"Speech"
'Thought'
#Panda Sign#
(Telepathy)
Might as well plug my own story, I posted the first Side Story for REN and it's in my profile. Ranma gets to play with the Twilight mormpires.
X x x x x x
Ranma felt Ceres before the other vampire came in through his door. The new level that his consciousness could reach would take some getting used to. He was also a he now because meeting up with everyone would be done during the day and as the letter said, none of them spoke English, and it was somehow his responsibility to act as translator. Rubbing at his right temple, Ranma really didn't want to be up during the day,
"I take it something is up." Ceres looked at the clothing he had spread out on the bed.
"My family is coming－ tomorrow."
"I take it that's not a good thing?"
"It's just so sudden." Running a hand through his hair, he was impulsive, but he didn't think his human parents and the Tendo's would be so impulsive to drag their entire group halfway across the world, especially when the simpler path would be to get him to go back to Japan. "And I don't know how they'll react."
"I'm sure it'll be alright." Ceres patted him on the shoulder.
"You don't know them like I do. I'm sure this will be an absolute mess."
"Whatever happens, it's not like I'm going anywhere." The blonde draculina picked up his leather jacket. "So are you planning out what you'll be wearing ahead of time?"
"Yea." He admitted. "Just want to make the right impression. Not military obviously, but－ different than what I was. I figure I might as well set the tone right away."
"You're really worried about this aren't you?"
"My old man has been getting me to do things I don't want for my entire life, my mom is kind of the same way, and I know they'll try and use this trip to get me to go back to Japan."
"Isn't that what you wanted to do though?"
"It's all I've been thinking about since I found out." Grabbing his backpack that was leaning against the stone wall, he dumped the remaining contents on the bed. "What do I have to go back for? It's not like I could just pick up my human life where it left off. It's not like I could ever－."
Ranma trailed off, thinking about Akane. He had been through so much with her; so much of the time leading up to the end of his human life had spent around her. What would she want to do with him now? They couldn't get married, they couldn't have kids, and they couldn't even be awake at the same time. He knew that she would play at his emotions. They all would.
This ignited his anger at Integral once again. His education on vampires had been very direct that they did not have such things, and any that they did were just hallow shells to appear more human. He could fake emotions just fine, but that didn't stop him from feeling them when the circumstances called for it. They could also be far more intense than he remembered his human emotions being.
"You had someone." Ceres picked up on his thoughts. "Not just some random arranged thing like you said."
"Not like you're thinking. I'm not sure what we really had, and it's kind of hard to think about it now in the same way I did before. Can we talk about something else?"
"Like why you have this?" Ceres picked up a black shoulderless minidress, the matching spaghetti strap purse laying underneath a set of pants.
"Ack!" Ranma quickly took the item from Ceres before realizing that he was being silly. "Do you want to know?" He asked and Ceres nodded.
"Well there was this mirror I came across that made a copy of me in girl form. Which wouldn't have been bad but it made her into this huge guy chaser. Literally you couldn't stop her from going after any guy in sight." Smiling sadly, he rubbed the material between his fingers. "I got so disgusted by it that I decided to teach her how to do it right. I bought this one and got a matching white one for her."
"If you were looking to pick up a guy that kind of dress would do it." Ceres chortled.
"Yea well it wasn't nearly as bad as what she was wearing the next morning, all she had on was an apron, and she started running around town." He laughed at the memory of some of the rest of the things that happened.
"In the end she went back into the mirror." Ranma remembered the look on her face when they first tried to put her back in the mirror. "Maybe I feel a bit like her right now. I was in the mirror, now I'm out, and it feels like someone is going to put me back in." Sitting down on the bed, he put the minidress off to the side.
Ceres sat down with her hip against his own and sat silently for a few seconds. "So why did you bring it to England?"
"Uh－ it was just in there, like this one." Ranma pulled out an overly frilly yellow one. "I put all the girl clothes I didn't wear in there, and I must have forgot to take em out when I came here."
Ceres studied the dress for a long moment. "You're kind of a girlie girl aren't you?"
"I just wore it the one time when I was pretending to be someone's fiancée." He protested and found her looking at him dubiously.
"You're not helping your case." Ceres giggled.
"Alright well it went like this." Ranma went through and explained the whole situation with Ryoga, Akane, and Ukyo when his old friend from when he was six had shown up.
"You've had a lot of adventures, haven't you?" Ceres asked when he had finished.
"Yea, they all kind of blur together after a while." Curious to see what else might be hiding in his pack, he dug around the bottom and found another article of clothing. "Woah, why is this in here?"
"Is that a robe?"
"No, it's a kimono, but it's kind of like a robe." He grimaced at the sight of it. The main color was a darker but still feminine shade of blue, with green square patterns on the right shoulder and bottom. "I didn't fold it right at all." Another dig into the pack and he found the golden obi for it. "I should show up to pick em up wearing this." He joked, imagining his mother berating him for wearing women's clothing.
"So are you going as a girl or guy?"
"Guy, there's enough to worry about without having my mom screaming at me that I'm not being manly."
"I can understand her wanting you to be－ what you were born as. But why would she scream at you for being manly?"
"Because my stupid old man though taking me from her so she wouldn't coddle me, with the stipulation that he raise me to be a man amongst men or we would both commit seppuku."
"What's seppuku?"
"To do it right you have to use a small blade to split your stomach open, and then someone else cleaves off your head."
"No one could seriously expect someone to go through with that!" Ceres was shocked at the description of the act.
"I told you that you didn't know my parents." Ranma shook his head.
"That's horrible! And you're－ I mean－ are you going to tell them?"
"That I'm what?" He tried to sound clueless.
"That you're－"
"Ceres." He interrupted her. "I have enough going on, I don't need to deal with that too."
"Sorry." The blonde dropped her head to look at the floor. "If you want I'll come with you?"
"You would?" He asked hopefully, realizing just how much emotional support Ceres would be in the storm of crazy that was coming.
"Of course."
X x x x x x
Integral glanced at a large grandfather clock in the far corner of her office to check the time. Walter had informed her that Ranma had been coming to see her, and she had her materials ready to make a deal with a vampire. If the old men of the round table knew of what she was willing to do, they might just have a group heart attack. But Ranma had not come, and it was nearly morning so she would have to turn in for the night.
She was nearly ready to stand up when the door opened without a knock, and in walked the target of her musings in male form. But it wasn't the righteously angry vampire that she had been expecting, ready to make any kind of demand. Ranma was confident but at the same time he looked nervous.
"I'll need a car around 2pm." He started off. "Although a van would probably be better."
"I'm not disagreeing, but for what reason?"
"Because my family is coming from Japan."
"I do hope that you haven't invited them here."
"No, they have plans for a hotel."
"I'll have something set out in the motor pool." This seemed like a good way to start smoothing things over. "Have you given any thought to what you'll be doing if you're not working for me?"
"Working? That's a funny way to put it." Ranma smiled in a way somewhere between friendly and cruel.
"Well, have you?" She continued past his question. "Where will you live?"
"Does it matter?"
"It does. You'll have to be kept track of, and this is the request of Her Majesty. While you may not respect her, I would not think to refuse an order from her." Sliding some papers on her desk aside for show, she decided to change topics. "So where will your family be staying?"
"Er－ the International Hotel." Ranma answered.
