Notes
This is actually chapter 3.1… most of the prologue has been changed.
It was supposed to be the second half of the second chapter, but it was getting too big, so I separated it into a chapter of its own, adding a few extra scenes while I was at it.
As said before, I'm changing the ages of the HiME and Ranma cast to make the series fit better. After some consideration, these will be their final ages:
-Ranma, Akane and all the other characters, even though the entire manga has already happened, and a year has passed, still are 16 years old.
-Every 15 years old My HiME character (Including Mai and Tate) is one year older than in the anime. Every other character keeps its original age.
Akuma-sama- Initially, I had thought about just adding an extra HiME without any explanation, so the number of real HiMEs would be bigger than in the series. However, now, I've got some ideas which might work… Either way, definitely, every HiME from the anime will still be a HiME in this fic.
There's also a small bonus at the end of the chapter. It has a few symmetry problems, but I didn't want to delay the chapter even more only to fix them.
Matrias- Good point about the first scene… Originally, it was supposed to be about Tsubasa, but then I decided to use Konatsu… However, I completely forgot to actually change the actions along with the character… Ok, I've rewritten it now.
/-
"Hum…" A strange wooden crate, weirdly placed on the middle of the Tendo's living room, slowly started moving after a quick conversation between and Mr. Saotome. "Ukyo won't like this…"
The strange object crawled towards the outside, going unnoticed by the occupants of the room, who seemed to be fairly entertained while drinking sake.
The object reached the exit door, pushing it open, and making a few quick hops towards the middle of the street. The crate suddenly burst open, wood pieces spattered through the empty dark road. Emerging from the inside was a slender figure, wearing bright red clothes, a matching crimson scarf, and a mask of similar color and style. A long strand of black hair descended from the figure's head, which was otherwise mostly covered by the red cloth. The feminine figure ran in circles for a few seconds, musing. "Miss Ukyo likes Ranma, so I should just tell her about that… however…" The figure stood still, pounding for a few seconds. "I don't want to lie to Miss Ukyo… she's such a kind person, but she's never in peace because of her obsession with Ranma…"
The figure, a strangely feminine ninja named Konatsu, stood around for several seconds, before suddenly clenching his fists. "It's decided. I'll lie to her about this incident… Maybe, if I try hard enough, I'll be able to make her forget about him! A new love will be born out of the darkness of solitude!" The ninja pulled a microphone out of his clothes, and started singing a loud, melancholic and dissonant song, the noise quickly becoming audible to the entire block. The figure continued to sing, oblivious to the angry crowd which quickly gathered around him, prepared to lynch the one singing such horrible song.
Run, My HiME!
Chapter 3- Awakening of the Yellow Princess
A sudden shockwave spread through the sea vessel, shaking the structure as the lights failed for a brief moment, before quickly turning on again.
Tate looked dizzily at his surroundings. Chairs and tables had been thrown around, small flames had ignited, and several passengers lying on the floor, a few had stayed up by holding onto the staircases. Luckily, he had managed to fall on a surprisingly soft object, and hadn't been hurt. His attention was quickly turned to Akane, who had managed to stay up without any kind of support, and looked angrily at one of the exits, before quickly storming off through it. Yuuichi briefly wondered about that, but his thoughts were interrupted.
"Hey."
"Huh?" Yuuchi looked downwards, a cold feeling running through his stomach.
"PEVERT!" The orange haired girl exploded, while slapping the taller boy away from her.
Tate stumbled through the wreckage, huge eyes staring at the angered girl. "No! It's a mistake!"
"Taking advantage of a girl in such a situation, you're the worst!" Mai lashed out.
"No! It's a mistake!" Yuuchi replied again, his face colored with a burning red.
Other vibrations went through the room, raising the flames, which advanced towards through the hall. Several passengers were awakened by the second one, including Shiho and Takumi, whose heavy eyelids opened with difficulty.
"Hey! We're evacuating the ship!" A well built man wearing a lifejacket screamed at the top of his lungs at the confused people, who had continued inside that room.
