Remember, stealing is wrong. So wrong. So very wrong. You'll anger the person you stole it from. ∗snicker∗
∼ Entwined Symphony ∼
by Tama Saga
I don't own Naruto or Ranma. The rights belong to their respective creators and I am merely borrowing the characters to make something fun.
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Chapter 10: An Old Familiar Face...or Two
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- The past -
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Ranma paused in the middle of the stone-paved road, before he opened his mouth widely and yawned. Glancing up at the slightly-reddish skies, he guessed that it was around dinnertime.
As if to confirm that thought, his stomach rumbled, loudly. It was a good thing he had found this town earlier. Both warm water and food were available in plentiful quantities. Looking around, he spotted a man selling a noodle bowl that he had never seen before.
-o-o-o-o-
"That'll be 10 ryo." The noodle seller told him while rubbing his hands in a greedy manner. The man's behavior almost reminded him of Nabiki, but Ranma shrugged as he pulled out a few strange coins from the knapsack. It wasn't his money after all.
When the vendor didn't return anything, instead, turning to another customer to take their order, Ranma was almost certain that the man was a crook. He shrugged it off, it wasn't his money after all, but he made a mental note to learn the value of each coin later.
Picking up the bowl and staring at the plain noodles floating around in his bowl, he picked up a pair of chopsticks.
The bowl was empty a moment later. It hadn't been very good, but he couldn't afford to be picky.
He yawned again. He had been traveling for hours and he needed to rest. A blip appeared at the periphery of his senses, causing him to perk up and move a little faster. He was being followed again. Didn't that blond guy ever quit?
-o-o-o-o-
His hair stopped flapping as the winds finally died down. Slowly lowering his fist, Ranma breathed a sigh of annoyance when he realized that his opponent had disappeared once again.
Despite being significantly outmatched in speed the extended reach and the familiarity of his boy form had made that last fight shorter and far easier than the previous few.
The adrenaline started to wear off and a feeling of tiredness returned with a vengeance. It was time to return to the town and get a night's rest.
A sudden chill ran down his spine. His gut was telling him that trouble was approaching.
His gut was correct as a group of masked people soon stepped out from the treeline and entered the clearing. They looked at each other before they advanced in a line.
"What's goin' on?" Ranma asked as he backed away, his hands held up in a pacifying gesture to show that he meant no harm.
"Were you the one responsible for the tornado?" one of them asked.
"Uhh, yeah?"
That stopped them short.
"A nin wouldn't admit to using such an attack." Ranma faintly heard one of them whisper to another.
"He's trying to deceive us. He's probably here as a decoy."
Two of them immediately broke off and headed for the treelines. It looked like they were searching for someone.
That left three. "Let's see what he knows." Someone from the remaining group whispered before one of them stepped forward and addressed him in a female voice. "Surrender." Having delivered that ultimatum, the woman in the costume started fingering the sharp edge of a strange knife, "or else." It was obvious what that 'or else' meant.
At this point, Ranma was feeling quite irritated. What was it with people that wanted to kill him today? Couldn't he sleep a little and then try and find a way home the next day without someone to bother him? "Look, I don't mean any trouble. Just let me go. You can look for that other guy if you want to ask what happened here."
Instead of answering, they were moving to surround him. It was almost like they wanted him to resist. Well, if they wouldn't listen to him, how could he refuse?
Lunging forward, he struck the closest opponent in the face, shattering the ceramic facemask and sending the man flying into a nearby tree.
"He's fast..." one of his opponents said to the others. And then the battle started.
-o-o-o-o-
Hiding within one of the trees overlooking the action, a man with blond hair watched the scuffle through narrowed eyes. He was waiting for the right moment.
His eyes suddenly widened when a small object flew toward his position. Snatching it from midair a brief instant before it lodged in his side, he applied a special tag to the handle before returning the Kumo-variety kunai back the way it came. Moments later, there was a brief flash of yellow.
A nearby body soon toppled lifelessly to the ground.
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- A year before the present -
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Their supplies had been running low again. Much as she would like to put it off because of her companion's problem, they really needed food and water. Particularly water. She shuddered when she recalled the last place they had been. It had been so dry that they couldn't even sweat properly.
Spying a distant town, she turned to her companion and eyed his smelly faded-yellow muscle shirt with a faint trace of disgust before gesturing for him to stop. "Wait here." she had ordered.
