Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 or Sailor Moon in any way, shape or form. All associated characters, trademarks, etc. are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and Naoko Takeuchi. I'm just telling some stories about them.
Author's Note: Apologies for the long delay on this one. I got caught up in a Naruto one-shot that was supposed to be a background project, but ended up devouring my focus for a couple months until I finally finished it. So, yeah, the moral of the story is "claymade can't really juggle three fics at once"—and believe me, I've learned my lesson.
On a much brighter note, however: the most excellent Lathis is now lending his expertise to this fic by acting as one of the betas for it. Anyone who has read his stuff knows his impressive knack for crossovers prominently featuring our favorite Lost Boy, and I heartily recommend his stories to any of you who might not have had that pleasure yet. This chapter would be a lot weaker if he hadn't caught various slip-ups that I'd made.
Chapter Seven: Closing In
Akane kept up a brisk, steady jog. Her feet were pointed toward Furinkan High, her eyes stealing glances from time to time at the young man running on the chain-link fence beside her.
It was, she thought irately, so very like Ranma to pick a mode of transportation that—intentionally or not—resulted in him looking down at everybody else. It was like a silent metaphor for his rarely-silent observations on how their skills compared.
She tried to feel anger over it. It would have been a welcome distraction from other, less comfortable emotions that were churning inside her. But today, even her anger felt forced and hollow. Not knowing what else to do, she let out a loud huff and increased her speed.
Ranma, being Ranma, kept pace effortlessly.
Against Akane's wishes, her mind turned toward the events of the previous evening, after the brawl had subsided. That was when she had first learned that Cologne was not going to help them—and was, in fact, out to kill Beneda as well. A shiver ran through her. The thought of going up against the old master was bad enough in and of itself, but to face this Dark Kingdom at the same time...
At least we're not doing it alone... she tried to reassure herself. Both Ukyo and Shampoo had enthusiastically promised Ranma their help in dealing with the situation, bringing the total number of defenders up to eight.
Not that she really trusted Shampoo any farther than she could throw her, of course. Still, it was something.
But was it enough? That was the question that kept gnawing at her. She knew that Ranma and Ryouga had both fought youma now, and while they had certainly won, the battles had been far from easy. And according to what Beneda had told them, there was a whole army of youma at their enemies' command. Even with Cologne as a full-fledged ally, those would have been grim odds. With Cologne as an enemy...
Involuntarily, Akane glanced up at Ranma once more. The pigtailed martial artist continued to run forward, oblivious to her worried looks. His feet were tapping out their staccato rhythm on the fence edge, a single misstep away from falling. But he ran on, unconcerned, trusting in his skill never to make that misstep.
A cold current of fear wound its way through Akane's stomach. It was so easy, watching him, for her to think of him as invincible. The untouchable fighter who had dropped suddenly into her life, and blown away any sense of scale she had previously used to think of combat ability. She had resented him for that. She still did, at times.
But not right now. Because, although she would never admit it to another soul, she knew that there was one feeling that was even worse than the times when Ranma seemed so utterly, infuriatingly invincible.
The times when she was afraid he might not be.
They rounded a corner, Furinkan High coming into view and providing a very welcome distraction. Yuka and Sayuri would be waiting for her there, and she wondered what she was going to say to them. The whole situation was... a little hard to sum up, and besides, she didn't want to worry them.
She knew that Ranma would have preferred to skip school again, in case of another attack. So would she, for that matter. But for either of them—or Ukyo—to do so would doubtless have provoked yet another foray by their lunatic principal.
And they had enough enemies already without adding even more to them.
Besides—according to Beneda—any big attacks would almost certainly come at night anyway. Supposedly, the Dark Kingdom was in chronically short supply of youma who could disguise themselves as humans. That, combined with the desire to keep a low profile, meant that any large-scale troop movements would usually happen under the cover of darkness.
The thought didn't exactly relieve her, but it did abate her worries a bit for her family and friends back at the dojo. If the Dark Kingdom sent a large force their way, then at least they would face it together. And if they sent a smaller group...
Well. She was sure that together, the others could easily handle a mere one or two youma.
The Darkmistress strode through the streets of Tokyo. Clad in her schoolgirl guise, she calmly, steadily made her way toward her destination. A hungry smile was fixed on her features, as she anticipated the confrontation to come.