"Aah!" Mai glared at Takumi, who had just managed to get up. "Are you ok? Have you gotten your medicine?"
"What?" The redhead child worriedly looked at his sis, "I've forgotten it in our room!".
"Yuuichi, can you take Takumi with you?" Mai suddenly turned towards her new acquaintance with pleading eyes.
"O-Ok!" Tate nodded. Turning towards the younger pair, he shouted "Come!" Meanwhile, Mai rushed upstairs, her eyes trembling while taking a last look at her younger brother.
Tate's eyes briefly rested upon the young boy, he didn't look sick or anything. Was it really something serious, or was that girl just overreacting?
/-
Ranma glared at the beast advancing yet again towards him with its heavy but fast march. "Mokou Takabisha!" He yelled, as two other light globes formed on his hands, and traveled towards the beast. They connected with the creature, pushing it away from Ranma, but red eyes monster ignored the pain and resumed his march.
"This isn't good…" The martial artist muttered, "I can't produce enough energy to stop it…" The beast swung its claws, but Ranma swiftly hopped over them. "With each failed attack, the Mokou Takabisha becomes weaker… I'll have to try a different approach!"
He somersaulted back through the entire room, landing on the opposite side of the monster. Quickly skimming through it, he could make out several pillars still standing. Most of them had been destroyed, but the few remaining ones should be enough.
"Let's see how you like this!" Confidence reborn, he jumped towards a pillar, quickly spinning, and using the pillar as support to press his legs and jump towards another one, repeating the process several times, while the creature could only look confusedly at his opponent. Quickly, he had vanished into a simple motion blur ricocheting through the room.
The monster's flaming eyes tried to follow his movements, but failed to do so. As frustration grew inside the creature, a purple aura appeared around its body.
"Now!" Ranma shouted while pressing his feet against a pillar, the impact shattering it, but not before sending Ranma in yet another jump, that time, directed towards the monster. In less than a second, Ranma spun in mid air, and kicked the monster's chest with all his strength and the added power of his increased speed. The result was a powerful attack which sent the thing flying through the room, crashing into a wall. The impact of the large creature weakened the structure around it, as the entire ship trembled, and the ceiling and walls around it fell apart, burying the beast in a pile of rubble.
"Well, as expected, I've won." Ranma proclaimed his victory, smiling as the pieces of floor and furniture sit on top of the monster, burying it.
"Ranma!" The angry Tendo stormed through the stairs, staring at the destroyed room. "Just… What happened down here?"
"A dumb monster appeared…" Ranma said, while looking at the arrival, "but I've already defeated it, as expected," he added proudly while raising his right hand and pointing towards the wreckage in the other room, which could be seen through the hole in the wall opened previously.
Akane's anger was substituted by curiosity. "Are you actually serious?" She looked at the fallen debris, approaching it with caution. To almost anyone else in that ship, that story would surely be a lie, but Akane was used to weird things…
"Yes, but he's finished off now!" Ranma exclaimed, placing his foot on top of the wreckage.
Akane shrieked as an ethereal grunt was reverberated through the room. Pieces of debris were thrown to the sides, as the monster, showing an unexpected speed, quickly rushed through the objects, slamming Ranma against a nearby wall with a single hit of its claws. Akane's heart beat quickly, as the large humanoid creature turned its head, glaring at the newcomer.
With each step that the monster took towards her, Akane's heart trembled, though her face remained unchanged, challengingly looking back at the monster. However, before she could react to the strange creature, Ranma passed by the monster like a blur, punching its head, which was turned slightly by the impact's power, the martial artist suddenly came to a halt, stopping next to his fiancée.
"Ra-Ranma, are you okay?" Akane worriedly asked, as Ranma seemed to lose his footing for a second.
"I don't need your help, tomboy!" He answered, before extending his hands for yet another Moko Takabisha.
