Permanent Part 29 Demons and Wizards. Ranma Saotome sat at a table in the back corner of the Cat Café. Her father had not yet returned from wherever it was he was hiding and the magical objects still prevented her from looking into Ukyo Kuonji's past in any way. "Whoever it is, they are powerful indeed," noted Cologne. "There isn't anyone this powerful nearby, I would have known about it," said Ranma coolly. "You think someone this strong can't hide themselves if they want too?" commented the old woman carefully. "You're right about that, but I wonder what Ukyo has to do with someone like this?" Ranma leaned her head into her palms and thought for a long moment. "I just don't get it." "Perhaps it is not Ukyo they seek?" Cologne left her alone after this and went off into the kitchen. "That can't be though, Ukyo and I haven't seen each other in years. I'd hardly call her friendly either. Something is up here..." she rested her head into her arms and muttered unhappily at the new problem. "Is sister Ranma all right?" chirped Talcum as she walked over to the girl. "Not really," admitted Ranma. "I can't figure this out. Why is someone blocking Ukyo out? What's the connection?" "Why no just ask?" said the girl cheerfully. "Sure, if he decides to come back and speak to me again I'll bring it up," muttered Ranma sarcastically. "Ok, is sitting right over there," Talcum pointed to the other side of the restaurant where Ukyo was eating a bowel of Ramen. Kuno stood at the door of the Gosunkugi home and sighed. Hikaru's parents had met him at the door and were standing in shock as they looked at him. "May I speak to your son?" "Uh huh," said the man dumbly. "Kuno, uh... what's up man?" said the boy as he walked down the stairs and met him. "I am growing concerned. It's about Akane, can we talk alone?" the kendoist stepped into the house ruffling his wings as he went by the two adults. Inside his room Hikaru cleared a few books off of his bed so they could sit down. "You're worried about Akane?" Kuno nodded. "Yes, she is complaining about so called magical girls. They see her as an enemy and attack her in the night." The boy looked away uncomfortably at the mention of Akane. "Well, she is part demon you know." "True, but hardly an evil force. These attacks are growing in number and frequency and that worries me." Kuno looked out the window as he spoke. "Something is going on my friend." "Magical forces have been building in Nerima ever since Ranma showed up," commented Hikaru sagely. "You believe him to be the cause of this?" Kuno looked slightly worried. Gosunkugi merely shook his head. "No, to be honest with you, I think she's more of an effect than a cause." "Meaning?" Kuno was not very comfortable at the moment with the way the boy was speaking. "Something shifted, Nerima became a hot house of trouble. Ranma was attracted by that force, along with anything else that has showed up recently." "Hot house? What are you talking about?" Kuno was more than a little worried by the boy's words. "Well, I read about it in one of the books Ranma gave me a while back. There are trouble spots all over the world. They shift from place to place and stay for a few years or so. While they stay in a place things go nuts, all sorts of interesting things will happen. Demons, monsters, aliens, you name it. Apparently one of these magical fields of chaos has settled on Nerima." The boy tapped his fingers on a leather bound tome and sighed. "Unfortunately the more people in an area the worse the chaos is, and Japan as you know is pretty densely populated; especially near Tokyo." "This is not a good thing," said the winged boy flatly. "It's not really all that bad, many people forget that chaos swings both ways. However bad it gets, it'll get just as much positive energy as negative. It's just a matter of which way the last swing goes." Gosunkugi chuckled to himself. "How do we push it in the right direction?" said Kuno seriously. "We can't, the best we can do is hope for the best." Gosunkugi smiled broadly and turned back to his book. "Very well, I do have a request for you though," the smaller boy looked up at Kuno with an odd interest in his face. "What could that be?" he asked. "I want you to find a way for Akane Tendo to hide her demonic blood from these 'magical girls'," Kuno frowned as he said this. "I don't have anything off the top of my head, but I'll look into it. Why don't you go to Ranma with this? She's a better sorceress, and she'd be more than happy to help out Akane." Gosunkugi looked surprised and flattered that Kuno had chosen him. "Saotome has problems of his own," replied the boy simply. "Sure thing, I'll look into it like I said," replied the boy simply with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Good Day Gosunkugi," said Kuno as he walked out of the room. As he walked down the stairs he stopped and blinked as the decoration in the house had changed almost completely. All sorts of religious themes and decorations adorned the walls and various bibles and important religious text were thrown out on the coffee table. Both of the boy's parents were staring at him nervously and trying to act like they were reading the bible intently. Kuno paused by the front door and looked back at them, he wondered for a moment if he should tell them that he wasn't a real angel. After a moment he simply walked out of the home and went on his way. Ukyo sat across from Ranma and smiled at her weakly. "Hello Saotome." "Ukyo," replied the red head as she shifted slightly in her seat. After a long moment of silence between them Ranma spoke up. "We need to talk Kuonji." "We sure do honey," agreed the boy. Ranma ignored his informality and raised her hand. "First off, what in the world did my father do to you to get you so mad at me?" This caught Ukyo by surprise. "You really have no idea?" Ranma grit her teeth and shook her head from side to side slowly. "Well, I guess I can't really blame you then can I?" replied the girl with a smile. "I guess not, but still. I'd like to know Ukyo," said the girl guiltily. He gave her a wry grin and chuckled. "Well