Title: Demon ½
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. Thank-you to all who have reviewed I really appreciate it.
Warning: Some characters are O.O.C and there's some strong cursing.
The very next morning Nodoka, her sons and Ukyo calmly made their way to the Tendo residence, where they found the eldest Tendo daughter Kasumi happily sweeping in front of the house. When Kasumi looked up from her sweeping her smile spread even further on her face the moment she saw Mrs. Saotome and her sons. Though she didn't recognize the girl with them, she wore a purple okonomiyaki uniform with long black stockings, her long brown hair flowed freely behind her but it was held back by the white ribbon in her hair. She also had a giant metal spatula strapped to her back.
"Oh my, hello auntie Saotome, Ranma, Ryoga." Kasumi smiled.
Nodoka and her boys also smiled at Kasumi's warm welcome, "Hello Kasumi."
"Yo Kasumi." Ranma said with a friendly salute.
"Hi Kasumi." Ryoga bowed politely.
Kasumi giggled softly, then she spotted the girl with them, "Oh my, who's your friend?"
Ukyo cleared her throat and bowed politely, "I'm Ukyo, Ukyo Kounji. I'm a friend of the Saotome's."
Kasumi nodded, "It's wonderful to meet you Ukyo." She turned to Nodoka, "It's nice to see you again auntie. Would you like to come in for some tea?"
"No thank you Kasumi. Actually we came to talk my husband Genma. May we see him?"
"Of course auntie." Kasumi said leading them and Ukyo up to the guestroom where Genma was recuperating from last nights surprise attack.
"Auntie?" Ukyo whispered to Ranma.
"Yeah while we were staying here, Kasumi and mom formed a special bond between them, so Kasumi calls mom auntie."
"Oohh." Ukyo nodded, understanding what Ranma had just told her because, even in the small amount of time she had spent with their mother, she felt the same way towards the Saotome mother.
The boys lagged behind for a moment, Ryoga made a gesture with his head, Ranma nodded then followed his mother and Ukyo into the house.
'I gotta get outta here! I gotta get outta here!' Genma panicked, stuffing as much as he could into his pack while trying to ignore the painful cries of his battered body.
He knew that if Ukyo told his sons and wife why she was after them then that would mean that his demon sons would come after him, so he decided that he would go off on a 'training' journey before they get there, yeah that's right go on a training trip and then come back in about a month or two once the heat was off. Plus Nodoka can't finalize the papers without his signature, it was the perfect plan. (That's what he thinks.) He lifted his head to the door when he heard multiple footsteps approach his room, he knew right away that it was his impudent sons and Ukyo, so he quickly strapped his pack onto his back, opened the guestroom window and jumped out. He strained to hold back a painful yelp that threatened to escape his clenched jaws when he landed not-so gracefully on the hard cold ground.
"Going somewhere Dad?"
Genma looked up to find an angry looking Ryoga standing over him. The young wolf-demon's arms were crossed over his chest, his clawed fingers gently tapping on his arm, his handsome face held an angry scowl with his sharp looking fangs showing from his lips. His tail twitched back and forth in anger. Before China, Genma would just ignore his sons when they got angry at him and show them that he was the man in charge, however things changed as the boys got older, faster and stronger, both his sons could beat him easily either on their own or together. Now Genma realized that taking the boys to Jusenkyo in China was the biggest mistake of his life, not only was he cursed but he himself had given his own sons new powerful demonic bodies and seeing his youngest son standing in front of him now with that cold deadly glare in his icy blue eyes made his blood run cold in his veins.
"Ry… Ryoga! Ah… ha ha ha ha wha… I… I was… just…uh…" He stuttered trying to come up with a poor excuse but he couldn't think of any words that wouldn't get him into more trouble.
"Trying to sneak away from your mistakes again, like the coward that you are?" Ryoga finished for him harshly.
Genma tried to hide his fear by putting on his serious act, "Ryoga, is that what you and your brother think of me?" He sighed sadly while getting to his feet facing his angered son, "I only wanted to find the fiend who did this to me and bring him to justice before he came after you and your brother, is that so wrong?"
"How stupid do you think I am old man?" Ryoga asked, his tolerance for the man he and Ranma called father was running dangerously thin.
Before Genma could even blink he felt something that felt like a blade on his throat, he looked down and saw that Ryoga held one of his iron cloth bandannas in his hands and to his throat. He knew he should've stopped the boy from learning the iron cloth technique from that wandering traveler Toshiga Hibiki.
