Je-fucking-sus.
This story is longer than a few of my favorites! And while False
Identity is pretty much ended (all that's left is the epilogue) I'm no
where near finished messing around. There _is_ a sequel planned, my
friends! As if you couldn't tell from all the hints I've been dropping.
I have a prereader again! Yay! Let's all clap!
In anycase, you might end up waiting a couple weeks to read the epilogue;
it's summer, and I'm going camping for the next week. I missed my trip
last year due to my uncle dying. I'm not missing it _this_ year!
False Identity
Chapter Twenty-two: Blood
Li Xiang
It was a nice night to be out.
Shadows lengthened as night deepened, the street lights flickering off
then on, as some insect or another flew into the hypnotizing light. Men
and women traveled the streets, sleepily making their way back to their
homes for their brief hours of sleep until they had to rise and greet
the dawn, one more time. But dawn was many hours from then. A dawn that
would gift the world with yet another grisly death.
Two deaths, Ranma thought to himself, smirking slightly. Wrapped in the
cloak of the umi-sen-ken as he was, he was all but impossible to
detect. It was, however, highly unlikely that anyone who was not
psionically active, would be able to find him.
His senses on full alert, the bloodlust of the Cat prowling behind the
bars Ranma had locked it under. This was cause for precision, and
careful planning. The Cat was more likely to pause, to stop, then play.
So Ranma reigned in it's instincts, and for the first time in nearly a
week, thought with the clear, analytical mind of a Master of the Art.
He was prepared to do his part.
The sixteen year old could feel the presences of those the Cat
designated as his packmates. There was Schuldich, the flame haired
German taking point on the roof of one business. Crawford striding
purposely up the sidewalk, dressed impeccably in a white suit, looking
for all the world like he was a high end businessman on his way home from
work. Farfello skulked through the shadows, in an alley, coming from
the opposite direction.
Nagi was following the same path as Farfello, although he kept to the
lighted streets, still dressed in his school uniform, a mask of
tiredness and weariness artfully composed. Kojiro and his mother paced
the sidewalk, arms hooked and cuddling like any normal couple out for a
late night stroll.
Each one of them carried their weapons, as the plan came to fruitation.
They would not fail.
It had taken them, Kitty reflected, nearly two hours to go over the
plan and make changes as the Schwartz members saw fit. Another hour to
get them all into their "starting positions", as Kojiro had jokingly
called them, using Schuldich as a relay for when they had all gotten
into place. Now, as they traveled from shadow to shadow, each with the
perfect grace that their professions had drilled into them over the
years, the game would begin.
Ranma's smirk stretched into a wicked grin, his ki sparking behind his
eyes, carefully leashed, but ready to be released in a moment's notice.
If he had to, the gender-bending martial artist would bring the power
he'd used to defeat Saffron to bear. No one hurt his mother and got
away with it.
Ranma couldn't help humming the tune that went with the words that ran
through his mind. A soft chuckle rang distinctly through him as
Schuldich forcibly reminded him that there was a reason for them to be
slinking through the night, towards the Nekohanten.
There would be hell to pay-- and Khu Lon was about to understand what
it meant to have Saotome Ranma pissed off at her. The laughter that
snaked it's way from his mouth was soft at first, before building into
a maddening crescendo, that Jei had to join in once he heard it.
The laughter that came from nowhere, yet everywhere, echoing off
buildings sent pedestrians running, terrified for their lives, and even
made one Kunou Kodachi shiver with terror.
---
/Bishoujo seems to be having a bit to much fun with this/
Kojiro jumped at the tight ban telepathy rang through his mind. Nodoka,
too, started, but calmed quicker, resting a hand lightly against
Kojiro's chest, "It's just Schuldich, Kojiro."
"I know that," the man mumbled, "I'm just not used to working with
telepaths. I work with normal assassins. _Normal_ ones. Not telepaths!"
/I'm injured that you would feel so disgusted about working with me/
Schuldich pouted into their minds.
"Be silent, Schuldich," Nodoka hissed, "We're almost there, and we need
our concentration."