"I can't say I have ever been. So how long will they be staying?"
"Their letter said a week."
"That's not a very long time. I'm sure you would like to spend as much time as you could with them."
"I'm playing that by ear. The only one that knows I'm a vampire is my mom, I don't know how anyone else will take it." Ranma whispered something after that which she didn't catch.
"Ranma, I－ must apologize－ for everything. Both you and Ceres didn't seek to become vampires, and I ignored that up until recently you both were humans. I took you from your family and home, and I didn't care that you might want to do otherwise."
"The only real family I have left is Master and Ceres－ so－ that wasn't that bad."
Looking away from the young vampire, she reached into a drawer and pulled out Ranma's pistol, the shotgun was in its case on the side of her desk. "You dropped these." She placed the pistol on the desk, still in its holster, and slid it across. "The owner of the home you left them at was most surprised to find military weaponry in his yard, and helpfully turned them into the local police."
"I don't want them." Ranma replied instantly.
"They're yours. The shotgun is too heavy for a human to wield effectively, the pistol, that's just yours. It pays to be prepared."
"I'm not going to be in debt to you anymore than I am." Two red eyes narrowed at her.
"They were given." She replied sternly. "I've never wanted for anything, none of my family has."
"Whatever, if you want to keep track of me, I'll give you a call tomorrow to say where I'll be." He grabbed the pistol from the desk and put the holster in its spot at the back of his pants.
"You still have your cellphone?" She asked, watching him leave the room, and trying to remember if he would have had that when they had went on the werewolf hunt.
"Probably in my room somewhere, but Ceres will have hers." He waved his hand flippantly, closing the door behind him before reopening immediately. "Forgot to tell you she'll be coming with. Is that alright with you?" Ranma asked sarcastically and closed the door once again.
"Have a nice time." She ignored his jab and rose from her seat to head for bed.
X x x x x x
Dressed in loose fitting blue jeans, a black shirt, and his leather jacket, Ranma sat down with Ceres on a set of seats in the darkest spot he could find. Ceres was in similar clothing but her shirt was white, and she had on a green zip up sweatshirt. The day was thankfully overcast due to the light snow that was falling over the city.
They had found the most likely gate, and now that they were inactive, it didn't take more than a couple minutes for them both to fall asleep. With how bad of an idea this was by them, and depriving himself of sleep, he simply couldn't bring himself to care if he missed them.
Shifting, he scratched at his cheek, hearing a voice growling at him. It was kind of familiar, but being tired as he was, he just cuddled closer to Ceres, wishing the sun would finally go down.
"Hey! Wake up!" Akane yelled at him and he felt something hit his head.
"Bwa?" He blinked his eyes open and instantly closed them at the harsh light. "I'm up." He mumbled and produced a yawn big enough to show his tonsils. Ceres next to him stirred, woken by Akane's shout.
"Nice teeth." Nabiki commented and Ranma noticed immediately that she was covering up nervousness.
"They are, aren't they?" He joked, getting to his feet. Everyone that he expected was here, his human parents, the entire Tendo family, but it felt almost like something was missing. There was no time to ponder this before cold water cascaded over his head. "ACK!"
"Ranma-chan!" Happosai's voice cried happily and the old pervert latched onto his chest.
"What is that thing?" Ceres asked as he hit the old man off of him.
"You brought him along?" He asked the assembled group, wondering if any of them had a single working brain cell. He tensed up as Happosai started to pat him down just to make sure he hadn't become female.
"Ranma-chan? Ranma-chan? Why didn't you change?" Happosai asked.
"Grandfather helped pay for the trip." Kasumi supplied. "And I like your new hairstyle."
"What's this?" Happosai bounced away holding his pistol between his tiny hands.
"That's not a toy." Ranma snatched the weapon from Happosai and put it back in its holster. Of course now that Ranma had taken away the old perverts immediate interest, the two large eyes shifted to Ceres.
"SWEETO!"
Ranma caught Happosai in midair, being unwilling to let Ceres be groped by the old man. "Knock it off." He commanded and Happosai just smirked.
"Don't worry vampire, I'm just having some fun." Happosai informed him, his voice too low for the group to pick up, and unphased by his command. Ranma's eyes widened briefly before realizing that of course Happosai would figure it out, even if just from not being able to suck ki from him.
"Well I see you haven't been slacking off in your training." Genma spoke up.
"Thanks ol man." He replied and with a flick of his wrist sent Happosai to crash into Genma.
"My son has become so manly!" Nodoka cried, hugging him.
"Heh－ right." He chuckled nervously.
Closing his eyes briefly, he unconsciously read the minds of the Tendo's and his parents. Akane was practically burning Ceres up with her eyes, jealous over how casually they had been sleeping against each other. Nabiki had strong suspicions that he was a vampire, and was actually worried he might take some measure of revenge for her prior actions. Kasumi was strained with the whole situation while still being happy to take a trip. Soun was thinking of ways to get him and Akane together to reestablish their relationship.
Genma was not so focused on that as much as feeling relieved that Nodoka wasn't complaining about Ranma's manliness. It seemed that Nodoka had been something of a terror to him, always mentioning wondering about how manly he was. Nodoka herself was simply relieved that he was well and more strongly that he appeared to be manly.
"Want to head for your hotel?" He asked, hoping to get things into a more private setting, and wanting to talk to Happosai without an audience. "I got a van everyone should fit in."
It wasn't too hard to herd the group towards the parking lot. They were nearly as tired as he and Ceres were due to the difference in time. The big black conversion van was able to fit everyone, the only issue that turned up was that Akane all but demanded to sit in the front seat next to him. Ceres didn't fight this too much, ending up next to Happosai, who continued to leer at but not touch her, which was enough to keep her awake.
"So when did you learn to drive?" Akane asked as they sped down the road.
"A month or so ago." He answered.
"What else have you been up to?" She asked, and he felt her concentration go to Ceres briefly.
Ranma shook his head to try and clear Akane's thoughts from his own. It was too easy now to simply slip in or to read surface thoughts. It felt like such an invasion of privacy to simply know what a person is thinking. Catching the occasional emotion was one thing, but this was far more intimate.
"Not what you're thinking." He answered. "And you?"
"Dealing with Kuno, and any craziness that you left behind."
"I didn't really have time to tie up loose ends." He smiled, imagining the possible chaos caused by his sudden absence.
"When are you going to come back and do it then?"
"Akane－ can we talk about that later?" He really didn't want to get into something that would likely turn into a fight while driving down the road. Getting into an accident wouldn't do anything to him or Ceres, but the humans wouldn't fare so well.
"I'm going to hold you to that." She smiled a genuine smile at him.
"Fair enough." Ranma answered.
By the time Ranma pulled to a stop in front of the hotel entrance, the sun was nearly down, and in contrast to the humans, he and Ceres were just starting to wake. Since England was eight hours ahead, even though it was only five at night, it was more like one in the morning to the travelers from Japan. Ranma didn't think they would be staying up too much longer.
"How'd you pay for a nice place like this?" He asked, helping to bring luggage in by putting them on a rolling cart.
"Split between us it wasn't that much." Nodoka supplied.
Ranma was satisfied enough with that answer even though that had not answered where the money had come from. The check in process went smoothly and Happosai continued to behave and keep the secret of what he and Ceres were. Considering the strange makeup of the group, his parents had a room to themselves, the Tendo sisters had one for them, and Soun and Happosai were in the adjacent one from that.
