Permanent 
Part 30
Darkness within...
Keiko stood with the help of her sword as the demon stood over her. Her dress 
was torn and tattered as the huge green thing laughed at her horribly. 
"Foolish little girl, you can not stand against me!"
"Damn!" she muttered as she swayed on her feet and held the sword in a defensive 
position. Her power was dwindling rapidly for reasons she could not explain as 
she stared the thing down angrily. "I'll fight you to the end monster!" she 
cried at the thing as she stood defiantly before it.
The creature merely stepped forward and found she was unable to move much, a 
perfect target. "Little fool, your energy is spent! Now you belong to me. I 
never thought it would be so simple to defeat the mighty Keiko; the most 
powerful of all demon hunters on this world."
"Just a little closer," thought the girl with an angry snarl appearing on her 
face. As the thing moved forward she jumped up and came down slashing at its 
face. The thing caught the blade easily and tossed the sword away behind it 
before grabbing her by the neck and squeezing.
Keiko stared the thing straight in its eyes and smiled darkly. "Go ahead and 
kill me then."
The monster showed its fangs in what could have been a smile. "Foolish girl, you 
know it won't be that easy for you."
Her eyes went wide as she felt things start to wrap themselves around her legs 
and arms. Something moved up her chest under her shirt and grabbed her breast 
roughly as another one moved towards her face in the same manner. "No!" She 
closed her eyes and struggled weakly.
The creature howled in pain suddenly and the tentacles pulled back away from her 
dropping her to the ground. Keiko never hit the ground. She found herself cupped 
protectively in someone's arms and opened her eyes. In front of her the demon 
screamed in agony as a glowing white paper burned the middle of its back. The 
boy holding her gently placed her on the ground and turned to smile at the 
thing.
"You should be more careful Keiko," he chuckled slightly and faced the thing 
again. "Aku ryo tai san."
The light from the paper suddenly became a pillar of light and the creature 
screamed in rage and agony as it seemed to disintegrate into the burning light 
that surrounded it.
Keiko stared at the boy and blushed. He was dressed in a dark blue school 
uniform and had a long ponytail that almost met the center of his back. His 
features where soft and handsome. He looked at her for a moment and started to 
walk away wordlessly. "Wait!"
He turned to face her and smirked. "What is it?"
"Um, thank you for saving me...again," she looked at the ground and played with 
the dirt with her toes.
"You should be more careful, your powers are growing weaker by the day. You need 
to find out why," he turned away from her again and was about to jump away.
She nodded and reached her hand out tentatively. "At least tell me your name!"
The boy turned and smiled at her again. "Ukyo." With that he vanished into the 
shadows again.
Keiko simply watched the shadow for a long moment before falling to her knees. 
"Wai!" Two large hearts seemed to appear in her eyes as she said this. She 
paused and looked down at her, the torn dress didn't leave anything to the 
imagination. "Ohmygod! He's seen me naked!" She blushed profusely and sighed. 
"Not that I mind."
 
Elsewhere in Tokyo, a girl sat listening in to the entire conversation over a 
set of headphones with a sick look on her face. "That idiot, she almost got 
herself killed and worse and she's dreaming about a boy."
"Auska! I can still hear you ya know!" scolded an angry voice over the other end 
of the line.
"Maybe that will teach you not to throw expensive equipment off the side of a 
roof!" retorted the girl smartly.
"I said I was sorry didn't I?" snapped the girl on the other end.
"That guy is right though, this thing with your powers has to be addressed."
Keiko nodded grimly. "I'll bet anything that Akane demon has something to do 
with it."
 
Akane Tendo stood on the roof of the Tendo home and sighed. Gosunkugi had given 
her a charm to help disguise her demonic blood and if anything the attacks had 
gotten worse. "This is getting out of hand." She sat down to watch the sunrise 
and sighed. "What am I gonna do?" A light sound on the other side of the roof 
caught her attention and she smiled.
"Hello Kuno, how are things?" 
"Akane, I just came by to see how the charm was working," replied the boy 
gently. She could hear him ruffling his wings nervously behind her.
"It doesn't work very well. In fact, I think the attacks have gotten worse," 
replied the girl simply.
"How unfortunate," said the boy as he sat down next to her and stared at the sky 
as it changed colors slowly.
"You're telling me? I'm afraid I might be forced to kill one of them soon. I'm 
doing all right now, but..." she trailed off and remembered the battle with 
Keiko only a week before.
"If things keep escalating this way..." finished Kuno with a nod. "Do not worry 
Akane, things should go our way soon."
"I hope you're right," agreed the girl nervously.
 
