Permanent 
Part 35
Weight of the soul.
Ranma stared at the remains of Akane's sister emotionlessly while the family 
wept around her. "She's gone."
"You mean there's nothing you can do?" said Soun in shock.
"Whatever did this to your sister, absorbed her life energy completely. There's 
nothing I can do." 
Akane rushed up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders roughly. Ranma merely 
stared at her quietly not giving any signs of emotion. 
"You can't mean that! There has to be some way..."
For a brief moment Ranma's face looked like she might show some compassion. 
"Come on Ryoga."
Akane looked at her friend in shock as she whirled around and started towards 
the door. Her familiar stood silently and obeyed. "Where are we going?"
"To report this, a soul eater in the area is not something to be taken lightly. 
After the counsel knows about this we're going to hunt the damn thing down and 
destroy it."
"I will accompany you," said Kuno as he stood up and attempted to compose 
himself somewhat. He kept up the stride with them and made his way towards the 
door.
"Don't get in my way or I'll kill you," said Ranma. "Akane, don't even think 
about following this time. I don't need him feeding off your powers and getting 
worse than he already is. He's still human, so far." With that said the three 
walked out the doors and left the Tendos alone with the body of their daughter.
Akane was confused and angry at the reaction her best friend had given her dead 
sister. She simply walked into the room, and stated that she was dead, nothing 
more. A small worm of betrayal moved into her heart for a moment. She quickly 
crushed it, Ranma was taking this very seriously, and the last time she had 
acted the way she was now was inside the Kuno mansion. Whatever had done this to 
her sister, it's days were numbered. 
 
 
A short time later Ranma sat in front of a green crystal in a small open field. 
A beam of light shined upwards from the tip with an image of a man sitting in a 
throne like chair looking back at her.
"Ah, the lovely sorceress Saotome! What can I do for you?"
"We have a soul eater," said Ranma mechanically.
The man sat up with a look of alarm on his face. "It's been some time since I've 
seen you this serious. Are you certain of this?"
"I examined the body of a victim no more than an hour old."
"This could complicate things. Is the young Tendo girl involved?" the man leaned 
forward in his chair impatiently awaiting more information.
"Unfortunately yes, I don't need your orders to protect her though," said Ranma 
coolly.
"She must be kept saf..."
"I don't work for you Ju Wei. I have my own reasons for protecting her. Stay out 
of my way and keep your lackeys at a distance." 
"Sensitive spot is it? The counsel won't stand for..."
"I represent the counsel in this area Ju Wei. My powers are far too strong for 
you to oppose without coming here personally."
"There's no need for that Ranma. I wasn't implying it; it's just that the elders 
are going to need more information. A high-class seraphim, a full demon, several 
other smaller mishaps and that nasty collection of books you have. Some of them 
are getting restless, your collection is almost as great as most of the elder's 
libraries. People are starting to wonder where all of this activity is coming 
from."
"I know you've been watching this area carefully. Want to tell me why?"
"Something about that Tendo girl is pissing off a lot of factions. I don't mean 
just human factions either. Something big is brewing that's unlocking lost magic 
that's been sealed away for millennia. I don't like it. Neither does most of the 
counsel."
"I'll keep that in mind, but I can't ignore the current threat. A soul eater is 
no small matter. He'll just get stronger if we don't stop him now."
"Sending devil hunters after something like that would be a bad idea. I'll send 
someone just in case."
"Don't send a novice this time. Akane was lucky to get away from what happened 
to that poor fool. The magic in his system is probably what caused this mess 
with her in the first place."
"I'll remember that, no point in taking chances after all," said the man 
casually. "Just make sure they aren't needed and we don't have anything to worry 
about do we?"
"I won't fail," said Ranma coldly.
"I'm sure you won't. Just make sure it's destroyed." 
Ranma nodded.
"I understand you've taken on a pupil? How is our boy doing?"
"He's been running around with that Kuonji girl ever since the angel was sealed. 
I understand you've been keeping her busy."
"An old friend of yours I understand, they are doing well together. Keiko has 
dropped out of sight though, that's not good."
"I'm sure we'll hear about her soon enough," said Ranma.
"Watch yourself Saotome."
"I don't have too, I've got you for that."
"True enough, how is Cologne these days anyway? Have the Amazons been giving you 
much trouble?"
"They've been quite helpful, I am one of them now after all."
"I know," said the man with a slight chuckle. Ranma raised her eyebrow slightly 
at this and said nothing. "Any particular reason you're contacting me away from 
home?"
"I'll bet you already know the details, but I've got problems at home right now 
that I can't deal with at the moment."
"You've got quite a few connections these days, we'd love to get our hands on 
some of those treasures of theirs, those that weren't stolen or lost anyway. 
You'd think they'd be more careful with magical items like those."
"Goodbye, Ju Wei." Ranma ended the transmission and grabbed the crystal from its 
place. She casually placed it inside her shirt and turned to where Ryoga and 
Kuno were sitting nearby. "It's time to go."
Ryoga opened his eyes; he was sitting in a lotus position opposite Kuno and the 
glow died down around his body. "Did you get up to speed?"
Ranma looked at him for a moment before she spoke. "We've got to kill it of 
course."
"Does she always give this sort of information?" asked Kuno skeptically. His 
impatience was evident as he rustled his wings.
Ryoga nodded in reply. "The counsel is very secretive, I've never even seen a 
member."
The boy nodded in reply and started to walk towards the street nearby.
Ukyo Kuonji climbed out of the sewer covered in grime and dirt. The sun had long 
since risen and it was a beautiful sight for him. "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming!" snapped Hikaru as he scurried out behind him. "It wasn't my fault 
damn it!"
"You're just lucky that's all," replied the demon hunter as he buttoned up his 
shirt again.
"I've got to get home, my parents are gonna kill me!" cried the boy as he looked 
at his watch.
"Just make sure you live long enough for me to kill you," snorted his companion 
as he replaced the spear on his back. 
"Yeah, see you later tonight I guess?"
"Don't be late this time," snapped Ukyo as he tuned and walked away. His 
thoughts quickly went off in another direction. "She's coming? I wonder what she 
meant by that?" The summoner had nearly killed them both, but that didn't bother 
him as much as the information she had gotten from her. "Maybe I should talk to 
Ranma about this? She's a pretty strong sorceress after all...after I get some 
sleep first."
 
