Chapter 4
Over a tasty meal of okonomyaki, Ranma explained the whole Tsubasa Kurenai situation to the family, and this time, Ryoga listened to reason, and agreed to help him. But Akane was ticked off that she was—according to Ranma's spin—pawned off as a token to Ryoga to get his help.
Ryoga saw through Ranma and refused.
With a look of disgust, Akane said, "I want no part of this, Ranma. You're such a jerk!"
"Hey, it was a good plan, but I knew Ryoga wouldn't go for it. He's smarter than that."
Ryoga ate and nodded. "I saw your ploy a mile away, Ranma." He smiled pridefully. "Besides, I'll defeat you fair and square for Akane's heart, and once she sees you as a loser—"
"Ain't gonna happen, man," Ranma rebuked. "You may have bulked up, but my martial arts skills are better."
Ryoga slammed his chop sticks to the table, startling everyone. "Wanna test that?"
Ranma put up his hands. "Hey, not here, outside!"
"That's right!" Soun Tendo chimed in. "No fighting, and no arguing, at the dinner table," he said.
"Do you really think Ukyo is in danger from Tsubasa?" Genma said, changing the subject.
Ranma breathed out. "Normally, I think Ukyo can take of herself, but this new Tsubasa is sumthin' else entirely. It's like he's a whole new person, a guy on a mission, with an axe to grind. And I think, against me, personally."
"Because Ukyo claims you are her fiancee," Kasumi said, filling Soun's cup with tea when prompted.
Ranma looked at his father. "And whose fault do'ya think that is, eh Pop?"
Genma force fed himself until his mouth was full, so he couldn't say anything.
"That's what I thought," Ranma added with a snorted, taking a piece of okonomyaki and gulping it down. It was very good, but he did get a lecture from Mr. Tendo about ordering it without his permission.
Nabiki finished off a piece of her okonomyaki, and then said, putting a chopstick to his lip in thought, "You know, I think know Tsubasa's new place," she referred to the new house Tsubasa Kurenai's family bought that Ranma mentioned in his informational tale. "It's quite luxurious inside and out. I saw pictures in a Real Estate magazine when I was at convenience store the other day. And rumour has it, the late owner was some sort of eccentric gamesman. His family put the house up on the market last month to settle off a massive amount of debt."
"A gamesman?" Ranma asked with intrigue.
Nabiki nodded, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "He enjoyed playing all sorts of games. And rumour even has it, he built himself his own funhouse deep underneath the place. That's all I know."
Ranma mused. "It's more than I knew before, thanks Nabiki," he said.
Ranma wondered if Ukyo's fears of Tsubasa Kurenai was even more real than he thought.
He had to get Ryoga out there quickly, deploy him, act as if this was a reconnaissance mission—to gather intelligence. And tomorrow, when he had to escort the guy around the school on a tour, he'd take into account Tsubasa's every reaction and ticks. There was no way this guy was getting anywhere near Ukyo, he vowed.
Early the next morning, just as the sun was raising over the horizon, Tsubasa Kurenai was at Furinkan High School wandering the grounds, taking in the sights of his own. His tour guide, Ranma, was going to get a big surprise.
Ukyo will be mine! It took all his inner strength to hold himself back when Ukyo ran to Ranma and grabbed his arm in the Student Council Office. Ranma obviously had put some sort of spell over her.
The school grounds were simple, nothing extraordinary. But suddenly, he heard a noise coming from what looked like an equipment shack next to the field. He crept towards it. Was it a thief in the early morning hours, an animal, or—
He opened the door and found someone inside, naked to the waist, with two candles burning with incense. On the wall in front of this person were two large pictures—one was of Akane Tendo, and other of a red-haired pig-tail girl.
The other turned. "Who dares interrupt the prayer of Tatawaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High?"
Tsubasa took a step back. "Sorry to interrupt." He stood tall. He noticed this person was the son of the Head Master. Obviously, his son had certain privileges. "I heard a noise."
"And who are you?" Kuno demanded.
"Tsubasa Kurenai," he said.
Kuno shouldered a blue Gi, dressing, standing. "Oh, yes…the new transfer student I heard about. But you disrespect me by entering my bode without permission, sir. This is my private domain, where I come to think."
"To think, huh?" Tsubasa Kurenai smirked. He looked at the pictures. "And what nice thoughts they are," he said philosophically. "Akane Tendo is a very lovely girl, but I don't like that other one, something abhorrent about her."
"You, sir, have no grounds to judge my tastes. They are both lovely in their own rite. What brings thee here?"
"Reconnoissance," Tsubasa Kurenai said.
"Reconnoissance?" Kuno repeated. "Do explain."
Gosunkugi gathered ingredients for his latest potions early in the morning. The grounds around Furinkan High School offered a wide variety of items that helped him bring his dark creations to light. The peace was very serene. Birds were chirping, a slight breeze blew, and he enjoyed being alone with himself, it brought him an inner peace.
