Yurika stood before her master with relative calm, despite her wavering doubts that remained hidden deep inside. It was hard to remain at ease when standing within his throne room. The towering chair of power had its own set of stairs that led up to its frightening frame. It looked as though some twisted carpenter had fashioned it from the ribs of a very large creature. The large white boney potrusions pointed skyward in a very threatening manor.
This was not why Yurika was uneasy, but it didn't help. The truth was that she feared her unforgiving master who sat on this throne and glared down upon her with his cold black filled eyes. She despised the corrupted little man and his obsessions. She knew not how he had gained his dark powers but she respected those powers far more than she respected the man. He had been a cruel taskmaster, but his shared secrets had made her what she was today.
"Yuri, I have something special for you," he told her, his deep voice booming even in this enormous throne room. Her feline ears twitched at the volume of his voice. With her sensitive hearing his words actually brought pain. An impressive feat for a man who stood at best three feet, in his high platform boots. Yurika bowed ever so slightly to him before trying to meet his gaze again. She found she couldn't bare looking into those dead eyes with her own so she settled on staring at his gold trimmed armor.
"Yes, Master Hasi," she answered weakly by comparison.
"There is an old friend of mine staying at the Tendo dojo in Tokyo. We've made a arrangements long ago that would forever bind our two schools together."
Yurika just stared at her master's feet, trying to understand where he was going with this. She worried about any friend of her master. At least there was one bright point, this friend couldn't possibly be as bad as the master.
"You look worried, Yuri. All you must do is deliver this letter to the Tendo dojo," Hasi told her while revealing said letter. Yurika looked at the sealed scroll in his hand curiously. "Things will become obvious to you then."
"If you say so, Master." Hasi tossed the scroll forward through the air as if it were a weapon and Yurika snatched it up just as quick. She stood and bowed once to her master before turning to leave. Yurika wasn't sure what made her believe that there was anything to darken her mission. It was just something deep inside her whispering 'it won't be as easy as this.'
"Oh, there's just one more thing, Yuri dear," Hasi told her before she had two strides distance added between them. The sudden life in his voice was enough to bring new levels of uneasiness to the young red haired girl. She paused and waited to hear what he had to say, anticipating the the catch to this seemingly easy task.
And she was right, Hasi told her of the catch.
Silence.
Yurika's delayed cry echoed for miles.
RANMA 1/2 - The Demon
Chapter 1
Lag Janson
s_starchaser@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: All Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Rumiko Takahasi. By including new characters I understand I also forfeit the rights to them for sake of the story. This is a parody and should not be considered an official story by any means.
Please feel free to email questions, comments and even flames to my hotmail account. Flames merely fuel the fires of my other projects.
"Ranma, you pervert!"
Ka-pow!
It was like any other day in Nerima. The fact that this was Nerima, and that it was like any other day, meant that something horribly odd was about to happen. Something so strange that would cause most human beings to go mad. This being Nerima, the residents were either shell shocked or already mad. The latter being more fun. It meant you could write poetry, or run in public threatening people with pineapples.
Strangely, there wasn't anything truly odd about the day. In fact, the only difference was that nothing strange had happened at all. A new comer to the frightening Nerima district was actually walking around the streets looking rather bored. She had short red hair, the colour of fire. Her blue eyes gazed upon the buildings without interest. Her modest chest size being some what smaller than average hardly filled out the blouse of her school uniform. The fact she wore the blue high school uniform was only odd because it was a Saturday morning. Yes, she appeared quite normal for a 16 year old girl growing up in Nerima.
At the Tendo household, where one would expect this new yet small oddity would have the greatest effect, breakfast was just being cleared from the table. Everybody stood, except for Ranma who was still laying where Akane had hammered him into the floor, and left the room silently so as not to wake him.
He was fully conscious now, but lay there brooding. If there was something that truly bothered him about that uncute tomboy, it was the way she jumped to conclusions. Usually wrong and about him. There had to be some way of proving her wrong. Some way he could show her that he wasn't the perverted jerk she seemed to take him for. It wasn't his fault he had so many fiances, after all.
"Ranma, m'boy! Why so glum?" Happossai questioned as the little troll bounded in from his hiding place. It was his fault that Ranma had suffered Akane's wrath this morning. The younger martial artist glared at the elder one as Happossai revealed some lace garments. "Would you try these on for an old man?"
"I'm goin'a kill you, you wrinkled old pervert," a very hostile sounding Ranma growled. The younger martial artist pulled himself from the broken floor with slow deliberate movements carrying him towards the elder master.
Happossai opened his mouth to respond before quickly thinking better of it. Ranma was showing signs that he wanted to inflict serious harm. Ranma had also defeated the great Saffron. Thus, Happossai slowly reasoned in a rare moment of brilliance, Ranma could very likely inflict serious harm on him.
"Now, Ranma," Happossai said as he backed off a stride. "You wouldn't hurt an old man like me, would you? All I wanted was so simple pleasures in my last days." Happossai sniffed twice and pretended to fight back tears.
"Nah, I couldn't possibly hurt you," Ranma answered as he stretched the tightened tendons in his neck with a loud pop. The rare moment of brilliance had past, however, as Happossai missed the mocking tone in Ranma's voice.
"Gack!" Happossai yelped as he realized that perhaps Ranma wasn't about to let this go quite so easily. Now being held by the neck above the floor the old pervert began to desperately think of a way to escape. Ranma simply carried him outside. Then, with the power of his controlled rage, Ranma punted Happy into orbit. It would take Happossai a good two weeks to make his way back, if Ranma had calculated the angle and velocity right.
Breathing heavily as he released his remaining unspent anger, Ranma growled out a curse or two directed at the old pervert. There were few things in this world he disliked more than wrinkled master of Anything Goes.
"Oh my!" Ranma's anger was forgotten in a flash as Kasumi's worried tone reached him from the entrance. "You're looking for your fiancee?"
Ranma froze only for a moment before deciding his best choice of action was to hide. He hoped nobody would check the roof for a few hours and was abruptly gone. At least from the roof he could judge the damage without becoming damaged himself.
It's amazing how one word would draw in the attention of every living being within the walls of the Tendo household. Fiancee commonly had that affect here, however Yurika at the moment had no way of knowing that. In fact, she was more off balanced now than she had prepared to be. Under the watchful stares of two older men and three girls, some of the stares quite hostile, Yurika could actually feel her composure melt.
"Uh, h-here," she offered up the sealed scroll shakily. A wise move on her part, she felt, since her voice already degraded beyond usefulness.
The scroll was snatched up by the older men who broke the seal and began to read it together in silence. One of the girls seemed to lighten up slightly, seemingly more interested in the scroll but the youngest still remained very hostile.
"Oh dear," the eldest girl spoke with an almost sad quality in her voice. "Please come inside. Would you like some tea, perhaps?"