"That's it? I'm worried about you and that's everything you say?" Akane snapped, "Do you want to fight that so much? Well, do it alone!" She snorted, glaring at him, an aura of anger around her body.
"You'd just get in the way..." Ranma noted, while looking at the angry girl standing beside him. "Now, take this, stupid monster!" He prepared to attack again, two small orbs of light forming on his hands.
"Moko Takabisha!" The spheres traveled towards the beast, but the monster fluidly moved its claws, dissipating them with a touch. Saotome's hands trembled for a second. A burst of energy coming from the back of the creature's legs impelled it through the room, surprising Ranma, who didn't react as the thing ran into him, bashing the martial artist with its claws, and throwing him at another wall with a surprisingly speed. Upon shock with the structure, it failed, several pieces falling, as a small circular hole, revealing the sea, several meters below, was created.
A drop of blood slipped from Ranma's mouth as he tried to hold onto the cracked wall to rise, and stand up again. The beast's vision focused on its hurt prey, holding an ominous dark smile, the burst of red energy around its legs starting to form again.
"I'm won't lose here…" Ranma managed to say while gathering his remaining power. He didn't have any real options left, but he wouldn't give up so easily.
Akane stared worriedly at the scene. Was that thing actually going to kill him? She had said those things a moment ago… but, she didn't want to see him dead. Not now. She… She liked him.
The creature put its claws together, opening them as it prepared yet another rushing attack. At his side, Ranma had managed to raise his body, placing his arms in a defensive position, expecting the creature's attack, while slowly approaching it.
Akane took a step towards the action, but stopped for a second. What could she do, really? She didn't want to say it, but she knew that she was weak… no, pathetically weak, compared to Ranma. It'd just make everything worse, right?
Ranma stood, waiting for the attack, and ready to flip over the monster as soon as it used that attack again. The stupid thing would be thrown out of the boat, and, hopefully, drown in those waters. Yes, he'd win. Everything would be alright after that. "So much for a vacation…" he whispered, before the thing's eyes lighted up. Unexpectedly, the monster didn't move out of its position.
A dark sphere appeared in front of the thing, and in an instant rocketed towards Ranma, he could do nothing as the projectile hit him, and smashed him against yet another part of the room's wall. The whole structure of the ship seemed to weaken, every wall starting to tremble from the shockwaves created by the impact.
Akane's heart beat quickly. Ranma was lying on the floor, still conscious, but immobile as the creature slowly walked in his direction. Each step producing a loud metallic sound as the large feet of the thing impacted it. It raised its right claw, pointing at the fallen enemy.
Ranma was lying down, facing the approaching creature. He tried to pull his body through the destroyed wall, but it didn't seem to obey his commands, as he remained frozen among the rubbles created by the destruction of that part of the wall, a soft breeze blowing through the hole. "If only I could get through this hole…" He muttered silently, as the monster continued its march towards him.
/
The weird black haired girl from the early incident was lying on an improvised infirmary bed. He wet blue school uniform had been replaced by a large green shirt, which she was wearing as a baggy dress. The room was completely silent, oblivious to the calamity in the exterior.
The eyelids of the girl opened, revealing bright yellow eyes. She slowly raised her chest, sitting on the bed. Her head turned several times, observing her surroundings to identify that place, but it seemed completely unfamiliar. "Enemy…?" She looked around her, that woman from earlier didn't seem to be around, but she could still feel it. Under... There was a battle going in a lower floor. She could feel the impact of the blows, the sound of a monster's feet impacting the weird structure.
The girl's hair was rather unruly, small spikes in every direction, only two pigtails, each one in front of an ear showed any care. The girl looked at a window from where the sea could be seen, and whispered small word with a serious, strong tone. "Miroku."
The window suddenly was destroyed, small pieces of glass flying everywhere, and breaking in even smaller pieces as they ran into solid objects. Going through it, there was a black, thin metallic object, still visibly wet. The weapon seemed disproportionably large for the girl, but her raised arm held it without problems. Suddenly, she jumped from the bed, kicking the room's door open, and running into a corridor.
