grandson here," he replied and taking Ranma's hand he pointed in a random direction. "Is it that way?" he asked Ranma who was unaware of the old man's foil but had reacted well enough not to arouse any suspicion.
"I guess I should see to that tea," Kasumi muttered to her herself and fluttered back to the kitchen.
They entered the Dojo silently watching Akane as she did her katas. The old man watched her critically evaluating her every move against the many other warriors he had seen in his long livespan.
"She was worse than this?" he asked.
"Much worse," Ranma replied.
"It's a wonder she's still alive!" he declared under his breath. "She still overextends slightly."
"It's because of her strength. I've been concentrating on her speed to compensate a little."
"Ahh, yes, that's a good measure. Speed training should get her to use less strength. Does she know how much better she's become?" he asked.
"I doubt it," replied Ukyou from Ranma's side. "She's stubborn as a mule and as focused, just like Ranma. She probably won't realize it until she gets into another fight."
Ranma frowned slightly but said nothing.
"Yo Akane!" shouted Ranma. The concentration of the said girl was thrown off and she stumbled flat onto her face. "You ready?" he asked her with a little concern mixed into the sarcasm.
She flipped up off the floor and turned to face him.
"All I need is one shot at you?" she grumbled.
"Aw, too bad though. If you can't beat Ucchan, I doubt you could even hit me," he taunted.
"You...!" she threatened.
Ranma just smiled at her incensing her further.
"Ranma!" the old man shouted. "Let's see how good your training has been," shouted the old man.
"Huh?" Ranma replied a bit perplexed then caught on. "Okay, whatever."
"Only Tai Chi," the old man told him.
"Okay that's cool," Ranma replied. "Looks like today is your lucky day," he snickered at Akane. "Let's see what you got tomboy."
"I'll grind you into dust," she threatened as they took up their ready positions. Akane bowed and fell into her usual forward, aggressive Kenpo stance. Ranma bowed extending his arms to his opponent, hand over fist, thumbs crossed, and fell into a Tai Chi stance.
"You're mine!" she told him and attacked.
Ranma was well versed in her fighting technique and in her retinue of attack combinations. He had after all taught her a lot of what she had been learning and he had been paying close attention to her sparring sessions with Ukyou. He had picked up a few things about the Tendo side of the School from watching her. Nothing too impressive but he knew that they did have the possibility of leading up to something greater.
Her first attack was a combo. Her right hand sprang out to hit him just above the heart. But he merely shifted his weight to avoid it. Akane saw this as a slight weakness and strove to make use of it by following up with a spear to his chest and a kick to his head. Ranma leaned back from her hand, and knowing what was coming next, he flipped backwards with the momentum causing her next jab and two kicks to miss. His toes however did not miss and hit Akane square in the jaw. The force flipped her over but she managed to land on her feet. Nothing was wounded except her pride though.
"Ranma!" bellowed the old man. "That's not Tai Chi!"
"Hmm...oh yeah. Sorry," he replied turning to the old man, scratching his head in embarassment. Akane saw the opportunity and Ranma saw her out of the corner of his eye. As she came forward to meet him, he came forward to meet her, but instead of evading her attacks he met them by blocking in a fluid motion until he sensed the opportunity and redirected the force of one of Akane thrusts. The slight change of direction and a perfectly placed outstretched leg were all that were needed to have her sailing through the air and sliding hard into the wall of the Dojo. That was not the end though. Akane was made of tougher material.
Growling she got up once again and attacked. Ranma repeated the same recipe. He just wove in between her attacks and redirected most of her energy back at her. After two or three more trips to the wall, Akane was fed up.
"Come on. Fight me for real!"
"But he is fighting you for real," replied the old man. "And he's winning too."
"Just what are you saying old man," replied Akane fiercely. "He isn't even attacking!"
"He doesn't have to," the old man replied. "You are doing enough attacking for the both of you. One of the main tenets of the style he is using is to redirect force back to the attacker." The old man paused to chuckle. "That's probably why you're having such lovely conversations with the wall."
"So what should I do?" she asked.
"Stop attacking with you anger!" snapped the old man suddenly. "I've seen babies with better control over their anger than you."
"I don't have an anger problem," defended Akane.