"You think that after all these years I can't tell when you're lying to me? Well I can tell you right now that the nasty stench you're giving off is really pissing me off!" He said venomously while flexing his claws from his free hand, "And you already know that it was Ukyo that attacked you and you know that 'she's' here along with Mom, Ranma, and myself. Which means that you're in even deeper shit than you were before and that's why you're trying to 'sneak' away."
Genma gulped and took an involuntary step back from Ryoga's outburst, "Now, now just calm down boy. I'm sure we can talk this over like calm mature… LOOK A PORKBUN!" Genma cried pointing to the ground.
"Hey look there's a hundred yen coin right next to it!" Ryoga calmly pointed in the same direction his father was pointing.
"Huh, there is? Where? Where is it?" Genma searched the ground looking for the supposed yen coin only to be slammed into the ground then yanked up in the air by the lapels of his gis by Ryoga.
"You really think I'm that stupid to fall for one of your idiotic tricks, you stupid panda?" Ryoga said coolly before he snickered, "Let's see you explain yourself to mom and Ukyo, they're waiting for you upstairs. And I'm pretty sure Mr. Tendo would like to hear it as well." Before Genma could protest, Ryoga leapt up to the guestroom with his father in toll where his mother, brother, Ukyo and the Tendo's, were waiting for them.
"Ryoga! Ranma! What is the meaning of this?" Soun asked.
"Why don't you ask him, Mr. Tendo." Ryoga threw his father to the ground like a sack of rice and stood next to his brother and childhood friend while putting away knife-like bandanna after it had changed back into ordinary cloth.
(Good thing you stayed outside to catch Pop incase he tried to sneak away bro.) Ranma smirked at his brother.
(I just followed my instincts, brother.) Ryoga smirked back.
"I believe you have some explaining to do, Genma." Spoke Nodoka.
Ukyo sat between Ranma and Ryoga on the floor of the Tendo's living room. Genma sat in front of the three young martial artists and his wife, the Tendo's, save Akane, sat on the right side his serious bullshit spewing mask plastered on his face. Since Ukyo had come back into his life last night, he had to find some way to get the heat off of himself and onto handy scapegoats, which (naturally) were his ingrate sons being his first choice.
"Well boys, what do you have to say for yourselves? Both of you shamelessly tricking women into marrying you." Ranma and Ryoga both sweat dropped, Nodoka's face held an angry glare for Genma's attempt to put the blame on her sons, and Ukyo barely contained her growl. Genma was really outdoing himself this time.
"What do you mean it's our fault Pop?" The silver-haired Saotome argued with their father. "Ryoga and I aren't the ones who sold us out for food!"
"Oh what foolish sons I have." Genma said dramatically, "Have you both forgotten that I couldn't have gone through with the engagement without your consents? Remember I asked you both what you wanted?"
"You asked us a question that didn't have anything to do with marriage, you dumb old man!" Ryoga argued.
"You both chose to ditch Ukyo. So I, being the accommodating father that I am, went along with your wicked scheme against women… OUCH!" Ranma and Ryoga's fists had somehow found their way onto Genma's skull again. "What did you do that for?"
"Cut the self-righteous bullshit, you stupid bastard!" The brothers shouted angrily.
Nodoka cleared her throat, drawing everyone attention to her, "Genma, do you want to try this again?" She said in a whisper that promised a painful death.
Ranma's puppy ears flattened to his head and Ryoga's tail angrily swished back and forth behind him, both canine brothers flexed their sharp claws dangerously making their knuckles crack loudly, a fanged snarl on their faces and if anybody had been watching the two bandanna wearing brothers they would've sworn that they saw their eyes flash blood red and back. Ukyo grasped the handle of her spatula, just waiting for a chance to clobber the lying bastard.
"Okay, okay! One day while the boys and Ukyo were playing, I had a discussion with Ukyo's father…" He began telling everybody about the debate he had with Ukyo's father, "'I'm sorry, but the boys already have fiancés', I told him," Genma said with as much self-righteous theatrics as he could muster up. He knew he was busted, and if he didn't play this right his ass would be more than busted. "Then he tells me that he'll give me the okonomiyaki cart to take Ukyo off his hands, what else could I do but ask the boys what they wanted? I took them aside and asked them and they both chose to take the cart." The room filled with silence.
"That's not what happened, you idiotic panda!" Shouted Ryoga, "You asked us what we liked more. Ukyo, who both Ranma and I thought was a boy, or okonomiyaki! That question had absolutely nothing to do with marriage!" The wolf-demon shouted at his father.
"So you two finally learned that you're supposed to like girls!" Genma roared back hoping to confuse the issue but before he knew it Ranma's elbow drove into the older mans head.