"Wah!" Mai Tokiha shouted, as she was throw to the side of the corridor, after bumping into someone very quickly. Rapidly looking at the culprit, she saw the weird girl she had saved earlier that day going through the corridor while holding a big sword as if it were a toy, "that was… that was…" Mai's eyes bulged as the information went through her brain. "What is happening?" She frustratingly yelled.
An uncomfortable silence followed. She checked a small white wallet that she had gotten on her room, making sure that the medicine was there and breathed deeply, immediately rushing towards the path the weird girl had taken.
/-
The creature stopped, slowly opening its right claw. It wouldn't let the prey escape. Ranma continued to force himself to crawl through the hole. He wouldn't die there. He couldn't die in such a random way. The light around the creature's claw became even fainter, darkening as a sphere of shadows slowly materialized in the interior of the creature's limb.
/-
"I'm Ranma Saotome… Sorry about this."
"H-Hey, Akane. I'm home!"
"I-I get it… Sorry I bothered you… Goodbye, Akane…"
"I'm so happy that after tomorrow I'll never have to see your face again, Akane!"
"Please, Akane, I need you… to hear me now… I wanted to tell you… I wanted to tell you…that… I LOVE YOU… AKANEEE!"
/
Ranma's head went through the hole, while a bright aura started flowing around his body. He opened the palm of his hands, while facing the floor with them. The shadows inside the creature's claws were solidified into a large cylinder, projecting itself from the monster's appendage, and flying through the air, towards its target.
"Ranma!" Akane's voice echoed through his ears, as she blurred to between blast's path and him, placing her arms together to block the incoming attack.
"What are you doing?" Ranma shouted desperately, while watching his fiancée stand there, in the projectile's path.
The looming shadow crawling through the air hit Akane, getting divided and tossed into four opposite directions, as two glowing spheres of light appeared on her hands. The yellow orbs quickly consumed her arm up to her elbows, while the projectile continued to be deflected. The bright red eyes of the attacking creature shone with recognition.
The projectile, upon contact with the girl's arm, was ripped into four smaller ones, going in perpendicular directions, two towards the floor and two to the ceiling. However, unlike the main projectile, the smaller ones seemed fairly inoffensive, hitting the room without doing any visible damage.
The flow of dark energy continued, as the lights in Akane's hands vanished. In their place, there were two huge golden gloves, covering from her fists to the elbows. They were disproportionably big, easily making her hands at least four times bigger than they were supposed to be.
"Take this!" Akane shouted, as she moved back one hand, and quickly used it to punch the energy, sending a wave of shadows back to the strange monster. It barely had time to blink, before getting thrown through the opposite wall, into another room.
"What is this thing?" The youngest Tendo wondered about the golden weapons stuck on her hands while looking at them. There were lines forming intricate patterns over the two golden gloves, but the only form which she could identify was a strange object, which seemed to be a perfectly circular eye surrounded by the silhouette of a sun.
"Where did you find that?" Ranma asked, as he slowly got up while holding onto the broken wall.
"I don't know…" Akane replied uncharacteristically quietly.
"Well, well, well… Good moves there." A small white haired boy said while holding an amused smile. He was wearing a simple school uniform, black pants and a white t-shirt, while sitting on top of a pile of luggage which had formed during the battle.
"Who are you?" Ranma inquired, glaring as the stranger, who somehow that managed to stay unnoticed up to that point.
"Wrong question. The right one is, Ranma, who is -that- girl?" The boy with golden eyes said, while pointing to Akane.
"What do you think you're-" Ranma snorted, but stopped abruptly as the pain of his wounds got to him, having to stop and hold his hurt arm.
"Well, it seems that our other guests have arrived..." The white haired kid continued, as a shadow quickly descended the stairs, followed by Mai, who stopped, and breathed heavily, just after getting through the entrance.
"You… what happened here…?" The orange haired girl wondered, while looking at Ranma, Akane and the destroyed compartment.
