Sitting in bed last night at about 2 AM, the idea suddenly hit me. Excitedly working it all out in my mind, I booted my computer up, and waited while it loaded. After an hour of writing and thinking and everything, I finally had a decent plot line. No idea if you'll consider it any good, but let's just find out, shall we?
Ranma ½ and all it's subsidiaries are the work and creation of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. This is derivative fiction, and is not meant to harm the series in any way. You could sue me, but I'm broke anyway, and I don't like lawyers much.
And ooops, one more thing before I start. The intro here is EXTREMELY confusing, and it's meant to be that way. It's not that long, however, so bear with me.
Fall of Grace
Prologue
Soft, soft.... starting.
Fading into red... blood. Red like blood.
Splattering, everywhere... laughter. Laugher and red.
Silence, then. But change... bad change. Lurking within, different colors, lurking outside.
Light, grainy color. Rust-colored. Everywhere, surrounding. Hard, quick. Death.
Flash of steel. That laughter again. That cold, rising laughter again. Laughter of death.
Darkness. Pulling down, sinking. Don't want to go there. Don't want to be there.
Then, light. Oh, that light. Banishing darkness. Light, pure light. No more thoughts of rust and steel. Faraway, pulsing, uttering soft sounds, comforting.
Pain, haze, black. Thick, tarlike. Floating to the surface of it, slowly, towards the light at the edge of the dark. No fear, waiting.
Oh, that light. So, so comforting, like memories lost. Warm, soft.
Floating, floating... eternally. The top, the edge, no more pain, no more dark. Light at the end, always light at the end. Always the end, the end.
That sound, the one so soft. Not sound. Voices. One Voice. Warm, caring... mother. So long, never with her. Miss her. Oh, memories.. so soft, so caring. Coming to banish the dreams, the nightmares.
*Wake up, Ranma...*
Soft... beautiful. Like Akane. Akane's smile, like that. So cute, cute when she smiles. Soft, endearing... does she know that? Oh, she needs to know that. Badly.
*Awaken, Ranma... please...*
An embrace... one never experienced, in forever, so long. Can't remember now, memories hurt so bad.
*But don't forget this...*
Dark... don't forget it. Want to...can't. Darkness attacking family, loved ones. Threatening Akane. Fight it, that hard flash of rust and steel.
Don't ever, ever forget.
A sigh.
A sigh?
*I warned you...*
Warning?
*WHOOSH*
*SLAM!!*
"I WARNED YOU!!!!" Akane angrily flew out of Ranma's room, leaving her large mallet on top of Ranma's head.
Ranma twitched, the large mallet slowly falling over. He was about to sink back into that deep, black darkness he had just come out of, when he heard something, far away.
*But don't ever, ever forget...*
**********************************
Tatewaki Kuno slowly stretched, yawning. It was morning, and the light of the sun had spilled into his room, alighting the pictures of his two 'loves'.
"Ah..." Kuno sighed, gazing at the posters on the wall. This was part of the daily ritual in which he would promise his two true 'loves' that he would set them free.
"Oh, my loves, my goddesses, wait one last day! Today is the day I shall smite that cretinous, foul Saotome, and free thee from his spell!"
Quick as clockwork.
Rising from his bed, Kuno began to dress. Donning his samurai garb, he smoothed his hair out and reached for his bokken.
Ah, what a day today would be!
Heading down the stairs towards the kitchen, the faint sounds of birdsong ringing in his ear, Kuno reveled in the beauty of the day.
"Ah, what beauty doth my eyes and ears percieve, but that what is likened to my true loves? Though fair this morn be, the sight is enough to make my eyes tear upon the lack of your most beautified presences!!"
Walking into the dining room, Kuno sat down and prepared to eat the meal prepared for him earlier in the day.
Yet, there wasn't a meal.
This came as some surprise to him. Quite a surprise, in fact. Sasuke should have long ago prepared breakfast for him, and by this time of the day, he should be eating it.
...Where was Sasuke, anyway?
He hadn't been there when he had awoken, and there was no meal prepared, either. Odd. Had he run away again? He didn't remember being crueller than normal to Sasuke.
Standing back up and sighing, he slowly began to make his way around the Kuno estate. Somewhere, he'd find Sasuke... hopefully.
After 30 minutes of this, however, he began to get frustrated. Where in hell could Sasuke be?
This is when he found him.
Asleep.
...lazy ninja.