"If you say so," replied the old man then he whispered something to Ukyou. Ukyou first seemed apprehensive but then the old man whispered to her again and she grinned.
"You're a bad influence you know," she told him as she wagged her finger. "But I love the idea." She ran over to Ranma and whispered into his ear.
"Are you sure you want me to do this?" he asked her as his eyes raised speculatively.
"Don't worry. It's for a good cause," she whispered and kissed him lightly.
The whole exchange was missed by Akane who was still glaring at the old man. She was become more pissed by what he was saying than anything Ranma had even said to her. Of course, the half-lecherous look on his face could have had something to do about it. Why was she suddenly feeling to take a bath all of a sudden?
"Hey Akane, you still game?" taunted Ranma.
"Hey old man, time for you to turn around," ordered Ukyou.
"Aren't you going to give an old man a good time this late in his life," the old man remarked smoothly, hoping to placate her with his sweet talk.
Ukyou unslung her spatula.
"Okay, okay, young people can't take a joke these days."
With that the old man turned around to face the wall. Kids these days and their honour.
Ranma faced off once again against Akane. Akane attacked with all the determination and fury of a hurricane but this time instead of redirecting her focus, Ranma was doing something totally different. As per Ukyou's instructions, he flowed within her motion and anytime he got a chance he proceeded to grope her body. He could pinch her butt, or caress her breast from the outside of the gi. Of course this had the effect of inflaming Akane's anger making it a lot easier for him to do what he was trying to do.
"Come on Ranma," urged Ukyou. "Enough with the petting already."
Ranma was so taken back with her outburst that Akane almost got a hit in. Almost. Almost was a lot when you were sparring with Ranma Saotome. Almost was akin to saying that someone would be able to walk up to Ranma and snatch his wallet from him without him seeing which -with the exception of Nabiki- was not the case of anyone else in Nerima.
Akane kept up the ferocity of her attacks in her attempt to clock Ranma. Suddenly Ranma back-flipped out of her reach, and she was left standing there in the ready position.
"That's perfect Akane!" shouted Ukyou. "Now a little more to the left."
Akane strangely obeyed and light flashed once again. Ranma began to chuckle and held his mouth with his hand as his face turned red.
"Hey what's going on?" asked Akane.
"Look down sugar!" commented Ukyou. Akane hurriedly found herself covering her upper torso as she was left only with her panties on.
"Eep!" was all she could say as she scrambled for her clothes.
The old man was still facing the wall but even he knew what the commotion was about.
"Still think you can control you temper little girl? You were concentrating so much on the fight that you never realized that Ranma had taken off all your clothes."
She hurriedly redressed, blushing a bright red.
"Give me that camera!" she shouted to Ukyou. Ukyou evaded her and threw the camera to Ranma. Ranma easily caught it, twirled the strap attached to the camera around his finger and held the camera above his head as a trophy.
"This is a little incentive for you to train a little harder at controlling that temper of yours," Ranma told her. "If you learn to control your temper, we'll give you back the undeveloped negatives."
"And if I don't?" she growled.
Ranma shrugged. "I get to see them again."
"You pervert!" she accused.
"Hey!" defended Ukyou. "It's perfectly okay for him to be interested in women."
"Then can I see them too?" piped up the old man.
"It's okay for boys," she added as she elbowed him in the head, "not for perverted old men."
The old man grumbled and rubbed his sore head.
"How do I know you will honor this promise?" accused Akane.
"You don't," answered Ukyou. "But if you lose your temper you lose anyway."
Akane grumbled then said something under her breath.
"What was that Akane?" Ukyou asked.
Akane grumbled out something again.
"Ranma I think she wants us to develop the film," remarked Ukyou.
"I'll do the training!" Akane grumbled a little more loudly.
"Can't hear you?" sing-songed Ukyou.
"I said I'll do the training okay!" Akane shouted.
"Good, Ranma what's the training?'
"Akane, get dressed to go out."
"What?"
"You heard me," he told her sharply.
Akane hustled into the house.
"Are you excited?" Ukyou asked him when she was out of earshot.
"What do you think?" he answered sarcastically. "I'm a young teenage boy."
"That's good, cause we'll work off all that energy later tonight."
Ranma's eyes perked up.
