The Shadows

by The Altered Destinies

sequel to The Letters, Ukyou is dying, but that's just the beginning of bad things to come as an odd occult force turns Ranma's life upside-down.

THE SHADOWS
by Erin Mills
based on characters created by Rumiko Takahashi

Excerpt from the "Tokyo Daily Herald", April 27

"GRAVE ROBBER CAPTURED"
Nerima district police apprehended one Ranma Saotome at the
Nerima Community Graveyard last night. Saotome, 17, was allegedly
breaking into the grave of a Ukyou Kuonji. According to sources,
Saotome was babbling that Kuonji was still alive and that he was
trying to prove it.
Ukyou Kuonji, a local restauranteur, died three weeks ago. When
asked why he thought she was still alive, Saotome replied "Because
I've seen her..."

From the Journal of Akane Tendo

April 27

Ranma's been arrested! I know he's been acting strangely, but I
didn't think he'd go this far.
Wait, calm down, you're getting ahead of yourself, begin at the
beginning...or rather, the end.
Ukyou was dying of some weird disease. She asked me, Ranma,
Shampoo, Ryoga, Mousse and Tsubasa to come to Ucchan's so she could
say goodbye. She also made us heirs to Ucchan's. Later, Shampoo's
great-grandmother Cologne told us that the only cure for Ukyou's
illness was the water from a mytstic spring in the mountains. The six
of us went after the water, but Cologne double crossed us and tripped
Ranma, sending the vial of water crashing against a wall. Ukyou died
shortly afterwards in Ranma's arms.
The funeral was held the following week. Ukyou's parents decided
that she should be buried here in Nerima, where all her friends were.
Ranma was asked to give the eulogy. He spoke for half an hour on
Ukyou. He even admitted that he loved her. I felt a twinge of
jealousy but really couldn't blame him. Ukyou was a very nice person.
Things changed in the days following the funeral. The six of us
began looking into running Ucchan's. Things became a little easier
when both Mousse AND Shampoo had a blazing fight with Cologne and
moved out of the Nekohanten altogether. They're currently living in
the rooms behind Ucchan's. Shampoo still clobbers Mousse on a regular
basis, but the experience seems to have drawn them closer together.
While we all help out at Ucchan's one way or another, the two of them
really run the place.
Ryoga vanished after the funeral. My guess is he was going to
meet us at Ucchan's afterwards, like we planned, but ended up getting
lost again.
Tsubasa took Ukyou's death very hard. He's stopped his
crossdressing, cut his hair, and doesn't disguise himself at all.
When he's not at school, he's waiting tables at Ucchan's. He doesn't
say much aside from taking orders and giving them to Shampoo. But
he's a hard worker.
As for Ranma, he refused to talk to anyone for three days after
Ukyou died. When he wasn't sitting on the roof of the dojo, he was
training so hard that *everyone* including Mr. Saotome was worried
that he'd end up hurting himself.
And me? I've been trying to get on with my life. Ukyou's gone,
but we're all still here. Life goes on, and we have to stop asking
why.
Not that I don't have questions. Where's Ranma been the past few
nights? What's he been doing? Why was he breaking into Ukyou's grave?
Is he all right?...

Transcript of interrigation of Saotome, Ranma. 4/28 8:30 AM
Lt. Keibu Watanabe and Sgt. Reiko Tsereba, interrogating.

Watanabe: Okay, Saotome, let's take it from the top. You say you were
digging up this friend of yours...

Saotome: Ukyou.

Watanabe: Right. Ukyou. You were digging up Ukyou to prove she wasn't
there?

Saotome: Right.

Watanabe: Wait a minute. What makes you think she isn't in that
grave? Weren't you at the funeral?

Saotome: Yes, I was. But she isn't in that coffin.

Watanabe: What makes you so sure, Saotome?

Saotome: I've *seen* her. She isn't dead!

Watanabe: Excuse me? According to the reports, Ukyou Kuonji died in
*your* arms. Is that right?

Saotome: Yes.

Watanabe: Then how the hell can she be alive?

Saotome: I DON'T know!

Watanabe: You know what I think? I think you killed her.

Saotome: What?

Watanabe: Yeah. You killed her. The M.E.'s report said there was
nothing wrong with her. In fact, he said that he was surprised she
died at all. She was in excellent physical condition. So, when I hear
this, I think that something screwy's going on. I think, "This
Saotome guy is hiding something." I think that you did something,
poisoned her, maybe, then decided to do the grave robbing thing to
cop an insanity plea.

Saotome: WHAT?! I tried to save her!

Watanabe: Yeah, yeah, we heard the little cock 'n' bull story from
your friends. That's the kind of thing they write about in the
comics, Saotome. You and your friends must be either severely fucked
up in the head, or you think we're all stupid down here! Now what
really happened?!

