Ranma 1/2
Under
the Crescent Moon
by Lord Overon
Part VI
Ukyou would have preferred that the trip back to the little room they slept in be a quick one. She was to be disappointed. They had moved no more than a couple of blocks before Ranma stood as stiff as a board on a ledge that led to an impressive 30 ft drop. Ukyou almost ran into him.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” she protested.
Ranma raised his hand up and pointed in a general direction.
“There’s something out there,” he told her. Before she could ask what he meant, he was already airborne. Ukyou huffed and turned to follow him, more likely that not, she knew that this was going to ruin her mood. Five minutes later, Ranma stopped and disappeared behind a roof, Ukyou followed. Sure enough, he had already found what he was looking for. In the alley they had landed Ukyou gasped at what she saw.
All she could tell were that some animals had been killed, and killed in a most gruesome way. Exposed intestines and other vital organs were strewn across the alley while all the flesh had been eaten. Some of the bones were partially dissolved as if they had decomposed. The acrid smell of burnt something, most likely flesh, odiously surrounded them. The only way she could make out what these animals were, were by the heads that were still attached to the bodies. Overlooking the mask of pure terror she had seen on their faces, she could tell that they had been cats.
“They were eaten alive,” Ranma informed her, his voice cold and hard.
Ukyou trembled, “What could have done this?” she asked quietly.
“A hound,” Ranma replied. “I saw a few in China… Look at the ground over there…”
Ukyou looked and saw a crater in the ground that was very rough on the interior.
“…that’s where it lay in waiting,” Ranma continued. “It lay there hiding, until enough cats were present, coming to search the garbage. When there were enough, it pounced. Some got away, but these didn’t.”
Ukyou nodded her head reflexively as he finished, but her mind had to been on his words. Instead they had been on the remnants of the cats that were strewn around the area. Ranma placed a hand on her shoulder, which she accepted. Mindless violence against people was something she had to deal with. She had not seen that type of destruction yet but what lay before her was a prelude to what things could become in a short space of time.
They were about to leave when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. Suspicious, she stalked quietly over to the stack of boxes, motioning for Ranma to remain quiet. Ranma stayed where he was but then a thoughtful expression crossed his face. Ukyou paid him no attention though as she quietly crossed the few meters separating her and her intended target. Her spatula was out and ready for action. Preemptively, she moved in for the first stroke that would slice the boxes into sawdust. As she raised her hands to strike, she felt someone holding her spatula back.
“Wait,” Ranma cautioned, “Something’s not right.”
Gingerly, he crept towards the boxes and with slight of hand not available to mere mortals; he uncovered the first box. With that one in shreds, Ranma was able to see what exactly had moved. He brought his hand towards the black mass causing Ukyou to gasp in worry as Ranma’s hand disappeared into the dark recesses of the box. Moments later, his hand slowly retracted from the dark orifice carrying along with it by the scruff of the neck a small animal. Ukyou cooed after seeing the small bundle of fur mewling softly while being held. She took the small kitten from Ranma and cradled it in her arms as Ranma once again pierced the darkness of the box with two hands, returning with two other bundles. Only one more trip was needed as they held between them the four kittens. While he had to admit the kittens were cute, Ranma couldn’t figure out why Ukyou was cuddling the little things and making cooing sounds at them as they lay in her arms. It was one of those girl things he realized. He really could never figure out girls.
Ranma left her and focused his energies into finding if anything else was amiss Nothing else was so he joined her. When Ukyou saw him, she ran up and handed him two of the furballs. Ranma was not terribly impressed by them but he had to admit if anything that they certainly were cute. Ukyou then took to the rooftops and Ranma was obliged to follow her as they made their way to the room they lived in. Once there, Ranma laid the furry creatures that were once the bane of his existence on the floor with Ukyou while he endeavored to find some milk for them. One of the traits of all cats was the instinct to continually preen themselves: an act that made them some of the cleanest animals in the world.
Milk was one of the many nutritious foods that Ranma preferred over many others. It was high in protein, calcium and was basically an all round good thing. He also liked the taste too, something that was heightened after his crossover. With the bowl of milk in his hand, he returned to his little room and fell asleep soon after, watching the kittens as they made short work of their impromptu meal.