Helping with Kasumi's two modest bags, Ranma didn't flinch when Happosai landed on his shoulder in a sitting position. "So Ranma my boy." He started softly enough that no one else was going to hear. "Was it her that did it?"
"No, Ceres is not my Master." He was finding it rather difficult to actually read the old perverts intentions. 'Of course the old freak would have some kind of trick up his sleeve.'
"Hmm, so how does your Jusenkyo curse work now?"
"I don't have one." Ranma realized that Happosai was putting pieces together, and he wondered briefly what Alucard might do to the ancient human. "So how do you know about us?" He asked.
"You pick up things here and there." Happosai's tiny shoulders shrugged.
"You're being surprisingly－ reasonable about this. It's very out of character."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm mourning my dear sweet Ranma-chan, her bountiful bosom, that healthy spirit, and that plush bottom." Happosai caught himself. "But I have no desire to get into a fight with one of you. Even I'm not that suicidal."
Ranma couldn't help but laugh sadly and close his eyes. "Can't believe I'm dumber than a worthless old letch like you."
"Ranma if you're going to laugh like that at least give us some warning, or maybe some kind of explanation." Nabiki once again tried to cover up nervousness with aggression.
This made him realize that the Tendo sisters were sitting on the foot of one of the beds, watching his and Happosai's conversation even though they couldn't hear. Ceres was leaning against the luggage cart, trying not to draw attention. Happosai in his usual boisterous manner bounded from Ranma's shoulder and out of the room cackling about seeing the pretty ladies of London. He debated about stopping the old pervert, but that was just asking for a headache, and he didn't particularly care about unknown humans all that much.
"So um, what are you planning to do?" He asked, finding it his responsibility to move things along.
"I really wanted to see the London Eye." Kasumi answered.
"Really?" Ceres jumped in. "It's absolutely gorgeous at night."
"So you've been there?" The eldest Tendo continued.
"Ranma and I have gone once to ride, but it's always very pretty to look at when it's all lit up." The blond vampire explained.
"So you and Ranma." Akane glanced between the two of them suspiciously.
Seeing that Ceres was going to answer with something, Ranma preempted her. "Don't answer that, it's a trap." He joked, earning an angry glare from Akane.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane asked angrily, getting up into his face.
"Well." He crossed his arms and turned slightly to one side. "You do have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions."
"I－ I do not!" Akane protested.
"You never really trusted me; maybe you would trust that I'd save you in some weird situation. But－ not personally, and I－ I never really trusted you." Ranma explained softly.
Now that he had family he could trust completely, every scheme he had to monitor Akane, every plot by her to do the same, they all just seemed so trivial now. Like now, this little game she was playing to try and find out if he and Ceres were a couple, why couldn't Akane just ask? Why did she care anyways?
Ranma realized sadly that what he had been thinking the previous night was true. He had been forcibly moved away from his human life, and now it was reaching out to pull him back. He had grown while they had languished. What had Akane gone through in the time that he had been in London? Did Kuno start up the morning fights again in some misguided attempt to win Akane's hand? Maybe Pantyhose Taro returned for another fight with Happosai.
Did any of it compare to the horrors he had witness? The horrific acts he had done himself? Could he relate to normal humans after that? Or was that just an elaborate game that vampires played? A nonlethal means to hunt and gain a human's trust? If they knew that he was a vampire, would they have come? Would they recoil in fear and horror at the realization of what he was capable of doing? He had so many questions and no way to answer them.
Turning back towards Akane he was about to let her, and her sisters learn about what he was, but found that he was in another room sitting at the foot of a bed while the entire group sat around him waiting impatiently for something. "Bwa?" He looked around, wondering how he had missed someone bringing him to another room.
"You were standing there for ten minutes and the rest came to invite them to your parent's room for some food. I had to help them order some room service and that Akane girl dragged you here." Ceres whispered to him in English. "By your hair."
"She's done that a few times." He scratched at the back of his head where the red hair was now short.
X x x x x x
Akane glanced at her long distance fiancé as he and that blonde girl conversed briefly in English. She remembered well how Ms. Hinako had often tutored him, but he was so casual with it now, as if he had been speaking it his entire life and Akane could only pick out a word here or there. She had even tried to study up when this whole stupid trip was announced by her father.
She wasn't going to admit it but now that she had spent more time around him since that night he had gone missing and then showed up briefly to take his things, but there were strange things about Ranma. For one were the things she had noticed that night he left, how pale he was, and how his eyes were now red. They weren't huge things compared to changing between gender and species but they were there.
There were other changes that were becoming apparent. When the food had arrived, the pair didn't eat, didn't even seem interested in the food or drink in the slightest. In fact they turned it down. Ranma also seemed to be looking through her when his eyes met her own, as though he could tell exactly what she was thinking at the time, and that was creepy. She almost wanted to catch him finishing or starting someone's sentence just to prove that she wasn't just imagining something.
Sighing absently, she wished that he would just tell her what was going on instead of keeping it a big secret.
"Hey Akane, can I speak to you for a moment?" Ranma suddenly spoke up.
"Sure." She rose from the wooden chair she had been sitting in, and connected that to her prior thought about him being able to read minds. With prior experience of their parents butting in, Akane grabbed the keycard to get back into her room. Since it was only three rooms down and across the hall.
"Because I can." Ranma started off, sitting down at the foot of one of the beds.
"You can what?" She asked.
"Human minds, I can read them pretty well now, and I'm not used to it so it's sort of always on."
"Oh yeah?" She put her hands on her hips. "What am I thinking about right now."
Ranma's eyes focused on her. "Earlier you really wanted to know what happened to me, now you're not thinking of anything. But you're feeling uncomfortable. Though you probably want something more specific, such as you think my skin is too pale, are my fangs real, and why I didn't want any food?"
"So let's just say you can." She gulped, not liking that idea at all. "How?"
"I'm a vampire." He answered without any kind of lead up. "It's one of our powers."
"Right, and I suppose your blonde friend in the other room is one to?" She asked snidely not truly believing him but realizing that it was a very good reason for the changes she had seen in him.
"She is." Ranma answered with a shrug.
"If you're going to joke like this, I'm going to leave." Akane rolled her eyes.
"Akane." Ranma titled his head to the left. "I'm not joking."
With a huff she turned to storm off before she did something to destroy the room and as soon as Ranma left her line of sight, he was in front of her. Letting out a brief shriek, she hopped backwards, only to trip over her feet, and end up on the floor with a painful thump. "You idiot, don't scare me like that!"
"You don't want to talk?" Ranma asked innocently while looking down at her. "Because this is not a joke." The red haired teen sighed and rubbed at one of his eyebrows. "Or are you worried that I would hurt you?" He asked like she had just hurt his feelings.
"No I'm just sick of you acting like I'm just around for you to play with." She got up and brushed off the back of her skirt.
"What would it take for me to prove it?"
"That you're a vampire?" She asked just to be sure on what they were talking about, and he nodded. Akane frowned but searched her brain for all the folklore that she knew about vampires, something that couldn't be done by some other magic.