Saotome: I've told you-

Watanabe: You've told us *jack*, Saotome! What was it that made you
kill her? Jealousy? She seeing another guy behind your back?

Saotome: What? NO! Ukyou and I weren't involved like that!

Watanabe: That's funny. According to all our information, you were
engeaged to her.

Saotome: That's nothing, I'm engaged to two other people as well!

Watanabe: Boy, you work fast don'tcha, Saotome?

Saotome: It isn't like that! None of my engagements were my idea!

Watanabe: Admit it, Saotome! You and Ukyou got into an arguement,
words were exchanged and you hatched this little plot to kill her!

Saotome: NO! I DID NOT KILL UKYOU! IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMEONE FOR
MURDER, GET COLOGNE! SHE KILLED UKYOU! SHE PREVENTED ME FROM GETTING
THE CURE TO HER!

Watanabe: You expect me to believe an old woman killed a healthy
young girl like Ukyou?

Saotome: I don't care what you think! Ukyou's NOT dead and I'm going
to prove it!

Watanabe: Not for a while, you're not! Get him outta here! (sounds of
Saotome being escorted out of the interrogation room.)

Tsereba: Don't you think that's a little rough?

Watanabe: No 17-year-old kid goes around digging up his friend's
grave to prove she isn't there!

Tsereba: You're sure he isn't telling the truth?

Watanabe: Look, I *know* he's from Nerima, but I don't buy half the
crap he was telling us.

Tsereba: So, you're going to keep on him?

Watanabe: Yes, until he tells us what he was doing in that graveyard!

Tsereba: You're impossible, Keibu.

Watanabe: Where're you going?

Tsereba: We *do* have other options, you know...

END TRANSCRIPT

-

From the Journal of Akane Tendo April 28

Something interesting happened today. I was at Ucchan's helping
out, when the door slid open and this woman came in. My guess is that
she was around thirty. She had long black hair and a friendly, open
face. She walked up to me and flashhed a badge.
"Reiko Tsereba, Tokyo police. I'm looking for an Akane Tendo."
"You've found her. What can I do for you?"
"I'd like to talk to you about Ranma Saotome,"
I told Shampoo I was taking a break and led the police officer to
the back room. As we were going through the dining area, she stopped.
I noticed she was looking at the portrait of Ukyou hanging on the
wall. We all contributed to getting it done, we even got an "Our
Founder" plaque for it. Tsereba was examining it.
"That's Ukyou," I volunteered.
"She's pretty," she replied.
I buried the knee-jerk feeling of jealousy and led Tsereba to the
back room.
"We were going to talk about Ranma," I said, bringing the subject
back to what she came for. Tsereba sat down at the table that was in
the back room.
"You're Ranma's fiancee, right?"
"Yeah," God, was this woman subtle.
"How long have you known Ranma?"
"About a year or so,"
"Do you know him well?"
"Well...I...that is..." Oh, *real* intelligent Akane.
"Skip it,"
"Officer Tsereba..."
"Sergeant, actually, but you can call me Reiko,"
"Fine, Reiko, what do you want?"
"I want to find out why Ranma Saotome was breaking into Ukyou
Kuonji's grave. There's something going on here, and I want to find
out what it is,"
"Didn't Ranma explain what happened to Ukyou?"
"Yes, he did. But it seems too farfetched, even for Nerima,"
"What do you mean, `even for Nerima'?"
"We've had so many reports of strange stuff happening out here,
most of his story seems normal. In fact, I believe everything about
the water and the disease, but I just can't believe Ukyou's returned
from the dead,"
"Returned from the dead?!" I asked...

Transcript of personal tape recording made by Sgt. Reiko Tsereba,
4/28, 2:30PM

I talked to Akane Tendo, Ranma Saotome's fiancee, today hoping
that she would know why Saotome was digging up Ukyou Kuonji. She
didn't know. In fact, she doesn't even know where Saotome's been for
the past week.
She also didn't know what he meant when he said he's seen Kuonji.
Normally, I'd think Saotome was nuts, but there's been so much
strange shit going on in Nerima the past couple of years that I'm
inclined to give Saotome the benefit of the doubt.
I'm worried about Keibu. He seems hellbent on nailing Saotome for
murder. I don't know if he's been on the force too long, or if he has
something against Saotome personally, or what, but it's clouding his
judgement.
I'm hoping to talk to Saotome sometime before he gets bailed out,
give him a chance to tell his story. Hopefully he'll open up and we
can figure out what's going on...