"I uh, n-no thank you," Yurika said in return, bowing slightly. "Sorry about this."
To herself, Yurika kept wondering how somebody introduced themselves and an arranged marriage to a home filled with total strangers. She knew she must have been doing it wrong, but she felt powerless to stop it. Worse was knowing that she was different from everybody else. Differences scared people.
The two men seemed to worry over the contents of the scroll and frequently sent each other concerned looks.
"Is this your doing, Genma?" the thinner one asked uneasily as they finished reading it.
"I swear I've never seen this document before in my life," Genma answered with amazement and concern. "You know, it never actually states Ranma's name, Tendo."
Yurika became nervous as the two men met eyes and burst into smiles. "Our schools will be united!" the two men yelled out excitedly, with such enthusiasm it nearly knocked those in the room over.
"Won't you stay for tea, miss?" the one identified as Tendo asked Yurika. She reluctantly nodded at the invitation and watched as one of the elder girls snagged away the letter and began to read it for herself.
"And what would your name be?" the same man asked quite happily now, as if the tension that had so filled the room now seemed imagined.
"Yurika Hasi, Tendo-san." She tried to make herself appear as calm as possible, now that the bad start was behind them. "The master named me shortly after I began my training."
Both men seemed to give pause and considered her answer. That gave the girl with the letter more than enough time to enter the conversation herself.
"You know, this letter is addressed to Happossai. I really think you should take this more seriously."
"Oh Nabiki, I am sure that it's nothing," Tendo answered as he laughed to himself, is nervousness returning ever so slightly. "We'll just ask him."
Tendo returned his attention to Yurika and smiled again, hiding his true feelings beneath the false smile. The introductions passed quickly, and most of the ill feelings seemed to have passed, the exceptions being the two youngest daughters, Nabiki and Akane. When Akane did suddenly lighten up it did so with such speed that Yurika hadn't noticed.
"Let me get this straight," she said with disbelief clear on her face. "You're not here to marry Ranma?"
Yurika shrugged, the most accurate answer she could honestly give. "I don't know who Ranma is," she said afterwards. It seemed to be the answer Akane had been looking for, however. She smiled ever so lightly with a strange glint in her eyes.
"I'm a martial artist too, you know. Would you like to spar out back?"
"I would love to spar with a student of the Anything Goes style," Yurika answered with a grin that spread across her face instantly. Fighting, unlike socializing, was natural to her. It seemed likewise the case for Akane as she too grinned. Perhaps this trip wasn't going to be as bad as she had previously feared.
Ranma remained on the rooftop, laying in the sun and listening for the yells he knew would come. He was surprised he hadn't heard Akane scream out his name in anger yet. She must have been showing more restraint than usual.
"Can we spar outside?" a girl's voice asked from down below. Ranma didn't know the voice and immediately assumed this was the intended fiancee sent to find him.
"Outside?" Akane's voice answered in response.
"Yes, well... It's such a nice morning and I don't get to see the outdoors much."
Ranma felt the sensation of dread sink to the pit of his stomach as he figured out where this was leading. Akane had challenged the new girl. With Akane's luck the girl would mop the floor with her. Ranma quietly crawled forward on the roof to watch for signs of hostility.
"I guess it's okay then," Akane reluctantly agreed. The new girl seemed harmless enough, she carried herself with a calm and relaxed demeaner that seemed natural on her. The red head took up an aggressive looking stance that put Akane's to shame, but there were differences. While Akane's focused on allowing greater strength in her blows, the red head seemed to favor mobility. The new girl also seemed relaxed while Akane immediately tensed in ancipation.
Not good.
"Aw, Akane," Ranma interrupted as he stood up and revealed himself to the two girls. "You're only goin'a get yourself hurt." Sometimes, he thought, it was necessary to feel pain in order to protect somebody else. He prepared himself for a hurled mallet or other projectiles.
"Go way, Ranma," Akane growled angrily without so much as looking at him.
"Ignore him, Akane. Focus, or you will get hurt." The red head didn't look his way either, but her tone suggested that she had listened to what he had said. He saw how her posture changed ever so slightly, tensing the tiniest of amounts.
Akane moved first, hardly a surprise, with a charge and a powerful punch that left herself wide open. Ranma nearly leapt in to save her, but the red head didn't take the opening. Instead she danced around the punch with speed neither he nor Akane had expected.
Ranma frowned and decided to study her moves with a little more care. Akane on the other hand seemed to take insult and growled as she sent another fist at the girl, followed by a high kick that would have taken the head off her training dummy.
Each time the red head moved clear at great speed. The way she moved didn't seem natural, however. She moved and changed directions with a fluid grace and agility as a ca.. ca.. small animal. Ranma frowned deeply at the thought.
"Akane, tighten your defenses," the girl snapped almost irritably. "You're over extending yourself."
Akane only growled and became angrier. "Hold still and fight me!" She fired off a wild punch and this time the red head didn't dodge. To Ranma the sequence was in slow motion as the girl grabbed Akane's arm and began to drop low. She was going to throw Akane, and with the force Akane had thrown into the punch she was going to land hard. The look on Akane's face told him that she now knew it now too.
He was moving before he realized it, leaping off the roof straight towards the predicted spot of impact. He arrived not a moment too soon, Akane crashed ontop of him and they both collapsed to the ground. He groaned softly as she lay on top of his back.
"Ranma, you pervert!" Akane yelped as she realized what had happened and prepared to mallet him. Ranma winced and prepared for an impact that never reached him.
"What?" Akane gasped. Ranma opened his eyes to find the red head blocking the mallet, obviously straining herself to prevent the injury to him.
"I, Yurika Hasi of the All's Fair school of martial arts, challenge you, Ranma Saotome." She twisted around, and disarmed Akane with a toss that sent the mallet splashing into the koi pond. "Loser will reveal one kai based move to the winner." She returned to face him, smiling widely. "That means, if any students of the Anything Goes school can defeat me I'll teach them."
Ranma blinked at the girl, Yurika, in disbelief of what he had just heard. If she knew kai attacks that automatically placed her among the strongest martial artists he knew.
Still, she wasn't as strong as he was, obviously since she had strained to block Akane's malleting. She couldn't be as fast or as good as he was. He was the best there was. To him it was an assured victory.
"Ranma, you jerk!" Akane thumped him one and disappeared into the house. Somehow he had expected that. Leave it to Akane to get worked up when somebody else offered him a challenge and ignored her. Genma was the next to move, landing on the still dazed Ranma in a ready posture.
"You mean to say you will teach any student?"
"If you can match the bet," Yurika answered firmly. She moved her stretched out her arm and opened her palm, before quickly closing it again. In her hand appeared a five foot glowing blue pole which she then held like a staff.