Ryoga Hibiki stood at the door to the Cat Café with Mousse sitting next to him 
on the steps. The cat was currently licking himself clean and Ryoga simply 
watched with mild interest.
"I don't see how you can do that. It's gross," he commented after a moment as 
Mousse paid attention to his more personal areas.
The cat looked up at him and pushed its tiny glasses up its nose. "Niyou"
"Whatever," replied the former lost boy as he glanced up the street and blinked.
Hikaru Gosunkugi was walking down the street with a book under his arm. Ryoga 
lifted his arm and waved to him. "Hey, what's up! I haven't seen you in a 
while."
The boy turned to look at him and smiled nervously. "Uh, yeah. I've been kind of 
busy."
"Really? I guess I have too. How have you..." Ryoga trailed off and looked at 
the ground in surprise. "What's with the weird shadow?"
Gosunkugi blinked and stared at him in shock. "Uh, I messed up a spell. Still 
haven't figured out how to make it go away."
The other boy nodded and looked him up and down. "Really? You look... 
different."
"Really? How so?" laughed the sorcerer nervously.
"I'm not sure, you just do," Ryoga could tell something was strange about the 
boy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
"Umm, thanks I guess..." said the boy as he lifted his arm to wave goodbye and 
dropped the books he was carrying in the process. "Damn, I forgot I've only got 
the one arm..."
This caught Ryoga by surprise as well. "How could he forget something like 
that?" He kept his thoughts to himself as the boy wandered off.
Once Gosunkugi was out of sight he turned to walk into the restaurant. A soft 
mew stopped him. Ryoga looked down at the cat and smirked. "I'm not sure, but 
something is up."
 
Gosunkugi shook of the strange nervousness that had come over him while talking 
to Ryoga; "What was that about? I wonder why he's the only one who's noticed 
this strange shadow so far? I'll have to be careful around him." He blinked and 
stopped walking for a moment. "Why would I need to be careful around him?" He 
couldn't think of a single reason. "Still, it might be a good idea anyway..."
 
Genma Saotome sat peacefully in a field of bamboo shoots. He raised his arm and 
plucked down another one of the plants and began to chew lazily. He had been 
this way for almost two weeks now, hiding out from his son. Now he had only to 
wait a short while longer while the boy forgot about whatever it was that made 
him so angry recently. He froze when a familiar voice came from behind him.
"Hello Pop."
Genma Saotome started to scream desperately as he charged forward away from the 
voice. He froze when he ran directly into the path of a very familiar redhead.
"You don't really think you can hide from me do you?" the girl gave him a small 
smile and the animal fell back onto its seat.
"Growf."
 
Cologne sat across from Ranma and her father as the girl interrogated him 
mercilessly. The animal howled in pain from time to time from the shocks she 
kept giving him. It had started out civil enough, but deteriorated rapidly when 
Genma refused to give a satisfactory answer on why the girl had been so angry 
with him.
"Her own father, it's inhuman!" gasped Ko li in horror as she sat down next to 
the woman.
Talcum smiled to herself as she her seat opposite her. "Stupid man get what 
deserve. Is lazy male anyway."
"I'm quite proud of her," agreed Cologne.
 