The next morning, Ranma was rudely awakened when he felt something against his cheek. It was soft and fuzzy and Ranma almost had a heart attack when he woke up to seen the little critter staring him in the face. He was also slightly taken back when he began watching himself through the kitten’s eyes. His little shriek had been enough to get Ukyou up though and she was wailing away on the floor as she saw the object or rather objects of his dismay. Ranma was being licked away by the four kittens who had somehow moved from Ukyou’s embrace are were now happily romping on Ranma’s chest with the exception of the one who was trying to clean his face. After being startled, Ranma made no move to dissuade the kittens until Ukyou righteously told him it was time to eat even though he had gleaned that information moments before, when his stomach chose to rumble loudly. He hadn’t moved though since the loud rumbling had frightened the kittens that were tentatively pawing his abdomen, trying to find what had caused the alarming noise. Ukyou could not stop grinning at him
The day remained a normal one until they were called back by the old man to the Tendo household. Apparently he had over-nighted in the guest room. Unlike most other times, Akane’s training turned out to be very dull and boring. Ranma had devised a method for her to bring graceful control to her movements instead of all that excess brute strength that she exhibited so much of. Ranma formulated a plan that consisted of four things, two of those being bowls, a single pair of chopsticks and the last being rice. The infamous rice of the night before! The plan was to get Akane to transfer the rice from one bowl to the other using the chopsticks. Easy right? You should know better. First Akane was made to stand on one arm. Still too easy? Well how about adding the fact that the two bowls were on opposite sides and a full arm’s length away from her such that she had to stretch. Plus, if she dropped a grain she had to start from scratch. If that did not have her boiling, her father had walked in and had approved of the training. She had never felt so betrayed. And to make matters worse, he began a long dialogue with the necessary waterworks about how hard training under the master had been. So Akane was on all accounts screwed. She was stuck picking rice for the remainder of the night, while Ranma, Ukyou and the old man talked quietly in the corner. Akane was fuming but she was learning to fume quietly since the last time she opened her mouth to object, she ended up falling on her ass and had so start all over again. This wasn’t what being a martial artist was about. She was supposed to be out fighting, not stuck inside picking rice. And it was all Ranma’s fault. The jerk! She wished she had never met him. In the corner though where the other three were, a discussion was beginning, a discussion that would affect Akane and the rest of her family very that
“So what did you find?” Ranma asked the old man.
“Someone here is infected. They were about last night. I felt the aura of the person and I know who it is. It’s going to be tricky though. The beast has been in them for so long that it will be hard to remove. Stay here tonight for I cannot do this. Both of you have to do it. It cannot infect you but it can easily jump to me.”
“Alright then, we’ll probably have to stay late anyway,” snickered Ranma. “I don’t think that Akane is going to finish her rice anytime soon.”
The other two grinned maliciously at that statement.
While Ranma and Ukyou practiced ki balancing and control techniques silently in one corner, Akane struggled with her rice. Around twelve that night, it was Kasumi who eventually implored Ranma to release Akane for bed since she had school the next day. Reluctantly, Ranma allowed her to go amidst her dirty glares. Then the young couple turned to the old man who was huddled away in another corner of the Dojo.
“Patience,” he whispered. They shrugged and settled down next to each other for a nap until the old man wanted to wake them up.
Later that night, they were both prodded awake by the old man, it was easy to see that he was visibly excited. The two teens shrugged off their sleepiness and followed the old man as he led them into the house. There, they crept along the walls of the house and made no sound so as to not interrupt whoever was taking apart the wards. They were enveloped in the shadows when the saw the person crouching on the ground, scraping her fingers against the wood in an attempt to pry at the hidden seal. There was a flash of light and a hushed hiss. They could smell the scent of slightly roasted flesh, but even that proved no deterrent to the person who was intently trying to get rid of the ward.
While its attention was occupied, Ranma had quietly kept to the shadows and had somehow crawled to the other side of the hallway. Both sides were now closed in. Whoever it was, they were trapped. There was hardly any light in the dim hallway so they could barely make out by face who the person was, but Ranma had already figured out who it was by the scent. His olfactory senses were heightened beyond belief after his turning and he knew whom he would be pouncing on. He momentarily flicked his ki as a signal to Ukyou and then pounced.
