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A Hollowed Out Heart: Chapter Six

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Ranma's hands, scarred and callussed by over a decade of rigorous martial arts training, had the strength to rend steel, not to mention mere flesh and bone. Tonight, they had done all that and more.

Face set in a rigid mask of blankness, Ranma continued to hold his arms beneath the scalding hot water, scrubbing harshly with one of his mother's stiff bristled cleaning brushes. The blood that had painted his arms dark red from elbow to fingertip was long gone, but he continued to rub the caustic detergent into his skin, now quite red itself.

The Soul of Ice would have been a convenient retreat if it didn't freeze the steaming water before it could reach his skin. Without water the blood could not be washed away, however.

"Son, you must stop this at once!" demanded Nodoka. She stormed into the bathroom, hair askew and dressing gown doing a poor job of hiding her otherwise unclad form. "You are going to do yourself harm."

"I've just gotta...get the blood off," Ranma muttered, more to himself than his mother.

Nodoka tried to pull her son away from the sink, but the effort was futile. She may as well have attempted to convince Genma to go on a diet. Turning to the large figure now filling the doorway, she pleaded,"Genma, do something."

Genma Saotome, despite his unhealthy habits and general laziness, remained a formidable martial artist. It proved to be a simple matter to quietly slip up behind his preoccupied son and deliver a sharp, powerful chop to the back of his neck. He caught Ranma's unconscious body before the boy could bang his head on the sharp edge of the pink-stained ceramic sink.

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Ranma woke to an unfamiliar ceiling and a pounding headache. He'd just grown accustommed to his bedroom and now he was in a new one?

The events of the night before came crashing back with eye-watering alacrity.

An image of Kodachi Kuno formed in his mind, her sultry face with its seductive smile suddenly showing anguish, languid eyes opening wide as she screamed, announcing her agony to the world.

His hand, already wet with the disturbed gymnast's blood, clasped tightly around her throat in an effort to silence her.

A wrist protruding from the girl's leatherclad abdomen...Where was his hand? Oh...

Surging to his feet, Ranma looked around for signs of a struggle, blood, bits of torn flesh, discarded weapons. Finding none, he stalked from the room without noticing his lack of clothing, now recognized as his mother's guest bedroom, to seek one or both of his parents. Had he killed Kodachi? It was easy to remember the attempted seduction, her cruel words about Akane, the gloating. She'd dosed him with something while he slept. Whatever the combination of chemicals, it left him simultaneously lethargic and achingly aroused.

Ranma found it hard to believe he had so calmly reached out, through the heaviness of the drugs, and snapped Kodachi's arm, the glistening white bone appearing as if by magic from her perfect pale flesh. Something in the girl's neck gave way under the pressure of his grip. No more screaming, even as his fingers mingled with slick, squirming intestines and firmer chunks that were internal organs.

Abruptly, Ranma changed his destination, disappearing in a blur of superhuman speed to appear in the bathroom an instant later. It was here that his mother found him.

Nodoka held her son's pigtail out of the toilet bowl as he emptied his stomach and rocked him without comment as he sobbed. This was the first time he had cried since losing Akane.

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"You're not in trouble, Ranma," Nodoka answered a short while later. Her son had regained his composure, embarrassedly apolgized for his behavior, only to fall into sullen silence.

Ranma grunted in response.

"The stupid girl didn't just drug you, son. She attempted to film her...conquest. It was a most disturbing film. The detective I spoke with assures me that you will not be held accountable for defending yourself, even if you did respond so strongly."

"I killed her, mom."

"Don't be silly, son. Kodachi Kuno isn't dead. Gravely wounded, but alive."

More than a little amazed, Ranma's incredulous look met his mother's firm gaze.

"I must admit, at first glance she did appear to have succumbed to her injuries, but the girl, deranged as she may be, is remarkably resilient."

Convinced of Nodoka's honesty, tension bled away from his frame in a nearly tangible wave of relief. Though he despised Kodachi as much as he believed he could any person, especially after last night, Ranma did not want her dead. At least not by his own hand.