 
 
Hikaru almost crawled towards his home. His body was incredibly sore and he 
didn't have much energy left. "I never thought magic would be this hard. I don't 
know if I ever would have started had I known all this. I'd be perfectly happy 
as a nobody now, if I could ever go back to that."
Still, the long nights with his new friend seemed to make him feel strangely 
accomplished. Things were still looking up from where he was standing now. Aside 
from being possessed by an angel, and having his arm cut off, he felt pretty 
good about himself. "Who am I kidding?" muttered the boy as he struggled onward 
down the street.
 
 
 
 
Darkness surrounded him as he waited in the shadows. Another dead alley cat husk 
fell from his hands. His energy reserves were full at the moment, but it 
wouldn't last long. He giggled to himself as he remembered the look on the Tendo 
girl's face as he planted himself between her breasts and pulled her life force 
out of her. It was eerily reminiscent of the polar bears he had been forced to 
drain in the frozen north before the cold finally got to him.
This new power was strong, but dangerous. He hadn't meant to kill her, it had 
just happened. Still, it was the only way he could survive at the moment. 
Happosai curled up into a ball in the corner of the alleyway he was sitting in 
and sighed. The way he was now, he could certainly exact his revenge. The pretty 
girls wouldn't care too much for him now though. He wasn't exactly sure he could 
go back to the way things were before though. Strangely enough, that suited him 
fine for the moment. It wasn't as much fun, but he could now get just as much 
energy from males, even ugly people would fall victim to him now.
"Ranma, I'll make you pay for what you did to me!" He stood up and let his aura 
burn around him. "You'll never escape me now!"
 