Stomping his foot loudly on the ground to wake Sasuke, Kuno threw his bokken at him. "Know you what time it is??"
"I..." Sasuke groggily blinked. "Oh, master, no. What time is it?"
"I'm late for school, you idiot!!" Kuno yelled.
Sasuke jumped in surprise. "Oh, master, please forgive me!" bowing down, he began to cry "I'm so very sorry master! Let me make it up to you by preparing a large fea-" he was interupted by Kuno's snarl of anger.
"No time for that now, man! Just make sure there is sustenance prepared for me upon my return!" Kuno picked up his bokken and angrily made his way out of the estate towards Furinkan.
In his anger, he had forgotten to stop by the small shrine at which he often prayed before leaving for school. Hence why he never noticed it lying in a small pile, shattered and broken when it had fallen down.
Yes, what a day today would be indeed.
**********************************
Ranma groggily made his way downstairs, rubbing the back of his head where Akane had slammed her mallet onto his him.
"Uncute tomboy..." he muttered, praying to Kami she was nowhere near enough to hear him.
His mind, however, was not on the sizable lump that still pulsed in pain. That dream, which had, even in it's shortness, occupied his whole night, had been a strange twisted one.
One full of darkness, pain, and an eternal sadness. One he hoped would never come to be.
Shaking his head, he continued down the stairs, when he suddenly doubled over in pain. Oh gods, the pain! As if a thousand voices were screaming, peircing his head. As if a thousand cold, dead hands were tearing at his flesh.
Oh kami, only a dream, only a dream!
**********************************
It was a quiet morning, an altogether beautiful, wonderful morning, one that people everywhere would fling open their doors and windows to, letting in the fresh air and the bright sun.
Dammit all.
A man slowly walked down an abandoned street. He was tall and thin, and his thick, black hair spiked up and fell over his large, liquid red eyes. He had a saiya strapped to his back, which held what looked to be a long, thin Katana. His trenchcoat, which swung around his large, black, military style boots as he walked, had a highly peculiar rust color to it, one that seemed to be swirling around on itself, as if it were alive. Had anyone noticed this, they would have stopped and stared at it.
Not that there was anyone to stop and stare.
Truth of the matter was, the street wasn't really abandoned. As a matter of fact, not ten whole minutes ago, the entire street was full of people, laughing, smiling, and moving about their day with a bright cheery smile. If the man had seemed to know that the empty street he was down had been a lively, busy street, full of life not half an hour ago, he made no sign of it.
Or, perhaps he didn't care.
The man, in truth, liked the fact it was empty. It suited him right now, though his mood was likely to change, as it had often done in the past. Perhaps, in a few minutes, he would crave people again. Then, maybe, he would go and stop in a street full of them, absorbing their thoughts, their ki, their movements, drinking it all in with his senses as if he would reach out and know each person, merely by touching them.
But for now, being alone suited him perfectly.
Stopping, the ends of his trenchcoat swirling a moment before settling in with the knowledge that the rest of his body had stopped, the man glanced over at an empty shop. Nobody was there, so nobody would mind. Even if someone HAD been there, however, it wouldn't have stopped him. Glancing at the windows, he extended his mind, just a little, and shattered the large, bullet proof picture window that covered the shop's front. Walking to the where the window had been, the glass underfoot crackling as he stepped on it, he reached his hand forward and plucked out a cigarette pack and a small, silver lighter from the broken window.
Perfect. Hadn't had a smoke in a while.
Gently ripping the casing off the pack, he cursed as he pulled too hard and the pack exploded, cigarettes flying everywhere. Determined to get one, however, his hand reached forward at a speed that would have put Ranma's Amaguriken technique to shame and gently caught one, before it had landed onto it's new home in the dirt of the road.
Slowly and with great care, the man gently sparked the ligher, hoping he didn't do it too hard and break it. Much to his great satisfaction, the lighter tip exploded into a small, controlled flame, a tiny wisp of heat emanating from it. Lighting his cigarette, he flicked the lighter case shut (not noticing that the top casing flew right off and onto the ground) and dropped it into his pocket.
He began to walk again, the surface of his trenchcoat rippling as if it were alive.
Maybe today wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all.
**********************************
Tatewaki Kuno had been running the entire time, in hopes that he wouldn't be late when the first bell at Furinkan high school sounded. Though Kuno may have possessed the speed, and usually the wits to keep his head about and focused on where he was going, he was slightly distracted today at the prospect of being late.