/Whatever you say, Madam Raven./ The slight pressure of an extra
presence in their backs of their minds vanished, as the pair drew up
next to the closed doors of the Nekohanten. They only had to wait for a
moment, before Muu Tzu came flying through the door, in human form. As
the amazon boy touched down, he rolled, kipupping to his feet and
staring around himself with wide eyes, glasses perched on his forehead.
There had been no one in the Nekohanten aside from himself and Khu Lon.
Khu Lon had been upstairs when he'd been thrown out-- by someone who
had not been there. He'd felt something grip him, like a giant's hand,
it wrapped around his whole body, and he'd gone hurtling through the
door.
There was no one outside, either. While Muu Tzu had been getting to his
feet, Nodoka and Kojiro darted inside the building, Farfello joining
them via the backdoor, to the alley. He'd make sure the job got done,
if it was too much for Nodoka to handle alone.
"What the hell was that, Muu Tzu?!" Khu Lon froze as she finished
pogoing down the stairs. Muu Tzu was not in the room, but three
familiar figures were. Her eyes landed first on Farfello, and she felt
her blood boil-- this was the man who had been the one to slit her
great granddaughter's throat, to kill her, as it was. Then came Kojiro,
who she'd actually had a pleasant talk with while awaiting Lady Raven's
arrival the night prior.
Her blood, boiling as it was, instantly chilled, almost turning to ice
as she got a good look at the final figure. Nodoka stood tall and
proud, dressed in a simple red kimono, with a red obi, and no
decorations, no patterns. Her sword was held in a steady grip at her
side, the sheath tucked into the back of her obi. Frozen blue eyes
stared into the ancient amazon's withered face, and a faint smirk
curled the lips of the female assassin.
"You made a grave mistake in attacking me, Khu Lon," the amazon
stiffened. Nodoka's words had been spoken in perfect mandarin-- in the
amazon dialect, even.
"How...?"
"Did I survive?" the smile that had painted her face a moment earlier
vanished, "Let's just say I have more in common with my son than hair
color." There was a crash outside the doors, and Muu Tzu's howl of
extreme pain.
---
Ranma had gleefully pounced on Muu Tzu as the boy searched for the
reason for his being thrown out the door. Sweeping the Chinese boy into
a full nelson, Ranma hissed into his ear, "Guess who's still alive."
"Saotome!" Muu Tzu thrashed, finally flipping Ranma off of himself, and
sending the pigtailed youth into the Nekohanten wall. A split second
later, Muu Tzu gave a howl of pain as Nagi focused his telekinesis on
keeping the boy still. Ranma's ki claws buried themselves into the
boy's stomach, while a single bullet from Crawford's gun rang out.
While the bullet merely bounced off the kevlar armor the boy wore
beneath his robes, Ranma's ki claws were energy, pure and simple,
slicing through the armor. They flickered out a moment later, as blood
soaked the white robes.
A nasty, almost insane look crossed the gender-shifting teenager's
face, terrifying Muu Tzu, who's glasses had fallen over his eyes. He'd
never seen Ranma look like this, except... except while in the Nekoken.
The claws led him to believe that _that_ had to be it-- but a second of
staring into chilling smokey blue eyes left that train of thought in
the dust. There was intelligence shining in his eyes.
Ruthless, bloodthirsty, evil intelligence, but intelligence none the
less.
Was this what Saffron saw? Muu Tzu spent an eternal instant wondering.
Did the Phoenix god see his own death in Saotome's eyes? Oh god, I
don't want to die... then the instant fled, and Muu Tzu found himself
able to move again. One hand flew, by instinct, to the wound in his
stomach, pain radiating outwards, throughout his body. Blood soaked his
fingers, just as his blood soaked Ranma's hands.
"I've never gotten to taste your blood," Ranma mused to himself, "I've
had Ryouga's, and Oyagi's before, but never yours..." he trailed off,
lifting his hand to his mouth and running his tongue over the back of
his hand like a big cat.