Ranma snapped his fingers. "I know!" Every part of Ranma including his clothing suddenly became pitch black, and in several seconds his body had shrunk and rearranged into the shape of a very large bat. Shocked but recovering quickly she watched the bat flap around the room before with a reverse of the prior process, Ranma was standing once again next to the windows.
"How about that?" He asked smugly.
"So you picked up a new Jusenkyo curse and figured out a way to do it without water." She brushed aside his brief transformation. "I remember Aunty showing us your letter and said you didn't have to worry about water anymore."
"Hmm, how about this?" Ranma rolled back the sleeve of his leather jacket and presented his arm to her. "I'm undead so I'm room temperature."
"Oh please." She rolled her eyes and placed her hand on Ranma's forearm. He was indeed very cold, far colder than a human should be. "I remember when I shoved you in the fridge when you were sick, and you had icicles holding you to the floor because you were freezing the air around you."
"Well what would do it?" Ranma threw up his arms in disgust.
"Everything I can think of that vampires are supposed to be able to do, can be explained by something else. The only thing that doesn't is drinking blood."
"I already ate before heading out and I didn't bring any extra with me." The red haired boy scratched at his chin while looking up at the ceiling. "Then again." His head titled down to look at her.
"Then what again?" She asked, watching the pupils of Ranma's eyes thin to tiny slits.
"There's food right here." He spoke, his voice reverberating in her head.
"Ranma?" Akane asked fearfully as Ranma leaned his head in towards her neck. She tried to move away but found herself frozen, unable to look away from Ranma, unable to look away from the inescapable predator that had turned its eye to look at her.
"You smell pretty good Akane, not my favorite blood type, but that's just splitting hairs." Ranma's pale face was close to her own, a cruel smile on his face as he used his right hand to shift her chin to one side. Around her, the room dissolved into a sea of black, and Ranma's eyes began to glow a soft red. "Do you believe me yet? Or should I just eat you up?" He purred in her ear, his cold breath causing goose bumps to raise on the skin it touched.
All too slowly, he pulled away from her, and Akane felt control of her own body return. The room fell back into place, and she clasped her hands in front of her chest, too fearful to say anything. Her breath was coming out in rapid gasps and she couldn't look away from her fiancé, terrified of what he might do if she looked away for an instant.
"Do you believe me yet?" He repeated, smiling wide enough to show off his fangs. "Or do I have to actually drain someone dry in front of you before you accept that I'm a vampire?"
"N－ No need for that." She stuttered, her heart slowing its rapid beating.
Ranma knelt down on the floor. "I'm sorry that I scared you." He apologized sincerely. "But it was your idea."
"You're really a vampire." Akane summarized to herself what Ranma had been saying, and sat down in a daze on the floor. "How did it happen?"
"You remember all those girls that were disappearing?"
"Yes."
"That was because of a vampire. He was targeting them for food and fun. After he drained them, he would use a silver blade to pierce their heart just as they would turn into a ghoul or draculina. Do you remember how tired and pale I was the day before I went missing till the next night?"
"Yes." She nodded, not really remembering it all that well.
"I was going to be the next one to disappear." Ranma closed his eyes. "Ryoga saved me by waking me up, for a little while." Gritting his teeth, he continued. "I was so stupid! I tracked the vampire in the night to this alley. There wasn't anything I could do against him, he was stronger and faster, and he could read my moves before I could make them."
Ranma opened his eyes to look at her. "That's when Master came, he saved me by making me a vampire. The next night I came back to say good bye. I should have told you when I left but－ I didn't really understand what it meant to be a vampire then. I thought it was something I could beat, and then come back like nothing happened." He trailed off.
"And it's not, is it?" Akane finished for him.
"It's not. I'll never be who I was before and it's actually hard to remember things from when I was human." Ranma looked at her sadly. "Akane, it's over between us."
X x x x x x
Ranma took a brief moment to listen to the heated whispers coming from the other side of the door to Soun's room. He had forgotten how little privacy the parents and Tendo family would allow.
He had said it; he had taken his first step to breaking his ties to his human life. Not that he didn't want Akane in his life, but he wasn't going to let her think there was a chance at a wedding. There was no point to leading on such a farce. For one it would be a waste of what little time Akane had, and for another it would just annoy him. Ranma had no real time to go further with that because the door burst open and Soun's demon head illusion filled the entire end of the room.
"How dare you break up with my little girl!" The vision hissed, smoke billowing around its form. Ranma was in no mood to put up with the Tendo patriarchs foolishness and he dispelled the illusion by pooling some power, and making it explode with a loud pop.
"It's not up for discussion." He stated flatly.
"Then I think we should discuss this." Kasumi helpfully placed a sharp wooden stake in his hands.
"A stake?" He asked stupidly, wondering where Kasumi had found such a thing on short notice. "I'm not going to kill myself." Ranma replied distastefully and lobbed the stake to land in the garbage.
"But vampires are evil abominations; they shouldn't be allowed to live." Kasumi protested and actually looked at him with a completely innocent expression.
"That's very nice of you to say that." He replied sarcastically.
Ranma shook his head at how much of a mess this had just become. Not only did everyone now know he was a vampire, but they had interrupted an important discussion. The only ones who seemed to be staying out of it were Genma, Nabiki, and Ceres. Ranma's fellow vampire was looking on with shock. Nabiki was both happy that she had figured something out and scared about the possibilities. While Genma was being reasonable and wanted to find out more before making a decision.
"HEY!" Akane shouted, stopping the circus before it could really get going, and drawing all eyes to her. "I agree with Ranma." The girl paused. "It wasn't working out before and it's not working now."
"But Akane." Soun started to protest before Nodoka stopped him.
"I think this is a good decision." The Saotome woman nodded to herself. "It certainly leaves Ranma more time to be manly by seducing young virgin maidens in the night."
"What?" Ranma gaped at his mother.
"Oh but it would be terribly manly if Ranma actually made Akane into a vampire as well as any other young girls he might come across." Nodoka continued on, ignoring the looks of shock at her attitude.
"I'm not doing that!" He was horrified over Nodoka's ideas. 'And Kasumi says I'm the evil abomination!'
"So what do you do?" Nodoka briefly seemed to look for the Saotome blade but didn't have it with her. "Are you being unmanly?"
"Yes I'm being horribly unmanly. Often times I'm unmanly six or seven times a night." He replied sarcastically.
"Boy, don't be so combative with your mother." Genma hastily tried to smooth over the situation.
"We're all kind of tired from the trip, maybe we shouldn't try to discuss stuff like this right now?" Nabiki added.
"You're right." Nodoka fidgeted slightly, still looking for her sword. "I don't believe I heard what I heard."
"Come on Ceres, I'll be back tomorrow night!" Ranma quickly bolted from the room, grabbing the other vampire on his way out. (Time to leave.) He told her mentally.
(Your mother is insane!) The blonde draculina sent back.
(Tell me about it.)
X x x x x x
Ceres rocked forward gently as Ranma pulled the van to a stop in the Hellsing motorpool. Looking over to him before she got out of the car, Ceres found that Ranma was not moving from his seat, but was staring straight ahead. The drive had been silent for more than one reason. She felt like she should have said or done something to make those people understand the situation better. What would have done that though? Would they even believe her, since she was also a vampire?