Ranchan, that's in the past. I'm convinced you didn't have anything to do with it. Let's just forget about it all right?" Ranma blinked and stood up in her chair she wasn't sure if she should be happy or just frustrated. "Ucchan?" "See you around Ranchan, I'm going to be hanging around town for a while." The Okonomiyaki chef walked out the door after placing her money on the table in front of Ranma. The redhead stared blankly at the money and smiled to herself. This didn't mean that she'd stop trying to find out about what had happened, but it did take quite a bit of the pressure away from it. Talcum ran up to her and threw her arms around her neck. "Is so happy for sister! Now you having friend back again!" "Uh yeah," agreed Ranma nervously. Ko li emerged from the kitchen and noticed the joyous hug. "Well, what have we here? Plans going well elder?" She raised her eyebrow and noticed Cologne smoking her pipe next to the counter. "What plans do you mean dearie?" cackled the old woman quietly. Akane Tendo was roaming the streets of Nerima yet again. Things had become relatively quiet at school, and at home. The nightlife was always exciting. Her cloak ruffled in the wind behind her as she spun acrobatically through the air avoiding the blows of her chief rival among the various magical girl circles. "Damn it Keiko, what the hells the matter with you! There are people down there!" screamed Akane as she caught a large iron support beam that the girl had cut in an attempt to crush her. "Silence devil! What do you care about them!?" snarled the girl as she spun around and slashed her long sword in an arc that cut the beam in half and sent Akane flying across the rooftop. "I'm beginning to wonder that about you," muttered Akane under her breath as the girl charged her again and was pushed back by a quick combination of punches and kicks. "Damn monster!" screamed the girl as she was rocked back by a hard right to her face. There was no real damage, but it hurt quite a bit. Keiko spun around and performed an aerial kick to counter Akane's they met in the air and the Tendo girl was knocked away. She hit the ground hard and almost tumbled over the edge of the roof, she caught herself and peered over the edge. Akane rolled and tried to get to her feet, unfortunately Keiko was up first. She found the blade pointed at her neck. "You are beaten, it is useless to resist." Akane grit her teeth and kicked her leg out knocking the blade away. She was on Keiko in an instant viciously punching the girl repeatedly in the body and face. "I am sick of this! Leave me alone you psycho!" She punctuated each word with a fist and at the last word Keiko's grip on her sword was lost. It clattered to the ground and Akane grabbed her by her neck and lifted her into the air. The magical girl smirked as she hung from the demon's grip. She had been utterly defeated in the end, now she would die flung off the edge of a building by the thing. Akane glared at her hatefully with her eyes glowing yellow in the shadows of the cloak. "How can you be so careless?" screamed Akane as she dangled the girl off the edge of the roof. "Somebody could have been hurt by that beam! Maybe I should just make sure you can't hurt anyone else!" "Go ahead and kill me demon," spat the girl hatefully as she glared her in the eyes. "You're foolish to believe you can hunt demons with this much hatred," said Akane as she returned the gaze purposefully Keiko stopped and a sudden fear welled up in her eyes. "What?" Akane shifted her grip and brought her back onto the roof. "I'm not going to kill you fool. Go home." She was about to drop the girl on the ground when a searing pain erupted in her arm. "AKU RYO TAI SAN!"* Akane fell to her knees in pain as a savagely burning cut appeared on her arm followed by a white light that almost blinded her completely. Keiko found herself sprawling across the pavement as Akane grabbed her arm and flailed back from the strange glowing object that stuck in the ground. She felt her sword return to her hand after sliding a few feet across the ground and stood in a battle ready pose. Stuck into the ground was a small white rectangle of white paper with familiar kanji written across it. "What the?" "Where?" The magical girl glanced around and frowned when she realized Akane was no longer there. "It seems she's escaped me. Next time she won't be so lucky," said a new voice from above. Keiko spun around on her heels and gasped at the man who stood above her. He was silhouetted in the moonlight and his hair blew dramatically in the wind. A small mask covered his features and a single ward fluttered gently in his hand as he smiled down at her. "Don't give up hope, you'll get her sooner or later." With that said he dashed away across the rooftops. "Who the?" Keiko looked over the edge of the roof and remembered her near death experience moments before. Her mind wandered to the mysterious and handsome stranger who had rescued her from the demon's grasp. He was very soft spoken and very elegant looking. Two large hearts appeared in her eyes. "Cool." "Keiko! What's going on? Who was that? Keiko! Did you meet another cute boy? Damn it Keiko! Answer me you ditz!" the magical girl frowned and took the headset out of her hear as her partner squawked angrily. She tossed it over the edge of the roof and sighed. "Who was that guy? He was a babe!" Akane sat in the shadows and growled to herself as the girl finally wandered away. Whatever it was the stranger threw at her, it hurt a lot. More than anything else she'd ever felt. This was not good. "Damn, why doesn't this get any easier?" She slipped away into the darkness and retreated home. TBC... Next time: Ukyo opens shop! Ranma catches up with her father! And Ryoga actually gets a part again! C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com URL: Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203/ * A common ward to exorcise demons. Sailor Mars uses the phrase from time to time when she uses her spell wards. [It's what the Kanji on them says] undefined undefined More... undefined [Close] undefined [Close]