Muu Tzu saw his chance, leaping forwards to attack while Ranma was
distracted. The fact that Ranma was distracted by his blood sickened
him, but he ignored it for the moment. When Ranma was dead, he could
hurl at the thought all he wanted. The Chinese boy knew, very well,
that some women in his village still followed the tradition of eating
the heart of any male they killed, raw and dripping with fresh blood.
It was a disgusting ritual, and had always made him throw up whenever
he saw the gruesome act.
This wasn't as bad, but it was still gross enough to make his stomach
do flip-flops.
"FIST OF THE WHITE SWAN!" he roared, launching the potty-training seat
at his enemy, following that with a ruthless side kick to Ranma's gut
in an attempt to take the martial artist out.
But the amazon had forgotten to take blood loss into account as he
moved into the attack. His first attack fell short by four inches,
causing Ranma to look up at his opponent. The kick was sloppy and weak,
Muu Tzu trying desperately to keep his balance and connect. Ranma's
hand dropped into the way, catching his foot. With the slightest of
tugs, Muu Tzu found himself falling forwards-- Ranma's fist ramming him
in the solar plexus at full strength, throwing him back to land
haphazardly on the ground, staring up at the sky, daze and panting.
"You see, Mousse, you _really_ shouldn't have attacked me last night.
Like the Amerikajin say-- Payback's a bitch."
He crawled to his knees, then stumbled to his feet as he stood up.
Using the conveniently placed light post, Muu Tzu braced himself. Ranma
was walking slowly, like a predator who knows his prey is his to play
with. Lifting both arms, the male amazon triggered the small bit of ki
in the folds of his robes, unfolding the pockets of ki that surrounded
him. Hundreds of weapons lashed out from his clothing-- on chains or
not-- ripping the air to pieces as they flew at Ranma. Shuriken,
throwing knives, darts and arrows even launched from his hair to attack
his opponent.
But Ranma had had an entire day to recover from the attack the night
before-- having slept during to day to rid himself of his sleep
depravation-- and would not be taken down so easily again. The weapons
were focused on where he _had_ been, as Ranma had leapt into the air,
lightly landing on the highest of the chains, running lightly down the
links to deliver a sharp snap kick to Muu Tzu's skull. His head snapped
back, cracking against the pole, and the boy slumped to the ground.
After a moment, Ranma kicked the teen, just to check. No movement. The
boy's breath was shallow, and he looked up at the members of Schwartz
around him, "Do we leave him unconscious, or do we kill him?"
"Leaving him unconscious means he's likely to recover and attack us
again," Nagi watched the boy with narrowed eyes, "And he's strong. He
almost broke out of my hold on him when I threw him from the restaurant
the first time-- I couldn't even get a grip on him the second time."
"I'd noticed," Ranma looked at the young boy, then over at Crawford,
"Hey, you see the future, right? Why didn't you see your shot not going
through like we planned?"
Crawford gave Kitty a flat-eyed stare, but did not speak. He wasn't
about to reveal that Ranma, himself, was the reason he couldn't get a
clear picture of the future, and that various snippets he did see--
which were less than normal, at that-- were confused. Until Ranma
officially started working for them/with them/against them, Crawford
would be unable to get a clear picture. It all depended on how the
boy's loyalties would fall. His stay with Weiss had been unpredicted,
his blossoming friendship with Abyssian had shocked him quite a bit,
having not expected it.
"Alright, alright, if you don't want to tell me, fine," Ranma lifted
his hands to his mouth to finish licking the blood off, having let the
Cat loose once again, "I'm going to go check on Jei-sama and mom."
The three Schwartz members turned their gazes on the unconscious
martial artist before them, and Crawford lifted his gun once more,
carefully aiming it at Muu Tzu's skull. He paused a moment, awaiting a
vision to see if his actions would be halted, then smiled. It was not a
nice smile.
---
As all this happened, Nodoka and Khu Lon faced off. Kojiro and
Farfello-- no matter how much Farfello had wanted to be part of the
bloodshed-- had backed off to watch from the wall. Khu Lon had speed,
and skill on her side. Nodoka had reach and a natural gift for swords
on hers.