"We haven't learned shit except how to 'not' be like you, you fucking bastard! YOU'RE the one who's been causing us the trouble all the time!" Ranma shouted his dog-ears flatten to his head.
"And WE'RE always the ones cleaning up your fucking messes, you fat, lazy asshole!" Ryoga shouted, both he and Ranma glared at the father challenging him to a contest of wills.
"How dare you two speak to your father that way, you impertinent brats! And to think that I have spent the last sixteen years raising such unmanly sons!" Genma retorted, rising to the challenge before putting on the disparaging act, "I'm so ashamed. After everything I've taught you both, after everything I've done for you, after everything I've sacrificed for you two this is how you both repay your father? By betraying me like this in the end?" He cried into the crook of his arm.
Ryoga, Ryoga, and Ukyo all sweat dropped, "Aw shut up!" Then all three 'thwacked' him on the head.
"And here I thought Daddy was a drama queen." Nabiki said, munching on a rice cracker.
Soun was trying to comprehend the situation that was taking place here, "So what you're telling me is that this girl, Ukyo, is Ranma's and Ryoga's fiancée?" The brother and Ukyo nodded. "Saotome, how could you engage your sons to other girls when they were already promised to my daughters?" He cried hysterically.
Genma was about to open his mouth, no doubt on how it was his sons who made him do it and that he was completely innocent, but a sharp metal blade to his throat stopped his words from coming out of his mouth.
"It's because he's not a man at all but a spineless good-for nothing coward." Nodoka sneered "He resorts to stealing, freeloading, and bartering his own children for food. Luckily my sons didn't take after their father in any ways and were able to repair the damages he had done to Ukyo and everyone Genma came across, as well as restore their friendship with Ukyo once again." She turned to her children and smiled, they knew how proud she was of them, in her eyes both of her sons had become men among men, and it didn't matter to her that they were no longer human, what mattered was that they had become honorable men. "However I can't overlook the disgrace Genma has done to her, her family and my children."
Genma began to backpedal away from his scary wife, the edge of the blade knicked his throat, coating the tip of steel blade with his blood. In the corner of his eye he saw his demonic sons and the enraged chef towering over him, their aura's burned brightly with heated anger.
"Where the hell do you think you're going old man?" Ryoga asked coldly, "You're not thinking about running away again, are you?"
Genma's blood turned to ice at the sound of Ryoga's voice, "I… I … wa… was just…"
"You were gonna do what you always do when you know you're in deep shit and that's run away like the gluttonous pathetic coward you are." Ranma said, cracking his knuckles, "You always told me and Ryoga that a man faces his mistakes and takes responsibility for his actions. Well now it's time for you to take responsibility and face your punishment like a man."
"Hold on a second, Ranma." Ryoga placed his hand on his brother's shoulder to stop him. Ranma turned to his brother in confusion, "I think we should let Ukyo have the first crack at him. After all she deserves the honor more then we do." He said with a wicked grin.
Ranma mimicked his brother grin and turned to Ukyo, "After you Ucchan."
"Why thank you Ranchan and thank you Ryochan." Ukyo approached the trembling elder Saotome, her weapon grasped so tightly in her hands her knuckles turned white, "Time to pay the piper Pops."
Genma screamed in terror and turned to Soun for help, "Tendo my old friend, help me please!" He pleaded.
The Tendo elder looked at his old friend and then at the three enraged teenagers, their aura's burned so brightly he could feel the heat rising from them. He could also sense the cold demonic winds coming from both Ranma and Ryoga, the feel of demonic power brought back frightful memories of his and Genma's evil master before they sealed him away in the mountains.
"TENDO!"
Ukyo couldn't wait anymore and lost her patience, she smacked her spatula against the aging man's head with all the strength she had, sending the bald overweight Martial Artist flying out of the living room, into the yard, and crashing into the concrete wall surrounding the Tendo house.
"Whoa."
"Nice shot Ucchan." Ryoga said with his brother nodding in agreement.
"Thanks." She said heading towards the fallen elder Saotome, readying her spatula for another attack. The twins followed behind their friend they wanted to punish their good-for-nothing father for what he had done.