"I'll just stay here while you kids have a good night out," added the old man. "There're a few things I want to check out."
************
The old man sat overlooking the koi pond as he brought out a brush and sheets upon sheets of paper from the clothes he was wearing. He sat there scribbling hastily. Brush met paper with a flurry of activity and the old man sighed contentedly as he completed the last stroke on the last piece of paper. When he saw the time he was livid. He really had been improving in this department! Now how to get these things where he wanted them without causing suspicion.
"Oh hello there," called Kasumi. "Would you like some tea?"
"Hmm... ahh yes, that would be lovely," he replied, then a brilliant idea popped into his head. "I've never been in a traditional Japanese house before, could you show me around."
Kasumi fiddled with her apron for a few seconds as she thought.
"I'd love to, but I've never given a tour before!"
"I'm sure you'll do your parents proud dear," he replied sympathetically.
Kasumi blushed slightly at his comment and then fetched the tea. He sat with her for a few minutes enjoying the aroma of the tea before he signaled that he was ready for a small tour. He followed Kasumi throughout the house and as he followed her, slips of paper fell from his pockets onto the floor.
They fell gently swaying from side to side until they eventually touched the ground. Then, the curled edges flattened allowing the paper to lay on the wooden floor. The color of the paper slowly changed from the weathered yellow brown of the paper, to the rich vibrant colors of the polished wood. In a few seconds, the change was complete. There was no sign of the paper upon the wooden floor, not even a micrometer difference. It was as if the paper had just dissolved into thin air- which was the intention of the old man. The novice who had put the other had the right idea but the wrong method. Now he would know exactly who was doing what late at night at the Tendo household. All he needed was a little patience and at his age, he had a lot to spare.
****************
A red claw pats a little puppy. Its eyes glow a dull green and the pups are already drooling. Vapor rises from where their drool splatters on the floor. The thing however does not react positively to his touch, and its mother showed more distaste than pleasure when the claw touched her.
"Hungry are you?" spoke an amused voice of a woman in the background. "Then go and eat, but your children must stay here!" she commanded authoritatively. The unnatural canine snorted at the command but obeyed it anyway. It's hooves leaving deep marks in the wooden flooring.
****************
Ranma, Ukyou and Akane were in the outskirts of the city. There was a lot of space here for what Ranma wanted Akane to do. First he had her make a fire from twigs. Something that was not easy to do, but after finally haggling her for some time she was finally able to get one lighting. Then, Ranma put the pot on and gave her a bag of rice.
"You have to cook all this rice," he told her. "One grain at a time."
"What! What do you mean one grain at a time! That'll take me whole night!" Akane screamed.
"That's good. You can eat it for breakfast," replied Ranma coolly. "I hope you weren't planning anything," he then added sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact I have something to do!" she retorted.
"Well that's too bad cause your dad told me to keep on training you so you have to stay here and do this. Remember the whole bag one-grain at a time. And, if I come and see more than one grain..." He pulled out another bag. "There's always more rice."
Akane groaned.
"Or is this too hard for you?" taunted Ukyou.
"Hey I can do this!" shouted Akane.
"Yeah, sure!"
"Oh yeah, I'll show you." With that, Akane put the first grain of rice in the pot.
While watching over Akane, Ranma and Ukyou practiced a little bit of a little known fighting style that was being taught to them. Okay, well it was a well-known game they were playing, but the fighting component of it was not really used much. Ukyou took Ranma's bishop and was crowned with her spatula. The checkered board however remained untouched. Evidently from the exchange of blows, Ranma was losing.
Moments later though, someone stumbled through the bushes and saw the three. Of course, with a one tracked mind, this person actually was not thinking of anything else but one thing, and a phrase he had repeated so many times that he had turned it into a mantra:
"Ranma Saotome, for hurting Akane, Die!"
Ryouga charged and Ranma turned to Ukyou.
"Wanna try out your skills?"
"Be glad to sugar," she replied quickly grabbing her spatula. Ranma took it away from her just as she was about to get up.
"Hand to hand," he instructed
"Hand to hand," she replied sullenly. She really wanted to brain him with her spatula. Oh well, she guessed she would have to get up close and personal.