The amazon elder lead off, a jab to the pressure point on Nodoka's
wrist for her to drop the sword-- it worked, but Nodoka merely swapped
hands in that instant, grinning, "I'm ambidextrous."
Damn, Khu Lon growled to herself, weaving in and out of attacks that
flew at her with blinding speed. Nodoka was skilled with a sword-- no
wonder Genma was terrified of his wife-- and she had no compunctions
against taking blood. Khu Lon had little doubt that _that_ was the
reason she had come. Revenge for her near death the night before. The
Old woman didn't stay focused on that for long, nor on wondering
exactly _how_ Nodoka had survived the fatal shot...
...that reminded her...
One moment she was parrying sword strikes with her staff, the next she
was across the room, firing her small 9mm handgun. Nodoka grit her
eeth, dodging as best she could, and still receiving a bullet to her
shoulder for her efforts. Three more shots rang out, and again Nodoka
dodged. Only one bullet hit her flesh this time-- cutting across the
flat of her stomach-- the other two ripping through the silk of her
kimono, but not her.
Letting a hissing breath through her teeth, Nodoka only let herself
calm down from her frantic dodging when Khu Lon dropped the gun. Empty
of bullets as it was, it was pretty much useless. There was no point in
trying to put another clip in. In the time it would take to do that,
Nodoka could quite feasiblely cut her into pieces.
Oh yes, Khu Lon had noticed that Nodoka was strengthening, and
sharpening, the sword with her own ki. It was probably the only ki
manipulation the woman knew, but it was a dangerous one. The blade had
become sharp enough to cut through diamond.
Rolling her shoulder-- the one with the bullet still in it-- Nodoka
scowled at her opponent. Across the room, Kojiro stood, slack jawed, as
for the first time ever, he got to see Nodoka fight full-out with her
sword. Farfello had pulled out one of his knives to suckle on it,
seeing as he wasn't allowed to participate until Nodoka went down.
Normally, he wouldn't have cared, but the warnings from both Crawford
and Kitty as to what should happen to him if he interfered kept him
from leaping in to massacre.
Nodoka licked her lips, dropping into a defensive stance, and creeping
closer to Khu Lon, waiting for anything.
Well, almost anything. The Splitting Cat Hairs technique was not one
the woman had been prepared for. The multiple images of Khu Lon dancing
around her, darting in and out to attack confused her. She'd whirl to
defend herself, but that image was just like smoke, impervious, as she
was hit from behind by Khu Lon herself.
A snarl curled the woman's lips as bruises began to form, and paralysis
stole over half her body. She found herself unable to move her legs--
legs unable to hold her up and she tumbled to the floor, katana still
in her grip. She would not lose this battle!
The images faded as Khu Lon launched a frontal attack, merely for the
sake of seeing the shock on Nodoka's face as she was utterly defeated--
then killed. She would not make the same mistake she had the night
before.
There was one thing Khu Lon forgot, in paralyzing Nodoka.
Nodoka had told her, out right, she was ambidextrous. Khu Lon only
froze the arm that had been holding the sword. In one single, fluid
movement, the katana went from her paralyzed left hand to her right
hand. And in the movement, Nodoka raised the sword.
Khu Lon, in her overconfidence, found herself impaled on the sword. The
redheaded middle aged woman snarled at the ancient amazon, "Now, it
ends." And she jerked the sword upwards.
Kojiro felt like hurling at the brutality of the death. He was used to
a simple knife through the ribs, or maybe a bullet to the heart or
head. He was not used to seeing a dangerous, old, wrinkled woman get
impaled on a sword, then cut open from stomach to collar. Jei grinned
widely, crowing with joy at the death. This was what he liked. The
death of this ancient woman had been a beautiful display of savagery.
It made him almost _quiver_ with excitement.[1]
"Whoa, what happened to the Old Ghoul?"