Genma trembled slightly, Ranma knew because he could feel it through the old man's feet, and backed away. "I uh, think you can handle her boy. Remember, this is for the honor of the school." With that said, Genma retreated to the safety of the back deck.
"Thanks, pops," Ranma grumbled irritably as he stood up. He was just as amazed by what he saw Yurika doing. To control that much kai meant that she was more powerful than even his revised estimates.
"To be fair," Yurika continued, giving him a wink that set warning bells off, "perhaps we shouldn't use ranged kai attacks. No Spirit Blade, Tora Jiten Kikku, Mouko Takabisha, Neko-ken, or anything else like that. Okay?"
Ranma flinched as she mentioned the Neko-ken, but nodded slightly. If she wanted to hold back to just pure physical martial arts he wouldn't stop her. It would probably give him the advantage since she obviously knew some moves that he didn't. Yurika grinned and her glowing blue weapon faded away and was gone. Obviously she had used it merely to intimidate stupid oyaji, and it had worked wonders at said task.
Ranma set himself into his stance and readied for her attack. She stood in her own and circled him slowly, like a predator studying prey. Trying to read his defenses and find openings. As much as he disliked fighting girls, the chance to learn more techniques was more temptation than he could bare. At least he knew enough shiatsu points to avoid hurting her. And then she would have to teach him that move she had just shown him.
"Relax," Yurika said as she grinned at him. "This isn't a death duel here, it's only a fight."
He blinked at her in confusion. She was smiling at him during a challenge? It wasn't an arrogant grin of confidence nor a faked smile to cover uneasiness, but a true grin of anticpated enjoyment. He enjoyed fighting too, but it had been ages since he fought somebody else who enjoyed it as the art that it was.
"It's no fun if you're just going to glare at me," she told him as she stopped circling one way and began to move in the opposite direction. "Ready?"
"I'm ready for anythin' you can do," Ranma answered as he let his confidence show in his voice. Yurika nodded and grinned back. This wasn't at all like how she had fought Akane. Her stance was still on mobility, but now she sat back defensively.
"I certainly hope so," she answered. "There's no fun if there's no challenge." She moved forward fast, but not near the speed he knew she was capable. She feinted a kick and instead launched a pair of quick strikes with her open palms. The strength behind the blows were light, by any standards.
Ranma crouched down to avoid the blows and jabbed upwards towards Yurika's midsection. He was surprised when she grabbed his arm and spun as she dropped low, her hips rising. He knew immediately there was little he could do to prevent the throw, but he could redirect and control it. After all, he was the greatest student of the Anything Goes style, aerial combat was his specialty.
As his feet left the ground he turned in midair. When she released his arm he landed on his feet behind her and backed off. Certainly he had an apparent opening on her back, but she had already surprised him. And at the speed she turned he knew she would have surprised him again had he taken the opening.
"Good balance," Yurika complimented him as she took to her stance and began to circle clockwise. "You're nearly as fast as I am. But you're holding back still."
"Feh, you're not that fast," Ranma snapped back defensively.
"You're taking this personally, aren't you?" Yurika stated as she stopped and stood straight. The look of confusion plain to see on her face.
"What do ya expect?" Ranma asked back, not letting down his guard. "I'm goin'a win this and then you're goin'a teach me that kai attack."
"Which, the Spirit Blade? Pfff!" Yurika blew it off and smiled before beginning to circle again. "You couldn't do that. Besides, I know such more useful things."
"How do you know that I can't do it? You haven't even tried to teach it to me yet."
"I know because it takes more than knowledge to do. The master taught me, but even he can't use it. But if that's what you want me to teach you," she shrugged and smiled again. "You still have to beat me."
"That won't be so hard," Ranma answered. "I've beaten stronger opponents than you."
"Tell me about them," she answered, moving in once more for the attack. She moved faster this time and Ranma was forced to block the blows. His retaliations were likewise blocked. They parted again, neither one of them breathing hard.
"Good," she stated as she began to move counter-clockwise. "So, tell me about them. I'll lead off." She moved forward to attack again, this time feinting before going low. Ranma leaped over the leg sweep and tried to land a midair kick. She ducked beneath it and fired off a snap kick that nearly caught him, had he not blocked he would have been swimming in the koi pond.
"The most powerful opponent I've faced so far was a lesser demon," Yurika stated as she backed away, not following up with another attack after her last kick. "Ugly thing that liked to fire off kai blasts. Took me forever to realize that anything I did to it healed in seconds."
Again she moved to the attack and this time Ranma was able to block more successfully which allowed him to counterattack. No blows landed in this exchange either though.
"Finally beat him by wearing him down, though we did destroy most of the master's home." Ranma wondered if this was her plan with him. To simply wear him down. She would be surprised if that's what she intended. He could out last her, he was certain of that. She wouldn't have anywhere near Ryouga's endurance.
"Who was your most powerful opponent?"
"Why?" Ranma asked cautiously as he watched her warily.
"I'm only trying to get you to relax a bit. Besides, somebody with your strength had to have fought somebody."
Ranma shrugged as he watched her circle him. If she wanted to trade stories he wasn't going to hold back. He had her beat in this department as well. "I've fought Saffron at Jusendo."
"The Phoenix? Impressive," Yurika acknowledged. She lurched forward again, once more testing his defenses without success. Ranma tagged her shoulder with a single shiatsu point in his counterattacks. She backed off and rotated her arm carefully to test her mobility, but didn't seem at all interested in the damage done. "I heard Saffron was a real jerk."
Ranma wasn't certain what to think of Yurika. She was testing his defenses, but without straining herself or leaving openings. She wasn't letting him see too much that would give away her style or give hints as to how to beat her. All the while she was trying to carry a conversation like she was enjoying it.
"You like to stand back and study all of your opponents, don't you?" Yurika asked, her smile taking on that of understanding. "That's why you're not attacking. You're looking for holes. I suppose since you've fought Saffron, lasting this long with you finding just that one is a compliment."
Again she confused him. While he tried to figure out what she was trying to do, she came in on the attack once more. This time she didn't back off when he countered and returned another series of attacks that peppered his defenses. He had to admit, though silently, that she was fast. Several times she nearly broke through.
And then she really surprised him, catching his foot as he kicked and pivotting hard and fast. Ranma went over, through the air to land on his hands, before pushing himself back to his feet a moment later.
Yurika was back to circling him by this point and grinning widely. "Nearly had you that time. You won't beat me like this. Stop holding yourself to pressure points."
Ranma grimaced as he acknowledged the truth in her words. Certainly he was getting chances on her, but she was getting just as many on him. He wasn't used to somebody matching him so closely. Normally by now his opponent would get sloppy. If anything Yurika was getting sharper.
"I'm only warming up," Ranma answered in a low growl.
"Would you like me to stand back and let you finish then?" Her question in return nearly managed to get an emotional response from Ranma. He hadn't expected her to speak so calmly. She was still enjoying this without becoming arrogant.
