"To Live in Darkness"
by
SaOtOmE AP
a Ranma
½ fanfic!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters appearing
in this fic. All of them belong to their respective owners and I am using
them without permission. No copyright infringement intended, so don't sue me. I don't have any money.
Author's Notes:
Here's the first chapter of yet another
fanfic. I hope you enjoy this. Any comments and suggestions are welcome. Flames are funny and will be appropriately
laughed at. I don't intend to use any
particular timeline as I feel it isn't necessary. I believe you would call this a divergence, or something like that.
On with the story then!
* thoughts*
"speech"
foreign
languages
Chapter 1
"A Shadow"
Nerima District – present day
Shivering in fear (although she
would say cold), the petite form of a shapely girl trudged along under a heavy
curtain of rain, her
curves easily noticeable against the wet fabric of her red silk shirt. Red bangs of hair matted down against her
face, and her
eyes seemed unfocused, as her mind was
most probably occupied elsewhere. This
evening held an impending sense of doom she couldn't readily ignore.
The fear within her was justified, by anyone's
standards. Even being the one of the
best (if not the best)
martial artists of her generation didn't prevent her from this
feeling of terror. The fate that awaited
her at home was not one to be envied.
Even her most bitter rivals would have felt pity had they known the
horrors she was about to face. The place
she called home was closer and closer with each step. *Better get this over with… not that I have
any choice anyway*.
……..
The youngest Tendo, heir to the Tendo School of Anything
Goes Martial Arts was engaged in a ferocious battle. Her adversary: the various foodstuffs contained within the assorted
pots and pans strewn about the once spotless kitchen.
As the merciless massacre occurred, she once again
wondered the current whereabouts of her wayward fiancé. *Where is that jerk!?* Engine oil and wasabi were then poured into
what vaguely resembled miso soup. *I
told him to be here at 7 … he'd better show up if he knows what's good for
him!* There were still 5 minutes
left, so she didn't really worry too
much (by Akane standards anyway). She
then refocused her attention to taming the rest of the rebellious platters
which still refused to be put down.
"Dinner" would be ready soon.
……..
As the red-head arrived at the gate of the
Tendo Dojo, she
offered a quick prayer to the gods so they would at least grant her a quick
death when she faced the dreadful
results of Akane's unique cooking. It
was rumored that even the famous Kagero of the Koga Ninja would not be immune
to the effects of such poison (if she were still alive, that is).
Ranma Saotome sighed as she sat herself
down at the table, and called out to her would-be executioner... "Hey Akane, I'm home!".*Stupid
old man, and the rest of them too! Left
me here to face this alone.* "Oh good, Ranma, you're just on time. Dinner is ready!" Just as she answered her, Akane came out of
the kitchen carrying a tray with, um, "Here you go Ranma: miso soup, negimaki chicken, and shirashi! I just got the recipes from that bookstore we
went to yesterday, I hope you like them!!", Akane
cheerily remarked.
Akane then brought the dishes from the
tray to table one by one. "Yo Akane, at least let me change back into a
guy..." "What for?", she asked, "It's not like it makes any difference if
you're a girl right now!", Akane answered.
"Well, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna go with dignity!" That proved to be the unwise choice of words, as usual, and the results of such comment followed
shortly thereafter.
The tray which Akane carried promptly became
a weapon. Ranma's skull then suffered
the consequences of provoking Akane's wrath, and she was thus rendered
unconscious by repeated blows. It was, in a way, fortunate for the red-head. She would be spared from ingesting a
potentially lethal meal.
Akane marched back into the kitchen and
left all the food in the fridge. She
considered it thoughtful to leave it there for later consumption. Little did she know that Nabiki already had
plans to sell any leftovers to some company that needed to test some new armor
they'd just developed.
*Leave it to that jerk to ruin a perfect evening!* She snorted, and left Ranma sprawled on the floor
right next to the table. She then went
upstairs to finish some homework and to then get some much needed sleep. Today's efforts in the kitchen were taxing
and she wasn't in the mood for much else.
……..
Her head hurt like hell, but she then noticed that she didn't
feel any pain in her stomach. *Well, that's a
relief. At least I don't have to rent a
stomach pump from Nabiki again.* She then got up from the floor and
stretched out a bit. *Man, no one even
bothered to wake me up. Geez, what'd I do to
deserve this!?* Ranma
then got up and wobbled towards the kitchen,
still a bit stunned from the blow.
She then filled a kettle with water and lit the burner. Remaining female all night wasn't exactly a
pleasant thought. As soon as the water
was warm enough she poured the water over her head and a small smile grew on
his lips as the water triggered the change.
The pigtailed martial artist got out of
the kitchen and was about to head up the stairs when a slight sound caught his
attention.
……….
A figure cloaked in darkness crept towards
the door of the Tendo family's guest room.
Its features concealed by a black outfit and the prevailing dark of the
hall upstairs. How convenient for there
to be a man shaped hole on the surface of the roof, it only made the current task much
easier. As the living shadow opened
the door to the room,
its eyes widened in surprise at the sight of a panda snoring on
top of a futon. It took an involuntary
step back and caused a creak on the floorboards. *What's this!?* Its target was not
in the room.