Hence why he never noticed the man as he turned the corner.
He continued to run, eyes shut, breathing labored. He couldn't be late, not now. Not when he had nearly killed himself to get there, dammit!
All might have been fine, had the man but moved from Kuno's path. As it was, however, he made no sign of moving for the kendoist, or even seeing him, for that matter.
Such as it was, Kuno slammed straight into the man's chest and was knocked back with a loud "ooof".
Blinking groggily, thinking he had slammed straight into a cement wall at top speed, Kuno managed to raise himself to a kneeling position with the help of his ever present bokken.
The weakness he was feeling fled, however, when Kuno spotted the hilt of the man's Katana, which was just barely visible over his head.
"You.." Kuno could barely contain his excitement. Imagine, another swordsman, here, in Nerima! "You carry a sword!" he cried.
The man snorted. "And you carry a toy" he said, cigarette still in his mouth, pointing to Kuno's bokken. The man continued to walk past Kuno as if nothing had ever happened.
"I..." Kuno glanced down at his bokken. "This is not a toy!" he cried. He stood up, anger beginning to make him quake. "I will teach you not to slight the great Tatewaki Kuno!"
The man stopped walking, slowly turning his head.
And Kuno froze.
The man's deep, liquid red eyes had started to faintly glow, as if from a rage. The man turned fully now, and Kuno noticed, for the first time, the extremely odd, living color of the man's jacket. It moved, like a snake, though the trenchcoat itself managed to remain very, very still.
"Slight?" The man laughed, that cold, sinister, rising laughter, his red eyes flashing his hot ki. "Slight the great Kuno?" he seemed to find something funny in all this. "I wouldn't dream...." he paused, his red eyes starting to blur from Kuno's field of vision. Suddenly, he turned his head up, and laughed. "I wouldn't dream, " he repeated "Mr. Blue Thunder."
Kuno was still quaking, though this time, it was from fear. He could barely manage to keep a grip on his wooden sword. "Focus!" he thought to himself "Focus, or you'll never defeat this vile creature!"
The man burst out laughing again. "Vile creature? Surely, I'm not all that bad." Moving suddenly, there was but an instant before Kuno realized the man's face was but inches before his own.
"Wha.." Kuno could barely speak "What do you want, Philistine??"
The man's glowing red eyes peered deep into Kuno's, searching out his soul, his heart, as if he would tear from Kuno the very essence of him. This man was not a man. This was not right, not good. This could not be!
This fear, lodged so deeply in Kuno's heart, was reborn a thousand times upon hearing the man's next words.
"I desire that which you know," the man whispered soothingly, as the world tinted red for Kuno "And soon, that which you desire, I, too, shall desire." The red eyes peered deeper, deeper.
Red. Red like blood.
**********************************
Ranma slowly came to the table where everyone was already seated. He was still recovering from minute of exquisite pain he had recieved earlier, the one that had chilled his heart. Akane, who was obviously still fuming over something, was angrily eating her breakfast. Sitting down next to her, he felt as if maybe launching a tirade of "Stupid tomboy!" would get his mind off things, but then it happened again.
Again, again, that pain! But this time, only one voice, and no hands. But this voice was... familiar. Familiar in a way he didn't like at all.
**********************************
The man smiled.
A breeze rippled at his trenchcoat, making it appear alive again, the colors swirling and swirling. Swirling with life, with power.
The man laughed.
He had seen, in the mind's eye of that boy, a child of 17 years, black pig tail, red chinese shirt, performing advanced katas and moves unknown to most mortals.
Oh, yes. Powerful.
And also fun. It had been a long time since he had had a toy.
And he was so dreadfully bored.
He smirked. Oh, I hope you're ready, Ranma Saotome. I hope you're ready indeed.
"Because I'm bored, Ranma.. " the man seemed to relish the taste of Ranma's name on his lip.
He rarely spoke names.
"So I hope you're ready, Saotome.... since you have no choice."
Keijiro had returned, after so many long years of nothing.
Keijiro smiled, his red eyes flashing brightly.
Yes indeed, Keijiro was back.
Authors Notes
Yes, I intend to continue this story. No idea how long it's going to be, really, but I'm shooting for 10 chapters. Hope you'll manage to stick with me and be patient if you liked this.
If you're interested in my other work, you're gonna have to wait. A homepage is coming up soon, but in the meantime, visit http://www.anime-7.net since I plan on accouncing the joint page there as well.