Statement of Ranma Saotome, 4/28. 4:30 PM

Okay, you want to know what I'm talking about? I'll tell you,
provided you wait until I'm finished. It's something I'm sure you
won't believe. But, you want to know, so-
It happened just ofter the funeral. I was hurt, angry, and pissed
at myself for not being able to do anything to save Ukyou. I spent
most of my time training, looking for some sort of release.
It was on one of those nights that it happened. I had spent the
day thinking on the dojo roof. I was thinking about how there were
some things that no one could prevent. After a while, it became too
depressing and I decided to go for a walk.
I leaped off the dojo roof and began walking. I must havce gone
at least five miles before it happened.
There was a sharp, whistling sound, then something whizzed past
me, taking part of my shirt sleeve with it.
The object embedded itself in the brick wall behind me. I pulled
it out and was shocked to find that it was one of Ukyou's throwing
spatulas, only charred and burnt until it was black.
As I was examining it, I heard the same whistling sound and
dodged. Good thing I did, too. Seven more spatulas arrived and
embedded themselves in the wall. Another came out of nowhere, clipped
my shin and I went down.
I looked up and saw something I wasn't ready for. Standing on the
roof of the house opposite me was Ukyou. She was backlit by the moon,
but there was no mistaking her shape, or the shape of the giant
spatula on her back. I called her name but she ignored me.
No, wait, check that. She didn't ignore me. In fact, she sent
another volley of spatulas in my direction. I rolled out of the way,
the spatulas shrieking by me and joining the others.
I ignored the pain in my leg and leaped to the roof of the house.
I saw Ukyou dashing across the rooftops, I followed. I trailed her
for six blocks before my leg gave out.
As I lay on the ground, in severe pain, another spatula landed in
the ground in front of me. There was a small note tied around the
handle. I unrolled the note and read it. It said "You will pay." It
wasn't signed.
No, I don't have the note or the spatula. You won't believe me if
I tell you...All right, the spatula crumbled to dust and the note
burst into flame.
I _said_ you wouldn't believe me.
Normally, I would have shrugged something like that off. Enough
strange stuff has happened to me before, this just seemed like more
of the same. Unfortunately, I met her again the next night.
I was walking toward Ucchan's, preparing to help out, when it
happened. I had cut through an alley, figuring I could hold my own if
any street punks were stupid enough to try to mug me.
There were no punks, but she was there.
Once again, I didn't see her face. It was too dark. But, I
did see her eyes.
How could I see her eyes if I couldn't see her face? Her eyes
were glowing. Two white glowing slits where her eyes should've been.
Then she spoke.
"Saotome," is what she said. It was Ukyou's voice, and yet there
was something else that I really can't describe. An echo of
something...I don't know.
"Ucchan?" I asked. She responded by throwing more spatulas at me.
I managed to dodge them. When I finished, she was gone. Then her
voice echoed down the alley.
"Prepare to lose everything you care about, Saotome..."

-

Excerpt from the "Tokyo Daily Herald," April 29.

"JAIL BREAK AT NERIMA PRECINCT"
A jail break occured last night at precinct 17 in downtown
Nerima. Police managed to contain all prisoners but one. Ranma
Saotome, 17, was found to have been missing. Witnesses described a
young woman with red hair dressed in chinese clothes running from the
scene. Police would like to question this person in connection with
Saotome's escape.
Ranma Saotome was arrested two nights ago on a charge of grave
robbing...

Transcript of Emergency Call made on Apr. 29, 9:30 PM

Operator: Emergency, how may I help you?

Caller: Quick! Send someone to the Ucchan's restaurant in Nerima!
My girlfriend's been hurt!

Operator: All right, calm down, sir. What exactly is wrong?

Caller: I just came back from-er-running some errands. When I
got here the place was a wreck and I found Shampoo lying on the floor
with cuts all over her body.

Operator: I'm sorry, sir? You say you found a bottle of shampoo
with cuts all over it?

Caller: NO! Shampoo is my girlfriend's name! Now, are you going
to send an ambulance or what?!

Operator: Yes, sir, I apologize. Now, where exactly are you?

Caller: The Ucchan's in Nerima!

Operator: And your name?

Caller: My name is Mousse! Hurry!

-END TRANSCRIPT-

From the Journal of Akane Tendo, April 30

Shampoo's in the hospital. She was admitted late last night
with some pretty bad cuts. She had to get stiches for most of them.
When I arrived at the hospital today, Reiko and her partner, Lt.
Watanabe, were just leaving. Watanabe ignored me, but Reiko stopped
and told me that Ranma broke out of jail last night and he was wanted
for questioning in what happened to Shampoo.
When I went in to see Shampoo, I was shocked. She had bandages
covering most of her limbs and torso. She had a couple of IV tubes
stuck into her arms. She looked pale, almost like Ukyou before she
died. Shampoo was asleep.
Mousse was sitting by her bedside, hunched over. I thought he was
asleep, but he sat up as I sat down next to him. It was obvious he'd
been crying.
"Akane?" he asked.
"How is she?"
"The doctor says she'll pull through,"
"Any idea what happened to her?"
"The police think Ranma did it,"
"Do you?"
He thought for a minute. "I don't know. Things haven't exactly
been the same around here since the funeral. It's possible, but I
doubt it,"
"Why?"
Mousse shifted around, fumbled in the sleeves of his robes and
handed me a small object.
"I found this embedded in the wall,"
It was one of Ukyou's throwing spatulas.