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"Won't your mother be upset if she finds you've skipped school, Son-in-law?" Cologne asked. She'd been enjoying a quite cup of tea when the approach of Ranma's unmistakable aura drew her attention. He was very agitated. Yet another reason to be grateful Shampoo's remedial Japanese language class at the Nerima Community Center kept her occupied at this time of day.

Ranma took a seat across from the Amazon and answered,"Nah, not today. Mom told me to take a walk to clear my mind. I'd rather make the most of the time, though, if you don't mind?"

"Very well, Son-in-law. Before we return to our previous discussion, however, perhaps you would like to share with me what has you so distraught?"

His shrug was not so nonchalant as he wished. "Kodachi Kuno paid me a visit last night."

"Ah, the unofficial fourth fiance. I assume she was not welcomed with open arms?" prompted Cologne, knowing the question irrelevant.

Ranma laughed once, almost a sharp bark, not really amused at all. "I gutted her. I didn't mean to, but she injected me with something that messed up my depth perception and made it real hard to control my strength. Mom says they got her to the hospital before she bled to death."

Outwardly, Cologne appeared unperturbed. It would not do to allow Ranma to see how shocked she was by his confession. Had she not expressly forbidden Shampoo from contact with Ranma until she said otherwise, Cologne knew it could be her granddaughter in Kodachi's place. Shampoo was not above using mind altering substances in her quest for Ranma and her reaction to Akane's forcible removal as competition had been positively gleeful.

"I cannot fault your reaction, not under those circumstances, and I doubt any other sane individual would, Son-in-law. Why let this upset you so?"

Pale-faced, Ranma answered,"Because, you shrivelled mummy, I enjoyed hurting her. I wanted her to suffer and die. It was exhilarating! If I can feel like that, how am I better than a Hollow? What right do I have to hunt them down if I'm no better than they are?"

"I could go into great detail expounding your virtues, Son-in-law. Instead, I want you to consider this: While the Tainted may take great pleasure in the suffering of others, would they ever feel remorse for doing so?"

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With a thoroughly disgruntled Mousse minding the restaurant by himself, Cologne led Ranma to her meditation chamber. It was here that she shared not only her knowledge of Hollows, or Tainted as she called them, the spirit world and its denizens, or major historical interactions between the Joketsuzoku and various factions of the spirit realms, but also taught him magic. Amazon ki-magic was not a thing of incantations and strange ingredients, focussing wholly on the application of specific patterns to ki through willpower alone.

"This is going to take forever," Ranma complained loudly after being blown halfway across the room by an improperly worked knot of ki Cologne insisted he create. Until he could do this simple exercise, she would share nothing but information with him. "Simple" was a relative term, he was discovering.

"Hardly, Son-in-law. At your rate of progress, no more than a month. Quite an impressive feat, I assure you."

"A month?" he cried. "This isn't even a useful technique and you expect me to waste a month on it?"

"Were you able to leap to the top of a building or crush a boulder with your bare hands on the first day your father began instructing you in the martial arts?"

Ranma did not answer, but turned his attention back to the palm of his hand and began to concentrate. As the writhing globule of ki formed, Cologne resumed speaking. "What you plan, Son-in-law, this vendetta you are preparing yourself to pursue, will earn you the emnity of powerful beings. You must not shy away from any instruction that may allow you to survive the wrath you will encure. More importantly, you must be able to protect those around you. Do you wish to share responsibility for the deaths of the innocent people who will die as collateral damage as your enemies seek you out? If so, we can skip these lessons entirely and forget about creating wards."

The answer to Cologne's question was a deepening of Ranma's furrowed brow along with a noticeable expansion and intensification of the mass of ki hovering between his cupped hands.

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Ranma entered the grounds of Furinkan High School in a bad mood. Truthfully, he didn't often come to school in a good mood. Being forced to return to the scene of Akane's death on a daily basis would be enough to sour his mood for the day. On top of that, however, was that he was currently soaked to the bone and female. The much longer trip from his mother's home to Furinkan didn't just mean that he had to leave for school earlier, thus requiring that he wake earlier, it also provided more opportunity for water to find him. It was inevitable that no matter how much of Ranma's attention was focussed on avoiding water, it would eventually find him.