And is Kuno dead??
Who knows?
...me, that's who. :)
Ranma ½ and all it's subsidiaries are the work and creation of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. This is derivative fiction, and is not meant to harm the series in any way. You could sue me, but I'm broke anyway, and I don't like lawyers much.
And ooops, one more thing before I start. The intro here is EXTREMELY confusing, and it's meant to be that way. It's not that long, however, so bear with me.
Fall of Grace
Prologue
Soft, soft.... starting.
Fading into red... blood. Red like blood.
Splattering, everywhere... laughter. Laugher and red.
Silence, then. But change... bad change. Lurking within, different colors, lurking outside.
Light, grainy color. Rust-colored. Everywhere, surrounding. Hard, quick. Death.
Flash of steel. That laughter again. That cold, rising laughter again. Laughter of death.
Darkness. Pulling down, sinking. Don't want to go there. Don't want to be there.
Then, light. Oh, that light. Banishing darkness. Light, pure light. No more thoughts of rust and steel. Faraway, pulsing, uttering soft sounds, comforting.
Pain, haze, black. Thick, tarlike. Floating to the surface of it, slowly, towards the light at the edge of the dark. No fear, waiting.
Oh, that light. So, so comforting, like memories lost. Warm, soft.
Floating, floating... eternally. The top, the edge, no more pain, no more dark. Light at the end, always light at the end. Always the end, the end.
That sound, the one so soft. Not sound. Voices. One Voice. Warm, caring... mother. So long, never with her. Miss her. Oh, memories.. so soft, so caring. Coming to banish the dreams, the nightmares.
*Wake up, Ranma...*
Soft... beautiful. Like Akane. Akane's smile, like that. So cute, cute when she smiles. Soft, endearing... does she know that? Oh, she needs to know that. Badly.
*Awaken, Ranma... please...*
An embrace... one never experienced, in forever, so long. Can't remember now, memories hurt so bad.
*But don't forget this...*
Dark... don't forget it. Want to...can't. Darkness attacking family, loved ones. Threatening Akane. Fight it, that hard flash of rust and steel.
Don't ever, ever forget.
A sigh.
A sigh?
*I warned you...*
Warning?
*WHOOSH*
*SLAM!!*
"I WARNED YOU!!!!" Akane angrily flew out of Ranma's room, leaving her large mallet on top of Ranma's head.
Ranma twitched, the large mallet slowly falling over. He was about to sink back into that deep, black darkness he had just come out of, when he heard something, far away.
*But don't ever, ever forget...*
**********************************
Tatewaki Kuno slowly stretched, yawning. It was morning, and the light of the sun had spilled into his room, alighting the pictures of his two 'loves'.
"Ah..." Kuno sighed, gazing at the posters on the wall. This was part of the daily ritual in which he would promise his two true 'loves' that he would set them free.
"Oh, my loves, my goddesses, wait one last day! Today is the day I shall smite that cretinous, foul Saotome, and free thee from his spell!"
Quick as clockwork.
Rising from his bed, Kuno began to dress. Donning his samurai garb, he smoothed his hair out and reached for his bokken.
Ah, what a day today would be!
Heading down the stairs towards the kitchen, the faint sounds of birdsong ringing in his ear, Kuno reveled in the beauty of the day.
"Ah, what beauty doth my eyes and ears percieve, but that what is likened to my true loves? Though fair this morn be, the sight is enough to make my eyes tear upon the lack of your most beautified presences!!"
Walking into the dining room, Kuno sat down and prepared to eat the meal prepared for him earlier in the day.
Yet, there wasn't a meal.
This came as some surprise to him. Quite a surprise, in fact. Sasuke should have long ago prepared breakfast for him, and by this time of the day, he should be eating it.
...Where was Sasuke, anyway?
He hadn't been there when he had awoken, and there was no meal prepared, either. Odd. Had he run away again? He didn't remember being crueller than normal to Sasuke.
Standing back up and sighing, he slowly began to make his way around the Kuno estate. Somewhere, he'd find Sasuke... hopefully.
After 30 minutes of this, however, he began to get frustrated. Where in hell could Sasuke be?
This is when he found him.
Asleep.
...lazy ninja.
Stomping his foot loudly on the ground to wake Sasuke, Kuno threw his bokken at him. "Know you what time it is??"