26-year-old Ryouga Hibiki nervously adjusted the spotted yellow bandanna on his forehead before he nodded. There was no choice in the matter. Because if he somehow got lost without her again, she was going to cut him in two.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Ranma looked around frantically. Where was he?
She hadn't meant for the teasing to go that far, and now Naruto had disappeared.
Stretching out with her Ki senses, she found that he wasn't here. She was about to head to the next training ground when she paused and rubbed her eyes before looking again.
...
There was no mistake. A dark emotion appeared on her face as she dashed forward, unwilling to let this window of opportunity go to waste. Sliding to a halt, she cupped her hands to her mouth.
"Ryouga!" she shouted.
She saw the man perk up when his name was called. She was absolutely certain now. "...Prepare to die!"
By the time he had spotted her, she was already in the air; her leg extended and her foot angled for his face. The kick connected and a devastating amount of kinetic energy was transferred from the woman to the man.
A tree groaned ominously when Ryouga collided against it with a dull ∗Thud!∗
"You!" Ryouga roared as he got up, shoving weakened tree over in the process. "How dare you steal my line!" he cried out before he paused. He had seen the brilliant red hair of his opponent. "No way."
"For the hell you put me through, it's my line now!" Ranma roared back, slightly annoyed that that kick had barely affected the pig.
Ryouga promptly forgot about the red hair as red filled his entire vision. "You knocked off another of my lines! Di-"
"Die!" Ranma interrupted right before her Ki-enhanced punched slammed into his jaw.
Ryouga's head had turned slightly. But that was it. He had barely felt it.
For her part, Ranma was screaming mentally as she grabbed her wrist with her other hand. "Damn! What have you been eating!" she asked through gritted teeth as she struggled to master the pain.
A smug grin filled Ryouga's face as he rubbed his jaw. "Secret Amazon Technique."
"Yeah?" Ranma demanded with an upraised eyebrow. "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken..."
Ryouga's eyes widened as his suspicions were finally confirmed. The Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken had been one of his former rival's favorite moves. "Ran-" he started to say before over a hundred punches struck him, pushing him back slightly. It hadn't hurt one bit, but Ranma hadn't been intending to pierce through whatever iron-skin technique he was using now. Instead, she had used the superfast attack to draw a pattern on him.
"...Revised! Hot Chestnuts Bursting Open!" Ranma added before flicking a drop of ink at her opponent. The black droplet connected with the edge of the pattern.
¤ BOOM! ¤
Ranma was quite surprised at the size of the explosion. She started hoping that she hadn't killed her former-rival with that attack...
...since she wanted him to suffer a bit more first.
Ryouga coughed several times as he stepped out from the smoke cloud a few seconds later. His shirt was little more than tatters by now. "I don't ∗cough∗ want to ∗cough∗"
Instead of letting him finish, Ranma lunged forward, a savage grin appeared on her face. "Die!" she screamed.
Ryouga immediately slammed his fingers into the ground. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
-o-o-o-o-o-
"They're coming this way!" someone shouted as he ran toward a small group of Jounin gathering at the edge of the village.
Those gathered acknowledged the message before turning to the leader. They were waiting for the order to disperse and subdue.
The leader was nodding as he listened to the rest of the messenger's findings. He finally turned to the assembled group. "I have just received word that Kushina is in the middle of that conflict. I'm afraid that the use of lethal force is prohibited."
Most of the group took the announcement in a stride. It was well known in the village that Kushina couldn't perform any jutsu. All they had to do was limit her mobility and her Taijutsu mastery would be impeded significantly. Lethal moves or not, she would be easy to bring down then.
They briefly considered the redhead's opponent before dismissing him as a low, maybe high level Chuunin. It wouldn't take much skill with chakra to be on par with a Taijutsu master.
The only one that was remotely worried was the Hokage, he had an inkling that Kushina's abilities were far beyond what she generally used. "Be careful," he warned in a serious tone of voice before he gave the signal to move out.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"AIYAH!"
The shrill battlecry from an unknown third party seemed to freeze time as both fighters as well as incoming nin stopped what they were about to do.
A woman soon entered the fray and resolved the fighting in a simple manner. She punched each combatant in the head.
∗ bonk. ∗
"Huh?" Leave it to Ryouga to not notice a blow strong enough to kill a man.