She sucked in a deep, satisfied breath, then let it out again. She was at peak strength, having drained the life energy of several dozen Dark Kingdom animals before setting out. It didn't nearly match the quality provided by a sentient being, of course, but enough of it would get the job done.
The hustle and bustle of the crowded shopping districts had some time ago given way to a quieter, more residential area. But even out here, there were still the occasional pedestrians passing by her on either side—all of them completely unaware of what was moving through their midst. The Darkmistress followed the humans with her eyes, a bright smile on her cherubic face, entertaining herself by envisioning the possibilities of what she could do to each of them once their hold on this world was secure.
It was a challenge of imagination, with some choices more obvious than others. The middle-aged businessman who brushed hurriedly past her—knives for him. Her smallest, most surgical set. Countless tiny cuts, letting the bleeding do the work over as many days as she could possibly string it out.
Still, some eluded her. She mulled over the sauntering teenager with his slicked-back hair for quite some time after he'd been lost to sight, but was unable to settle on anything more fitting than simple bludgeoning—to her mind, a quite banal choice.
But others were more rewarding. The two chattering housewives crossing the street up ahead were clearly meant for one of her special chambers back in the Devil's Keep. She could place them both in it together... and then simply seal the room so that it was absolutely airtight. She laughed aloud at the mental image, the sound emerging as a light, girlish giggle.
But delicious though her pastime was, it was also distracting. With an effort of will, she forced her attention back to the matter at hand. For the moment, she was hunting much more dangerous prey than these sheep.
A shiver of excitement ran through her at the thought. If the reports of her subordinates were any indication, these new interlopers were a force to be reckoned with. It had been a long time since she had faced a true challenge, a conflict where the outcome was actually in some amount of doubt.
That absence was, in its own way, a danger. It was a temptation toward laziness, toward resting on one's laurels. That was why she occasionally decided to handle matters like this herself, to ensure that she never lost that killer instinct that only life and death situations could keep sharp.
As well as to remind any uppity subordinates of just what she was capable of.
Drawing on her memories of her Inquisitors' report, she envisioned the base that the humans were operating from—this "Tendo Dojo." She wondered idly if the owners were themselves in league with these new players, or whether they had been brainwashed and controlled—as the Dark Kingdom so often did to obtain their own bases. One more question she would have to ask, after she had broken them.
It was then that she caught sight of the homeless man.
She stopped dead, her eyes turning to stare at him. He was an old man, dressed in a mound of tattered, mismatched clothes. His hunched frame shuffled along the sidewalk, bleary eyes not looking at anything in particular.
The Darkmistress's breath caught in her throat. She knew that she should be focusing on her true prey, knew that distractions were best avoided, knew that secrecy should be her top priority. But it was just so... perfect! A quiet neighborhood, with few people around... and right in front of her, a human whose absence no one would note.
Her decision was made in a split-second. She began to skip toward him, playing the precocious schoolgirl to the hilt. Upon reaching him, she stopped right in his path, beaming up at him. "Hello grandpa!" she said. "I have something I really, really, really want to show you! Could you please come with me? It'll just be for a little bit!"
The old human looked down at her, eyes focusing a little bit as a frown crossed his face. Perhaps it was natural suspicion on his part, perhaps a subconscious warning of some kind, but he did not appear inclined to go along with her request. He mumbled something that sounded like an apology, and tried to walk around the young-seeming figure.
But the Darkmistress latched onto his arm, tugging him in the direction she wanted him to go. "C'mon!" she said, pouring on the charm. "It'll be so much fun! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" She kept pulling at him, and the old human seemed reluctant to use too much force to resist such a young girl. As a result, she was able to maneuver him off the main street, toward a more secluded back alley.
Gradually, his struggles began to grow in intensity—but by then he was already well away from any nearby witnesses, and he found himself unable to break free of her grip no matter how hard he yanked. She dragged him onward, into the alley, and around one final corner, to where they could not be seen by any prying eyes.
Immediately she whirled, grabbing the man by the collar and smashing him into the nearest wall with bone-crushing force. He tried to scream, but her small hand shot up and clamped around his mouth with vise-like strength, muffling all his cries and pleas. Then she raised her other hand, arcs of blood-red lightning crackling between her fingers.