About a half-hour later Ranma glared at the smoking form of her father as he lay 
passed out on the ground. She cursed in frustration and turned away. This was 
more than her father just not wanting to tell her, he would have broken down 
long before this occurred if it was that simple. She couldn't even take the 
memory from his mind, it was a dangerous procedure to try; but she was getting 
desperate. Something was hiding Ukyo Kuonji's past from her, something powerful. 
She wanted to know who and why.
She balled her hands up into fists as she realized that she had the opportunity 
to ask, and didn't. Somehow she had forgotten about the question. She could feel 
the magical pull trying to make her forget about even being curious about her. 
"Ucchan... what's going on here?"
Outside the Cat Café a cloaked figure stood on the rooftop of the opposite 
building. Long golden locks of hair flowed from his hood as he stared at the 
building in front of him coolly. "Ranma Saotome, you could interfere with my 
plans. I think I need to distract you." He chuckled to himself as he turned 
away. "I think I have just the thing..."
 
The next day Ranma stood at the gates of Furinkan as she did everyday. Beside 
her Akane stood relatively quietly as the walked together into the crowd of 
students. Not much had happened on school grounds since those first days when 
Ranma had shown up. Kuno was under his tree, and Ryoga was walking a short 
distance behind the two girls.
"How are things going Akane?" said Ranma as they converged with Kuno under the 
tree.
"Well enough at home. I'm having some rough nights though," commented the girl 
with a heavy sigh.
Ranma raised her eyebrow and frowned. "Rough nights? Those magical girls are 
still giving you trouble?"
"It's getting worse," commented Ryoga darkly. Akane nodded and moved closer to 
the boy's side.
"I'm getting worried," she said quietly.
"And no one thought to tell me about this?" snorted Ranma indignantly. "Don't 
worry Akane, I think I can get you some help."
The girl blinked and stared at her in shock. "Uh, thanks?"
"Ryoga, you're going out with her tonight," said Ranma coolly.
The former lost boy hung his head and groaned. "Yes ma'am."
Ranma furrowed her brow slightly at this, but let it pass. She blinked and 
looked around. "Has anyone seen Gosunkugi around? I haven't seen him in weeks. 
He must be done with those books I gave him now." She blushed slightly, she had 
been so busy lately that she had almost forgotten about the boy and his 
progress.
She paused when Ryoga looked surprised and shook his head. "Hazy...I remember 
something..." he muttered to himself.
Ranma reached out her hand and frowned deeply at what she found. "Another 
protection spell? On who? This is a big one too..." 
 
"Hey armpit girl!" said a cheerful looking girl in a high school uniform as she 
ran up to Kara. She was currently waiting on her companions inside a secret 
underground base that rested under a pizza parlor.
"Stop calling me that Umi! It's Sailor Betelgeuse!" snapped the girl angrily. 
"Whatever, I've got better things to do than sit around talking about brain dead 
youma," snorted the shorthaired girl in reply.
The longhaired blonde who entered behind her frowned. "But, Stella said it was 
important!"
"Well, it had better be miss no name," agreed the girl with long dark hair who 
followed in behind the other girls.
"Waaahhhh! You're so mean Tsuki! It's not my fault no one named my star!" the 
girl promptly fell into a fit of tears there on the ground.
"Hurry up and apologize so we can get this over with, there's a cute guy 
upstairs," said the voice of the final team member who had just entered at that 
moment. She had long blonde hair done up in ponytails.
"Sorry, Rei," snorted the girl indifferently.
"Ok!" chimed the blonde cheerfully.
"That's enough, this is serious work tonight girls," said the small pink rodent 
who appeared in the room suddenly.
"Hey Stella, what's up?" asked the lead girl.
"Hikari, pay close attention. Our target tonight is very dangerous," the animal 
clicked a few buttons on a keypad and frowned. An image of Akane Tendo holding 
Keiko over the edge of a roof appeared on screen.
"Hey! It's that girl!" gasped Hikari in shock.
"Yes. Her name is Akane Tendo; she's a powerful demon. Strong enough to defeat 
the demon hunter known as Keiko." The animal nodded to itself solemnly.
"Defeat Keiko?" gasped Umi in shock.
"She survived, another demon hunter managed to pull her out in time. Her powers 
are slowly deteriorating though. We believe this demon has something to do with 
it. That's why she must be destroyed." The animal sighed and hung its head down 
low.
"Kami! A demon that can drain a magical girl? That's impossible!" snapped 
Hikari.
"Apparently not, and she's not regaining her powers according to the report I 
was given. They are slowly fading away." The animal gave the girls a hard glare 
and turned to face them. "You absolutely must be prepared, this is not something 
we take lightly."
The girls in the room filed out the door slowly and went about their day. That 
night they would converge at the usual spot and begin the hunt.
Keiko glared at herself in the mirror. The sword was in her hand and she glared 
deeply into her own eyes. "I must destroy her." Her hatred boiled up inside her; 
she could see it in the deep glassy pools of blue staring back at her. She felt 
the power drain from her body again and almost fell forward. 
Terror crossed her features as she stabilized herself with the blade and stared 
into the mirror again. "I've got to hurry. I can still beat her, but soon..."
 