Transcript of personal tape recording made by Sgt. Reiko Tsereba,
May 1, 6:00 PM

Akane Tendo came to see me at the office today. She showed me an
object which she claimed was one of Ukyou Kuonji's throwing spatulas.
This seems to be the case. It certainly looks like the ones in
all the photos of Ukyou I've seen. According to Akane, Mousse,
Shampoo's sometime's boyfriend, found the spatula in the wall of
Ucchan's after finding Shampoo beaten on the floor and calling the
ambulance.
Watanabe remains convinced that Ranma Saotome has something to do
with this whole mess, maybe even is the cause of the whole thing.
If only I could talk to Saotome, to judge for myself...
(Knock on door.) Oh, hell... (footsteps, door opens) Saotome?!

Saotome: Get in, quick! (door slams)

Tsereba: Saotome, what the hell is going on?

Saotome: I'm being followed!

Tsereba: Probably one of Watanabe's men.

Saotome: Not unless one of them specializes in okonomiyaki
martial arts.

Tsereba: What?

Saotome: Look,

Tsereba: Oh, God, is that-?

Saotome: Yep, one of Ukyou's throwing spatulas.

Tsereba: There seems to be a lot of those things show up late-um-
-shouldn't we get that out of your arm?

Saotome: What? Oh, yeah-HNNNGGGGHHH-OW! Thanks.

Tsereba: Let me get some gauze, or-

Saotome: Wait. First, look out your window.

Tsereba: What?

Saotome: Just DO it!

Tsereba: What am I looking for?

Saotome: Look on the roof across the way.

Tsereba: I see her-Ukyou?

Saotome: Bet your ass it's Ukyou.

Tsereba: What's she doing?

Saotome: Taunting me,

Tsereba: What?

Saotome: INCOMING!

(Glass breaks and a scuffle ensues)

-END TRANSCRIPT-

The Nekohanten, May 1, 8:00PM

Cologne wandered through the empty restaurant. The Nekohanten had
been closed since Shampoo and Mousse had moved out.
No matter, they would return soon. The old woman had been to see
Shampoo at the hospital. Shampoo was still unconscious, but Cologne
had spoken to her anyway, telling her to return to the Nekohanten.
"Ucchan's is not safe for you, Great-Granddaughter," she had
said, "It is like being in the lion's den,"
Oh well, if Ranma was successful, this whole nasty business would
be over with soon enough...

-CRACK!-

Cologne turned. The sliding door of the restaurant had been
broken down and a female form with a huge spatula shaped object on her
back and oddly glowing eyes stepped into the main dining area.
"Greetings, Cologne," she said, her voice oddly echoing.
"You," the old woman replied.
"Yes, me. I guess you thought you'd never see me again,"
"I did. Feeling comfortable in your new form?"
"Much. Ukyou had more of my life force than anyone thought she
had,"
"Really?"
"Oh, yes. In addition to the amounts she's shown to Shampoo and
Kodachi, there are little sections reserved for Akane, Ranma, Ryoga,
and many others. Even you,"
"Me?" Cologne raised an eyebrow.
"You sealed your fate when you tripped Ranma," said the Ukyou
impostor. "She saw you do it and that was enough to put you in the
running,"
"What do you intend to do?" said the old woman calmly.
"You should know,"
"Humor me,"
The impostor laughed. "No,"
"Why not?"
"Because then Ranma will be able to figure it out,"
"What's Ranma to you?"
The glowing eyes narrowed as Cologne's own widened.
"You wouldn't," said the old woman.
"I would and I will,"
"You can't. You already have one person,"
The Shadow-Ukyou laughed.
"By the time I'm finished, she'll be dead in both body *and*
soul,"
"Not if you can't get her body,"
The glowing slits looked amused.
"Who says I don't already?"
"I grow bored with this," said Cologne, changing the subject. "I
assume you are here to kill me,"
"No,"
"No?" Cologne, for the first time in many years, was confused.
"No," the Shadow-Ukyou said, "I've set things up so Ranma will be
forced to come see you. I want you to tell him everything,"
"Why should I help you?"
"If you don't I finish what I started with Shampoo,"
Cologne hissed.
"The choice is yours, old crone," said the Shadow-Ukyou. If it
was possible to see it's face, which it wasn't, the Shadow Ukyou
would have been smiling...