The human thrashed wildly back and forth, trying to get free, but the Darkmistress held him in place without any discernable effort. As he watched, eyes bulging with terror, the cute smile on her face slowly widened, becoming an expression of hideous, demonic glee.
Yes, her true prey were the new interlopers—and she would deal with them soon enough. But a mere ten minutes either way would not make much of a difference... and such a perfect opportunity to kill a human was beyond her ability to pass up.
"Hibiki."
The lost boy turned at the curt sound of his name, looking across the roof of the Tendo home to where two figures had just alighted. "Mousse," he acknowledged with a nod. Then he turned to the youma standing beside the hidden weapons master. "Beneda. Good morning! Did you sleep well?"
She nodded, which was a relief to Ryouga. He knew this all had to be taking a toll on her—thrown into an unfamiliar place, with dangers all around that she was helpless to fight against herself. It was good that she was managing some amount of peace in the middle of this desperate situation.
Beneda, meanwhile was speaking. "It's time to change the watch, Ryouga. You can get some rest now."
Ryouga blinked. "Already?" he asked, glancing around in mild surprise. He had noticed that morning had risen, of course, but he hadn't realized it was that far into the day. "Wow. Time sure flies, I guess."
Stifling a yawn, he pulled himself to his feet while working the kinks out of his stiffened joints. "Thanks," he told Mousse, as he walked toward the edge of the roof. "A little sleep does sound really good right now. I'll see you in—"
He was cut off as Mousse's hand shot out, grabbing him by the collar. "Go down with her, Hibiki," the nearsighted marital artist said, pointing with his other hand back toward Beneda. "We can't afford to have you wandering off to Hong Kong on us."
Ryouga felt his cheeks flush a bit, but mustering as much dignity as he could, he nodded and made an about face. Beneda fell in step next to him, providing him with mercifully silent guidance.
Together, they made their way to the edge of the roof, dropped the short distance to the balcony below, and went through Akane's room to the upper-floor hallway of the Tendo home. From there, Beneda led him to the guest room, where an extra floor mat had been laid out in addition to the two that Genma and Ranma used.
Ryouga sighed, then spoke at last. "Thank you for showing me the way," he told her, embarrassed at his directional deficiencies being yet again put on display.
Beneda shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable. "It's not a problem," she replied. "There's... not many other ways that I can be useful to you. I mean, with all you're doing to help me..."
The lost boy yawned again, his eyes heavy. Now in actual sight of bed, his night on watch was making its effects known even more strenuously. Nevertheless, even as he stretched himself out on the mat, he made sure to respond to what the youma had said. "Don't worry about that, Beneda. It's just what friends do for each other. That's all."
Beneda looked down at Ryouga's sleeping form, turning his statement over and over again in her mind. Such simple words. Just what friends do for each other.
Of course, the fool only said that in the first place because he had no idea what her true purposes were. This "friendship" was nothing more than her successfully pulling the wool over his eyes.
And yet, somehow, that thought didn't quite manage to give her the same satisfaction it once would have. By all rights she should have been filled with gloating glee at the deception she was accomplishing. But instead, all she felt was a vague uneasiness, a strange, almost... empty sensation.
She clenched her teeth. This is stupid, she thought. Why the hell should I care what happens to some human, or what he thinks of me?
There was no reason. None. And yet...
And yet he wasn't just "some human." He was... Ryouga. And Ranma, and Akane, and the rest of their family. People who'd fought for her, opened their home to her, treated her with a care that she'd never, ever known, even if she couldn't begin to fathom their reasons.
None of that changed the reality of the situation, of course. Sooner or later, the Dark Kingdom would crush them under its feet, along with the rest of the human world. Her only hope for survival was still to regain her masters' favor before that happened. And her only hope for that was still to manipulate her protectors into fighting their own allies.
With a sudden motion, Beneda dropped to one knee, thrusting out the palm of her hand to hover just above Ryouga's shoulder. Her face twisting into a snarl, she began to pull life energy from his sleeping body, feeling the delicious flow of power. Yes! she thought savagely. This is the world I know! This is the way things are supposed to be! Humans are our food! We subsist off their very life force, and what we want, we take!
Even though, if she dared broach the subject openly, she knew that Ryouga would offer it freely to her...
Her hand clenched shut spasmodically, cutting off the energy drain. She hadn't had her fill yet, and such chances might be few and far between in the coming days... but she could still make it up sometime later. She just wasn't feeling like it at the moment.