She couldn't be sure, but she expected that the other vampire was dealing with the same ones she had dealt with when first becoming a vampire. How her family might have looked at her. Ceres was saved from that experience by their deaths many years before. Ranma had no such recourse. His parents were alive and well, he even had an extended family, and fiancée that had all come to see him for one reason or another.
Sliding over to lean over the gap between the seats, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "It could have been a lot worse. I really think they'll be fine with you being a vampire."
"That's not what I'm worried about." Ranma leaned back in his seat. "I just want them to go away."
"You don't want to spend time with your family－ even if your mom is really messed up?"
"All they make me do is remember."
Ceres didn't even realize that she had slapped Ranma before she was staring at her hand finishing it. "I－ I'm sorry but, I'd give anything to be able to see my mother and father again, and you can." Feeling wetness gather at her eyes, she slowly drew her hand back to her side. "Do you really want to throw everything away?"
"Say that after one of them has handed you a stake." Ranma hastily exited the van and slammed the door with enough force to shake the vehicle side to side.
"Ranma." She quickly got out of the van herself to race up to his side. "That was really bad, but all she heard was vampire, she doesn't know anything else, who knows what stories she's thinking of?"
"Really?" Ranma asked like he hadn't thought about that possibility.
"Of course." She tried to sound reassuring.
"Well－ should I tell her that a couple weeks ago I hunted and killed a human for food?"
"Uh." Ceres realized that Ranma had set her up.
"Maybe if I explained that I was really hungry." Ranma's eyes looked upwards absently. "And he was really tasty."
"Ranma, stop it."
"But you wanted me to explain what I really am." He answered.
"You know what I was talking about." She hissed.
"I know." He admitted. "And－ tomorrow night I'll go back and things will probably blow over, and then I'll have to tell them I won't be going back to Japan because I know that's one of the reasons they're really here."
"I thought you wanted to go back."
"What's there for me? Well? You got an answer for that? To be constantly reminded of what I'm not? The human life that really doesn't hold any appeal for me?" Ranma paused. "That whole time Integra had me locked up. Do you know how many times I thought about them? Any of them?"
"No." She answered.
"Not once." His face split into a partially crazed smile. "Isn't that funny? I begged for help from Master and you, but people I've known for years, humans that I was in life and death struggles with, humans that before I would look to for help－ not once."
"That doesn't mean anything." She didn't see how that situation was an indication of anything.
"Ceres, you see pictures or have memories; I have to look at them－ and－ it's different."
She stared at Ranma, fuming internally at how Ranma was so often the center of attention. And now when his family was here to see him, with the only thing keeping them apart being misunderstandings, he was searching for reasons to feel bad. "You're right Ranma, you're the only one who has problems." She finally replied with as much venom as she could and stormed off.
"I didn't mean it like that." Ranma protested, quickly catching up to her, and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"No, you did. Master dotes on you like you're the most special thing ever, you're the center of everyone's attention, and you still have to have more. No one else can ever outdo you for anything." She brushed away Ranma's hand forcibly. "Just leave me alone."
X x x x x x
Ranma didn't leave it at that, following Ceres through the mansion until the blonde draculina turned and glared at him. At which point he stopped following. Ceres was a lot like Akane in that she had the ability to commit extreme violence, made worse by being a vampire who would enjoy it very much. Unlike Akane, Ceres while being a tomboy, did not have the first reaction to hit what annoyed her.
He didn't agree with her comments about him needing to outdo everyone. Their situations were just different. He wasn't trying to one up her on it. Thinking on it, she was probably just upset over her own parents rather than his own, and would be fine after she had some time to blow off steam. If not then Ceres was just being unreasonable.
Heading for the ready room to see if anything interesting was on television, it unfortunately sounded like a large group of soldiers were laughing about something. Refusing to let some group of humans stop him from enjoying something, he entered, and froze with his mouth hanging open. There was a group of eight soldiers that he identified as members of the Wild Geese sitting around a large wooden table that was dragged in from somewhere playing cards. They were yelling at each other, drinking alcohol, and had made an absolute pig sty of the room.
"What are you idiots doing?" He yelled while grabbing one of the drinking soldiers and hauling him to his feet. "You're drinking on the job? What happens if you have to go out?" He snarled.
"Hey kid, take it easy." One with his hair in a long braid and an eye patch said while standing up.
"And look at this mess!" Ranma started to clean up a bunch of the food wrappers and random items that had been on the floor to throw them in small trash in the corner of the room.
"Seems we made the janitor angry!" One soldier joked and they broke out in raucous laughter.
"I'm not the janitor!" Ranma protested, dropping a beer bottle that shattered on the floor. "Damn it!" He cursed, earning more laughter. Smashing the wooden table in half, their laughter died abruptly as they scrambled out of their chairs. "So you idiots like laughing at a vampire?" He asked calmly, smirking to show off a fang. "I wonder how I should show my－ displeasure."
"So you're the other vampire, eh garcon?" The man with the long braid spoke up while placing a wide brimmed hat with one side pinned up on his head. "Names Pip Bernadotte."
"A very unhappy one right now." Ranma let his eyes roam over the group, making a big show to measure each one like a piece of meat. "Clean up the mess and get out－ or else Integra will be missing a few more men."
"Oi, garcon, we're not the clean up crew." Pip pointed out.
"And I'm not asking." He responded, deepening the shadows around him until only his red eyes and cruelly smiling mouth were visible.
He dropped the illusion as soon as they all acted as one to rush around the room to clean anything they could find. Dropping down on to his favorite sitting spot on a couch, he flipped on the television. "Don't forget that table." He commented absently before chuckling darkly. "Worthless wastes of space as you are, you aren't bad at cleaning. You can stay and be quiet or you can get out."
X x x x x x
Sitting on the foot of the bed she shared with Nabiki, Akane glanced out the large window of her hotel room nervously while wondering if Ranma was actually going to come back or even call. After the debacle that last night turned into, she wouldn't begrudge him if he didn't want to see them. She still couldn't believe that Kasumi had casually offered him a stake to impale himself with, and then there was Nodoka and her blatant insanity.
"Hey Akane." Ranma's voice came from behind her. Shrieking, she fell over herself to fall to the floor. "Sorry." The red haired boy peaked over the end of the bed to smile down at her, clearly not sorry about what he had just done.
Punching him in the face, she got to her feet to straighten out of clothes. "Don't do that." Angry that he surprised her, she was at the same time happy that some things were still the same.
"Where is everybody?" He asked casually.
"Your mom convinced everybody that I should be left alone so you could come and have your way with me before making me your vampire mistress." She sighed.
"And Happosai?"
"I don't know, he didn't come back after he left last night."
"Do you want to get out of here?" He jerked his head towards the door. "It's a really nice night."
"Are you sure I should be going off into the night with a vampire?" She asked, trying to sound playful, but she wasn't so stupid as to think that a creature, who survived off blood as far as she knew, might be tempted by what she had to offer.
"Don't worry, I already had my meal for the night."
"Who was it?" She asked nervously, wondering if he had caught and killed some poor soul before coming to visit her like nothing had happened.
"I dunno, it was some medical blood served in a plastic bag." He replied with a shrug and she relaxed. "But it was human blood."
"You read my mind again." She glowered.
"I'm really not trying to."
"Yea well if you do it again there's going to be problems." Ignoring any retort he might have come up with to justify reading her mind, she grabbed her winter coat. "Don't you have anything thicker than that?" Ranma was just wearing a thin dark green hoodie and a pair of black pants.