Ranma moved to the attack this time, but he found everytime he made an attack that Yurika managed a counter. It was frustrating. Not even Ryouga could manage to hold him back this long without getting hit.
But he knew he was going to win. She hadn't attacked him with anything yet that he couldn't handle. And now he was going to really test her.
"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" he yelled as his arms accelerated to a blurring speed. Yurika held her ground and despite the surprise still managed to block a high percentage of the punches. High percentage didn't mean all and she did stumble back a stride after.
Her grin widened as she rubbed her tender shoulders. "You held back from hitting me in the face, thank you," she said, breathing a bit harder now yet still remaining calm. "I suppose that meant you're warmed up, right?"
"Ready to quit?" Ranma asked, knowing that she wasn't. He hadn't expected her to block much and did expect her to fall. Instead she was thanking him for not touching her face.
"Um, the warm up?" she asked before standing straight. She closed her eyes and focused her kai. Ranma could feel her strength as her aura began to glow a stunningly bright blue. It changed shape around her, and Ranma's eyes grew wide.
"Ca-ca-c-ca," he stammered as he saw the change that had taken place. Yurika now had two triangular catears jutting off her head, a tail and her eyes glowed blue as the sunlight reflected off them.
"What's wrong, Ranma?" she asked, seemingly concerned for his uncertainty. Ranma didn't believe it though. He knew that she must be laughing at him. She could sense his fear, he was certain of it. She was a monster. A c-c-ca... one of those things.
Ranma backed off several strides and took up an even more defensive stance against the monster. He didn't know why Akane had accepted this girl as a friend, but there was no way he was going to acknowlege her as a fiancee.
"I thought you were warmed up," she stated with some confusion. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were afraid of me." Ranma nodded rapidly before realizing what he was admitting to and then just as quickly shook his head.
"Nuh-uh, I ain't af-fraid of n-nothin'," he stammered as he backed away from her. "W-what are you?"
"Some sort of cat demon," she answered, though sounding uncertain herself. "Never really figured out what. The master said that such things were trivial next to the art." She seemed thoughtful or a second and then looked rather disgusted. "Okay, the art and stealing panties, but I think we can ignore that second part."
Ranma was too frightened to make a connection. Instead he backed up another stride, but with all the direction changes and his current confusion, he had lost track of where he actually stood. His next step took him directly into the koi pond.
"Does that mean I win?"
It was a female Ranma that surfaced, sputtering and coughing as she climbed back out of the pong. She glared at the demon and tried to force the fear out of her system. She knew she couldn't lose. She was the best.
"Uh, Ranma?" Yurika asked, noticing the change. The red hair was rather hard to miss, as were Ranma's breasts, thankfully still tucked away within the red chinese shirt. "That, um, you Ranma?"
Ranma stood up and resumed her defensive stance, focusing everything into victory. She tried to ignore the ears as best as she could. 'Not a real cat,' Ranma told herself repeatedly 'only a girl. Not a real cat, only a girl.'
"I will not lose," Ranma declared angrily.
Once again the two clashed, for the first time with Ranma the true aggressor. Ranma's kai filled moves allowed her to move at speeds beyond any normal human being, while Yurika's moves were faster for more obvious reasons. This time neither fighter backed off as they exchanged moves and counters at a furious rate. Only occassionally did a blow land, but more often than not it was Ranma landing the shots.
The smile had fled from Yurika's face and now instead she showed intense concentration as she tried to meet Ranma blow for blow. Time had no meaning, the outside world did not exist, only the fight mattered.
When the pair finally did part, both were breathing heavily and soaked with their own sweat, but both smiled again. Yurika with knowledge that she had found somebody that could teach her more. Ranma with knowlegdge that he was winning this single fight. Sparring with Yurika also promised to take him to the next level, one beyond what he could do with Ryouga.
"Congratulations," Yurika huffed, having to pause a bit longer to regain her breath before finishing her sentence, "you win this round."
"You givin' up?" Ranma panted back, finding himself amazed by her apparent surrender.
"Well, we could fight until one of us is knocked unconscious, but it's hard to teach that way." Yurika straightened up and breathed in a single deep breath and held it for a ten count before smiling again.
"You're ain't bad," Ranma admitted, grinning like an idiot. He had no doubt that she could give Ryouga a run for his money in a straight fight.
"Ain't bad? I'll have you know I'm one of the best martial artists in the world," she grinned and bowed to him. He leapt back in surprise, half expecting another attack.
"I will honor the terms of the challenge and teach you one technique. Next time maybe it will be you who teaches," she looked up at him and glowed blue once more, her catears and tail vanishing as the aura did.
"Does that mean you'll teach me that spirit something technique?"
Yurika frowned as she studied him. "Maybe, but first I want you to answer me honestly. What were you afraid of?"
"I ain't afraid of nothin'," Ranma lied, a false smile covering his reaction.
"Uh-huh," Yurika answered doubtfully. "I figure I'll find out anyway. I need a sparring partner until I find my fiancee. I just hope he'll show up soon."
Ranma flinched at the 'f' word, but remained silent. He smiled again as relief washed through him. Yurika wasn't after him. She wasn't trying to kill him. She was interested in martial arts and approached his level. Three reasons why he hoped that Yurika would be around for at least a little while longer.
Genma and Soun sat silently from where they had watched the fight. Neither one spoke yet they both had similiar thoughts. This mere girl had done something they had thought impossible. She had stood toe to toe with Ranma in a martial arts battle longer than any other had in the past.
The letter they had read hung in their minds heavily as they watched the fight. They knew that whatever was coming would be beyond anything that they could handle. For the sake of their schools, the two fathers hoped that Ranma would be able to handle it alone.
On the second floor of the Tendo home, the girl often known as the Ice Queen of Nerima, sat alone at her desk. A single piece of paper lay before her holding her attention like few others had.
It was the letter that Yurika had brought with her. The very one that was addressed to Happossai. Certainly there was mention of an arranged marriage, the two strongest students to unite the schools, but that was like an afterthought. It was a single paragraph at the end of a full page letter. Almost not worth mentioning. The true purpose had a much more sinister tone.
Happossai,
I regretfully inform you that I have
failed my part of the agreement. I have managed
to train but one martial artist to the barest
level we require. I myself have lost my endurance
to age years ago. In order to properly meet the
threat of the resurrected lord of chaos, I send
her to you to complete the training with the
greatest of your students.
I am certain that not long after you
receive this letter I will have passed on. Do
not tell Yuri. For her kind she is still very
young and easily swayed. If she believes I still
live then it should be enough to keep her from
the temptation the dark lord will offer. Yuri has
become special to me, and if anything should happen
to her I know I will not rest peacefully.
As the strongest student I've trained since
our planned rejoining of the schools I have at the
very least met this smaller objective. Yuri should
wed the strongest of your students. If there's any
justice in this world, they will survive this and
live to train others.