Jumping back to her feet, she turned and walked hastily out of the room, along the hallway, and down the stairs. She had no real idea where she was going, beyond "away from there." She needed to get some space, needed to find someplace she could think.
Or better, find someplace where she didn't have to think.
In a matter of seconds she reached the ground floor of the Tendo compound. Wandering out, she saw that Soun and Genma were out on the porch, engrossed in playing some kind of human game. Perfect. Now, if she just headed for the relative privacy of the dojo, she could spend some time alone, clearing her head of all the maddening emotions that these humans were—
"Oh! Beneda!"
With a yelp, the youma whirled... to see the human called Kasumi standing behind her. Immediately, the human's face took on an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."
"I... I wasn't startled," replied Beneda, trying to bring her too-frayed nerves back under some semblance of control. "I mean... not really."
The human smiled. "Oh, that's good," she said, sounding relieved. "So... what are your plans for the day?"
"Uh... I'm..." The youma struggled to come up with something to say. "I... don't really know. I was... just trying to think of something to pass the time..."
Kasumi nodded sympathetically. "Yes, it can get a little dull around here, especially when Ranma and his friends are away..." She paused for a moment in thought, then continued. "But if you are looking for something to pass the time... I find that cooking can sometimes help. If you'd like to try it, I was just about to start preparing lunch..." She looked at the youma, a hopeful, encouraging look on her face.
Beneda bit back a whimper, seeing her plans of solitude slowly crumbling before her very eyes, done in by her own hastily-chosen words. For the sake of her sanity, she was almost tempted to turn Kasumi down. But... she had said she was looking for something to do... and to then spurn the offer so flatly might offend her protectors...
And so she nodded weakly, and allowed herself to be led into the Tendo kitchen.
Mousse sighed, trying his best to get comfortable on his rooftop perch, while wondering to himself just what on earth he was doing.
The idea of being a spy for Cologne had seemed more or less straightforward at the time she had explained it to him, but now he was having his doubts. Just what was he supposed to be looking for, anyway? All he had to go on was some hunch of Cologne's that the youma was up to something. And because of that, he had to waste his time on things like this, when he could spend it wooing Shampoo.
And just when I was finally starting to make some headway with her, too! He had been greatly encouraged by the results of his latest ardent display of affection—Shampoo hadn't pounded his head into the pavement with nearly her usual amount of force, using only three kicks instead of her customary six or seven.
True, some of that might have been due to the hurry she'd been in at the time... but no, Mousse was sure that she was warming up to him!
Yet now he was stuck here, standing guard, unable to follow up on such promising progress. He sighed again. At least his beloved would be coming over later in the day, after she'd finished running deliveries for Cologne. He would get to see her then.
For all the good it would do. That blasted Saotome would be home by then as well, and she would no doubt be fawning all over him. Mousse clenched his fist, beside himself with anger at the horrible mental images.
Suddenly, his furious daydreams were interrupted by a sound from below. Adjusting his glasses, he stared intently at where it had come from. Someone was knocking loudly on the gate in the Tendo compound's outer wall.
From his current angle he couldn't see who—or what—it was, but his brow furrowed in concentration. Could this be it? Could this be the monster attack that everyone had been anticipating?
Well if it was, then those monsters would rue the day that they challenged him.
He rose into a crouch, whipping out a large knife from his sleeves and holding it in a reverse grip behind his forearm. Then he dropped down to the yard, walking warily toward the gate. The knocking continued, even as he drew closer and closer.
Soon he was within arm's length of the gate. He reached out slowly, his free hand resting on the wood of the door, while his other hand clenched the hilt of his weapon. He licked his lips... then in a blindingly fast motion, flung open the gate, his every instinct at the ready—
—but then relaxed as he saw who was actually doing the knocking. No monster at all; just a cute little girl.
She jumped back a step or two, apparently startled by the sudden opening of the door. But she recovered herself soon enough. "Hello!"
"Uh, hello..." Mousse replied, a little off-balance himself from the anti-climactic revelation. He made sure his knife was still concealed behind his arm, and then surreptitiously slid it back up his sleeve before continuing. "Who are you?"
"My name's Aiko!" she chirped, beaming up at him as she stepped through the doorway. "Who're you?"