Where normally the sight of his painfully large breasts plastered with wet silk would draw the eye of nearly every nearby boy like a perverted magnet and dagger-like glares from the less well endowed girls, virtually all females in the school, this morning was different. Clusters of students would steal quick glances at him, turn away, and whisper quickly to one another. Ranma liked being the center of attention, even as a girl. Somehow, the attention he was now receiving only made him uncomfortable.

By lunchtime the whispers had grown to a near constant background hum. Each time the irritation grew unbearable, Ranma would attempt to confront those he "knew" were talking about him, but they would clam up and refuse to look him in the eye. Though he had a pretty good idea of what everyone was talking about, Ranma was tempted to seek out Nabiki and buy the information from her. It would be a good excuse to see the girl again, too. He hadn't spoken with her even once in the weeks since Akane's funeral. Even if she was bitchy, it would be a welcome change.

"Hold, sorcerous fiend!" Thunder crashed despite the clear blue sky.

Wonderful.

Facing Kuno, Ranma sized up his soon to be opponent. While the sword swinging fool had recovered from the majority of the wounds received during his confrontation with the Hollow, it was obvious he still greatly favored his left side.

"For your vile assault upon my twisted sister, my blade shall be sheathed within your black heart, Saotome!" Kuno held his katana in a white-knuckled grip.

"Assault?" Ranma scoffed. "Your psychotic sister tried to rape me, you dumbass. The cops even have the video she tried to make. Assault? No, more like self defense."

"Lies!"

"Whatever, man. I don't care if you believe me or not. Just go away so I can eat my lunch in peace." One of the few bright points of Ranma's school day was the time he got to spend inhaling the generously-sized bento his mother prepared for him daily.

Forgoing further ranting, Kuno charged, a wordless bellow of rage preceding his attack.

Ranma could have responded in a physical manner. In fact, he would have enjoyed doing just that. There was something oddly soothing about beating Tatewaki Kuno into oblivion. Today, so soon after decimating another Kuno's flesh with his bare hands, he didn't think it would be so enjoyable. Ranma decided to show mercy.

Tightly constrained, moreso than ever thanks to instruction from both Happosai and Cologne, Ranma's aura was hidden from all but the most sensitive individuals. It was, they insisted, a skill critical to his survival. Now he chose to remove those mental constraints, opening a channel for his ki to spill forth into the open air. Contrary to its regular behaviour, the newly manifested battle aura remained invisible to the naked eye, the unadulterated spiritual energy invisible to mundane observers. Kuno could possibly see the upwelling of power, he had been able to see the Hollow afterall, but he could do nothing to avoid it as a spectral dragon of unseen ki swept over him.

To eagerly observing students, Kuno appeared to halt in mid-step, stumble, then fall to his knees. The older boy struggled frantically to stand against some unseen force.

Holding Kuno down with the sheer pressure of his ki, Ranma closed the distance between himself and his assailant. Once close enough to squat down next to Kuno, Ranma whispered,"Kuno, you really need to see Kodachi's tape. For Akane's sake. I don't think I woulda hurt your sister if she hand't run her mouth about Akane so much. Now I'm gonna go find a spot to eat my lunch. When I let you up, don't attack me or I swear on Akane's grave I'll put you back in the hospital."

Ranma did as he claimed he would and found a nearby bit of shade to enjoy his meal. Once comfortable, he reigned in his ki, drawing it back into his body and sealing it tightly behind a barrier of will. Kuno was slow to rise and glared menacingly at Ranma as he did so. Whether he somehow developed enough common sense to go along with Ranma's suggestion or if the planets were in some peculiar alignment, whatever the reason, he said not another word. He was gone from the school grounds within minutes.

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Author's Notes: Ukyo 1, Cologne 1, Kodachi -1