Jei bounded across the room, happily sweeping his Kitty into his arms
and nuzzling his neck. The nuzzling, however, turned into a sharp,
stinging bite that drew blood a moment later. Ranma revealed in the
feeling for a second, before returning his attention to his mother.
Nodoka had pulled the blade from her victim's body, removing the cloth
that she always carried to clean the blood off of it. She glanced,
curiously, at her son and the man who was so possessive of him, then
returned to her work.
"Cologne was overconfident. She used a frontal assault when it would
have been smarter to attack from behind."
"So beautiful," Farfello murmured into his pet's neck, "Her blood
spilled across the floor, splattering with the force of her death. God
wails this night, as one of his oldest children lay dead at our feet.
And he will continue to--" he was cut off by the sound of a single,
unsilenced shot ringing out over the business district. Schuldich let
out a loud whoop, accompanied by a hoot of laughter.
/Crawford let off a little bit of steam, unsilenced. We'd better get,
before the cops arrive,/ his voice rushed through their minds, and the
group glanced at each other.
Three minutes later, Schwartz, Ranma, Kojiro and Nodoka had left the
premises, the only signs of their even being there, the corpse of Khu
Lon in her restaurant, pinned to the table by her own staff-- courtesy
of Farfello, who had no known fingerprints due to burning them off for
fun-- and Muu Tzu who lay in a puddle of his own blood against a light
post, a bullet through his skull.
It was a nice night, indeed.
End
[1] is it only me, or is that kind of a scary thought...?
This story is longer than a few of my favorites! And while False
Identity is pretty much ended (all that's left is the epilogue) I'm no
where near finished messing around. There _is_ a sequel planned, my
friends! As if you couldn't tell from all the hints I've been dropping.
I have a prereader again! Yay! Let's all clap!
In anycase, you might end up waiting a couple weeks to read the epilogue;
it's summer, and I'm going camping for the next week. I missed my trip
last year due to my uncle dying. I'm not missing it _this_ year!
False Identity
Chapter Twenty-two: Blood
Li Xiang
It was a nice night to be out.
Shadows lengthened as night deepened, the street lights flickering off
then on, as some insect or another flew into the hypnotizing light. Men
and women traveled the streets, sleepily making their way back to their
homes for their brief hours of sleep until they had to rise and greet
the dawn, one more time. But dawn was many hours from then. A dawn that
would gift the world with yet another grisly death.
Two deaths, Ranma thought to himself, smirking slightly. Wrapped in the
cloak of the umi-sen-ken as he was, he was all but impossible to
detect. It was, however, highly unlikely that anyone who was not
psionically active, would be able to find him.
His senses on full alert, the bloodlust of the Cat prowling behind the
bars Ranma had locked it under. This was cause for precision, and
careful planning. The Cat was more likely to pause, to stop, then play.
So Ranma reigned in it's instincts, and for the first time in nearly a
week, thought with the clear, analytical mind of a Master of the Art.
He was prepared to do his part.
The sixteen year old could feel the presences of those the Cat
designated as his packmates. There was Schuldich, the flame haired
German taking point on the roof of one business. Crawford striding
purposely up the sidewalk, dressed impeccably in a white suit, looking
for all the world like he was a high end businessman on his way home from
work. Farfello skulked through the shadows, in an alley, coming from
the opposite direction.
Nagi was following the same path as Farfello, although he kept to the
lighted streets, still dressed in his school uniform, a mask of
tiredness and weariness artfully composed. Kojiro and his mother paced
the sidewalk, arms hooked and cuddling like any normal couple out for a
late night stroll.
Each one of them carried their weapons, as the plan came to fruitation.
They would not fail.
It had taken them, Kitty reflected, nearly two hours to go over the
plan and make changes as the Schwartz members saw fit. Another hour to
get them all into their "starting positions", as Kojiro had jokingly
called them, using Schuldich as a relay for when they had all gotten
into place. Now, as they traveled from shadow to shadow, each with the
perfect grace that their professions had drilled into them over the
years, the game would begin.
Ranma's smirk stretched into a wicked grin, his ki sparking behind his
eyes, carefully leashed, but ready to be released in a moment's notice.