I wish you luck in your upcoming fight,
Happossai. I know you will need all that and more.
Hasi
This was not why Yurika was uneasy, but it didn't help. The truth was that she feared her unforgiving master who sat on this throne and glared down upon her with his cold black filled eyes. She despised the corrupted little man and his obsessions. She knew not how he had gained his dark powers but she respected those powers far more than she respected the man. He had been a cruel taskmaster, but his shared secrets had made her what she was today.
"Yuri, I have something special for you," he told her, his deep voice booming even in this enormous throne room. Her feline ears twitched at the volume of his voice. With her sensitive hearing his words actually brought pain. An impressive feat for a man who stood at best three feet, in his high platform boots. Yurika bowed ever so slightly to him before trying to meet his gaze again. She found she couldn't bare looking into those dead eyes with her own so she settled on staring at his gold trimmed armor.
"Yes, Master Hasi," she answered weakly by comparison.
"There is an old friend of mine staying at the Tendo dojo in Tokyo. We've made a arrangements long ago that would forever bind our two schools together."
Yurika just stared at her master's feet, trying to understand where he was going with this. She worried about any friend of her master. At least there was one bright point, this friend couldn't possibly be as bad as the master.
"You look worried, Yuri. All you must do is deliver this letter to the Tendo dojo," Hasi told her while revealing said letter. Yurika looked at the sealed scroll in his hand curiously. "Things will become obvious to you then."
"If you say so, Master." Hasi tossed the scroll forward through the air as if it were a weapon and Yurika snatched it up just as quick. She stood and bowed once to her master before turning to leave. Yurika wasn't sure what made her believe that there was anything to darken her mission. It was just something deep inside her whispering 'it won't be as easy as this.'
"Oh, there's just one more thing, Yuri dear," Hasi told her before she had two strides distance added between them. The sudden life in his voice was enough to bring new levels of uneasiness to the young red haired girl. She paused and waited to hear what he had to say, anticipating the the catch to this seemingly easy task.
And she was right, Hasi told her of the catch.
Silence.
Yurika's delayed cry echoed for miles.
RANMA 1/2 - The Demon
Chapter 1
Lag Janson
s_starchaser@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: All Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Rumiko Takahasi. By including new characters I understand I also forfeit the rights to them for sake of the story. This is a parody and should not be considered an official story by any means.
Please feel free to email questions, comments and even flames to my hotmail account. Flames merely fuel the fires of my other projects.
"Ranma, you pervert!"
Ka-pow!
It was like any other day in Nerima. The fact that this was Nerima, and that it was like any other day, meant that something horribly odd was about to happen. Something so strange that would cause most human beings to go mad. This being Nerima, the residents were either shell shocked or already mad. The latter being more fun. It meant you could write poetry, or run in public threatening people with pineapples.
Strangely, there wasn't anything truly odd about the day. In fact, the only difference was that nothing strange had happened at all. A new comer to the frightening Nerima district was actually walking around the streets looking rather bored. She had short red hair, the colour of fire. Her blue eyes gazed upon the buildings without interest. Her modest chest size being some what smaller than average hardly filled out the blouse of her school uniform. The fact she wore the blue high school uniform was only odd because it was a Saturday morning. Yes, she appeared quite normal for a 16 year old girl growing up in Nerima.
At the Tendo household, where one would expect this new yet small oddity would have the greatest effect, breakfast was just being cleared from the table. Everybody stood, except for Ranma who was still laying where Akane had hammered him into the floor, and left the room silently so as not to wake him.
He was fully conscious now, but lay there brooding. If there was something that truly bothered him about that uncute tomboy, it was the way she jumped to conclusions. Usually wrong and about him. There had to be some way of proving her wrong. Some way he could show her that he wasn't the perverted jerk she seemed to take him for. It wasn't his fault he had so many fiances, after all.
"Ranma, m'boy! Why so glum?" Happossai questioned as the little troll bounded in from his hiding place. It was his fault that Ranma had suffered Akane's wrath this morning. The younger martial artist glared at the elder one as Happossai revealed some lace garments. "Would you try these on for an old man?"
"I'm goin'a kill you, you wrinkled old pervert," a very hostile sounding Ranma growled. The younger martial artist pulled himself from the broken floor with slow deliberate movements carrying him towards the elder master.
Happossai opened his mouth to respond before quickly thinking better of it. Ranma was showing signs that he wanted to inflict serious harm. Ranma had also defeated the great Saffron. Thus, Happossai slowly reasoned in a rare moment of brilliance, Ranma could very likely inflict serious harm on him.
"Now, Ranma," Happossai said as he backed off a stride. "You wouldn't hurt an old man like me, would you? All I wanted was so simple pleasures in my last days." Happossai sniffed twice and pretended to fight back tears.
"Nah, I couldn't possibly hurt you," Ranma answered as he stretched the tightened tendons in his neck with a loud pop. The rare moment of brilliance had past, however, as Happossai missed the mocking tone in Ranma's voice.
"Gack!" Happossai yelped as he realized that perhaps Ranma wasn't about to let this go quite so easily. Now being held by the neck above the floor the old pervert began to desperately think of a way to escape. Ranma simply carried him outside. Then, with the power of his controlled rage, Ranma punted Happy into orbit. It would take Happossai a good two weeks to make his way back, if Ranma had calculated the angle and velocity right.
Breathing heavily as he released his remaining unspent anger, Ranma growled out a curse or two directed at the old pervert. There were few things in this world he disliked more than wrinkled master of Anything Goes.
"Oh my!" Ranma's anger was forgotten in a flash as Kasumi's worried tone reached him from the entrance. "You're looking for your fiancee?"
Ranma froze only for a moment before deciding his best choice of action was to hide. He hoped nobody would check the roof for a few hours and was abruptly gone. At least from the roof he could judge the damage without becoming damaged himself.
It's amazing how one word would draw in the attention of every living being within the walls of the Tendo household. Fiancee commonly had that affect here, however Yurika at the moment had no way of knowing that. In fact, she was more off balanced now than she had prepared to be. Under the watchful stares of two older men and three girls, some of the stares quite hostile, Yurika could actually feel her composure melt.
"Uh, h-here," she offered up the sealed scroll shakily. A wise move on her part, she felt, since her voice already degraded beyond usefulness.
The scroll was snatched up by the older men who broke the seal and began to read it together in silence. One of the girls seemed to lighten up slightly, seemingly more interested in the scroll but the youngest still remained very hostile.
"Oh dear," the eldest girl spoke with an almost sad quality in her voice. "Please come inside. Would you like some tea, perhaps?"
"I uh, n-no thank you," Yurika said in return, bowing slightly. "Sorry about this."