-

From the Final Police Report of Sgt. Reiko Tsereba

...I picked myself up from the floor of my apartment. Saotome did
likewise, brushing bits of glass from his clothes.
"Was she always like that?" I asked.
"Not always," Saotome replied.
I assessed what I had seen. On the roof of the house just across
the street from my apartment, I had seen a shadowy female figure
witha large bladed weapon on her back. While this could have been any
one of a number of people, I had also seen the luminescent eyes
Saotome described in his statement. I was convinced that Saotome was
telling the truth. That somehow Ukyou Kuonji had returned from the
dead.
Knowing that I was facing a serious aiding and abetting charge
when this was all over, I told Saotome I believed him and asked what
our next move should be.
"We go see the one person in Nerima who always seems to know
what's going on."

Saotome and I proceeded to the Nekohanten, a Chinese restaurant
in the Nerima district. A sign on the door read "closed" but Saotome
ignored it. I followed.
Inside, I saw an ancient woman with a long staff stare at us when
we entered. I could see Saotome was practically bursting with anger,
and I began to get worried.
"I want you to know that I am seriously resisting the urge to
kill you right here and now." he said through clenched teeth to the
old woman. From this statement, I assumed that the woman was the
"Cologne" Saotome had made reference to during his interrogation.
From Saotome's description, I expected Cologne to counter with a
secretive smile and some enigmatic statement. Instead, she merely
nodded gravely. I read fear in the old woman's face.
Saotome evidently noticed it too.
"She's been here, hasn't she?" he asked.
"Yes," said Cologne. "But make no mistake, that is NOT Ukyou,"
Saotome and I stared at each other and back at the old woman.
"Allow me to explain," she said. "The person you have seen on the
rooftops is not the person you know, but rather, it is the disease
that killed her."
"What?" asked Saotome.
"I said it was a disease more of the soul than of the body,"
Cologne continued. "The being that you have been dealing with is a Ki-
Spirit. More specifically, a negative Ki-Spirit."
"Ki-Spirit?" I asked. Cologne looked at me sharply.
"Every person posesses Ki," she said slowly. "Some in greater
amounts than others. A martial artist uses his Ki in battle to give
him an edge. Ki comes in both positive and negative forms, fueled by
the emotions. Positive Ki comes from the feelings of peace,
confidence, and tranquility. Negative Ki comes from anger, depression
and jealousy. Both are equally powerful and both can be used
effectively in combat."
"How so?" I asked. Saotome told me to watch him. He stepped out
the door of the restaurant and faced the sidewalk menu. In seconds,
he was surrounded by a firecely glowing blue aura and with a cry of
"Shishi Houkodan," send out a ball of energy that vaporized the sign.
"Jesus!" I cried, astounded by the spectacle.
"Indeed," Cologne said. "The technique you just saw is one of the
ways negative Ki is used to power a martial artist's offensive
capabilities. It also acts as a "release valve", if you will, for
negative Ki. Others release negative Ki through expressions of anger,
hatred or violence, such as Akane Tendo."
"So, where does this Ki-Spirit come in then?" I asked.
"Due to the society we live in, it is considered socially
unacceptable to release negative Ki through expressions of anger or
violence. With the result that the negative Ki is allowed to grow and
fester. If it grows to a large amount, it can be fatal. Normally,
since most people do not live in volatile areas, the Ki can be kept
under control by the soul's natural dampening power of Ki.
"However, on occasion, the soul becomes overworked. This can
happen due to a number of circumstances; stress, depression, or any
other type of recurring negative experience," Here Cologne looked at
Saotome. "If the soul becomes overworked, the dampening power
decreases and the person can become deathly ill. But as the person
dies from the influx of negative Ki, it is possible for that Ki to
become, for want of a better word, sentient. And like all sentient
beings, the Ki-Spirit, as it is called, has a strong sense of self
preservation. In order for it to live, it's host must die."
"And that's what happened to Ukyou?" Saotome asked. "All her
negative Ki mutated into..."
"The person you are currently pursuing." Cologne finished. "The
Hanakatasha water has an effect on the soul, calming it and
increasing the power of the dampening field. But, the Ki-Spirit knows
this, and it is my assumption that it found some way to manipulate my
thinking into preventing you from giving the water to Ukyou. Now that
she is dead, it can wander freely."
"That still doesn't explain why it's doing all this," said
Saotome. "I assume it did whatever happened to Shampoo, right?"
The old woman hung her head.
"Yes," she said quietly. "There is more to the story, future Son-
in-Law. After the Ki-Spirit is released, it only has a limited
lifespan. That of the residual Ki that leaves the body of it's host.
If it wants to continue to live, the Ki-Spirit must find a new host
before it's supply runs out. It currently wants you, Son-in-law."
We both looked at Saotome. He was looking at the ground.
"I guessed that was it." he said quietly. "That's what it meant
when it told me to prepare to lose everything I care about. And then
it attacked Shampoo."
"It is even worse than that, Son-in-law," Cologne said. "The
residual Ki I mentioned that it feeds on, is composed of Ukyou's very
soul. If the supply runs out, she will be lost to us, forever."
A thought struck me. "Ukyou's not really dead, is she?"
"Yes...and no," Cologne replied. "Even though she died, her soul
did not go on to it's final reward. Instead, it has been channeled
into the Ki-Spirit, diverted if you will. If the Ki-Spirit is
destroyed and her body found, it may be possible to bring her back."
Saotome seemed to brighten at this news.
"How?"
"The current question is where, Son-in-law. I am telling you this
not only because you want the information. *It* wants you to know as
well."
"What?!" Saotome shrieked. "You've been playing along with it?"
"If I did not, Shampoo would have died. There has been too much
death already. But, you have the information, what you choose to do
with it is in your hands."
"So," I said, "We need to find out where this thing is,"
"We?" Saotome looked at me. I nodded.
"We. I've come too far to not see this through. And if it means
the loss of my career and some hefty jailtime, so what? Fighting for
truth and justice is what I became a cop for."
Saotome smiled. "You're not too bad for a cop."
"Thanks, you're not too bad for a juvenile delinquent."
"Time is wasting." Cologne said.
"Okay," said Saotome. "How do we figure this out?"
An idea occurred to me. "It told you to prepare to lose
everything you care about, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"So, what do you care about?"
Saotome frowned. "Martial arts, becoming a great martial artist,
my friends, my-" A look of horror crossed Saotome's face. He stood
up and dashed out of the restaurant. Cologne and I followed.
"What?" I called to Saotome's retreating form.
"It's going after Akane!" he yelled back...