"I..." Mousse began, before stopping himself. This was no time for such foolishness. "Look... Aiko. You shouldn't be here. It's not safe."
"Awww..." the girl pouted, taking a few more steps in and causing Mousse to backpedal a bit. "But this is the Tendo Dojo, isn't it? I have a special gift that I really wanted to give Mr. Tendo."
Mousse frowned, alarm bells starting to go off in his head. Something wasn't right here. The girl kept pressing her way inward... and was it just his imagination, or was there something just slightly off with her aura? "I'm sure Mr. Tendo wouldn't mind if you came back some other day," he said at last. "But you need to leave. Now."
"How come?" the girl asked, advancing another couple steps.
And then Mousse decided to put his foot down. "It doesn't matter," he said firmly, grabbing her by the shoulder to halt her advance. "If you don't—"
With viper-like speed, one of the girl's hands shot up, grabbing Mousse's own hand and trapping it against her shoulder. The next instant, she channeled a surge of red lightning through his arm and into his body.
Mousse screamed. The pain was unbelievable, feeling as though every part of his body was tearing itself into tiny shreds. With a strength born of desperation, he whipped his knife back out of his sleeve with his other hand, and swung it at the girl's head.
Before it could connect, the girl made a thrust with her other hand, firing a bolt of the red energy directly into Mousse's chest.
Beneda picked up another vegetable, placed it on the cutting board, then formed one of her shuriken and began to chop. Kasumi had been delighted when the youma had demonstrated the particular utility of her powers toward this kind of task, and that had promptly become her job. Just as long as she doesn't expect me to actually put any of this into my mouth...
At first, Beneda had tried to keep up her feelings of dismay at being stuck in yet another human's company. But as the two of them had begun to work together, such feelings had—little by little—begun to seep away.
She had quickly found that having a simple task to focus on was, in fact, a great aid in calming herself. She had fallen into a rhythm, broken only by Kasumi occasionally bringing up some random—but harmless—conversation topic. Most of the time, Beneda only had the vaguest sort of idea what the human was talking about anyway.
So all in all, there was little to cause her any disquiet in this human's presence. The only exceptions were when Kasumi commented on the work Beneda was doing—either earnest praise, or a gentle suggestion on how it could be done better. Those instances unsettled her a little. She could hear the warmth in the human's voice, the genuine happiness—for Beneda's own sake—at how well the youma was doing. It was a truly alien sensation, so unlike any rare "praise" that she had ever received from her old masters.
Suddenly, Kasumi cocked her head. "Oh," she said. "That's strange. It sounds like someone is knocking on the gate. I should go see who it is."
Beneda glanced in that direction as well. Now that Kasumi mentioned it, she could hear a faint knocking sound. "Let Mousse take care of it," the youma replied firmly. "It's his job as the one on guard."
Kasumi hesitated, then at last nodded. "I suppose so," she said reluctantly. Beneda was relieved at her acquiescence; she didn't really expect that the Dark Kingdom would make a move in broad daylight, but there was always the chance they might, which meant it was too dangerous for someone like Kasumi to go and check on such things.
Not that she was actually concerned over Kasumi, she reminded herself sternly. It was just... that she knew Ryouga would take it badly if anything happened to the young woman.
Not that she was actually concerned over Ryouga either.
Shaking herself out of her distraction, she noticed that the knocking sounds had stopped. "See?" she told Kasumi. "Mousse got it. He's probably just—"
Her words were abruptly cut off by a blood-curdling scream. Both the youma and the human whirled, their eyes wide with fear. Beneda raced to one of the kitchen doors and looked out into the hallway beyond...
...just in time to see Mousse's limp body come smashing straight through the wall of the Tendo house, propelled by a bolt of crimson lightning.
It was the scream that woke Ryouga.
Because of his solitary existence, often in wild and dangerous places, he had by necessity learned to be a light sleeper. The instant the scream reached his ears he was up, rolling frantically off his mat, fighting to untangle himself from the sheets. He wasted precious moments in disorientation, but then the sound of a large crash from downstairs quickly told him everything he needed to know. An attack!
He managed to locate the door to the room, and quickly dashed out through it. He then proceeded to race down the hallway with all the speed he could muster, horribly aware that each second could be the difference between life or death for someone down there. Inside, he was frantically berating himself. Why did I have to go to sleep? I could have stayed awake longer than that! I should have been down there watching out for Beneda and Kasumi!