To herself, Yurika kept wondering how somebody introduced themselves and an arranged marriage to a home filled with total strangers. She knew she must have been doing it wrong, but she felt powerless to stop it. Worse was knowing that she was different from everybody else. Differences scared people.
The two men seemed to worry over the contents of the scroll and frequently sent each other concerned looks.
"Is this your doing, Genma?" the thinner one asked uneasily as they finished reading it.
"I swear I've never seen this document before in my life," Genma answered with amazement and concern. "You know, it never actually states Ranma's name, Tendo."
Yurika became nervous as the two men met eyes and burst into smiles. "Our schools will be united!" the two men yelled out excitedly, with such enthusiasm it nearly knocked those in the room over.
"Won't you stay for tea, miss?" the one identified as Tendo asked Yurika. She reluctantly nodded at the invitation and watched as one of the elder girls snagged away the letter and began to read it for herself.
"And what would your name be?" the same man asked quite happily now, as if the tension that had so filled the room now seemed imagined.
"Yurika Hasi, Tendo-san." She tried to make herself appear as calm as possible, now that the bad start was behind them. "The master named me shortly after I began my training."
Both men seemed to give pause and considered her answer. That gave the girl with the letter more than enough time to enter the conversation herself.
"You know, this letter is addressed to Happossai. I really think you should take this more seriously."
"Oh Nabiki, I am sure that it's nothing," Tendo answered as he laughed to himself, is nervousness returning ever so slightly. "We'll just ask him."
Tendo returned his attention to Yurika and smiled again, hiding his true feelings beneath the false smile. The introductions passed quickly, and most of the ill feelings seemed to have passed, the exceptions being the two youngest daughters, Nabiki and Akane. When Akane did suddenly lighten up it did so with such speed that Yurika hadn't noticed.
"Let me get this straight," she said with disbelief clear on her face. "You're not here to marry Ranma?"
Yurika shrugged, the most accurate answer she could honestly give. "I don't know who Ranma is," she said afterwards. It seemed to be the answer Akane had been looking for, however. She smiled ever so lightly with a strange glint in her eyes.
"I'm a martial artist too, you know. Would you like to spar out back?"
"I would love to spar with a student of the Anything Goes style," Yurika answered with a grin that spread across her face instantly. Fighting, unlike socializing, was natural to her. It seemed likewise the case for Akane as she too grinned. Perhaps this trip wasn't going to be as bad as she had previously feared.
Ranma remained on the rooftop, laying in the sun and listening for the yells he knew would come. He was surprised he hadn't heard Akane scream out his name in anger yet. She must have been showing more restraint than usual.
"Can we spar outside?" a girl's voice asked from down below. Ranma didn't know the voice and immediately assumed this was the intended fiancee sent to find him.
"Outside?" Akane's voice answered in response.
"Yes, well... It's such a nice morning and I don't get to see the outdoors much."
Ranma felt the sensation of dread sink to the pit of his stomach as he figured out where this was leading. Akane had challenged the new girl. With Akane's luck the girl would mop the floor with her. Ranma quietly crawled forward on the roof to watch for signs of hostility.
"I guess it's okay then," Akane reluctantly agreed. The new girl seemed harmless enough, she carried herself with a calm and relaxed demeaner that seemed natural on her. The red head took up an aggressive looking stance that put Akane's to shame, but there were differences. While Akane's focused on allowing greater strength in her blows, the red head seemed to favor mobility. The new girl also seemed relaxed while Akane immediately tensed in ancipation.
Not good.
"Aw, Akane," Ranma interrupted as he stood up and revealed himself to the two girls. "You're only goin'a get yourself hurt." Sometimes, he thought, it was necessary to feel pain in order to protect somebody else. He prepared himself for a hurled mallet or other projectiles.
"Go way, Ranma," Akane growled angrily without so much as looking at him.
"Ignore him, Akane. Focus, or you will get hurt." The red head didn't look his way either, but her tone suggested that she had listened to what he had said. He saw how her posture changed ever so slightly, tensing the tiniest of amounts.
Akane moved first, hardly a surprise, with a charge and a powerful punch that left herself wide open. Ranma nearly leapt in to save her, but the red head didn't take the opening. Instead she danced around the punch with speed neither he nor Akane had expected.
Ranma frowned and decided to study her moves with a little more care. Akane on the other hand seemed to take insult and growled as she sent another fist at the girl, followed by a high kick that would have taken the head off her training dummy.
Each time the red head moved clear at great speed. The way she moved didn't seem natural, however. She moved and changed directions with a fluid grace and agility as a ca.. ca.. small animal. Ranma frowned deeply at the thought.
"Akane, tighten your defenses," the girl snapped almost irritably. "You're over extending yourself."
Akane only growled and became angrier. "Hold still and fight me!" She fired off a wild punch and this time the red head didn't dodge. To Ranma the sequence was in slow motion as the girl grabbed Akane's arm and began to drop low. She was going to throw Akane, and with the force Akane had thrown into the punch she was going to land hard. The look on Akane's face told him that she now knew it now too.
He was moving before he realized it, leaping off the roof straight towards the predicted spot of impact. He arrived not a moment too soon, Akane crashed ontop of him and they both collapsed to the ground. He groaned softly as she lay on top of his back.
"Ranma, you pervert!" Akane yelped as she realized what had happened and prepared to mallet him. Ranma winced and prepared for an impact that never reached him.
"What?" Akane gasped. Ranma opened his eyes to find the red head blocking the mallet, obviously straining herself to prevent the injury to him.
"I, Yurika Hasi of the All's Fair school of martial arts, challenge you, Ranma Saotome." She twisted around, and disarmed Akane with a toss that sent the mallet splashing into the koi pond. "Loser will reveal one kai based move to the winner." She returned to face him, smiling widely. "That means, if any students of the Anything Goes school can defeat me I'll teach them."
Ranma blinked at the girl, Yurika, in disbelief of what he had just heard. If she knew kai attacks that automatically placed her among the strongest martial artists he knew.
Still, she wasn't as strong as he was, obviously since she had strained to block Akane's malleting. She couldn't be as fast or as good as he was. He was the best there was. To him it was an assured victory.
"Ranma, you jerk!" Akane thumped him one and disappeared into the house. Somehow he had expected that. Leave it to Akane to get worked up when somebody else offered him a challenge and ignored her. Genma was the next to move, landing on the still dazed Ranma in a ready posture.
"You mean to say you will teach any student?"
"If you can match the bet," Yurika answered firmly. She moved her stretched out her arm and opened her palm, before quickly closing it again. In her hand appeared a five foot glowing blue pole which she then held like a staff.
Genma trembled slightly, Ranma knew because he could feel it through the old man's feet, and backed away. "I uh, think you can handle her boy. Remember, this is for the honor of the school." With that said, Genma retreated to the safety of the back deck.