Ryouga's charge was abruptly stopped when Ukyou kicked his feet out from under him. Ryouga dropped unflatteringly to the ground.
"Hey, you're a girl!" he exclaimed as he sputtered dirt from his mouth.
"So..."
"Well... I'm here for Ranma. Ranma Saotome you bastard. You're hiding behind girls!"
That earned him a volley of kicks. One went to his head, another to his ribs, and the third to his unmentionables. His resulting squeak was clearly high-pitched.
"You've got to get through me before you get to him. Whatza matter? Afraid of getting beat by a girl?" she taunted.
"Curse you Ranma, hiding behind girls!"
That earned him another flurry of kicks. This time his head snapped back and fourth a couple of times before he caught her leg. Ukyou couldn't believe it! The guy could take all that and still keep standing. Ryouga threw her into a tree and prowled towards Ranma.
"It's time to meet your maker," he threatened.
A jumping knee met his head and the following sweep swept him off his feet. Ryouga flipped over not a second too soon before a foot smashed where his head had been.
"Guess you don't hear well do you sugar. Let me say it again: you have to get through me before you get to him!"
"Fine then!" he replied and attacked.
Ryouga was tough, but Ukyou was faster. It was a classic match between speed and strength with the deciding factors being skill and experience. From her recent studies, Ukyou had caught up in the skill department. However, the real difference lay in the experience. Ryouga was a martial artist of years of experience, both with hand to hand fighting and with his bamboo umbrella. Ukyou's style had depended heavily on her spatula. That was something Ranma and the old man were taking pains to fix. It would still take time, but she was getting the hang of it.
Ukyou almost caught the back of a nasty forearm and in her brief hesitation, Ryouga gave her a good sidekick to the thigh raising her off the ground. Ukyou went with the uplift though, and counterattacked with some perfectly placed kicks that flung Ryouga's umbrella away while making some room for her to maneuver.
"Come on Ucchan! That's it!" encouraged Ranma.
Ukyou smiled. At least Ranma wasn't running in to help. That meant that he thought she could take on this mountain of muscle in front of her. Who was she to disappoint? She cracked her knuckles and glared at Ryouga. Ryouga did not shy away. Instead he bore his fangs and his face turned to one of grim determination. Before they could charge at each other though, Ranma's voice again broke though the silence.
"How did you catch me on the rooftop Ukyou?"
"What?"
"That's the only way you'll beat someone as hard headed as Ryouga!"
As they charged, Ukyou heeded Ranma's advise and, instead of becoming mush, she used one of her flour bombs to cloud the situation. When the flour settled, a completely powdered Ryouga stood dazed in the middle of the field. He hadn't expected that, and he groaned before he fell to his knees. Ukyou was still wary of him though and her caution proved correct as seconds later -true to the stamina of a Hibiki- Ryouga was up again. However, that had been more than enough time to allow Ukyou to concentrate. Her concentration set, she set out on the field to meet him once again.
Ryouga was wondering just what she was doing. If he was a little more patient, he would have realized that he should have waited and seen what she was up to. However, he did not and something happened that changed the result of the fight. Ryouga charged but Ukyou did not. Instead, she took a deep breath and cleansed her mind, then she allowed her senses to purvey her thoughts. Just like the other night with Ranma, everything started to take on a crystal clear definition.
Ukyou sidestepped the initial attack and began to dodge and sway against Ryouga's continued onslaught. Suddenly she saw an opening and was soon attacking the lost boy tirelessly using his pressure points as battering rams. Ryouga fell slowly to his knees then to the floor.
Above him Ukyou panted as the energy she needed for that technique began to take its toll on her. She had not had as much time to practice it as Ranma had and it really was quite tiring.
Akane however had no time to ponder this as Ranma kept watch over her like a hawk.
"Aha! Tis the foul sorcerers who dare enslave my love!"
"Kuno?" questioned Ranma. How in kami's name did that idiot get out here? Ranma wondered if Ryouga would stay down and leave Ukyou with a simple one on one battle. Anyway he looked at it though; this would be awesome training for Ukyou.