 
 
"Ranma, what happened to that old man? Did he get possessed or something?" Ryoga 
had an uncomfortable look about him as he walked up next to her.
"No, it's far worse than that," replied the girl.
"Worse? How so?" said Kuno in shock. He had been understandably quiet up until 
this point.
"He used to get his energy from perversion. Young girls and the residual 
feminine energy from underwear would have been enough to keep him going. We sent 
him somewhere where there was no energy like that. I think he went into 
withdrawal and instead of getting better or dying...his body adapted so that he 
could pull the life energy from any living thing. I don't think it did anything 
to help his sanity."
"So this is our fault?" said Ryoga with a horrified look crossing his face.
"I doubt it, in ten or fifteen years the underwear would have stopped working 
anyway and he'd have figured it out. We just accelerated the process a bit." 
"You realize that Akane will not stay long," said Kuno with a neutral look on 
his face.
"I know, her father might show up as well. I want you to keep them out of the 
way if they do show up Kuno. Your job is to keep them safe if they follow us." 
Ranma didn't look back at the boy as she said this.
"I thought it was a little unusual for you to let him tag along this time," 
commented Ryoga.
"I will have my revenge," snapped the older boy.
"Fine, just let me worry about him first; or else he'll just drain you and use 
the energy against us. I don't want Akane's power getting absorbed by him 
either. We're all in trouble if that happens."
"Why is that?" said Ryoga with a slightly fearful look on his face.
"Because the demonic power sleeping inside her will turn him into a true 
succubus. An energy vampire so to speak, immortal and nearly invincible."
Both boys paled at this.
 
"Akane, are you coming?" said Soun as he stood by the door with a stern looking 
frown on his face.
"Yes father," said the girl as she hefted the traveling pack onto her shoulders. 

"I realize that this Saotome girl is your friend Akane, but she is the cause of 
all of this. Directly or not, I will not stand by while she continues to make 
things worse."
"Do what you have to father," said the girl simply. The look on her face was one 
of barely held back anger. "I'm going to kill that pervert myself, no matter 
what the cost!"
"Good luck father, sister," said Kasumi as she bowed to them as they left. 
"Please, just come home safely."
"Don't worry Kasumi, Ranma knows I'm coming after her. She'll keep us safe."
Soun frowned at this, but said nothing. "We cannot rely on her daughter," he 
thought to himself as he walked out the door. 
 
 
"Where is my daughter in law?" asked Nodoka as she sat at a table in the Cat 
Café with the Amazons. 
"To be honest I'm not sure, she can take care of herself. The demon outside is 
not something we should be risking to look for her," said Cologne.
"Demon?" Nodoka gasped.
"Ranma too strong for monster!" said Talcum as she comforted the woman and 
gently pushed her down into her seat.
"I see...this is why it was so urgent for her to leave?"
The three Amazon's nodded.
"I will await her return then." The Saotome woman sat down at the table and 
sipped at her tea.
"Don't worry, if anyone can take care of that thing, its Ranma," said Ko li 
cheerfully.
"You two are my daughter in law's sisters?"
"No, is Ranma's lover!" snapped Talcum.
Nodoka blinked and looked at the pair in shock. "You were my son's mistresses?"
"No ma'am. Talcum is your daughter in law's lover," said Ko li with an 
embarrassed blush.
Nodoka looked at her for a moment and blinked again. "Pardon?"
"Ranma swear never love man, so stay with Talcum now," said the girl with a 
shrug.
"Oh my," said Nodoka with a heavy blush appearing on her cheeks.
"The laws concerning such things are different in our village my dear," 
comforted Cologne as she pat the shocked woman on her shoulder.
"What big deal is?" said Talcum obliviously.
"I'll never have grandchildren!" sobbed Nodoka as she pushed her face into her 
hands.
"Oh, dear," muttered Ko li in a deadpan voice.
 
TBC...
Next time: Happy Hunting!
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL Http://www.geocities.com/misatira/
 
First off you may notice that the Counsel is going to have a part in this story 
in the near future. I also heavily hinted that I've been hiding some major 
things about Ranma. Hell, I blatantly told you.
Secondly, you may notice that several things appear out of nowhere in this fic. 
Especially concerning Gosunkugi and Ukyo. Fans of this series should rejoice 
then! A new Mini series side-story will begin this weekend! "Devil Hunter Ukyo 
and the Master of Beasts!"
I've been getting a lot of questions asking about where she's been. This had 
been planned for some time now, but I just didn't have time to write it yet. 
Ukyo will be rejoining the mainstream cast very soon though.
Look for the new story on Sunday night! 
Ja!
 
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