Outside the window a familiar golden haired figure stood shrouded in the 
shadows. He gave a heavy sigh and shook his head gently as a look of mournful 
sorrow crossed his features. "My child, you still do not understand."
Far, far away...
The polar ice caps shifted and groaned as the ocean beat on them mercilessly. 
Chunks of ice fell away into the sea floating away from the violent edge of the 
frozen walls that stretched for miles in every direction. 
If one listened closely as one of the larger icebergs floated by it could be 
said that the sound of laughter could be heard. A faint cruel sound, yet somehow 
strangely familiar.
Ranma Saotome sat upright in bed as a cold sweat covered her body. She gasped 
for breath and stared at the wall blankly as the dream ended. "He's coming," she 
gasped.
"Who's coming?" said a familiar voice from behind her. Ranma turned her head and 
saw Talcum sitting behind her with a worried look on her face.
"No one, just a bad dream," said the redhead as she relaxed slightly.
The amazon moved close and put her arm around her. "Is very bad dream?"
"Bad enough to wake you up?" said Ranma wryly as the look of fear vanished from 
her features almost instantaneously. 
"Could not sleep," replied the girl with a shrug. She kissed Ranma on the cheek 
lightly. "Is going to be ok?"
The ponytailed girl nodded her head grimly as the Amazon gave her a small 
squeeze and released her from the hug she had her trapped in.
Talcum paused and looked back at Ranma again. The girl was watching her leave 
quietly. "Ranma?"
"Yeah?" said the redhead quietly.
Talcum slowly turned around and walked forward. She moved down to her knees and 
sat in front of the girl for a long moment. "I..."
"Is something wrong?" said Ranma as she raised her eyebrow slightly. She was 
more than a little uncomfortable with the situation.
"Wo ai ni!" muttered the Amazon as she pushed herself forward into Ranma's arms 
and kissed her deeply. They fell to the ground as Talcum put her tongue into the 
shocked girl's mouth.
The ponytailed girl shoved gently upward breaking the kiss with a shocked and 
embarrassed look on her face. "What the? We can't...uh..."
The amazon ignored her and forced herself down again kissing Ranma fiercely. 
This time, there was no resistance.
TBC...
Next time: Magical Girl Explosion!
Notes: Yes folks, I've been hinting at this for a while now if you didn't 
notice. Talcum was in fact, created for this role. You'll see Cologne and Ko li 
making little comments that hint towards this throughout the whole series.
The magical girl story line is about to come to a head, and it leads into a 
story that involves Gosunkugi as well.
If you've been paying attention you should know what the deal with the iceberg 
is, and there's another very nasty surprise for Ranma on the way. Something that 
our golden haired friend has cooked up to keep her busy, and out of his hair. It 
just might work too!
Until next time! 
Ja!
 
            Coming Up on Yahoo! Chat 



            More...


                  Tomb Raider! 
                  Join us for a webcast and live chat from the set of next 
                  summer's most anticipated film - Tomb Raider! It all takes 
                  place on Thursday, November 9th at 2:30pET/11:30aPT 
                  (8:30pGMT). It is your one chance for an exclusive sneak peek 
                  at the production from Pinewood Studios in London. Chat with 
                  the film's producer Lloyd Levin, stunt co-ordinator Simon 
                  Crane, production designer Kirk Petrucelli and more! 
                  Coming Up on Yahoo! Chat 


            [Close]


            undefined
            [Close]