He was a loner, but he enjoyed his solitude. A lot of people teased him for his interests and for his appearance, so he often spent his personal time by himself, doing what he enjoyed—dabbling in the Dark Arts, or Black Magic—but most of what he tried didn't work out the way he wanted. He consulted books, people he knew, but he couldn't quite bring his creations to success. Maybe it was because he was a little bit clumsy, too.
He started around the outer grounds, then worked his way inward, when he came to the school itself. And finally, he found a large bushel of wild flowers that he could cultivate into something special. They were growing outside a shed. And while he was there, he began to heard conversion from the walls. One he recognized, it was the son of the Head Master, Tatewaki Kuno, and the other he had heard before, but he couldn't quite remember where.
He found a knot in the wooden wall of the shed that had fallen out and he looked inside. Yes, Tatawaki Kuno was there, and so was the new transfer school that Ranma was going to escort around today, Tsubasa Kurenai.
"You hate Ranma just as much as I do," Tsubasa Kurenai was heard to say, "so let us join forces."
"I need not your help to defeat that insufferable whelp," Kuno said back. "But this reconnaissance, you mentioned, what does it entitle?"
"The school, and a little information on the school body, "Tsubasa Kurenai explained. "Just for references. Most of it will probably be moot, but the more information I have, the most opportunities may come to crush Saotome."
Kuno put a hand to his chin. "You speak the truth," he agreed.
Gosunkugi gasped. The new student and Kuno were scheming to harm Ranma. Gosunkugi didn't know why Tsubasa Kurenai hated Ranma so much, but he understood Kuno's motivations.
The pair inside looked in Gosunkugi's direction and Tsubasa Kurenai pointed at the knot. "We have a spy!"
Gosunkugi let out an involuntary cry that he had been discovered and pulled back.
"And interloper!" Kuno said. "This will not do!"
Gosunkugi got to his feet, but slipped on some morning dew of the grass just around the shed, as the pair exited, ran around, and came about to surround him. Kuno carried his Kendo stick, quickly pointing it at Gosunkugi, as Gosunkugi knelt on his needs.
Gosunkugi froze in fear. "Please don't hurt me."
"So, it's you," Tsubasa Kurenai said. "You were in the Student Council Office when I first arrived. What did you hear?"
Gosunkugi waved his hands out in front, dropping the wild flowers. "Nothing, I didn't hear you two conspiring to hurt Ranma." He quickly slapped his mouth with his hands, accidentally revealing that he had heard something.
Tsubasa Kurenai approached him, and grabbed Gosunkugi by his shirt collar. He slammed Gosunkugi's back against the side of the shed and Gosunkugi cried out with a sudden pain, his feet barely touching the ground.
Tsubasa looked Gosunkugi over. "I can't have you foiling my plans, freak of nature. You look like some sort of ghoul."
"Alas, he always looks that way," Kuno said. "Be it his nature, a practitioner of Black Magic, supposedly."
Gosunkugi saw a devilish smile on Tsubasa Kurenai's face. "Black magic, huh? A fortuitous turn of events for me. I have a new idea. I could use a person like you, my reconnaissance here has proven quite fruitful."
And Gosunkugi was dragged into the shed.
Kuno entered after, and shut the door.
Tsubasa Kurenai pushed Gosunkugi to the floor. Gosunkugi grunted.
Tsubasa stood over him, his arms on his hips. He looked powerful from Gosunkugi's position. Kuno stood next to him, his Kendo stick balanced on one shoulder. The place was small, but it appeared personally designed to suit Kuno's needs. There were even pictures of Akane Tendo and someone else whom Kuno called "the pig-tailed girl".
"I want you to make me one of those voodoo dolls that looks like Ranma," Tsubasa demanded.
Gosunkugi nodded. "Yes, I can do that. But it won't work without a personal item, like a lock of hair or something personal to the victim. I would also have perform a ritual for the magic to take hold within the doll."
"And you can do the ritual if I can get this personal item?"
"Yes, it's easy. I've done it before," Gosunkugi lied. He had tried, but failed every time. But to say it would be a bad thing. Tsubasa Kurenai sounded and looked dangerous, Gosunkugi surmised. And it wouldn't be a good idea to cross him. He hadn't officially come to the school and already he was plotting an evil act on another student.
"Good," Tsubasa smiled pleased. "Soon, Ranma Saotome will be a thing of the past, a weakling, no more of a nuisance. He is a womanizer, a thief, and a threat to us both, and it's high time to crush his spirits once and for all!"
Kuno nodded. "We are in agreement," he said.
"Who exactly are you?" Gosunkugi asked.
Tsubasa Kurenai bent down and faced Gosunkugi eye-to-eye. There was a wicked glint in his eyes that frightened Gosunkugi down to his soul, as if Tsubasa had climbed out from the bowels of Hell itself. The candle light from the room glowed within his eyes, dancing like ghastly shadows. They almost seemed devilish.
"Starting now, you will call me your master," he said, his voice filled with evilness.
And Gosunkugi gulped.
To be continued...