The person struggled desperately and Ranma was surprised at the increased strength of the individual but they were too weak for him. Hissing and scratching in vain, Ranma held her down and the old man lit a small candle from within his robes.
“Silence her,” he ordered. Ranma complied and with a few pressure points Ranma had her knocked out on the floor.
“Quickly, hold her left arm above the elbow.” Ranma did as he was told and while holding the limp body, brought the girl’s face into the light.
“Nabiki,” whispered Ukyou as she finally saw the face.
“It’s good that you know her, but that’s not going to help her,” retorted the old man. “Now give Ranma a hand.”
Ukyou took over holding Nabiki up while Ranma held her elbow. The old man pulled out a dagger from his robes and handed it to Ranma.
“Now Ranma. Used your free hand to make a small incision into her skin where you are holding her, then move the blade and your grip closer towards her palm.”
“Wouldn’t that leave a scar?” Ranma queried.
“Better a scar than her life,” he told them. Ranma hushed after that and did as he was told.
“Oh wait!” the old man cautioned. “Make a small cut in your hand and let the blood run down the blade. I had almost forgot about that.”
Ranma made a small incision on his index finger and allowed a trickle of blood to run down his finger onto the cutting edge of the blade. The task completed, he began slowly to move closer down to Nabiki’s palm. At first he was alarmed at the amount of red blood that was pouring out of the small wound but then the blood became darker and darker until it was totally black. Ranma knew that something was wrong then. As he moved closer to her palm, the dark blood became a thick ooze. As his blood began mixing with it, it began to fizzle and an acrid odour filled the room. When he reached her palm, the black ichor burst out allowing Ranma to see something imbedded within. He reached in and plucked out from the incision a small object resembling a small black thorn. He scurried back when suddenly the thorn exploded into a dark flame while still in his hands. After the thorn was removed, Nabiki’s blood returned to its previous red color and Nabiki’s breathing relaxed.
Still bleeding, they took Nabiki to the bath to clean her up. By now, all the black ooze had burned away leaving only the acrid odour as a reminder of its presence. In the bath, Ukyou locked the old man out as Ranma and her undressed Nabiki from her foul clothes. After stripping her, they dunked her in warm water, allowing the water to cleanse her skin from the blood. The wound was still open, so taking some bandages and ointment they treated the wound. With that taken care of, they moved her to her room and dressed her. After tucking her under the covers, Ranma removed the shiatsu block that had her asleep during the whole ordeal.
“Will she be okay?” asked Ukyou.
“I don’t know,” replied Ranma. “You’d better ask the old man… besides, I think that Red Claw will be a bit mad after this.”
“To patrol then…”
Ranma winked his eye and out they went through Nabiki’s window.
Indeed trouble was brewing and not that far away.
The night was an anticlimactic calm from the rest of the evening and as such Ranma and Ukyou found themselves bored. With all their extra energy, they found the old man in the park and asked him to help them train. He did most of the usual but as he was finishing their session, he handed a set of scrolls to them.
“It’s for you in case I cannot teach you directly he told them.” They were confused but said nothing more as it was time to prepare for class. Their special endowment had reduced their need for sleep so that they could go days maybe even weeks without a good night’s rest. Neither wanted to test the theory though. While they were preparing for school and feeding the kittens, another set of preparations were underway.
Quanghai Province…China
Taro was not the simple minded person he once was. There were very few things he needed and very few things he wanted. The one thing he wanted was for his name to be changed but without Happosai that was something that could not be arranged quite as easily. In China though, there he had found himself something to take his mind off his problems, or rather it had found him. It had come in the form of a little redhead girl and her companions as they camped out in the grounds near where he had been. When he had first seen them, he had paid them no attention since they had been of no consequence to him. They had nothing he wanted or desired at the moment. He had thoroughly ignored them that night and had settled down for a good night’s rest when his senses alerted him to something. It was close and he could feel its aura but he had never felt anything quite like it before in his wanderings. Instead of the vivid warmth of life, he felt a coldness creeping upon him. He waited until it was almost upon him; his heart beating with more excitement than anything else. He enjoyed a challenge once and a while and this was proving to be a little entertaining. He waited with baited breath until the thing was almost upon him before he reacted.