From the Journal of Akane Tendo, May 1

...She stood before me, the blade of her combat spatula pressing
me to the wall. It wasn't Ukyou. It had her basic form, but the
glowing eyes and the solid blackness of it's body told me it wasn't
Ukyou. Behind her, my family and Mr. Saotome were lying on the floor
of the living room, unconscious. I tried my best not to move.
"What do you want?" I asked hesitantly. The thing in front of me
just snarled.
"You're her aren't you?' I asked, feeling a little bolder. "The
one Ranma's been seeing for the past few weeks. Who are you?"
"Let's just say I'm a part of a former friend of yours," the
(ghost? who knows?) said. "If you don't shut up, you'll be joining
her."
Outside, a dog barked. The thing in front of me turned. Just for a
moment, but it was enough. I grabbed the handle of the combat spatula
and, using my knee for leverage, lifted the Ukyou-impostor into the
air and into the wall behind me. The impostor crashed into the wall,
leaving an outline in the plaster. It stood up, it's odd eyes glowing
a frightening red.
I began to run. I had no destination in mind, I just had to get
away. I ran through the kitchen, making for the back door of the
house. Suddenly, everything went black. I stumbled around blindly. My
hand reached out searching for any sort of guide. It found another
hand.
My relief was short lived when I found that the hand was cold.
Ice cold. The next thing I remember is flying through the air, then I
hit something hard.
When my vision returned, blurry though it was, I could make out
the form of the impostor standing over me. I felt the sharp blade of
the combat spatula near my throat.
"Now," the impostor said, "I'm going to put you out of Ukyou's
misery." It raised the spatula upwards like a guillotine blade. Just
as the being was about to bring it down, there was a crash from the
front of the house.
"WHERE ARE YOU, YOU BITCH?" Ranma's angered voice floated back.
The impostor removed the blade from above my neck and pulled me to my
feet. It marched me down the hall to the living room. Ranma was
crouching over the forms of his father and Kasumi. I could see the
aura of ki-energy forming around him. He turned his head in our
direction.
"I left them alive." the impostor said. "For now."
"Leave her out of this," Ranma said, pointing at me. "This is
between you and me."
"Ah, the old crone told you, did she? I must have scared her more
than I thought." the impostor replied.
"Let Akane go." Ranma said flatly.
"No. I don't want to."
Suddenly there was a shot. Some ceiling plaster fell. We turned
our attention to Reiko, who had appeared with Cologne. Reiko had her
pistol out and pointed at the impostor.
"Let Akane go." she said coldly. Cologne stared at the livng
shadow holding me.
"One person," she said. "That's all you are allowed to have at
any one time. You know you must do battle with Ranma to take him. He
is here and ready to fight, so Akane is useless to you."
The shadow being looked at Cologne, then shoved me towards Reiko.
"Put your pistol away, Sergeant," Cologne continued. "This is
between them." Reiko looked at the old woman, then complied.
"What's going on?" I asked as they drew me away from Ranma and
the impostor.
"A battle for Ranma's and Ukyou's souls." Cologne said quietly.
The two stood facing each other. The shadow being's eyes glowing
red, Ranma being surrounded by a blue aura of Ki-energy. Neither move
for a moment.
Ranma suddenly cut loose with a punch that the shadow ducked
easily, rolling across the floor and coming up with a volley of
throwing spatulas. Ranma dodged the projectiles, rolling across the
floor and out into the hall. The shadow creature follwed him. Ranma
led it down the hall and out of the house. Reiko, Cologne and I
followed.
The shadow beign was clearly getting the upper hand. It managed
to block all of Ranma's puches and kicks. Even the Kachu Tenshin
Amaguriken had no effect on the being.
"You're sloppy, Saotome." The creature said, amused. "What are
you thinking about? How easily I killed Ukyou? How I hurt Shampoo? Or
maybe just how I nearly killed the only one of your fiancees you
really do love?"
I felt a jolt go through me. Ranma loved me? Really loved me? How
did that thing know? or was it just to get a rise out of Ranma?
I looked at Ranma and saw tears forming in his eyes. Was it true
then? Did Ranma really love me? Whether he did or not, it was enough
of a distraction for the shadow to smack him a good hit across the
face. Ranma went flying into the pond in the backyard.
"RANMA!" I cried. I started to run to him, but Cologne held me
back with her staff, shaking her head.
Ranma, now in her girl form, crawled out. She lay panting on the
side of the pond. For some reason this fight was taking a lot out of
her. The shadow stood over her. I fought to get by the old woman, but
she held me in place with her staff.
I could see Ranma was bleeding from a gash across her cheek. She
appeared to be in pain. But Ranma never reacted to a cut like that
before.
"It has begun," Cologne said to Reiko. "the Ki-Spirit is
beginning to feed on Ranma's soul."
Ranma was now fighting to stand up. She had barely gotten to her
feet when the Ki-Spirit spoke.
"You're good, Saotome. But let's see how well you deal with
*this!* ENGULF!"
Suddenly, the Ki-Spirit expanded in size and surrounded Ranma in
a vast black cloud. I shoved Cologne aside and began running towards
the cloud. But when I reached the edge of the cloud, a powerful force
drove me back.
"What the-?"
"You cannot do anything for him," said Cologne. "Ranma must now
confront his own personal demons if he is to succeed. We cannot
interfere."
"How can you be so heartless? Don't you care about what happens
to him?" I shrieked. The old woman fixed me with cold eyes.
"I care very much what happens to him. However, I care more about
what will happen if that thing is allowed to win. Do you think it
will stop at Ranma? No, it will find another victim and another until
it has fed on every man, woman and child on the planet. There will be
no stopping it!"
I turned away, tears streaming down my face to look at the cloud.
"Ranma..." I whispered...