Genma struggled to his feet, he looked up to find his sons and Ukyo approach him, and before he knew it three fists, two males and one female, made contact with his lower jaw sending him shooting into the sky like a rocket. Not a second behind Ranma leapt after his father, grabbing Genma by his fat ankles the dog eared Saotome swung the aging man around and over his shoulder whilst still in the air. Genma felt a pair of strong hands grab his ankles and felt himself being hurled towards to ground, there Ryoga stood waiting for him, when his father was just in the right spot the young wolf delivered a powerful spinning tornado kick to Genma's fat gut sending him rocketing towards Ukyo. Ukyo raised her spatula over her head and slammed it as hard as she could onto Genma's head, leaving not just a large dent in her spatula but also a Genma sized hole in the ground and a softball sized lump on his head. The Tendo's watched the whole thing in terrified shock, they knew that Genma deserved that but wasn't sure if it should've gone that far. When Ranma landed gracefully on the ground, he and Ryoga walked towards their fallen father, noting that he was still breathing which was a good sign, despite everything he had done they just wanted to hurt their father not kill him.
"Is he dead?" Ukyo asked.
Ranma shook his head, "No he ain't dead, just unconscious. Of course when he wakes up he's gonna wish he was dead."
"Mmmmm." The three teens looked down and saw Genma straining to lift his head. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth and onto the earths soil, his ribs were now bruised with a few fractures and he had a splitting headache from hell. Nodoka made her way to the trio and looked down at her ex-husband in shame, Genma strained to look up at his wife, wishing that he hadn't once he saw her face.
"You are a disgrace, Genma. You have done nothing but bring shame to me, my sons, the Kounji's, and to everyone you meet, you're not worthy enough to call yourself a man nor a Martial Artist." She said in a cold voice, "As of now you are no longer my husband and are stripped of your title as the master of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts. That title now belongs to both Ranma and Ryoga."
The Tendo's and Genma gasped in shock, could Nodoka do that or has it already been done? Genma refused to believe it, "What! You can't do that!"
"I already have and it's already been done." She confirmed before turning to her sons and Ukyo, a gentle smile replaced her angry scowl, "Are you three ready to go home?" They nodded. She and the three teens bowed respectfully to the Tendo family, said their farewells to Kasumi and left the Tendo residence, leaving the ex-master of the Saotome School weeping in the dirt. Just then a zombie looking Akane dragged herself into the house and collapsed from exhaustion.
That night after a hot home-cooked meal and long relaxing bath, Ukyo, wearing a pair of barrowed pajamas, sat on her bed in the guestroom that Mrs. Saotome had set up for her, thinking about what she should do now. Her original plan was to find the Saotome's and get her revenge, but now that she had gotten her vengeance she was stumped on whether she should go back home or not. Truth be told, when she heard from Ranma that they were leaving the very next day, it was like someone had stuck a jagged knife into her chest. She really didn't want them to leave, not after she'd just found her two best friends and was ready to start over with them, but there was nothing she could do or say that could change anything. Tears started welling in her eyes. It just wasn't fair, why was it that every time something good had happened to her, it had to be taken away from her just like that? Why? Was fate trying to tell her that she's not supposed to have friends and that she was supposed to live her life alone without anyone to care for?
Knock, Knock.
"Ukyo?" Nodoka's voice came from behind the door, "Ukyo, its Nodoka, can I come in? I need to talk to you for a minute."
Ukyo quickly dried her tears before answering, "Uh sure. C'mon in."
The Saotome mother opened the door, walked in and sat next to the young chef on her bed. She noticed that Ukyo's eyes were slightly red and puffy, meaning that she had been crying, "Ukyo, are you alright?" She asked, reaching out and gently pushing loose strands of hair from her face.
Ukyo sniffed and tried to smile, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'm great really." She lied, but she saw that Nodoka didn't believe her and sighed, "Okay, maybe I'm not so great."
"Would you like to talk about it honey?" Nodoka asked concern evident in her voice, "Talking always helps you know."
"It's just that I've spent the last ten years hating Ranma and Ryoga for what I thought they did to me. I gave up my femininity and began dressing like a boy because I swore to never love another man again and during those ten years all I thought about the whole time was getting my revenge and making them pay for making my life a living hell." She retorted but then she calmed down, her scowl soften into a sad frown, "But after hearing their side of the story and hearing their father's, I realized that all this time I was blaming the wrong people. Now that I have my honor and my revenge I'm trying to figure out what I should do now. A small part of me is saying that I should just pack up and go back home but…" She paused and lowered her head, she didn't know how to say what was on her mind but she was more afraid of what Mrs. Saotome would say if she told her.
Nodoka stared at the young woman beside her, the Saotome mother knew what she was trying to say but was afraid to say it for fear of what she herself might say. Infact it was the reason why she had come to talk to the young chef, she had talked it over with her sons and she supported their decision, "Ukyo, the reason I came in here was to talk to you about something important. As you already know my sons and I are leaving tomorrow morning to begin a new life for us and I my sons and I were wondering, now this is completely up to you this is your decision to make, okay?" Ukyo nodded giving Nodoka her full undivided attention, "We were wondering if you would like to come with us?"