With a well-aimed uppercut, he caught it nodding and sent it careening into the air. He thought that would be the end of it but he wasn’t so lucky as it rose from where it had fallen. That was when his senses determined that something was a bit off. He looked down on his clothing where the creature had touched him and immediately smelt something sulfurous. The black ichor on his shirt was giving off a faint scent and it suddenly dawned on him that whatever it was, it was slowly eating away at his shirt. He ripped it off immediately, staring at his shirt as it began to dissolve. He checked himself and was glad to find none of the black ichor on his chest.
“You’re going to pay for that…” he had told the creature evenly as he finally gave his opponent the concentration it deserved.
It had the rags of a person but that was where the similarity to anything human ended. The clothes were ragged dirty and torn. They did not hide anything though he wished they did. Below the cloth he could see black and brown remnants of something hanging down in leaflets from the inside. When one fell with a thud on the ground like a beaten piece of leather, Taro could tell that it was flesh. It looked more like darkened smoked meat to him. Giving more careful observation he could see the bones protruding from beneath the hanging flesh. The ribs were very pronounced as were the hands but that gave no preparation for what he saw next. The mandible of the skull was intact but the skull had been shattered on one side as if from a bad fall: a likely way to die in the craggy country. Black ichor poured out from within the hole and ran down in rivulets down the face of the skull passing on the sides of the occipital holes down where remnants of the nose remained, dripping from the still attached fleshy chin. Taro shivered at the sight.
It was still walking towards him and he readied himself to attack it. Smelly, strange and weird or not, it attacked him and there was no way he wasn’t taking it down. It had ruined one of his shirts. Just as he prepared his assault though someone shouted. He was far enough away from it to stop and see if there was someone else attacking him. He turned to the side to see one of the girls he had seen, this one with lavender hair rushing up to him. Just when he expected her to make the final leap, she stopped abruptly less than five meters away from him. He had been expecting an attack and was confused when the girl lowered the bonbori she had raised over her head. That was when he heard the clash of metal coming from where he had last seen the creature. He swiveled his head being careful to keep the girl in the corner of his eye, only to see another girl, this time the redhead, in battle with the creature. He had no idea where the creature had found a sword but indeed it did have a sword in its hands. The redhead was beating it back with fierce strikes with her katana. As he watched he definitely saw bits and pieces of the creature falling to the side and turning into a black substance that boiled when it touched the earth. With a lighting strike, the redhead had severed the hand the creature held the sword with. Not wasting any time, the redhead followed up with a series of slicing strokes removing each limb from the other. Soon all that was left was a bubbling mass where the creature had stood. He eyed the two girls while frowning.
“Who are you and why did you disturb my fight!” he demanded in Cantonese.
“Look at your hand,” the redhead replied offhandedly while walking up to the next girl. He planned a brief glance to check what the girl was talking about. What he saw startled him. On his knuckles there was the same black ichor he had seen on his shirt except this time it was slowly making its way into his skin. He held his arm away from him and pulled out a knife, intending on extracting whatever that was from his hand.
“Wait,” the lavender girl told him in Chinese as she pulled out a handful of leaves from a pouch she carried at her side. She placed it on his knuckles and immediately his hand was gripped with pain. He punched her away and tried to rip the leaves away from his knuckles as the searing pain flashed in his mind once again. He glared at the two girls angrily as they watched, their faces totally passive. Soon the pain seared all down his shoulder and he lay there clutching his arm, fighting back the tears that had appeared in his eyes as his skin tingled and muscles burned. Then just as it had begun, the pain left him and the leaves fell from his fingers burning in the air leaving only ashes to touch the ground.
As he panted on the ground from the stress, he turned to look at the two girls. The redhead nodded to the lavender one and they began to walk away.
“Hey… who are you?” he panted after them, struggling to his feet. The redhead stopped and turned around.
“We were told to look for you and to give you a message. If you look in your tent, you will see it written on a small piece of paper.”