"Thanks, pops," Ranma grumbled irritably as he stood up. He was just as amazed by what he saw Yurika doing. To control that much kai meant that she was more powerful than even his revised estimates.
"To be fair," Yurika continued, giving him a wink that set warning bells off, "perhaps we shouldn't use ranged kai attacks. No Spirit Blade, Tora Jiten Kikku, Mouko Takabisha, Neko-ken, or anything else like that. Okay?"
Ranma flinched as she mentioned the Neko-ken, but nodded slightly. If she wanted to hold back to just pure physical martial arts he wouldn't stop her. It would probably give him the advantage since she obviously knew some moves that he didn't. Yurika grinned and her glowing blue weapon faded away and was gone. Obviously she had used it merely to intimidate stupid oyaji, and it had worked wonders at said task.
Ranma set himself into his stance and readied for her attack. She stood in her own and circled him slowly, like a predator studying prey. Trying to read his defenses and find openings. As much as he disliked fighting girls, the chance to learn more techniques was more temptation than he could bare. At least he knew enough shiatsu points to avoid hurting her. And then she would have to teach him that move she had just shown him.
"Relax," Yurika said as she grinned at him. "This isn't a death duel here, it's only a fight."
He blinked at her in confusion. She was smiling at him during a challenge? It wasn't an arrogant grin of confidence nor a faked smile to cover uneasiness, but a true grin of anticpated enjoyment. He enjoyed fighting too, but it had been ages since he fought somebody else who enjoyed it as the art that it was.
"It's no fun if you're just going to glare at me," she told him as she stopped circling one way and began to move in the opposite direction. "Ready?"
"I'm ready for anythin' you can do," Ranma answered as he let his confidence show in his voice. Yurika nodded and grinned back. This wasn't at all like how she had fought Akane. Her stance was still on mobility, but now she sat back defensively.
"I certainly hope so," she answered. "There's no fun if there's no challenge." She moved forward fast, but not near the speed he knew she was capable. She feinted a kick and instead launched a pair of quick strikes with her open palms. The strength behind the blows were light, by any standards.
Ranma crouched down to avoid the blows and jabbed upwards towards Yurika's midsection. He was surprised when she grabbed his arm and spun as she dropped low, her hips rising. He knew immediately there was little he could do to prevent the throw, but he could redirect and control it. After all, he was the greatest student of the Anything Goes style, aerial combat was his specialty.
As his feet left the ground he turned in midair. When she released his arm he landed on his feet behind her and backed off. Certainly he had an apparent opening on her back, but she had already surprised him. And at the speed she turned he knew she would have surprised him again had he taken the opening.
"Good balance," Yurika complimented him as she took to her stance and began to circle clockwise. "You're nearly as fast as I am. But you're holding back still."
"Feh, you're not that fast," Ranma snapped back defensively.
"You're taking this personally, aren't you?" Yurika stated as she stopped and stood straight. The look of confusion plain to see on her face.
"What do ya expect?" Ranma asked back, not letting down his guard. "I'm goin'a win this and then you're goin'a teach me that kai attack."
"Which, the Spirit Blade? Pfff!" Yurika blew it off and smiled before beginning to circle again. "You couldn't do that. Besides, I know such more useful things."
"How do you know that I can't do it? You haven't even tried to teach it to me yet."
"I know because it takes more than knowledge to do. The master taught me, but even he can't use it. But if that's what you want me to teach you," she shrugged and smiled again. "You still have to beat me."
"That won't be so hard," Ranma answered. "I've beaten stronger opponents than you."
"Tell me about them," she answered, moving in once more for the attack. She moved faster this time and Ranma was forced to block the blows. His retaliations were likewise blocked. They parted again, neither one of them breathing hard.
"Good," she stated as she began to move counter-clockwise. "So, tell me about them. I'll lead off." She moved forward to attack again, this time feinting before going low. Ranma leaped over the leg sweep and tried to land a midair kick. She ducked beneath it and fired off a snap kick that nearly caught him, had he not blocked he would have been swimming in the koi pond.
"The most powerful opponent I've faced so far was a lesser demon," Yurika stated as she backed away, not following up with another attack after her last kick. "Ugly thing that liked to fire off kai blasts. Took me forever to realize that anything I did to it healed in seconds."
Again she moved to the attack and this time Ranma was able to block more successfully which allowed him to counterattack. No blows landed in this exchange either though.
"Finally beat him by wearing him down, though we did destroy most of the master's home." Ranma wondered if this was her plan with him. To simply wear him down. She would be surprised if that's what she intended. He could out last her, he was certain of that. She wouldn't have anywhere near Ryouga's endurance.
"Who was your most powerful opponent?"
"Why?" Ranma asked cautiously as he watched her warily.
"I'm only trying to get you to relax a bit. Besides, somebody with your strength had to have fought somebody."
Ranma shrugged as he watched her circle him. If she wanted to trade stories he wasn't going to hold back. He had her beat in this department as well. "I've fought Saffron at Jusendo."
"The Phoenix? Impressive," Yurika acknowledged. She lurched forward again, once more testing his defenses without success. Ranma tagged her shoulder with a single shiatsu point in his counterattacks. She backed off and rotated her arm carefully to test her mobility, but didn't seem at all interested in the damage done. "I heard Saffron was a real jerk."
Ranma wasn't certain what to think of Yurika. She was testing his defenses, but without straining herself or leaving openings. She wasn't letting him see too much that would give away her style or give hints as to how to beat her. All the while she was trying to carry a conversation like she was enjoying it.
"You like to stand back and study all of your opponents, don't you?" Yurika asked, her smile taking on that of understanding. "That's why you're not attacking. You're looking for holes. I suppose since you've fought Saffron, lasting this long with you finding just that one is a compliment."
Again she confused him. While he tried to figure out what she was trying to do, she came in on the attack once more. This time she didn't back off when he countered and returned another series of attacks that peppered his defenses. He had to admit, though silently, that she was fast. Several times she nearly broke through.
And then she really surprised him, catching his foot as he kicked and pivotting hard and fast. Ranma went over, through the air to land on his hands, before pushing himself back to his feet a moment later.
Yurika was back to circling him by this point and grinning widely. "Nearly had you that time. You won't beat me like this. Stop holding yourself to pressure points."
Ranma grimaced as he acknowledged the truth in her words. Certainly he was getting chances on her, but she was getting just as many on him. He wasn't used to somebody matching him so closely. Normally by now his opponent would get sloppy. If anything Yurika was getting sharper.
"I'm only warming up," Ranma answered in a low growl.
"Would you like me to stand back and let you finish then?" Her question in return nearly managed to get an emotional response from Ranma. He hadn't expected her to speak so calmly. She was still enjoying this without becoming arrogant.
Ranma moved to the attack this time, but he found everytime he made an attack that Yurika managed a counter. It was frustrating. Not even Ryouga could manage to hold him back this long without getting hit.
