Of Wind and Darkness

Chapter 3 – A Hole in the wall

"Where am I now? Ranma, this is all your fault!"

Ryoga awoke with a throbbing headache at the back of his skull. As he sat up, he looked around the dark cell. There was a tiny barred window, and few patches of thrown hay and bones. Luckily, whoever had brought him here left his pack with him.

"How did I get here anyways?" he murmured to himself, scratching the back of his head. All he could remember was walking through a forest, only to be knocked out by some dark creature that jumped out at him.

Ryoga decided to take a look out the window, maybe it would give him some clue as to where he was being currently being held.

"Definitely not Tokyo," he gasped as he looked out onto an open, dried out plain, which stretched out behind a tall stone wall. Looking down, he could see various creatures moving about. Some had weapons and were patrolling various posts up and down the stone wall. "What is this place? Am I even in Japan?"

There was a sudden bang at the cell's door. Turning, Ryoga saw another creature; dog faced maw snarling at him through the bars of the cell door.

"Prisoners to be quite!" the Guzzlie growled at him. "You no behave, me knock you out again."

Ryoga could only muster a meek nod at the lumbering creature, his eyes wide with surprise. Snorting, the Guzzlie began to walk back down the hall, checking the other cells as he went. Ryoga relaxed as the monster disappeared down the hall.

"I need to find a way out of here," he mumbled again. Thinking hard, he could only think of one thing as he looked at his pointed index finger.

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All vampires require day sleep, and Ranma was no exception.

In his tiny stone room, he laid curled up in his bed. Though the mattress was set inside a cubby in the room's wall, it was still more comfortable then the corner of the cell. The room had no windows so it stayed almost perfectly dark, the only light came from underneath the door from the opened windows in the hallway outside.

For the most part, a vampire's day sleep is usually pretty heavy. Only waking for brief moments to shift and fall back into slumber. Though with enough will power, a vampire could stay awake during the day, but would quickly tire if too much energy was spent.

Ranma, though, was a heavy sleeper even before being turned, so not much could wake him once he had gotten settled into the deep sleep. Even when the room began to shake, with a loud rumbling following it, Ranma simply turned over to lie on his other side, muttering about his Pop's snoring.

After another minute or so of various shaking and rumbling through the room, the door loudly swung open. Commander Lo'pin entered, a Guzzlie stood behind him nervously peeking into the young vampire's room.

"The master wants you to wake," the commander growled out to Ranma. Though when the teen didn't stir, the wolf man suddenly became agitated. "Get in there and wake him up," Lo'pin growled at the Guzzlie.

"Me no want to," the Guzzlie said, shaking his furry head. "Vampires mean when woken up. Me no want to get bitten again."

"You think I'm going to? Get in there!" snarled Lo'pin as he began to push the Guzzlie into the room. The two struggled, the Guzzlie's brute strength helping him keep a steady foot hold outside of the door. The fortress took another hard shake, knocking both to the ground.

"What's the meaning of this?" growled D'aray, who now stood over the Commander and guard. The elder vampire had a twisted scowl, obviously not pleased with his Commander's actions.

"Sorry sire," apologized Lo'pin. "We didn't see you there."

"Why isn't he awake yet?" D'aray growled, stepping into the dark room. Without hesitation he balled a fist and hit Ranma squarely in the head. "Wake up," D'aray growled at him. "There is no time for sleep."

"What's going on?" Ranma mumbled as he sat up in the bed, just barley awake. It was still in the middle of the day, weren't all good little vampires suppose to be asleep?

Outside his door the windows in the halls had been shut yet there was still bright light coming from various torches that were kept alight along the walls. The intrusion of light made Ranma keep his eyes closed as he tried to rub sleep from them.

"You've got your first assignment, my Storm," D'aray said simply. "A prisoner has escaped and the guards are too stupid to tackle the nut case down."

"Why, is he a nutcase?" Ranma asked, yawning slightly.

"For someone who's trying to escape, you'd think he'd be more discreet," D'aray snarled loudly. "The fool blows a hole through my wall, not only letting the guards know where he is, but he actually stands his ground and fights them too. The worst part is, he keeps beating them!"

"Sounds like you just have weak guards," Ranma drawled, finally opening his eyes to look at D'aray.

"No, they just don't know martial arts nor how to combat against any chi. That is why you're going to track this escapee down."

Ranma paused for a minute to glare at D'aray. Was the vampire already trying to twist around the deal they made not but a few hours ago?

"This prisoner is human though, right? We had a deal-"

"I don't care if you kill him, maim him, or knock him out. Just stop him from putting holes through my fortress!" D'aray had stormed out of the room, pushing aside the commander and Guzzlie who had stayed within the door.

Ranma grumbled to himself as he pulled himself out of the bed.

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The beasts had stopped attacking him after awhile.