"I..." Sasuke groggily blinked. "Oh, master, no. What time is it?"
"I'm late for school, you idiot!!" Kuno yelled.
Sasuke jumped in surprise. "Oh, master, please forgive me!" bowing down, he began to cry "I'm so very sorry master! Let me make it up to you by preparing a large fea-" he was interupted by Kuno's snarl of anger.
"No time for that now, man! Just make sure there is sustenance prepared for me upon my return!" Kuno picked up his bokken and angrily made his way out of the estate towards Furinkan.
In his anger, he had forgotten to stop by the small shrine at which he often prayed before leaving for school. Hence why he never noticed it lying in a small pile, shattered and broken when it had fallen down.
Yes, what a day today would be indeed.
**********************************
Ranma groggily made his way downstairs, rubbing the back of his head where Akane had slammed her mallet onto his him.
"Uncute tomboy..." he muttered, praying to Kami she was nowhere near enough to hear him.
His mind, however, was not on the sizable lump that still pulsed in pain. That dream, which had, even in it's shortness, occupied his whole night, had been a strange twisted one.
One full of darkness, pain, and an eternal sadness. One he hoped would never come to be.
Shaking his head, he continued down the stairs, when he suddenly doubled over in pain. Oh gods, the pain! As if a thousand voices were screaming, peircing his head. As if a thousand cold, dead hands were tearing at his flesh.
Oh kami, only a dream, only a dream!
**********************************
It was a quiet morning, an altogether beautiful, wonderful morning, one that people everywhere would fling open their doors and windows to, letting in the fresh air and the bright sun.
Dammit all.
A man slowly walked down an abandoned street. He was tall and thin, and his thick, black hair spiked up and fell over his large, liquid red eyes. He had a saiya strapped to his back, which held what looked to be a long, thin Katana. His trenchcoat, which swung around his large, black, military style boots as he walked, had a highly peculiar rust color to it, one that seemed to be swirling around on itself, as if it were alive. Had anyone noticed this, they would have stopped and stared at it.
Not that there was anyone to stop and stare.
Truth of the matter was, the street wasn't really abandoned. As a matter of fact, not ten whole minutes ago, the entire street was full of people, laughing, smiling, and moving about their day with a bright cheery smile. If the man had seemed to know that the empty street he was down had been a lively, busy street, full of life not half an hour ago, he made no sign of it.
Or, perhaps he didn't care.
The man, in truth, liked the fact it was empty. It suited him right now, though his mood was likely to change, as it had often done in the past. Perhaps, in a few minutes, he would crave people again. Then, maybe, he would go and stop in a street full of them, absorbing their thoughts, their ki, their movements, drinking it all in with his senses as if he would reach out and know each person, merely by touching them.
But for now, being alone suited him perfectly.
Stopping, the ends of his trenchcoat swirling a moment before settling in with the knowledge that the rest of his body had stopped, the man glanced over at an empty shop. Nobody was there, so nobody would mind. Even if someone HAD been there, however, it wouldn't have stopped him. Glancing at the windows, he extended his mind, just a little, and shattered the large, bullet proof picture window that covered the shop's front. Walking to the where the window had been, the glass underfoot crackling as he stepped on it, he reached his hand forward and plucked out a cigarette pack and a small, silver lighter from the broken window.
Perfect. Hadn't had a smoke in a while.
Gently ripping the casing off the pack, he cursed as he pulled too hard and the pack exploded, cigarettes flying everywhere. Determined to get one, however, his hand reached forward at a speed that would have put Ranma's Amaguriken technique to shame and gently caught one, before it had landed onto it's new home in the dirt of the road.
Slowly and with great care, the man gently sparked the ligher, hoping he didn't do it too hard and break it. Much to his great satisfaction, the lighter tip exploded into a small, controlled flame, a tiny wisp of heat emanating from it. Lighting his cigarette, he flicked the lighter case shut (not noticing that the top casing flew right off and onto the ground) and dropped it into his pocket.
He began to walk again, the surface of his trenchcoat rippling as if it were alive.
Maybe today wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all.
**********************************
Tatewaki Kuno had been running the entire time, in hopes that he wouldn't be late when the first bell at Furinkan high school sounded. Though Kuno may have possessed the speed, and usually the wits to keep his head about and focused on where he was going, he was slightly distracted today at the prospect of being late.
Hence why he never noticed the man as he turned the corner.