∗ Pow! ∗
"Gaah!" Ranma cried out as she lost her balance over and fell over, unwittingly digging a trench through the dirt. Quickly getting up from her fall, she backed toward a nearby tree before crouching down in a protective manner. Seeing that the fight was over, she started nursing the growing bump on her head.
The interfering girl slid to a halt, kicking up a small dust cloud in the process. She turned to face Ryouga. "Stupid pig-man! Shampoo leave for one minute and you start fight with-" she turned to his opponent and froze. "...Airen..." she finally whispered.
"S-Shampoo?!" Ranma's voice was a mix of pain, surprise, and happiness for the amazon.
Shampoo blinked before she started bouncing up and down. "Aiya! Finally find you. Search long long time, Shampoo so happy. You return with us, yes?"
"..."
"Why Airen look at Shampoo funny?"
"It's been years. How come your Japanese is still bad?" Ranma asked before she paused and added, "Uhh, not that I'm complaining or anything." It was great to see that some things hadn't changed.
Shampoo concentrated a little. "I was just jo-king." She grinned cheesily before she started to pout. "It not Shampoo fault that pig-boy so stupid that no can learn Japanese from him."
Ranma immediately started nodding in agreement.
"Hey!" Ryouga angrily protested, only to cringe and look away when Ranma fixed him with a lethal glare.
Before she could finish her mission to kill him, someone walked up to the three.
"Do you know these people, Kushina?" The Hokage didn't look happy. Ho boy.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Shampoo was the quickest on the uptake. Bowing to the newcomers and giving them a wide saccharine smile, she began her introduction. "Kushina is good friend of Shampoo's. Shampoo," she said pointing at herself before she pointed at the man standing next to her, "and Ryouga come visit from far away place to see her."
Ryouga looked at Shampoo in confusion. "What are you talking abo-"
The purple haired amazon promptly elbowed him, drawing a whuff in the process. She quickly turned back to the assembled crowd with an innocent smile.
The crowd's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I ask again, do you know these two, Kushina?"
Shampoo and Ryouga eyed her expectantly, asking her to vouch for them. Ranma was a bit torn. On one hand, there was Ryouga. On the other hand, Shampoo was here as well. "Uh..."
"Lock them up." the Hokage promptly said.
"Wait, I haven't said anything yet!" Ranma protested.
"You recognize them." the Hokage gruffly answered, "You've already revealed that much. It will be more productive if I have them interrogated for everything else."
He paused and turned to assess the uprooted trees and numerous craters that made up what used to be Training Area 14. "Kushina, I wish to speak with you. Follow me to my office."
Shampoo was just about to fight off the enclosing nin when Ranma gave her a quick look. One that promised that she'd bust them out once she was done with the old man.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Unfortunately, Ryouga couldn't wait that long.
A wall of Konoha's highest security prison complex suddenly exploded outwards with a tremendous BOOM!
"The prisoners are escaping!" An Uchiha shouted.
"When I find you Ran..." Ryouga roared loudly before turning a corner. The prison was soon rocked by a second explosion as a smaller figure with purple hair shot after the first escapee with a furious expression on her face.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"There is a reason why we discourage such destruction of our training grounds" the Third argued.
"I'm not going to restore it." Ranma shot back. "Heck, it's probably more challenging n-"
Someone slid the door open, interrupting the argument. "I'm very sorry Hokage-sama, but we've just received word that the recent detainees have broken out of prison. Several other key prisoners have taken advantage of the confusion to escape..." he paused before adding, "those that still could anyway."
"Wait here, I'm not finished with you." The Third ordered the redhead seated across from him before leaving his seat to oversee the recapture of the prisoners.
Ranma sat back and growled childishly as she thought about how long she'd be confined in this room. 'Ryouga! This is all your fault!' She silently raged.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Ryouga froze midstep as a chill shot up his spine. Ranma had just stolen another of his lines, he just knew it!
He angrily raised his fist toward a daytime sky. "Ranm-!" Before he could finish, he found himself being lifted into the air. His brief betrayal of gravity ended with his head embedded in the earth.
"Next time wait for Shampoo!" the purple haired girl angrily shouted to the man who she had just piledriven into the earth.
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Acknowledgements:
I think what Ozzallos is trying to imply in his reviews are that there are too many introductory filler chapters and no plot chapters. I've delayed a pair of filler chapters in favor of this filler. This chapter reshuffling will allow me to get to the plot chapters in one or two steps.
Now then, should I include the second part of this filler chapter and then the plot, or should I go to the plot first...hmm...