"This was… huh…" Akane's sweating face betrayed her smile, while she thought about an explanation, which wouldn't be said, as a monstrous growl interrupted her. The creature jumped again to that room, stopping Mai's heart stopped for a second, as she stared at the rust covered creature.
"That… That…" The older Tokiha babbled incoherently, as the small girl brandished her sword, using it to make a circular motion on the floor, before jumping towards the creature, which parried the blow with its claws, sending her a few meters back.
"You are HiMEs…" The kid said, grinning while the girl and the monster exchanged more blows. "You have the ability to materialize photons in the form of powerful weapons."
"What?" Akane emptily exclaimed.
"Those two weapons that you wield, they're Elements, proof that you're a HiME," The white haired stranger continued "And that monster is an Orphan, a creature of another dimension created by negative emotions."
Mai remained with bulged eyes though the entire situation, watching events like which she hadn't expected even in her strangest dreams.
"So, I have to fight that thing?" Akane asked, as the small girl continued her battle, spinning on the hair while holding her sword, and cutting the right claw of the monster, which fell numbly on the floor, quickly turning into dust.
"Bingo! You learn quickly, Akane!" The weird kid said, one eye closed, and imitating a gun with his left hand.
"This is a mistake…" Mai murmured while watching the unbelievable battle, going on in front of her… "Yes, a mistake!" She said, holding a huge smile. She got up, turning towards the stairs and climbing them, while repeatedly telling herself "it's just a mistake!"
/-
"Argh!" The two teens yelled, as they bumped on each other in the middle of a corridor.
"Mai?" Tate exclaimed, while looking at the girl who was sitting on the floor. "Why did you take so long? Your brother was worried, so I came back to find you." Tate curiously wondered, while examining the girl, who seemed rather pale, compared to before.
"No! No! No! No! No!" The girl repeated several times, while throwing repeated awkward punches on the taller teen.
"Hey! Stop" Tate futility tried to defend himself but to no avail as the flurry of punches continued.
/-
"Hey! Can I get one of those?" Ranma wondered, looking at another slash of the weird girl's black sword.
"No, no, no. Only the pure maidens chosen by destiny have the power of the elements." The boy replied while holding his characteristic grin. "You'll have to stand in the sidelines and sit like a good little boy..."
"No chance, brat." Ranma snorted at the golden eyed boy, immediately rushing towards him.
Meanwhile, Akane rushed towards the monster, which was stumbling, barely able to block the slashes of the little girl with a single claw. It didn't even notice the other one approaching it, nor the huge golden fist direct to its stomach. Upon contact, the creature remained immobile for a few moments, turning into sand as soon as Akane moved her fist away from it. "That was easy." She said, smiling.
"See you later, princesses." With that, the weird boy jumped from the pile of objects into a dark part of the room. Ranma quickly tried to follow him, jumping through the pile of objects, however, after landing; he noticed that the kid seemed to be nowhere.
"Who are you?" Akane asked the weird girl, who, after the slave's death, had just been standing around, looking curiously at the two others in that room.
"Mikoto!" She shouted, just before starting to jump around, rushing through the stairs. The two remaining teens stared at the weird girl as she quickly disappeared from sight.
"How do I make these things disappear?" Akane briefly wondered, while staring at the huge gloves around her arms.
/-
"What was that all about?" Tate inquired, while walking towards the hall's exit, Mai going right behind him.
"OK, now, we're even!" The girl amusedly said.
"What are you talking about!" Tate confusedly asked, still trying to understand what he had missed.
"Your perverted hand!"
"That was a mistake!" Tate insisted while silently sulking. Why did no girl ever believe him?
They had reached the deck, standing next to the lifeboats, which were being pulled back to the ship. The emergency lights weren't on, and the noise created by the crowd standing around the deck seemed much calmer than before. They were stunned by the new development for a few seconds, before deciding to ask about it. "Hey, what just happened?" Tate wondered, asking a group of sailors who were resting next to another group, which was busy pulling ropes to lift up the lifeboats to the deck.