Ryoga decided to take a moment to relax in the hollowed out underground hallway he had made with his Bakusai Tenketsu. He escaped only less then half an hour ago and had already gotten lost deeper within the fortress.

He had made quite a mess of the place. He blew a hole through the cell's floor into a room below it, only to then go through the new room's wall into a guards' barrack. Quickly using his Shishi Hokoudan to easily escape that mess, and also blowing another hole through the barrack's wall. Into another guard-infested room.

Ryoga was tired of all the fighting, though it wasn't that the monsters were very strong. None had even the sense to dodge the smallest of blasts. Yet the constant usage of his chi was starting to become a problem.

His stomach growled loudly. Ryoga also hadn't eaten in awhile either. He could guess that he had been unconscious for maybe a day or so, because the sun was midday when he was captured and had risen again when he awoke.

Brushing off his dark pants, Ryoga prepared himself to keep going. He had to hurry back to his journey. And be able to actually find his way back to Nerima.

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Ranma went cold as he looked at the large series of holes going down through a hall of rooms. The walls where broken evenly through by one centered explosion. Ranma knew of only one technique that could do this to stone.

Bakusai Tenketsu, the Breaking Point technique.

That would mean that the prisoner had to be Ryoga. Only he could get lost and stumble from one guard room to the next. Though the rumbling through the fortress had stopped, Ranma knew Ryoga was stubborn enough to keep trekking on through what ever wall he came upon.

Ranma was at a loss for what to do next.

He knew he needed to find Ryoga before D'aray did, and before the idiot made the fortress collapse on top of them both. Yet, how Ryoga would react to Ranma's current situation was his major concern. Normally the boy would start up a fight about something or other. And that's exactly what Ryoga might do when he learned of Ranma being a vampire now.

I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Ranma began to follow the trail of blast holes left by Ryoga. They lead to the deeper parts of the fortress, going underground into caves and dark pits. If Ranma hadn't wandered the fortress the day before he himself probably would have gotten lost too.

Ranma could easily see in the darkness, his eyes picking up even the tiniest sliver of light as it bounced off the surrounding area. Ranma wasn't sure, but he could also swear that he could see the temperatures too. Blue cold rocks, and an orange warm trail of a living being. Do vampires have infrared vision?

He suddenly heard a sound in a cave to his right, his new vamperic hearing picking it up easily.

Well that was easy, he muttered to himself as he approached the dark cave.

"Who's there?" called an angry voice. Ranma could see it was Ryoga, already in a fighting stance. To Ranma's vamperic vision, Ryoga seemed to glow in the dark, body heat radiating out.

"Calm down," Ranma said to him, in a casual manner. "Do you want to get killed in here?" Ryoga's stance seemed to waver a moment, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

Ranma reached inside his pants' pocket pulling out the soul-stone that D'aray had given him. He had no idea why he decided to take it but now he was glad as the stone's green glow lit up the cave, allowing Ryoga to be able to see him.

"Ra-Ra-Ranma?" Ryoga took a step back, surprised to suddenly find Ranma in such a place. Stepping out of the shadows like a phantom, holding out a strange light that he kept far from his squinting eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get you outta here. If you keep punching holes through the walls, the whole place will cave in." Ignoring Ryoga's confused look, Ranma turned towards the cave's exit. "Just come on, I might be able to find a way out."

Without another word, Ryoga began to trail Ranma.

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D'aray growled to himself as he paced through the remains of his guard halls. He followed his commander Lo'pin, checking for any other prisoner escapes and keeping the riled Guzzlies in line.

"What kind of human has this sort of power?" Lo'pin asked as he awed the sight of damaged walls. "Do you think this one is a part of the Order?"

"If he is," drawled D'aray. "then he is a stupid one. Getting caught, then getting lost."

"Maybe that was a part of the plan? Getting close enough to do damage," Lo'pin sneered, a feral grin playing on his lips.

"Then the Order is getting desperate. You'd think a group of well trained hunters would come up with a better plan then this."

The commander simply shrugged his shoulders, not really able to comment on the skill level of the hunters from the Order. The wolf man had never really encountered the famed otherworld hunters from the human world's the Order. Though he did hear stories about them, humans who gathered to rid the world of evil and darkness. It was enough to make Lo'pin laugh.

"Though are you sure it was wise to send your stubborn fledging after this human?" the commander dared to ask the fuming vampire.

"Even if he allows the human to escape, its not like my Storm could flee as well," D'aray said, pulling the chain on his belt lightly as if to emphasize his meaning. "And in any case I might get lucky and the brat will break his own vow of not killing humans."

"You think he'd do it?" the wolf man queried, a bushy eyebrow raised.

"If anything the fledging would get rather tempted, its not like he's kept himself fed very well," D'aray responded, an evil grin plastered on his face.

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"You came to look for me?"

As the two traveled through the tunnels, Ryoga was busy telling Ranma his tale. After Ranma had disappeared, which was more then a month ago; everyone began an extensive search party.