Kuno attacked Ukyou whose rather dirty clothes and her ability to look quite androgynous had him slightly confused as to what her sex was. That of course did not really matter to him. If the person in front of him were a man then he would vanquish the sorcerer. If the person was a woman then he would have freed her from the sorcerer's clutches and she would come running to him thanking him for releasing her and praising his magnificence. Of course, he should have paid more attention to his opponent before he went into daydream mode.
A few well placed strikes later and Kuno was imbedded into a tree. Then to Ukyou's amazement, he climbed out of his man-sized hole and shakily got to his feet.
"I fight on demon!" he cried.
"Demon!" responded a voice from the dark woods behind him. "That is no demon you puny insignificant human. You are too pathetic. Insulting my class. I am a demon! For your insult I shall destroy you!" it bellowed.
Black tresses of smoke slid out like oil upon water and started collecting, polling, until the gaseous cloud took shape. It's energy brought both Ranma and Akane to life. They both forgot all about the training and focused their attention on the beast before them.
Its eyes were yellow and glowing, and its face resembled that of a bull with two long gleaming canines protruding intimidatingly from its mouth. The rest of its body was hairless and shaped like that of a baboon's. With hoofs for feet and long clawed paws, everyone there knew it was dangerous. Those paws might not look dangerous but Ranma knew that they could possibly slice through almost anything. Well, he had always liked excitement and he guessed his life of chaos was returning to him after a small vacation. He sighed despairingly. He wondered if fate would ever let him have more than a month off.
Kuno being the brave man that he was did not back down but leveled his bokken towards the monstrosity. Kuno was brave but even he was questioning somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind where normal though had retreated, if holding his ground was a suicidal thing to do. That voice of course, was never heard but his conscience. Ukyou just glanced at Ranma. He told her what to do.
Ranma knew that this thing was more powerful than Ukyou and it was pure suicide for her to up against it in her weakened state. The previous fight had taken a lot out of her.
"I am Tatewaki Kuno of the House of Kuno, Protector of Nerima and the Rising Star of Furiken High. You dare mock my noble blood!" accused Kuno. The demon just laughed. "Know this then I will destroy you for you will pay for your insolence. Have at thee!" Kuno charged.
Kuno's attack was powerful and he was surprisingly quick for a person of his size. However, when he reached apex of the arc of his bokken and sliced at the demon, his ki charged attack only sliced the air and a strong arm slapped him across the back sending him sprawling into a few trees. He was not broken, but he certainly was not getting up anytime soon. He moaned loudly and tried to stop the world from spinning around so fast.
"Bakusai Tenkatsu!" shouted someone from the side of the distracted demon.
When had Ryouga learned some of the Amazon techniques Ranma wondered? By now Ukyou was by his side and Akane was running into the battle.
"Are we going to let her get into that mess?" questioned Ukyou.
"Why not?" replied Ranma. "She needs a little butt kicking. They all do. Even I got mine before I learned to control my ego."
Ukyou eyed him suspiciously.
"Okay, well at least not show it as often," Ranma conceded.
Ukyou didn't seem to object to that.
The demon did not seem too impressed with Ryouga's little trick but Ryouga was able to annoy it. That had given it a little admiration for the puny human. Ryouga had stood his ground and withstood some of its onslaught but the bad thing about relying only on strength was that there was someone or something always stronger than you.
That was why after the demon got its first hit in, Ryouga started to get worried and began to dodge some of the attacks instead of taking them head on. Akane ran up to help him to help, but even those two found themselves hard pressed to keep the demon at bay. In one of the few moments when neither was bothering it they actually whispered together between attacks and formulated a small plan. Then Akane jumped backward while Ryouga charged.
"This looks interesting," commented Ranma.
"Hn?" replied a confused Ukyou from by his side though she didn't take her eyes off the fight. When Akane jumped back, she pulled out a thin strip of wood from inside her clothes and began to concentrate. Suddenly the piece of wood began to pulsate with an eerie blue color, and to Ranma's astonishment, a blue blade of ki shot out from the hilt Akane held tenaciously in her hand.
"The sword of flowers. I wondered where I would find that?" mentioned Ranma.
Ryouga had by that time reached the demon but instead of attacking, he bounced off its face, setting up Akane who was trailing him perfectly for an attack. The unsuspecting demon was surprised when it saw the girl out of its peripheral vision and instinctively a paw shot out. Akane grimaced as she felt it slice through her shoulder but held her ground long enough for the sword she was holding to slice through its hand.