In moments, he reached the end of the hall. Skidding to a stop, he reached desperately for the door that led to the stairway, and flung it open—
—to reveal Akane's room.
He was lost.
Beneda only saw Mousse for an instant. As the youma looked on in horror, his trajectory carried him through another wall and out of sight. Immediately afterward, she heard the sound of running footsteps, and then Soun and Genma rounded a corner of the hallway and came into view. "What's going on?" the former demanded.
Before Beneda could answer, something stepped through the hole that Mousse's body had made. It was slight of frame, with the body of a child, but Beneda knew immediately that it was something far more terrible.
The two men turned to face it as well. "Who are you?" asked Soun cautiously. "What are you doing here?"
"That's not a human!" Beneda screamed.
Both martial artists took a fighting stance at her warning, but still seemed a bit hesitant about attacking what appeared to be a small child. But their assailant only let out a small giggle, then beckoned them with a single finger. "Come," she said. "You've made things very boring for me so far."
Genma and Soun exchanged glances, and then together they charged at the girl. She responded by extending both of her hands, discharging a blast of red lightning from each one. Genma leaped over the attack aimed at him, then ricocheted off the wall into a flying kick toward her head. Soun, on the other hand, rolled underneath the attack aimed at him, coming in low.
The girl smirked. Then, moving almost too fast for Beneda's eyes to follow, she sidestepped out of the way of Genma's kick and grabbed him by the ankle. She then swung him bodily in a full circle, taking out a good section of the nearby wall and ending by slamming him into Soun, sending both of them crashing back the way they had come with terrible velocity.
She spared them a disdainful glance... and then her eyes turned to focus on Beneda. "So..." she said. "The rebellious little youma herself..."
Raw panic coursing through her body, Beneda slammed the door shut and scrambled back into the kitchen. She had hardly done so, however, before she heard approaching footsteps—and then the little girl ripped the door completely from its frame, tossing it behind her as she strode into the kitchen. Beneda continued to stumble backward, until at last she ran into the far wall of the kitchen, and she could go no further.
Kasumi, however, had not fled, and was facing the oncoming attacker. "Stop this!" she cried out, as the little girl continued to advance. "You can't—"
Without breaking stride, the girl reached out, grabbed Kasumi by the throat, and flung her off to the side. The human barely managed to give a short shriek before she slammed into the wall, crumpling to the ground in a limp heap.
"Kasumi!" Beneda heard Soun's voice scream his daughter's name, followed by two pairs of running footsteps—the older martial artists rushing to rejoin the fight.
Without taking her eyes off Beneda, the girl raised a hand toward them, tracking them by mere sound. Desperately, Beneda tried to give a warning. "Look ou—"
Too late. As the footsteps approached the door to the room, the girl fired her lightning right through the wall. Beneda caught a brief glimpse of Soun, before the force of the blast carried him from sight.
The next instant, Genma shot through the new hole in the wall, launching himself at the girl with a rapid-fire barrage of kicks and punches. But she was able to easily deflect each and every one. Genma kept pressing the attack, with blow after blow after blow—
And then, seeing her opening, the girl counterattacked. A tiny fist plowed into Genma's stomach with enough power to double him over. She then spun into a backhand that caught him across the face, sending him spinning away.
But she didn't let him get far. She was on him in a heartbeat, grabbing him by the neck. Then she swung him in a full arc through the air above her, bringing him down headfirst onto the top of the nearby kitchen counter, driving him straight through it in a shower of splintering wood, until his head collided with the floor beneath.
Then she stood, giving Genma's prone body one last kick for good measure, and turned to face Beneda.
The cowering youma raised her hands, forming a shuriken on each as she did. "S- s- stay back!" she managed to say. "I- I'm warning you!"
Of course, she had no illusions about her ability to be anything more than a mild annoyance to this level of opponent. She was just hoping to bluff, to stall for time.
It might have been slightly more convincing had her hands been shaking less.
The attacker, for her part, regarded Beneda with incredulity. "You dare to point your weapons at me?" she asked at last. "You dare to point your weapons at me?" With that, she resumed closing in on Beneda—and as she did so, the form of the "little girl" began to shift and distort.