Mr. Saotome had been very distraught, not wanting to stop the search, crying about an act of seppuku that Ryoga couldn't understand. Ranma could only guess that his mother had said something, otherwise the old man probably wouldn't have been so concerned.

Akane had joined the panda father, yet she kept returning to the site where the demon had attacked, hoping she could get some kind of clue. The others, Ukyo, Shampoo, and even Mousse and Kuno were a part of the search. Though Kuno was searching more for his 'pig-tailed goddess' than Ranma, but any help was appreciated.

Ryoga had decided to leave Nerima to look for Ranma, promising Akane to send any news he found. And that's how he ended up here, looking for Ranma.

Ranma couldn't help but feel touched as he heard Ryoga's story. For a long time he believed that everyone had given up on him, but they had actually worried over him. He felt the knot in his stomach loosen a bit.

"What's wrong? You look depressed," Ryoga asked, peering at Ranma through the hazy green light the strange stone emitted. He had been wanting to ask Ranma about the glowing stone, but had gotten so caught up in telling his search party story that he had almost forgotten.

"I'm just, I guess glad that I was missed," Ranma said simply, not looking at Ryoga.

"Huh? Why would you think that?" queried Ryoga. "Look, I know we're not the best of friends but don't think that I'm that low." The bandana boy wore a mock look of hurt, as he crossed his arms and stuck his nose into the air.

"I'm sorry, its been hard here," Ranma laughed a bit, feeling a little better.

"Why are you here anyways? Were you taken too?"

"Uh, yeah," Ranma dimly responded, keeping his gaze locked with the ground. He didn't know how to tell Ryoga about him being turned, afraid of what the brash teen would do. Though Ranma was certain that Ryoga couldn't hurt him, but it was a step that the young vampire was not ready to take.

"And what's with that stone?" Ryoga cut in, looking at the glowing stone in Ranma's hand. "Why is it glowing?"

"I'm not really sure," Ranma replied, lifting his hand to see the rock stone better. "D'aray had it and gave it to me. He called it a soul-stone, whatever that means."

"D'aray? Is he a friend you made here?" Ryoga asked.

"Friend? Never!" Ranma growled out in frustration, turning his face away from Ryoga in case the other boy saw his sharpened fangs. "Its his fault that I'm in this predicament!"

"Oh, so he's another bad guy, huh?"

"More then that, he's the master of this place," Ranma stated simply.

"Really? But why in the world is he after you? Did you get another fiancé or something?" teased Ryoga, enjoying the look of frustration on Ranma's face.

"Don't even joke about that!" Ranma yelled out, violently shaking his head in denial.

"Calm down, you know I didn't mean it," Ryoga laughed. "Although, what is this place anyway?"

"I don't know. Its not our world that's for sure."

As the two continued to walk in silence, each not really knowing what to say to the other. Though while Ranma was preoccupied with navigating the underground tunnels, Ryoga took to studying Ranma's appearance. He sensed there was something different but he had a feeling that Ranma wouldn't tell him unless it was beaten out of the pigtailed boy.

The first thing that Ryoga could tell was how thin Ranma had become. Though the other teen was always very lean, he now looked almost skin and bone, like he had been starved. Ranma's clothes were all torn too, rips and frays lined the red shirt and black pants. Ryoga betted that Ranma was pale too, though couldn't tell from the glow of green light from the strange stone.

One peculiar feature caught Ryoga's attention, a thick metal collar was clasped around Ranma's neck. He didn't know how he missed it before, with a fairly large chain link hanging off of the collar, softly clinking as Ranma moved.

"What's with the collar?" Ryoga asked, too curious to let the subject go.

"Well I am a prisoner here too you know," Ranma said simply, pulling on the chain link a little. D'aray's insurance that I wouldn't be able to escape so easily, he thought to himself. He silently wondered just how far he could go before the collar would activate, and just how he was going to tell Ryoga to leave without him.

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Helen's Notes:

I added that whole bunch of parts in this rewrite. Hope it cleared up a couple things while fleshing out the story some more. Please leave a review to tell me what you think!

Updated for gsteemso who pointed out a single word misuse, changed it to right word. Thanks for keeping an eye out for me for this novice fiction.

For those who don't know:

Bakusai Tenketsu - It involves seeing the breaking point of something with your mind, and hitting it with one finger, shattering the object. This only works on objects made of stone and rock, however. One of the real benefits of the "Breaking Point", though, is that in training to do it, the trainee's threshold for pain increases by a large factor. (Ba-ku-sa-i Te-n-ke-tsu)

Shishi Hokoudan - The technique goes as follows: one channels the negative energy of heavy feelings, like depression, into his body and releases it in the form of a giant discharge of "chi" energy. The heavier the feeling is, the bigger the blast. (Shi-shi Ho-ko-u-da-n)