*I sense danger, I'd best hurry.* The Blue Thunder of Furinkan had said it
himself. It was best to exercise caution
when dealing with evil sorcerers and their black arts. Indeed, they were well known for their
trickery and their ability to enslave people's minds. *I may well be facing a very powerful man, I can sense strong
ki nearby*
Short, silent
steps took the figure to the top of the wooden stairs and as it stepped down it
met the very same person it was looking for.
It could be none other.
……….
Both fighters tensed as they acknowledged
each other's presence. Ranma took a
loose stance as the shadowy figure drew a blade which was strapped on his
back. With only a slight grunt the
uninvited guest charged forward with the intent to skewer Ranma on the
spot. Ranma Saotome skillfully avoided
that, and the
follow-up slashes that the attacker
delivered.
Their fight took them toward the front
porch and as the sword wielder came forth with a downward slash which was also
avoided, the
figure stepped into a sliver of moonlight coming in from a window and was
revealed to be a man, a ninja to be more
specific. His black dogi now slightly visible for only a
moment. His hair, as he wore no hood (only the bottom of
his face was covered), was short. Oddly and most noticeably, it was also silvery grey. Very odd indeed, as he didn't look old at all.
Ranma didn't have time to ponder this as
he was desperately dodging the razor sharp katana slashing at him at unnatural
speeds. *This guy's way better than
Kuno! But what the hell is he after me
for!?* The
ninja didn't give much of an opening as he was very quick, and any hits from him could very well result
in a severed limb.
Ranma did what he thought was best in the
present situation. He needed some space
first, so he
jumped right through the shoji doors and onto the lawn in front of the koi
pond. The ninja followed right after and
made a double criss-crossing slash towards Ranma who
jumped a good 20 feet back towards the wall to give himself some space .
The intruder dashed forward towards his
very skilled opponent in hopes of finishing him off as soon as possible before
his allies came to his aid. *He is
certainly skilled. A pity I must
eliminate him…*
He was surprised once more when his target
emanated a blue glow around him and charged ki into his hands. He checked his path before he would walk into
the unexpected ki attack,
but realized he was too late as the alleged sorcerer shouted "Moko Takabisha!!!", and fired off a massive ki blast which crashed
into him with unbelievable force.
The last thing he saw before fading into
unconsciousness was the pigtailed young man heading toward him and fell back silently
wondering how his first defeat came about because of his slight case of
overconfidence. He usually struck down
his adversaries with one blow. If only
he knew the irony… his opponent's confidence was in fact the direct cause of
his defeat.
……….
Ranma took a few steps towards his
opponent so he could check if he was unconscious. He noticed the lights in the house were
already coming on as the rest of the family must have been awakened by all the racket the battle caused. Akane would somehow find the way to blame
this on him. She wasn't too happy with
him anyway.
Much to Ranma's surprise, it was the old pervert Happosai who
came out of the house first. The aged
grandmaster of the Anything Goes School came out of curiosity, knowing somehow that Ranma was
involved in the current "situation".
Also, a
good grope was at hand, as he was
currently carrying a bucket of water so he could splash Ranma with it. "Hello Ranma m'boy! Give an old man his thrills!"
"Don't even think about it, freak!", Ranma growled. Happosai stopped not because of Ranma's
threat, but
because his eyes fell upon the blade lying on the ground next to the knocked
out ninja. "Well, this is not something you see every
day." "Uh, what is it?" By now, the rest of the household was already
there with the exception of Genma, who
was still merrily slumbering upstairs.
Nabiki was there, looking on with a little irritation, and some curiosity as well. Akane just looked pissed, since she was woken up because of
Ranma's fight. Soun just stood there
still half asleep, but
ready to shed tears a moment's notice.
Kasumi said what first came to mind, "Oh my! It's a little late to be playing with your
friends Ranma."
Everyone chose to ignore that
comment. Sometimes they all wondered
about Kasumi. "So what are you babbling
about, old freak?", Ranma asked,
which earned him a bop on the head from Happosai's ever present
pipe, courtesy of the diminutive pervert
himself. "Be more respectful towards
your master, boy! Ahem!
As I was saying,
this is not something you see every day…" "What is it then?", Ranma asked, rubbing his now even more sore head. "It's the legendary sword Izayoi. Not the kind of weapon your average ninja
carries." "So? What's that got to do with anything? What's so special about it anyway?", again it was Ranma who
asked, though the others were now
curious as well.
Happosai then sat down on one of the rocks
surrounding the koi pond after picking up said katana. He then began his explanation: "Well, for one thing this is the Azuma ninja
clan's honor blade… and it belongs in a museum…" At that precise moment, the felled ninja started to come
around. As he raised his head, Happosai got one
look at the eyes of the recently defeated warrior and had to suppress a
gasp. "Rikimaru…",
he mumbled, and then proceeded to faint,
the sword Izayoi still in his hands.
To be continued…
More Author's Notes
Well, there goes the first chapter of
hopefully many more. As many of you may
have noticed, yes, this is a crossover with one of my favorite
PSX games. Please review this story and
I'd also like to ask you for your verily valuable C&C. Any reasonable questions will be answered if
I have the time, so
feel free to ask away. The posting of
the next chapter depends on the response I get on this fic. Ciao for now!
SaOtOmE AP
_