The demon bellowed loudly.
Akane was able to land an attack but she forgot the cardinal rules of engagement. She let herself be hurt, badly. Cart-wheeling to give herself some space, she clutched her shoulder trying to gauge the damage she had done to the demon. She just couldn't believe what she saw when the barely attached hand began sending black chords of darkness towards the rest of the arm, sewing the two together. The demon flexed it appreciatively.
Ryouga saw all this but the sight of red beginning to pool down Akane's arm enraged him. He attacked the demon with surprising strength and accuracy pushing it back with his initial onslaught, but his rush of adrenaline would not last for long. As he annoyed it further, Ranma and Ukyou took advantage of the opening and rushed to Akane who had fallen into unconsciousness from her rapid blood loss. Taking her into his arms Ranma carried her away from the danger.
When he lay her down, Ranma examined Akane's wound. Luckily the demon had only sliced through flesh and that damage should be easily healed, especially with a slayer's increased healing ability. Carrying Akane further away from the fight, Ranma set her down behind some trees where she should not be noticed. Ranma got up, ready for his own little sparring session and handed Ukyou the duty of looking after Akane. Ukyou was duly pissed but she knew that at her skill level she would not be a lot of help. Add to that the exertion from earlier today and she was a goner for sure.
Ranma reached the clearing the demon had been fighting in just in time to see the demon finally catch Ryouga by the torso and slam him repeatedly into the ground. The lost boy did not get up after that.
"It seems it's just you and me now," commented Ranma as he observed the carnage. He was a safe distance out of the demon's reach but well within in eyesight and hearing range.
"Pitiful human, do you think you can defeat me!" it bellowed.
Ranma chuckled. "We shall see soon enough. I'll give you five minutes, since I need to stretch my legs a little."
"Bah, I'll kill you in two!" it bellowed and lumbered forward to attack.
"Oh one more thing you should know," Ranma half-heartedly mentioned when the beast was almost upon him, "I'm not truly human."
By that time, the beast was upon him with its arm curving graciously to slap Ranma into the beyond. The only problem was that Ranma wasn't there.
"Huh?" it exclaimed fully confused.
"You know, you're pretty slow for what, a class four demon."
"I'll have you know I was recently promoted to class three," it shouted angrily at him.
"Really, I guess the standards are dropping lower," taunted Ranma.
"Why you!"
Ranma merely laughed as he jumped over the extended paws of the beast making it look like a child trying to catch a butterfly.
"It seems you are no mere human!" it bellowed. "Then I will just have to show you how powerful I am."
With that, dark power began coursing through the earth towards it, filling it completely. It doubled its size and reach in seconds. The claws it had before elongated and became black with energy, looking like dark metallic shards in the moonlight. It gazed down at the human who it thought would be cowering in fear at the very sight of its true power. Evidently, it still had a lot to learn about one Saotome Ranma who was standing there smirking.
"Finally!" he cried. "I can have some fun."
This time when the demon attacked it attacked using the dark blades that were present on its hands in the form of one swift chop that it was sure would carry the puny human to eternal torment. It was shocked stiff when its blades met with stiff opposition in the form of blue chi claws extending from Ranma's fingers. Ranma took the impromptu leisure time to demonstrate what he could do by jumping high into the air and arcing down, slicing the demons arm off from just below the shoulder. It bellowed in pain and clutched its arm, the dismembered one falling to the ground and turning to dust.
Its eyes glowed red in anger as it stared at Ranma in hatred. The thought crossed Ranma's mind that he maybe should not have riled it up but that thought was squashed almost immediately. As the demon brought it power to bear, the fallen arm regenerated almost immediately.
"Foolish child. No mere weapon can destroy me. I am invulnerable to all weapons."
Ranma thought about telling him that he hadn't used a weapon but he decided not to ruin the surprise. After all, he was trying to have some fun. So, in keeping with the idea that he was trying to have some fun. He began a game of tag with the irate demon. It really was pathetic to see it try to catch him: making holes in the ground and tearing trees to shreds. It was like watching a person trying to swat a fly with a straw.