"We've just received new orders from the captain. The main structure of the ship doesn't seem to have any problems, so we'll continue on our way to the port, but stopping earlier than scheduled." The large man answered, while whipping off the seat of his face with a white handkerchief.
"Are-Are you sure we'll even reach land like this?" Tate worriedly asked.
"Well, the captain thinks so." Another man answered casually.
"I just hope Takumi is okay." Mai sighed deeply, before heading to check the various lifeboats to search for Takumi.
/-
A few hours later, the ship had docked on a port, part of its shell destroyed, and the travel coming to an end before expected. Various groups stood around the port, talking amongst themselves, deciding what they'd do until the morning. The port itself seemed a fairly pleasant place, well lit, and several guards standing in various places, guarding it. In fact, a few people seemed to have decided to sleep right there while waiting for the next day.
Nabiki was laughing at Ranma and Akane, whose gloves had vanished. "So, after the incident, by some miracle, the ship still managed to arrive on the port, more or less intact." Nabiki amusedly said while looking at a seemingly angry and battered Ranma, and an enthusiastic Akane. "I guess that's an improvement for you, Ranma!" She remarked. A monster? How could she have missed that one? "And Akane got a nifty glove? I wonder how much time it'll last compared to the last magical item you two found."
"Very funny, Nabiki," Ranma cut the amused words of the older Tendo. "I've had a bad night, and there's still school in a few hours…" Saotome lied down on the floor, resting his head on his arm, and closing his eyes. "Don't bother me, okay?"
"What's up with him?" Akane noticed Ranma's uncharacteristic bad temper, completely missing its cause.
"Hurt pride." Nabiki grinned yet again. She wondered how long it'd take for Ranma to challenge Akane after that night.
/-
The morning had finally arrived, and only one hour remained before the classes started. Compared to the mornings in Nerima, things seemed to be much calmer, the various activities carried on by hundreds of students hardly making anything beyond an armless background noise. Of course, the lack of visible confusion didn't exactly mean "peace".
"Whoever designed this uniform was a pervert!" Akane fumed, glaring at her reflection on the mirror. Furikan's uniforms were rather ridiculous, and more like something a 5 year old would wear, but that new thing… Did it really need such a short skirt? Akane was wearing a uniform similar to the one Mai had worn during the ship travel, an orange long sleeved shirt and a short brown skirt. She left the dressing room, quickly stumbling upon Ranma.
"Aren't those supposed to be summer clothes?" She inquired while looking at his uniform. Brown pants and an orange sleeveless jacked, with a white shirt underneath it.
"I don't care. The other one was likely to be torn to shreds as soon as I got into a battle." Ranma answered, while taking a quick look at his fiancée. He wouldn't say it out loud, but she was kind of cute in that uniform. "Besides, I'm still not over that thing you got last night. I didn't need your help back then, and I'll show you that whatever that is, you can't beat me with it!"
"Can't stand being in second place, heh?" Akane remarked, a visible grin drawn on her face.
"That has nothing to do with this! And I'm not in second place." Ranma turned away from her, walking out of the building and going towards a large open road, where many other students could be seen.
"Are you already fighting again?" Nabiki noted, standing in the way of the two clashing teens.
"Where were you?" Akane asked, but her sister showed no signs of actually paying attention to that question.
"Anyway, if everything goes well, I should be making lots of money from this place. So, a small gift can't hurt, right?"
"Gift?" Ranma gulped.
"Don't worry, dear. It's just a picture." The older Tendo noted, raising her left hand to show a small camera.
"Is it really for free?" Akane insisted.
"Of course. Now, could you please stand just so I can take it?"
Ranma and Akane exchanged glances uncertainly. "Ok, Nabiki, go on." Ranma stated, while walking to Akane's side, standing just behind her.
Nabiki aimed the lens of the small machine at them, and pressed a button. A bright flash quickly followed as the picture was recorded by the camera's systems, showing up in a small screen.
/