But he knew he was going to win. She hadn't attacked him with anything yet that he couldn't handle. And now he was going to really test her.
"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" he yelled as his arms accelerated to a blurring speed. Yurika held her ground and despite the surprise still managed to block a high percentage of the punches. High percentage didn't mean all and she did stumble back a stride after.
Her grin widened as she rubbed her tender shoulders. "You held back from hitting me in the face, thank you," she said, breathing a bit harder now yet still remaining calm. "I suppose that meant you're warmed up, right?"
"Ready to quit?" Ranma asked, knowing that she wasn't. He hadn't expected her to block much and did expect her to fall. Instead she was thanking him for not touching her face.
"Um, the warm up?" she asked before standing straight. She closed her eyes and focused her kai. Ranma could feel her strength as her aura began to glow a stunningly bright blue. It changed shape around her, and Ranma's eyes grew wide.
"Ca-ca-c-ca," he stammered as he saw the change that had taken place. Yurika now had two triangular catears jutting off her head, a tail and her eyes glowed blue as the sunlight reflected off them.
"What's wrong, Ranma?" she asked, seemingly concerned for his uncertainty. Ranma didn't believe it though. He knew that she must be laughing at him. She could sense his fear, he was certain of it. She was a monster. A c-c-ca... one of those things.
Ranma backed off several strides and took up an even more defensive stance against the monster. He didn't know why Akane had accepted this girl as a friend, but there was no way he was going to acknowlege her as a fiancee.
"I thought you were warmed up," she stated with some confusion. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were afraid of me." Ranma nodded rapidly before realizing what he was admitting to and then just as quickly shook his head.
"Nuh-uh, I ain't af-fraid of n-nothin'," he stammered as he backed away from her. "W-what are you?"
"Some sort of cat demon," she answered, though sounding uncertain herself. "Never really figured out what. The master said that such things were trivial next to the art." She seemed thoughtful or a second and then looked rather disgusted. "Okay, the art and stealing panties, but I think we can ignore that second part."
Ranma was too frightened to make a connection. Instead he backed up another stride, but with all the direction changes and his current confusion, he had lost track of where he actually stood. His next step took him directly into the koi pond.
"Does that mean I win?"
It was a female Ranma that surfaced, sputtering and coughing as she climbed back out of the pong. She glared at the demon and tried to force the fear out of her system. She knew she couldn't lose. She was the best.
"Uh, Ranma?" Yurika asked, noticing the change. The red hair was rather hard to miss, as were Ranma's breasts, thankfully still tucked away within the red chinese shirt. "That, um, you Ranma?"
Ranma stood up and resumed her defensive stance, focusing everything into victory. She tried to ignore the ears as best as she could. 'Not a real cat,' Ranma told herself repeatedly 'only a girl. Not a real cat, only a girl.'
"I will not lose," Ranma declared angrily.
Once again the two clashed, for the first time with Ranma the true aggressor. Ranma's kai filled moves allowed her to move at speeds beyond any normal human being, while Yurika's moves were faster for more obvious reasons. This time neither fighter backed off as they exchanged moves and counters at a furious rate. Only occassionally did a blow land, but more often than not it was Ranma landing the shots.
The smile had fled from Yurika's face and now instead she showed intense concentration as she tried to meet Ranma blow for blow. Time had no meaning, the outside world did not exist, only the fight mattered.
When the pair finally did part, both were breathing heavily and soaked with their own sweat, but both smiled again. Yurika with knowledge that she had found somebody that could teach her more. Ranma with knowlegdge that he was winning this single fight. Sparring with Yurika also promised to take him to the next level, one beyond what he could do with Ryouga.
"Congratulations," Yurika huffed, having to pause a bit longer to regain her breath before finishing her sentence, "you win this round."
"You givin' up?" Ranma panted back, finding himself amazed by her apparent surrender.
"Well, we could fight until one of us is knocked unconscious, but it's hard to teach that way." Yurika straightened up and breathed in a single deep breath and held it for a ten count before smiling again.
"You're ain't bad," Ranma admitted, grinning like an idiot. He had no doubt that she could give Ryouga a run for his money in a straight fight.
"Ain't bad? I'll have you know I'm one of the best martial artists in the world," she grinned and bowed to him. He leapt back in surprise, half expecting another attack.
"I will honor the terms of the challenge and teach you one technique. Next time maybe it will be you who teaches," she looked up at him and glowed blue once more, her catears and tail vanishing as the aura did.
"Does that mean you'll teach me that spirit something technique?"
Yurika frowned as she studied him. "Maybe, but first I want you to answer me honestly. What were you afraid of?"
"I ain't afraid of nothin'," Ranma lied, a false smile covering his reaction.
"Uh-huh," Yurika answered doubtfully. "I figure I'll find out anyway. I need a sparring partner until I find my fiancee. I just hope he'll show up soon."
Ranma flinched at the 'f' word, but remained silent. He smiled again as relief washed through him. Yurika wasn't after him. She wasn't trying to kill him. She was interested in martial arts and approached his level. Three reasons why he hoped that Yurika would be around for at least a little while longer.
Genma and Soun sat silently from where they had watched the fight. Neither one spoke yet they both had similiar thoughts. This mere girl had done something they had thought impossible. She had stood toe to toe with Ranma in a martial arts battle longer than any other had in the past.
The letter they had read hung in their minds heavily as they watched the fight. They knew that whatever was coming would be beyond anything that they could handle. For the sake of their schools, the two fathers hoped that Ranma would be able to handle it alone.
On the second floor of the Tendo home, the girl often known as the Ice Queen of Nerima, sat alone at her desk. A single piece of paper lay before her holding her attention like few others had.
It was the letter that Yurika had brought with her. The very one that was addressed to Happossai. Certainly there was mention of an arranged marriage, the two strongest students to unite the schools, but that was like an afterthought. It was a single paragraph at the end of a full page letter. Almost not worth mentioning. The true purpose had a much more sinister tone.
Happossai,
I regretfully inform you that I have
failed my part of the agreement. I have managed
to train but one martial artist to the barest
level we require. I myself have lost my endurance
to age years ago. In order to properly meet the
threat of the resurrected lord of chaos, I send
her to you to complete the training with the
greatest of your students.
I am certain that not long after you
receive this letter I will have passed on. Do
not tell Yuri. For her kind she is still very
young and easily swayed. If she believes I still
live then it should be enough to keep her from
the temptation the dark lord will offer. Yuri has
become special to me, and if anything should happen
to her I know I will not rest peacefully.
As the strongest student I've trained since
our planned rejoining of the schools I have at the
very least met this smaller objective. Yuri should
wed the strongest of your students. If there's any
justice in this world, they will survive this and
live to train others.
I wish you luck in your upcoming fight,
Happossai. I know you will need all that and more.
Hasi