"I don't need it. The undead only really have to worry about frostbite." He joked.
No one saw them leave so it was a clean break out into the streets. She really should have written down that she was leaving, but considering how her family was acting, she wasn't in the mood. Pulling her jacket tighter around her body, she should have put on another layer. Big flakes of snow were falling slowly and there wasn't any wind, so she had to agree that it was a very pretty night.
"Akane, were we fighting about something before I was turned?" Ranma asked without any lead up.
"No more than usual." She answered. "Why?"
"It's just hard to remember details. It's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you－ alone. I wanted to make it clear that you shouldn't expect me to act the same."
"I don't get it." She stopped when Ranma did, the red head slowly turning towards her. "You already told me that you're a vampire, but I don't see why that should change everything. So－ we're not engaged, that doesn't make you a different person."
"Yes－ I'm a vampire, I－ like being a vampire, and we're a lot different from humans."
"So you're saying that you're not really Ranma?"
"I am Ranma." He ran a hand through his now short hair. "But－ not completely." With a halting and jerking transformation, Ranma turned from male to female, and then held out a hand to her. "Hi, I'm Ranma, want to be friends?"
"What are you talking about? Why did you change into a girl?" Akane looked at Ranma suspiciously.
"I was turned as a girl Akane."
"So? You're really a guy." She really didn't see what Ranma meant by all this. "Don't be perverted Ranma." The red head looked genuinely hurt by her accusation.
"I'm not being perverted. One of the requirements to become a vampire, is that you're the opposite sex of the master. I'd be really dead right now if it wasn't for－ if I wasn't－ a girl."
"Then－ on top of becoming a vampire－ you're a girl now?" She could see now why this would be something difficult for Ranma to talk about. "But you were just a guy ten seconds ago."
"That's just like turning into a bat, I can change into things that I think up on the spot. This is me now, eternally－ and I figured since our first meeting was so screwed up because you didn't see the real me, it'd be better to try and start over in the right one." Ranma had not put her hand down, expecting that she would reach out to take it.
"No－ I don't believe you. I know Ranma and he wouldn't be so accepting of that." Akane took a step away from the red head right into a body that wrapped one arm around her waist while the other pressed something hard, metal, and sharp to her neck.
"Akane!" Ranma took a step forward and the blade was drawn across her neck with just enough force to cut her. Her attacker, that she could now tell was a man, said something to Ranma in English before a second approached Ranma with a small revolver in his right hand. The pale skinned red head didn't move, her eyes locked on Akane's throat.
'Great I'm going to be mugged by some jerk.' She wanted to reach up and see how bad her throat was cut but didn't know if he would be willing to finish the job. 'While that idiot Ranma sits there staring at me.'
X x x x x x
Ranma blinked her eyes and had to forcibly remove them from Akane's throat. The scent of blood that now permeated the air was making it hard to think this situation through. A cruel part of her even briefly entertained the idea of letting the man spill the blood so she could kill these two fools and lap it all up.
"Come on, give us all your money!" The mugger next to her shook the compact revolver in his hand impatiently.
"I'll give you one chance to walk away." She said through clenched teeth.
"Listen you little bitch." The armed mugger grabbed Ranma's upper left arm. Ranma's hand moved with lightning speed to grab the gun hand. Pointing it towards the one holding Akane, she pulled on his trigger finger to put a bullet directly between his eyes, spraying the wall behind him with blood and brain matter. The gunman had no time to deal with his partner's fate, or for the body to hit the ground before Ranma twisted the gun upwards underneath his mouth, and pulled the trigger again.
"Akane are you alright?" She was over at the other girl's side, checking the neck injury to see how deep it was. Biting her lower lip, she wanted to lean in, and taste the blood but controlled herself.
"I－ I think so." Akane felt at her neck.
"It's just a scratch, won't even have a scar." Ranma tried to sound reassuring. Already people had been drawn by the gunfire, several had cell phones out, and she could hear at least one talking to the authorities.
The youngest Tendo looked down at the bodies. "You killed them."
"I gave them a chance to walk away and trust me, they would have had no problem with doing the same."
"I－ I－ I need to sit down." Akane stammered.
"Sure." Ranma quickly found some steps and lead the shocked girl there and sat down next to her. Remembering what Ceres had done after she had been released from the dungeon, Ranma wrapped a protective arm around the human. She could hear a siren coming, so she sat wishing that the violence of her life had stayed away.
X x x x x x
Ranma had shown her ID to the officer who first arrived on the scene and was now explaining the situation to him. She also had complete authority over everyone. Akane was just finishing having her wound bandaged by a paramedic. Photographs of the bodies and other information were being taken care of and soon they would be hauled off in body bags.
"My friend and I were walking down the street when the one with the knife grabbed my friend and cut her neck. The one with the gun threatened me with it. I warned them to leave but they continued. I then grabbed the gun and killed the one holding Akane and then the gunman."
The policeman in his early thirties quickly wrote down what she had just said. "So lethal force was necessary?"
"Well one was about to cut my friends throat and the other was pointing a gun at me. I couldn't take a chance with either." Ranma answered although it didn't matter at all, for all purposes she had a license to kill.
"And you're staying at the International Hotel?"
"Yea it's just down the street so we'll walk whenever you get done. Will that be soon?" She let her impatience show.
"Yes ma'am, I have your contact info if I need anything I will give you a call."
"Thanks." Leaving the officer, she peaked into the ambulance where Akane was wrapped up in a warm blanket. "Feel up to walking back?" Ranma meant it to be a concerned question but with how easily humans were injured she couldn't stop herself from being amused at such a little scrape requiring a medic's attention.
"It's just a scratch." Akane unwrapped from the blanket and exited the ambulance.
A crowd of people had gathered to see what was going on and they had to press through them while deflecting questions. The walk back to the hotel was short, they hadn't been able to go far before the two idiots had thrown their lives away.
"You shouldn't feel bad about those two." Ranma finally grew weary of the silence.
"Why shouldn't I not feel bad about watching you kill two men?"
"People can't really own guns here Akane, and criminals that have them－ I'm just guessing here, but they have probably used them before." In fact Ranma was sure that the man had murdered someone because she had read his mind.
"Ranma, it's not that you did it, it's that you didn't have to. I know how fast you are and you could have stopped them easily. No one had to die."
"I told you I'm different." Ranma admitted to herself that Akane was right. She could have taken the gun and the knife before either human would have blinked. "Even if I had captured them, it's not like they wouldn't have been out of jail soon enough to do it again."
"And if you got into a fight with Ryoga would you kill him too?"
"I knew－ know Ryoga." Ranma had enough to deal with at the moment, explaining that Ryoga was dead now would not help anything. "But if he put me in a situation like that, I probably would."
"I can't picture you as a killer." Akane stopped before opening the door to her room to stare at Ranma.
"I only kill if there's a need. Just like with Saffron." She answered seriously, wanting to reference a human event.
"Alright, I guess I was just thinking that with all your 'I'm different' and being a vampire." Akane trailed off. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Ranma waved a hand dismissively and followed Akane into the room where Nabiki and Kasumi were changing into swimsuits.
"Akane shut the door." Kasumi hid behind a towel before ducking into the bathroom when the eldest Tendo saw that Ranma was there.