She grew, increasing in size until she was as tall as an adult human. The schoolgirl uniform stretched into a black cloak, made of a rough, durable cloth. The childish skin turned a pale, pasty white, a flaking, festering mass of tissue. Her features appeared to melt, warping into a ghastly, bulging mockery of a face.
But worse than any of that was the poisonous presence that filled the air. Beneda crumpled immediately as it hit her; she could barely breathe, barely think. It felt like the aura was trying to rot her were she stood, a force of utter, hideous decay.
And there, now visible across her forehead, was the sign of her office—a white headpiece, crafted in the shape of outstretched wings, with a dark red gem at its center.
"D- D- Darkmistress...!" Beneda whimpered, all hope deserting her in that moment. She had never, never in her darkest nightmares imagined that such a being would come after her personally.
The walking corpse twitched the corners of its mouth up in something approaching a smile as it continued to close in on her. "You should never have tried to run..." it said, in a voice that sounded like rock being crushed. "No youma escapes me."
Panicking nearly to the point of hysteria, Ryouga ran like a madman through the labyrinthine maze that was the Tendo home's upper floor. He spun back and forth, trying to force his worthless, thrice-damned brain to work out where the stairs were.
Unfortunately, his panic only served to undermine whatever slim chance he might have had at working it out—which, in turn, only made his panic all the worse.
I just came out of Nabiki's room... and then I turned left—or was it right? Maybe right was the way I should have gone, but I went straight instead! That means the stairs would be right around this corner here... except... what if I'm thinking of it coming from the guest room?
He could hear the sounds of combat coming from below, could sense the battle playing out. Hearing Kasumi's scream had pushed him to the brink of insanity.
No! I have to stay calm! I have to think! I have to think!
And worst of all was the fear of losing himself entirely. How was he supposed to know which of these hallways was the one that led to the stairs, and which was the one that led to Okinawa? If he chose wrong, it would be weeks before he could find his way back!
I think a left turn here... This has to be it!
He flung open the door to reveal the guest room he'd started from—for the third time—and sobbed in horror at the sight. No, no, no, damn it all, NO!
And then the aura manifested. Even from a floor above it was a hideous presence, stopping Ryouga dead in his tracks. He looked down at the floor, realizing that his friends were at the mercy of something like that, while he stood helpless. No! his mind screamed. I have to do something! I need to get down there!
Need... to get down there...
Down!
It was then that an idea penetrated the suffocating cloud of panic, and without hesitation he acted on it. "To hell with the stairs!" he snarled, as he raised his fist high.
Beneda cowered before the Darkmistress's advance, curling herself up in a corner of the kitchen, rational thought all but lost in the face of the other youma's choking power and her own fear. She knew that it was over.
Then, without warning, came the sound of smashing wood. A moment later, off to the side, a large section of the ceiling caved in. And there, falling in the midst of the debris, was Ryouga.
The Darkmistress whirled, extending her palm toward the lost boy, red energy crackling around it. Beneda's breath caught in her throat. In mid-air, Ryouga would be an easy target—
But before she could even complete the thought, a chain shot into view, wrapping around the Darkmistress's wrist and wrenching it off-target. The bolt of energy tore through a good section of the kitchen wall, but Ryouga landed unscathed.
Beneda looked over where the chain had come from, to see Mousse standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He was leaning heavily on the doorframe for support, but he held grimly onto the other end of the chain, preventing the enemy from targeting the other martial artist.
For a moment, the Darkmistress simply paused there, glancing back and forth between the two of them. Then, at last, a small chuckle escaped her throat. "So, then..." she grated out. "Are you going to give me a bit of a challenge after all?"
Meanwhile, miles away from the battle playing out in Nerima, a subway train rocketed along the tracks toward its destination.
Gosunkugi stood nervously by one of the windows, looking out at the tunnel walls as they shot past. He had talked himself out of—and back into—this a hundred times over the previous night, but in the end he had summoned up his courage, skipped school, and bought the ticket.
His heart was beating rapidly in his chest as he thought of what lay ahead. Could he really do this? Find the Sailor Senshi? Warn them of the vile partnership that Saotome was forging with their enemies?
He had to. That was what it came down to, in the end. This was his chance. To experience real magic. To see his rival crushed. To be a hero.
Gosunkugi took a deep breath, as the train carried him ever closer to Juuban.