Somewhere In The Shadows

Ranma wandered through the darkness, stumbling blindly. She
couldn't see anything, but she had to keep going. She had to find a
way out of this blackness.
She became aware of a light off to her left. She began walking in
that direction. Soon, she found herself inside the Tendo home. That
was odd, where was everyone? She walked down the hall into the living
room.
She fought to keep from retching. The entire Tendo family and her
father were dead. Genma had been stuffed full of bamboo, to the point
that he had choked to death on it. The fact that he was in human form
served only to heighten the grisly scene.
Soun had been completely eviscerated, his entrails spilling out
over the floor. Nabiki had been force fed the exact same camera she
used to take her blackmail shots. Her feet had been lopped off and
were lying in the corner, a large pool of blood collecting at her
ankles.
Kasumi had been crucified on the wall, blood spattering her once
white apron. A pair of spatulas had been jammed through her hands
straight into the wall behind her. Ranma avoided looking at the pulpy
mass that had once been her face.
Then came the blow that had sent her reeling. Akane's body lay
on the floor, her neck a bloody stump oozing blood. Her head was on a
platter in the center of the small table in the center of the room,
like some kind of grotesque centerpiece. Ranma forced herself to take
a closer look. Akane's eyes were closed, much to her relief. But she
noticed that the head was resting on something other than the
platter.
Ranma swallowed painfully and forced herself fo remove Akane's
head from the table. Underneath was a blood stained okonomiyaki with
a message scrawled on it: "YOUR FAULT."
Ranma recoiled at the sight of the message. She continued backing
away until she hit the wall. She turned to leave the horrors behind...
And found herself in a hospital room. There was a bed here, with
a sheet covered form on it. Next to the bed a figure in white robes
was crying.
"Mousse?" Ranma asked, but the Chinese boy didn't seem to hear. A
few minutes later a nurse came in and escorted Mousse out of the
room. Ranma found herself drawn towards the bed. She already knew who
was there, but she was compelled to go anyway. She picked up the
chart at the foot of the bed.
The word in the "Name" box read "Shampoo" and splashed across it,
in blood red letters, the words "YOUR FAULT" filled Ranma's vision.
She screamed, the horror of the situation overtaking her. She
screamed until it felt like her lungs would collapse. She screamed
until her throat was dry and cracked. And when her voice gave out,
she screamed silently until she felt she had screamed her soul out.
Then the sheet moved. Ranma jumped back at this unexpected
movement. She tried to force herself to move, to get away, but she
remained frozen in place.
Suddenly, the form in the bed sat bolt upright, the sheet falling
away. The face of a deathly pale and emanciated Shampoo stared at
Ranma until she felt her blood run cold.
"Raaaaannnnmmmaaaa," Shampoo wailed like a banshee. She got out
of bed and began advancing on Ranma, her arms outstretched, like she
wanted a hug. Ranma kept backing up, even though there was nowhere to
go.
Shampoo began to rot. Flakes of skin peeled off her face and
arms. Maggots began to go to work on her. Her body gave off an evil
smell.
"Raaaannnnmmmmmaaaaa," she moaned. Ranma broke out of her stupor
and dashed for the door. She threw it open.
Akane was there, holding her head out in front of her.
"Raaaaannnnnmmmmaaaaa," she echoed.
"Get away from me!" Ranma cried. She began backing away from the
two dead girls. She tried to find another way out, bumping into the
wall behind her as she did so.
Two pale arms burst through the wall and grabbed Ranma. Ranma,