"Woah, what happened to your neck?" Nabiki was less modest and already had a blue bikini on.
"A mugger cut me with a knife." Akane answered, feeling the overly large bandage. "Another tried to get Ranma but he stopped them."
"Oh that's good, I thought for a second that Ranma was using you for a meal."
"Thanks Nabiki." Ranma replied sarcastically.
"Well if Akane wanted to, who would I be to judge?" Nabiki joked.
"Nabiki that's not right at all!" Kasumi admonished, now clad in a shoulderless one piece swimsuit. "Akane are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes I'm fine."
"So Saotome, want to go for a swim? Or do vampires react badly to water?" Nabiki was digging for information on weaknesses.
"No－ no problems with water. But I don't have a suit." Glancing at Akane out of the corner of her eye. "Stealing Akane's would be a good idea just to be sure she doesn't drown in the shallow end."
"Like I would want you to stretch it out." Akane seemed to fall back into old habits.
"Well you are a lot smaller than I am." Ranma leaned in close to inspect Akane's bust. "I'd need one from Nabiki." The four hits to the top and side of her head were worth it to get Akane's mind off the earlier events.
"Real smart Saotome." Nabiki drawled, pointed towards the bathroom. "My other suit is in there hanging. It might be a bit damp since we already went earlier."
"I'll survive."
X x x x x x
"Son, why are you a girl?" Nodoka asked her as soon as she arrived in the large pool area with the Tendo sisters. Her mother was wearing a nearly transparent robe exposing a modest swimsuit, her hair was tied up as usual, and she was sitting at a table next to a hot tub. Both Genma and Soun were in the hot tub itself.
Eying the small pool, Ranma kept her distance from it, her vampire instincts were warning her to stay away from such a large amount of water. Nabiki's spare swimsuit had been another bikini, this one in an orange and white polka dot print. She wasn't all that worried about showing more of her perfect skin, but she had known it would not help with Nodoka's reaction.
"Because I want to be." She answered honestly and casually dropped her towel on the back of a chair before sliding into the hot tub, and sighing in absolute contentment. The Tendo sisters soon filled up the rest of the hot tub.
"It's not very manly to be a girl when you have the ability to remain male." Nodoka warned causing Genma to sweat. Ranma barely noticed as her eyes were closed, and she decided that if she had to remain at Hellsing, she would demand to have one of these put someplace. "Did you hear me?" Nodoka spoke up.
"Auntie, don't you think Ranma should be able to spend time as a girl if he wants?" Akane actually came to her defense. "So long as he's not being perverted that is."
"If Ranma doesn't maintain his manliness than he hasn't fulfilled the contract." Nodoka reaffirmed.
"Well mother." Ranma looked back over her shoulder at the Saotome woman. "I already died when I became a vampire so that contract doesn't really apply to me. And committing seppuku would just hurt a lot without actually killing me."
"Boy, don't antagonize your mother." Genma warned.
"I'm not antagonizing anybody, merely stating the fact that she could have me commit seppuku every day for the rest of her life, and I would get back up from it." Shrugging, her body was now the same temperature as the water, and she was thinking clearer.
Nodoka simmered in impotent rage briefly before responding. "Well then you'll simply have to use a means that would kill you seeing as you are so interested in violating the pact."
"I don't know about that, the contract is rather explicit that me and the old man would commit seppuku, not whatever is convenient." Twisting in her seat to be more directly orientated with Nodoka, she could tell that her mother wanted to accept what she had just said, but at the same time refused to abandon what she saw as an important ideal. "It would be worthless if it was just whatever you wanted at the time."
Everyone else remained quiet, trying not to be the target of either her changed attitude, or Nodoka's ire. Ranma wanted to give Nodoka a push towards a reasonable position on the matter. But mentally tampering with the people that she knew and cared about was not a line she wanted to cross.
"You're quite obviously not dead." Nodoka started.
"I died and became undead." Ranma specified her condition.
"Right－ undead－ and as you said, you died, so you are right that the contract no longer matters." At Nodoka's statement, Genma let out a woop of joy. Standing, the woman straightened out her robe. "I'm sorry for my attitude."
"Mom?" Ranma asked, watching Nodoka swiftly walk away. She hadn't been expecting this kind of reaction. Nodoka didn't respond and Ranma scampered out of the glorious feeling hot water to chase after her.
"Hey mom wait!" She was surprised at the speed that Nodoka was moving without actually running. Passing a couple tourists, she didn't fear anyone listening in considering that she was speaking in Japanese at the moment. She did realize that Nodoka was unlikely to talk with others around.
Catching up with Nodoka she tried to get in the way but her mother kept going around. "Seriously did you want to kill me that much?" She tried to joke as Nodoka dug into a pocket to pull out the key to the room. Attempting to follow her mother into the room, the taller woman held a hand in her face.
"I've just realized that my child is dead." Nodoka stared directly into her eyes. "And I have no desire to see the thing that has replaced him." Ranma's eyes widened and she took a step back, the door being closed immediately.
Resting her forehead against the wood of the door, Ranma could feel the harsh waves of depression rolling over her. Nodoka was feeling the futility of all the years of waiting for Genma to return with her. Her mother had some strange idea of making up for that time with her as an adult that obviously wasn't going to work, and now she was realizing that. Ranma's sharp ears easily picked up the evidence of Nodoka's grief through the door.
"Boy." Genma had followed her and Nodoka from the pool area. "Your mother can be emotional at times, you know that."
"Why did you come here?" She asked. Because Nodoka's mind had been so guarded before, she had not been able to pick up the raw emotions now coming clearly, but now the strength of Nodoka's broadcasting was making it impossible to tell what Genma was thinking. "Was it just to try and push me and Akane together?"
"And to bring you back."
"Back into the mirror." She mumbled, tears starting to fall from her eyes to fall to stain the carpet red. "I should have never let you know I was alive." Her earlier clothing formed up around her body in small strips that seamlessly joined together. When it was done, Nabiki's swimsuit fell through her clothing to the floor.
"Son?"
"Don't expect to see me again." She answered and was so focused on getting away from her human family, that she did her first teleport.
X x x x x x
Staggering around the grounds of the Hellsing mansion, Ranma had returned to this place because it was where Alucard and Ceres were. Her sorrow had quickly turned to anger at anything and everything. 'I hate that tree.' She sneered at a particularly mundane and average tree that was now lacking its leaves due to winter.
Grabbing the tree around the half meter diameter trunk, her fingers dug into the wood easily. With a grunt she tried to rip it straight from the ground, her feet decided to sink into the ground instead, with the tree barely budging.
"Stupid tree!" She screamed and crushed the trunk between her hands. "Ha!" Her victory was short lived as the tree toppled over to fall on her head. With a harsh snarl, she threw the tree to the side, and laid on the ground staring up into the dark sky.
"Hey Ranma." Ceres' voice carried to her as the blonde trotted over to her. "Something on your mind?"
Ranma's anger turned to the other vampire. 'Ceres likes humans, she thinks they're better than we are, she wants to be one again.' Narrowing her red eyes, she remembered the talk from the other night. 'Dead family is better than alive ones.' Rolling to her stomach, she pushed herself up to her feet.
"Ranma? Why are you looking at me like that?" Ceres paused at Ranma's intense stare.