“Well what does it say?” he asked them irritated. He did not particularly like games.
“I don’t know, the pervert sent it for you,” she replied. He stood there confused for a moment until the truth dawned upon him.
Quickly, Taro dashed inside his tent and found the letter. He glanced over it quickly, the contents making is eyebrows raised in excitement. He hurried outside but found no trace of the two. He put his ear to the wind and listened and sure enough, he heard something moving in the distance. He knew where they were now. He followed the sound as he took to the trees. He knew that they were in the trees too and making enough noise for him to follow them. Either they did not think him an enemy or they were sloppy, he was opting for the former. Eventually he heard the crackling of a fire and sure enough just out of a glade of trees in a natural depression, they sat around a fire putting ingredients into a stew.
“What took you so long?” asked the lavender girl though she did not bother to look up.
“How did you know I would come?” he questioned.
“The pervert knew you would want to come see him,” she replied. He detected a note of distaste in her voice along with something that bordered on respect. He guessed people did tend to respect the pervert’s skill.
“We’ll go at dawn,” the other girl announced as she stirred the pot. There was something about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on but it was there all the same. She felt different. Very different. He would return tomorrow with them, this was getting interesting. He liked interesting; it relieved his boredom.
That was what he had thought many months ago. These days he was looking forward to a holiday. Shampoo, the lavender haired girl, had given him one since business had been slow. Business being slow. That was a joke. He figured business had moved. Ranma had a way of attracting the best business. Taro sat on the bow of the ship as it passed on the treacherous seas between the land of the rising sun and China. These seas had always protected Japan from the invaders due to the unreadable waters. Today’s modern ships made the journey much less dangerous.
He sat on the bow with his luggage, which was not much. He had been asked many times to go below by the captain but he had shrugged off the man’s suggestions. He liked the wind and the high breakers crashing against the side. The rocking boat made standing in one spot difficult, but he always liked a bit of a challenge. His bags were on his shoulder, each waterproofed: one containing a gift for a certain someone. Ranma did have a strange way with women and Shampoo had a strange fascination with the boy. What did he care though? He was just interested in a little break, actually a little action. Things had been on a low back in China and he somehow knew that it would be more interesting wherever Ranma was in Japan.
If Taro had bothered to slip below the hull of the ship he may have felt something worth his attention for someone else was on the same ship being spirited away to deal with his arch nemesis. He had been waiting, biding his time as he knew his enemy by the way his enemy lived. His nemesis hated being around a lot of people and in fact kept out of the social circuit except when something caught his eye. The hermit had left to go see someone. This left him wandering. Why would his nemesis go to Japan? That was intriguing. It excited him too.
Taro sat there watching the seas. The surf had increased tremendously and he was now being continually pounded by the surf. Maybe he ought to retire beneath the deck. The waterproof soap kept him in his normal form but with the sea spray, it would be gone in near minutes. He wondered what the crew would think of his cursed form. He smirked. Stupid idiots would probably abandon ship. There weren’t that many courageous fools around anyway. Frowning as he could feel the magic of the soap slipping he retreating below deck to a little room that was for his use. Idiot captain thought he would work while he was on the journey. They thought that he was some pretty boy who couldn’t defend himself. Of course, it hadn’t been the captain to approach him. No, he had to send the burliest of the crew to intimidate him. One bloody nose and mangled body later, Taro found himself with his own room and his friend who thought he could intimidate him was in the galley being patched up by the cook. As Taro lay back on the cot provided, his thoughts began to drift once again.
He stayed near the two girls for the night not wanting the old man to trick him once again. What was said was too good to be true! That promise the old man made would effectively give him what he wanted. There was a hidden catch there though. He knew that, the old man wouldn’t give up his favorite hobby for free. He wanted to go right away but the girls were not budging. Eventually he found himself a thick tree branch to spend the night on. He was already a light sleeper so there wasn’t a chance of them leaving without him knowing.
Something moving under him ticked off his danger sense. He was almost fully awake when a head peeped out from the foliage in front of him. It was the purple haired girl.