He continued to run, eyes shut, breathing labored. He couldn't be late, not now. Not when he had nearly killed himself to get there, dammit!
All might have been fine, had the man but moved from Kuno's path. As it was, however, he made no sign of moving for the kendoist, or even seeing him, for that matter.
Such as it was, Kuno slammed straight into the man's chest and was knocked back with a loud "ooof".
Blinking groggily, thinking he had slammed straight into a cement wall at top speed, Kuno managed to raise himself to a kneeling position with the help of his ever present bokken.
The weakness he was feeling fled, however, when Kuno spotted the hilt of the man's Katana, which was just barely visible over his head.
"You.." Kuno could barely contain his excitement. Imagine, another swordsman, here, in Nerima! "You carry a sword!" he cried.
The man snorted. "And you carry a toy" he said, cigarette still in his mouth, pointing to Kuno's bokken. The man continued to walk past Kuno as if nothing had ever happened.
"I..." Kuno glanced down at his bokken. "This is not a toy!" he cried. He stood up, anger beginning to make him quake. "I will teach you not to slight the great Tatewaki Kuno!"
The man stopped walking, slowly turning his head.
And Kuno froze.
The man's deep, liquid red eyes had started to faintly glow, as if from a rage. The man turned fully now, and Kuno noticed, for the first time, the extremely odd, living color of the man's jacket. It moved, like a snake, though the trenchcoat itself managed to remain very, very still.
"Slight?" The man laughed, that cold, sinister, rising laughter, his red eyes flashing his hot ki. "Slight the great Kuno?" he seemed to find something funny in all this. "I wouldn't dream...." he paused, his red eyes starting to blur from Kuno's field of vision. Suddenly, he turned his head up, and laughed. "I wouldn't dream, " he repeated "Mr. Blue Thunder."
Kuno was still quaking, though this time, it was from fear. He could barely manage to keep a grip on his wooden sword. "Focus!" he thought to himself "Focus, or you'll never defeat this vile creature!"
The man burst out laughing again. "Vile creature? Surely, I'm not all that bad." Moving suddenly, there was but an instant before Kuno realized the man's face was but inches before his own.
"Wha.." Kuno could barely speak "What do you want, Philistine??"
The man's glowing red eyes peered deep into Kuno's, searching out his soul, his heart, as if he would tear from Kuno the very essence of him. This man was not a man. This was not right, not good. This could not be!
This fear, lodged so deeply in Kuno's heart, was reborn a thousand times upon hearing the man's next words.
"I desire that which you know," the man whispered soothingly, as the world tinted red for Kuno "And soon, that which you desire, I, too, shall desire." The red eyes peered deeper, deeper.
Red. Red like blood.
**********************************
Ranma slowly came to the table where everyone was already seated. He was still recovering from minute of exquisite pain he had recieved earlier, the one that had chilled his heart. Akane, who was obviously still fuming over something, was angrily eating her breakfast. Sitting down next to her, he felt as if maybe launching a tirade of "Stupid tomboy!" would get his mind off things, but then it happened again.
Again, again, that pain! But this time, only one voice, and no hands. But this voice was... familiar. Familiar in a way he didn't like at all.
**********************************
The man smiled.
A breeze rippled at his trenchcoat, making it appear alive again, the colors swirling and swirling. Swirling with life, with power.
The man laughed.
He had seen, in the mind's eye of that boy, a child of 17 years, black pig tail, red chinese shirt, performing advanced katas and moves unknown to most mortals.
Oh, yes. Powerful.
And also fun. It had been a long time since he had had a toy.
And he was so dreadfully bored.
He smirked. Oh, I hope you're ready, Ranma Saotome. I hope you're ready indeed.
"Because I'm bored, Ranma.. " the man seemed to relish the taste of Ranma's name on his lip.
He rarely spoke names.
"So I hope you're ready, Saotome.... since you have no choice."
Keijiro had returned, after so many long years of nothing.
Keijiro smiled, his red eyes flashing brightly.
Yes indeed, Keijiro was back.
Authors Notes
Yes, I intend to continue this story. No idea how long it's going to be, really, but I'm shooting for 10 chapters. Hope you'll manage to stick with me and be patient if you liked this.
If you're interested in my other work, you're gonna have to wait. A homepage is coming up soon, but in the meantime, visit http://www.anime-7.net since I plan on accouncing the joint page there as well.
And is Kuno dead??
Who knows?
...me, that's who. :)