Ranma was fully enjoying himself as he let himself loose. That was until he saw something that bothered him greatly. A couple of boys came walking towards the fight with some girls trailing behind them, all intent on seeing what the commotion was about. The demon saw them and with a wicked gleam in its eyes started walking toward the youths. That was when Ranma pulled off the kid gloves. It was time to get nasty.
The monster was fast, but Ranma was faster. Bringing his ki to bear, he shot in front of the demon stopping in front of the youths.
"Get back you idiots!" he shouted. "Do you all want to be killed!"
There was no response from them however, as if they were shocked into submission. He turned around and studied the demon's eyes again. Damn, he had forgotten demons could do that little trick too. The only good thing about the trick was that those idiots would never remember what had happened the next day.
Ranma tensed himself and then loosened into his favorite fighting position. It was time for a barberque demon.
His ki flared around him and before the demon had time to react he pounced. The first thing he attacked was the arm he had previously cut off. That fell with an earthly thud and the demon outwardly grimaced.
"Foolish boy! I can easily regenerate that limb. It will take more that than to stop me!"
"Oh yeah!" replied Ranma before he smirked. "Let's see you try that again."
The demon laughed and then had the shock of its life as nothing happened when it tried to regenerate the arm.
"What! What spell is this!" it bellowed.
"That's no spell you dumbass! I never attacked you with a weapon," he smirked and then he really attacked. "Ever heard of ki?" Ranma asked.
Ukyou never heard a sound escape the demon's throat as Ranma attacked with speed and viciousness that she had never seen before. She shuddered. If he could fight like that, then she never had the slightest chance of defeating him when she had attacked. That reminded her of her previous realization. Red Claw knew this. He knew she had no real way of killing him unless his guard was down. So that was what the plan had been. That sneaky bastard! Before she knew she didn't have much of a chance but here Ranma was showing her exactly how outclassed she really was.
With a loud crash, the demon fell, the earth shuddering under its impact. It groaned loudly as it struggled to regain its footing.
"Well its time to end this little party," Ranma told it. "Enjoy your stay in hell!"
With that, a huge energy build up formed in the palm of Ranma's hand.
"Mouko Taka- Bisha!"
A streaming body of blue light engulfed the demon that had just enough time to scream before its whole body disintegrated within the blast. As the wind died down, all that was remaining was a large hole in the earth where the demon had been.
"So much for Mr. Strong," commented Ranma as he dusted his hands.
"Ranma are you all right!" shouted Ukyou as she threw him onto the floor in a flying hug.
"Heh, nothing I can't handle. What about Akane?"
"She's okay, she's still under the tree. I think the gardener will have a heart attack tomorrow when he sees what you've done."
"Me!" Ranma cried. "I didn't do a thing!"
"Of course you didn't," she replied knowingly, taking the opportunity to pinch him on the butt.
"Ouch! What did you do that for?" he demanded.
Ukyou smiled. "No reason."
"Why you..." threatened Ranma.
"No need to be so hasty here," warded off Ukyou. "After all we still have Akane to see about."
"Okay then. Let's get Akane and split," he replied, being careful to note the previous incident for future reference.
"What about them?" she asked, pointing to the lost boy and Kuno.
"What about them?"
"I guess you've got a point."
When Ranma examined Akane's arm, the wound had already begun to heal.
He picked her up, cradling her in his arms and with a few jumps, both he and Ukyou were airborne and well on their way to the Tendo Dojo. When they arrived there, they almost ran down Nabiki in her nightgown as they entered from the Dojo.
"Hey Nabiki you okay?" asked a concerned Ranma.
"Huh, what? Yeah whatever," she replied and waved them off. Just how did she get all the way out here?
Ranma shrugged and carried Akane to her room. When they opened the door, he pulled back the covers and after Ukyou pulled off the soiled shirt and pants Akane had been wearing, he slipped her under them. For an almost brief moment Akane's eyes fluttered open but closed almost immediately after.
"I'm surprised you didn't blush when I took off her clothes," commented Ukyou.
"That's because I'm more interested in what I'll be seeing later tonight," he replied.
"Oh, and what does that mean?" she asked.
"You'll find out later..." he grinned.
Ukyou smiled. He was taking the initiative again.
Fin