“Are you coming or are you going to sleep here all day?” she asked in mandarin. Taken by surprise, he would have fallen off of the tree if not for the fact that he had his legs wrapped tightly around the trunk. That the girl was currently upside down was also another fact to be taken into consideration. Unperturbed in his quest, Tarou righted himself with a growl and followed at an arm’s length away from the girls. By their dress he could tell that they were Amazons, he had had enough run ins with the bunch to give a little respect to their skills. These two were different from the others he had tangled with. They moved faster for one and their movements were more fluid, precise and efficient. Taro would never acknowledge it, but the girls’ lithe frame made it a lot easier for them to move though the trees and he could tell that he was falling slightly behind the pace that had been set. Normally that was not a problem but the trees here were thick sinuous and mossy; factors that did not gain him brownie points in the speed department.
To Taro’s delight the pair stopped at a clearing not far away. There were hardly any sounds from within the area but he could feel the air pulsing with the auras of many warriors. The girls did not pause as he did and jumped straight into the clearing. Taro stopped and took account of the situation he was in. He had not given the slightest effort into disguising his aura so even the most inept of those in the clearing below would have sensed his approach. As it were, they all ignored him. That plus the fact that he could barely see the pair in the sea of varying hair colours cemented his decision. He gracefully landed in the clearing and followed the path of the girls, his body at the ready lest the situation suddenly turn against his favour. He was slightly surprised when they continued to ignore him.
Up in front he saw the redhead pause at a tent before stepping in. He followed to the tent flap and with a final breath entered.
The tent was dimly lit and it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust but long before that he had sensed the stench in the air. It was the new odour he had been introduced to the day before, coupled with something else. It was coupled with death.
He finally began to understand what was happening as he walked into the midst of things. This was not a random gathering of Amazons, no, this had been a hunting party and he had a vague idea as to what they had been hunting. Warriors littered the tent. Some had parts missing, others, he could not tell their dilemma. Men ran to and fro between them nursing the women. In the furthest corner from the entrance, there was another flap indicating an adjoining tent. Seeing no sign of the two girls he presumed that they disappeared behind those flaps.
Whilst the women watched he opened the curtains and stepped inside.
If he had thought that the stench of death had hung heavily outside, here, inside this place, he could smell it. He could also sense the active ki being used in the tent. There was a group of people settled around something. Within their midst were the two girls. He pushed his way through the outer circle but the inner circle parted for him to see who was at the center. The old man was there all right, but this was the worst that Taro had ever seen him. His body was dying or already dead but the old man was using his vast reserves of ki to keep himself alive a bit longer.
“Pantyhose,” the old man croaked out.
Someone poked him in the back. Irritated, he turned around only to find a withered old crone pointing him forward. “He has not much time,” she reminded him.
Tentatively he walked forward to the shrunken old man who had been covered completely with thick rugs except for his head.
“Taro, I have a name for you,” he croaked. “If you kill the man with the red claw, you can take his name. Ranma-chan will show you who,” he whispered. “Ahh… to die with all these lovely beauties. It’s my…”
Then he whispered not another word.
The old man was not liked by many but he was respected for his fighting ability. His burial was a quick and solemn affair. Taro was a bit disappointed to see the old geezer go. True, the old man had been a pain but he had been a constant pain at that kind of constancy was almost a blessing. The redhead threw the last rock on the grave and Taro followed her into the back of another tent. Intent on finding out whom this Ranma character was, he went right in a few minutes after her. Again his eyes took a few milliseconds to adjust. A quick scan around room told him that there was no redhead in the tent. However, there was a black-haired boy crawling under a thin sheet.
“Hey you do you know where that redhead is?” he demanded. There was no response from the boy. Taro decided to enforce his question with an attempted kick to the boy’s ribs. Attempted because the said boy swiveled on his butt causing Taro’s kick to miss. The boy’s legs though were able to connect with those of his surprised target. Taro landed awkwardly and two swift dropkicks knocked his breath out.
“Name’s Ranma baka,” Ranma retorted. “Goodnight.”
The leg came back down and Taro said nothing more for a few hours.
Japan was still sometime away and then he had to travel to the place where Ranma would be. He would enjoy the action. Inevitably there would be action where Ranma would be.