'Why does Master bother with her at all? If she wants to be a human, let her act like one.' Slowly twisting her head to one side, she wondered what Alucard had seen in the girl at all. Ceres was also the first, so Alucard probably cared about her more.
"Look I understand if you're upset about our talk last night."
Ranma ignored the rest of what Ceres was saying to pick up a broken branch to throw at Ceres like a spear. At the last moment, the other draculina ducked out of the way from being hit in the face.
"What are you doing?" Ceres demanded angrily.
"Did he offer you his blood?" She asked.
"Wha－ what?"
"Master, did he offer you his blood?" Ranma took several angry steps forward. "Did he!"
"Yes－ he did."
Ranma backhanded Ceres across the face as soon as she was done speaking, sending the other vampire to the ground. "Why would he offer you that? You're just a servant vampire, not even half as good as me, you might as well be a human!"
"I'm just as good as you are!" Ceres regained her feet and got right into Ranma's face.
"You must think I'm really bad then." Ranma pushed Ceres with both hands. "The only thing you're good at is being worthless."
"That's not true!" Ceres pushed her back.
"You couldn't even beat Anderson." Ranma sneered. "Master probably just offered you blood so you would quit being a waste of space!"
"Take that back!" Ceres wrapped her up in a headlock.
"No!" She overpowered Ceres to throw her over her shoulder and end up rolling on the ground with the other vampire.
X x x x x x
Integral surveyed the dining area that now looked like several bombs had gone off. Both Ceres and Ranma were still a tangle of limbs and shredded clothing. No one had dared get close to the pair of struggling draculinas, who at the moment were biting each other.
"Ten pounds on the blonde."
"I'll take that bet."
"Twenty says they rip off each other's clothes before it's done."
"Who would want to bet against that?"
Frowning at the crowd of Wild Geese who were happily watching and giving words of encouragement, she really couldn't wait until they could absorb conventional soldiers back into her force, and send the Geese on their way.
"Alucard." She said redundantly, knowing that the master vampire would have found out about this long before her.
"Yes?" Clad in his usual red attire, Alucard appeared next to her, clearly amused by the fight.
"If it wasn't too much trouble?" She inclined her head towards the pair.
"They'll be done in a minute." He answered.
Rolling her eyes, she pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to him. "Well when they get done, I expect for them to make me that dish for tomorrow at eight. Make sure they go heavy on the garlic. You can also inform these so called soldiers, that they get to clean up this mess." Disgusted by the lack of order in her home, she didn't stick around.
X x x x x x
Ceres released her mouth from the back of Ranma's thigh and licked at some of the other vampire's blood that was still running down her chin. She watched the back of Ranma's head disengaged from her right hip. Collapsing to her back, she could tell Ranma was less drained than she was, but was mentally unable to continue. Ceres didn't like it, but she had lost herself, and become an animal.
"I'm sorry." Ranma flopped on to her back and lay to her left. Strange memories started to tickle at Ceres' consciousness. Grasping at it, she could see Nodoka standing in a doorway from Ranma's shorter perspective, and could feel the worry from the other vampire.
"I've just realized that my child is dead." Nodoka spoke. "And I have no desire to see the thing that has replaced him."
Ceres knitted her eyebrows, struggling with the sudden horrific sense of loss that Ranma felt as the door was closed in her face. The memory was so intense that she felt it herself. "Your mom told you that? That you were a thing?" Grimacing, she felt a couple ribs set themselves back into place.
"It's not as bad as me calling you worthless."
"I've been called worse." As cutting as Ranma's words were, she now knew that the red head hadn't been herself.
"But it didn't really hurt as much."
Propping herself up on to an elbow she felt the last of her damage regenerate. "You read my mind."
"By taking your blood." Ranma wiped some lingering blood from around her lips and then licked her finger clean. "Same way you found out about Nodoka."
Neither of them had a chance to add to that before Alucard's voice spoke up. "Blood is the currency of the soul Ceres Victoria, surely you did not ignore one of the most important things about being a vampire."
Ceres sat up and spun to sit facing Alucard, the action finishing off most of her clothing. "Ack!" She hastily covered up her chest as her top tried to fall away.
"I do hope you two have kissed and made up." The master vampire placed a piece of paper between them. "Your punishment from Integra." He explained before vanishing from sight.
"Eh?" Ranma picked it up before Ceres could. "She wants us to cook." The red head flipped it over to show her.
"Cooking?" She grimaced. "Well－ how bad could that be?"
"Oh and she said to use extra garlic." Alucard popped back in to add before vanishing with an amused laugh.
X x x x x x
Author Notes:
Oh I'm not done with the Nerima contingent yet. As for the chapter itself, it's probably the most conversation heavy chapter I've ever done.
Omake - The Very Old Virgin
Ranma watched horrified as Happosai rose back to his feet. She had finally gotten sick of the old pervert and had drained him dry before actually trying to make him into a ghoul so she could kill him again. Except something had gone extremely wrong and a different type of being had been created.
"Master!" The elderly pervert and now vampire cried happily, glomping on to her chest.
"EWWW!" She knocked him away, feeling a mental connection to Happosai that was more disturbing than anything she had ever felt. "How did this happen?" She fumed. "No way is someone that old still a virgin."
"Oh Master you're embarrassing me." Happosai answered that question.
"Then again, how could someone ever have sex with that." She shivered in disgust again. Happosai started to sniffle, feeling how disgusted she was to have made him into a servant vampire.
"Not the first fledgling I would have thought you make." Alucard snickered.
"This isn't funny!" Ranma protested, noticing that Happosai knew vampires could shapeshift, and had done just that. "MY EYES!" She cried and covered them. The former troll of a man had transformed into a tall bishounen figure with skin that actually sparkled.
"I finally look as I once did in my youth!" Happosai declared happily.
"You never looked like that!" Ranma hit her fledgling over the head before turning back to Alucard. "Can I borrow one of your guns so I can kill him?"
"Now now, you shouldn't kill your first fledgling just because he's turned himself into some sparkling pretty boy." Alucard teased.
"But the horror I've unleashed upon the world." She protested, catching Happosai darting off into the night. "Hey get back here!"
"Nuh uh! I'm off to find some pretty girls!"
"GET BACK HERE!" She cried out and chased after him.
x x x x x x
Full timeline
Ceres turning into a vampire on the 5th of July, 2008
Bonny and Clyde August 12th
Ranma becomes a vampire September 7th
Enrico Stivallati and first meeting with Father Anderson September 15th
Pickman's first command and Ranma's first kill September 18th
Kim and Steadler stopped September 19th
Ranma meets Helena October 3rd
Ranma meets the Queen October 4th
Assault by the Valentine Brothers October 9th
Funeral for deceased soldiers October 11th
Ranma fights with Ryoga, who is later killed by Alucard October 15th
Ranma becomes a full vampire and is imprisoned by Integral October 16th
Wild Geese arrive at Hellsing October 18th
Iscariot attempts to finish off Hellsing but Anderson is defeated by Alucard October 19th
Alucard refuses Integral's order to rewrite Ranma's personality October 24th
Integral frees Ranma October 29th
Ranma finally receives Nodoka's letter telling him that they will arrive in London October 31st
Saotome and Tendo families arrive in London and find out that Ranma is a vampire November 1st
Ranma tells Genma that they won't see her again November 2nd