Ukyo stared at the elder woman, completely dumbfounded. Did she just ask her what she thought she heard or was she hearing things? "What?"
"I've already talked it over with Ranma and Ryoga and they both say that they want you to come with us because you're their friend, but that it's really up to you if you want to come." Nodoka explained, "I can give you till morning to make your decision if you'd like?"
Ukyo could not believe what she was hearing, Nodoka had just told her that she and her boys want her to come with them and they wanted to know if it was alright with her. A tiny voice in her head was telling her that she should forget about it because the same thing that happened to her ten years ago is gonna happen again, but her heart was telling her that she could trust Nodoka and that she wont leave her behind like that bastard Genma did. Her body began shaking and happy tears poured from her eyes, "No, I want to go with you. I want to stay with you and Ranchan and Ryochan and…" She brought her hand up to cover her face while she cried.
Nodoka reached out and brought the crying chef into a warm comforting hug, she stroked her back and assures the young woman that it was okay as she cried. Nodoka heard the guestroom door open behind her and looked over her shoulder to find her two sons standing in the doorway. The silver-haired dog-demon and the ebony-haired wolf-demon heard every single word and were both happy to hear that Ukyo wanted to come with them. Their mother smiled at them then nodded her head and the Saotome twins walked in and joined the two women in a group hug. Ukyo was beyond happy at this point, the tightening feeling around her heart was loosening, her soul felt at peace, and for the first time in a very long time she was home with a family that she hoped one day she could call her own.
When morning came the next day Nodoka and the three teens had finished packing their bags in her family's car and the four of them were off. Neither Ranma nor Ryoga knew that their mother could drive because they knew damn well that their father couldn't, hell he didn't even have a driver's license, and he always told them that a true man gets to his destination by walking. Yeah right, more like the fat bastard was too cheap to even get a license much less learn how to drive.
"Hey mom, where exactly are we going?" Ranma asked from the backseat, he and Ryoga agreed that Ukyo should ride in the front with their mother while they rode in the back.
"We're going to be staying at a friend of mine's place. She's offered to let us stay with her and her family until I've found a place for us to live."
"So who's this old friend of yours mom?" Asked Ryoga.
Nodoka chuckled softly, "She's my best friend from High School, her name is Kyoko Higurashi. We've been best friends since High School and I've been visiting her ever since her husband died in a car accident eight years ago. I've been helping Kyoko with her two children, a daughter named Kagome who's now about your age and a son named Souta who's now ten years old."
(Kagome. Kagome? Why does that name sound so familiar?)
(I don't know bro, do we know anybody by that name?)
(No I don't think so. I just hope that she's not another promised fiancée.)
(Ditto.) Ryoga nodded, "Hey mom just out of curiosity this isn't by any chance another arranged marriage is it? Because I've had enough of arranged marriages to last me in this lifetime."
"I second that brother." Ranma agreed.
"I third it." Spoke Ukyo.
"You both can relax this isn't an arranged marriage. Kyoko's just a really good friend of mine who's offered to help us that's all."
"Ah-choo!"
"Hey sis you're not catching a cold or anything, are you?" Asked a small ten year old looking boy holding a bag of potato chips.
A young teenage girl with long raven black hair turned to the small boy with a reassuring smile. She wore a light blue summer dress with a matching short sleeved over shirt, "It was just a little sneeze Souta. Probably from the dust outside."
Souta shrugged his shoulders, "Don't forget that mom's friend is coming today with her family so try to cheer up before they get here okay Kagome?" Popping another chip into his mouth he walked out of his sister's room and headed down stairs.
Kagome's smile was replaced with a sadden frown, she walked over to her desk and pulled out a framed picture from the drawer. It was a photograph of her and two boys. On the left was a boy dressed in red with long white hair, golden eyes, and dog ears on his head and on the right was a boy dressed in animal fur and armor with long black hair which was tied up in a high ponytail, bright blue eyes, pointy elf-like ears and a wolf tail. Both had fanged smirks on their faces and an arm around her waist. A single tear dropped onto the glass frame and Kagome dropped to her knees, clutching the framed photo to her chest.
"Inuyasha… Kouga… why did you both have to die? Why did you both have to leave me?" She sobbed, the sound of her crying filled her entire bedroom.
Here's chapter 7. What should the pairings be? Ukyo/Ranma? Ukyo/Ryoga? Kagome/Ranma? Or Kagome/Ryoga? I'll let you reviewers vote on that, the most votes' wins.