more reflexively than anything else, jabbed an elbow into the crooks
of the arms. The arms let go and Ranma jumped over Shampoo and Akane,
onto the hospital bed.
The wall she had been resting against gave way, and Ukyou
appeared, her arms also outstretched. She was also moaning his name
like some kind of mystical chant. But then all three girls began
chanting "Your fault, your fault," as they got closer to the bed.
Ranma backed herself as far as she could go. She couldn't hit them,
they were all friends, even if they were dead.
And, Ranma realized with a chilling certainty, they were right.
It was his fault they were dead, all of them. It had stared with
Ukyou and went downhill from there. It was all his fault all of-
"Snap out of it, Saotome!"
There were three flashes of silver light and instantly, the three
zombie girls had crumbled to dust. Ranma looked around for the voice
that sounded like-no, it couldn't be...
"Ucchan?" Ranma asked weakly.
"It was NOT your fault. You did everything you could to save me.
Don't let this thing fool you! Akane is alive, Shampoo is alive, the
Tendos and your father are alive! This thing is trying to make you
give up, to do to you what it did to me! Fight it! Have confidence in
yourself! You've defeated worse things than this! You have yet to be
completely beaten in anything!"
Ranma felt a flame spark and begin to burn in her soul.
"You may have lost me, but we'll both be damned if you're going
to lose Akane, right?"
The flame began to build.
"Now, get out there and trounce this thing and save Akane.
Because if you don't, then everything you've seen will actually
happen. Now do you really want that on your conscience?"
"No," Ranma said. The flame was now spread throughout her entire
body.
"I love you, Ranma Saotome!"
"MOUKO TAKABISHYA!"

Ranma's ki-blast dissolved the shadows around her. She found
herself back in the Tendo backyard. She looked around for the Ki-
Spirit.
"Behind you, son-in-law!" Cologne cried. Ranma turned, to see the
Ki-Spirit descending upon him, combat spatula at the ready. Ranma
leaped into the air and intercepted the Ki-Spirit.
"Not this time!" she cried. She tossed the spatula away, grabbed
the Ki-Spirit behind the neck and drove it face first into the ground.
Reiko and Akane cheered. Ranma smiled and winked at them.
The Ki-Spirit stood up, wavering slightly.
"You're even better than I thought, Saotome." it said.
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" Ranma said. "MOUKO TAKABISHYA!"
The ball of ki went sailing towards the spirit. It's glowing eyes
widened. Then it folded upon itself and vansished. The ki ball landed
in the pond, heating the water, and sending a generous amount of it
onto Ranma.
"Where'd it go?!" The now-male Ranma demanded. He looked over at
the spectators. "Where is it, old ghoul?" he asked Cologne.
Cologne was already lost in thought. "To the cemetary, quickly!"

The four of them dashed into the Nerima Community Graveyard. The
Moon was a bloated orb as they dashed towards the spot where Ukyou was
buried.
All they found when they arrived was a pile of dirt, a broken
headstone and a coffin.
"Open it." Cologne ordered. Ranma and Akane pulled the lid of the
coffin upwards. The light of the moon overhead was more than enough
to see that the coffin was empty.
"It is not over yet, son-in-law." Cologne stated. Ranma, Akane,
and Reiko looked at each other, each feeling in their gut that the
old woman was right.

-

That's it, folks. "The Shadows" Part two of the "Death of Ukyou
Trilogy." Next, Ranma takes a journey to the Astral Plane to take
care of the Ki-Spirit once and for all, and quite possibly return
Ukyou to the land of the living. Be here for The Death of Ukyou Part
Three: "The Beyond!"

-Erin 2.5

"This just goes to show you that brain damage can be fun!"

-Shadoe Stevens, "Shadoevision"