If he had to, the gender-bending martial artist would bring the power
he'd used to defeat Saffron to bear. No one hurt his mother and got
away with it.
Ranma couldn't help humming the tune that went with the words that ran
through his mind. A soft chuckle rang distinctly through him as
Schuldich forcibly reminded him that there was a reason for them to be
slinking through the night, towards the Nekohanten.
There would be hell to pay-- and Khu Lon was about to understand what
it meant to have Saotome Ranma pissed off at her. The laughter that
snaked it's way from his mouth was soft at first, before building into
a maddening crescendo, that Jei had to join in once he heard it.
The laughter that came from nowhere, yet everywhere, echoing off
buildings sent pedestrians running, terrified for their lives, and even
made one Kunou Kodachi shiver with terror.
---
/Bishoujo seems to be having a bit to much fun with this/
Kojiro jumped at the tight ban telepathy rang through his mind. Nodoka,
too, started, but calmed quicker, resting a hand lightly against
Kojiro's chest, "It's just Schuldich, Kojiro."
"I know that," the man mumbled, "I'm just not used to working with
telepaths. I work with normal assassins. _Normal_ ones. Not telepaths!"
/I'm injured that you would feel so disgusted about working with me/
Schuldich pouted into their minds.
"Be silent, Schuldich," Nodoka hissed, "We're almost there, and we need
our concentration."
/Whatever you say, Madam Raven./ The slight pressure of an extra
presence in their backs of their minds vanished, as the pair drew up
next to the closed doors of the Nekohanten. They only had to wait for a
moment, before Muu Tzu came flying through the door, in human form. As
the amazon boy touched down, he rolled, kipupping to his feet and
staring around himself with wide eyes, glasses perched on his forehead.
There had been no one in the Nekohanten aside from himself and Khu Lon.
Khu Lon had been upstairs when he'd been thrown out-- by someone who
had not been there. He'd felt something grip him, like a giant's hand,
it wrapped around his whole body, and he'd gone hurtling through the
door.
There was no one outside, either. While Muu Tzu had been getting to his
feet, Nodoka and Kojiro darted inside the building, Farfello joining
them via the backdoor, to the alley. He'd make sure the job got done,
if it was too much for Nodoka to handle alone.
"What the hell was that, Muu Tzu?!" Khu Lon froze as she finished
pogoing down the stairs. Muu Tzu was not in the room, but three
familiar figures were. Her eyes landed first on Farfello, and she felt
her blood boil-- this was the man who had been the one to slit her
great granddaughter's throat, to kill her, as it was. Then came Kojiro,
who she'd actually had a pleasant talk with while awaiting Lady Raven's
arrival the night prior.
Her blood, boiling as it was, instantly chilled, almost turning to ice
as she got a good look at the final figure. Nodoka stood tall and
proud, dressed in a simple red kimono, with a red obi, and no
decorations, no patterns. Her sword was held in a steady grip at her
side, the sheath tucked into the back of her obi. Frozen blue eyes
stared into the ancient amazon's withered face, and a faint smirk
curled the lips of the female assassin.
"You made a grave mistake in attacking me, Khu Lon," the amazon
stiffened. Nodoka's words had been spoken in perfect mandarin-- in the
amazon dialect, even.
"How...?"
"Did I survive?" the smile that had painted her face a moment earlier
vanished, "Let's just say I have more in common with my son than hair
color." There was a crash outside the doors, and Muu Tzu's howl of
extreme pain.
---
Ranma had gleefully pounced on Muu Tzu as the boy searched for the
reason for his being thrown out the door. Sweeping the Chinese boy into
a full nelson, Ranma hissed into his ear, "Guess who's still alive."
"Saotome!" Muu Tzu thrashed, finally flipping Ranma off of himself, and
sending the pigtailed youth into the Nekohanten wall. A split second
later, Muu Tzu gave a howl of pain as Nagi focused his telekinesis on
keeping the boy still. Ranma's ki claws buried themselves into the
boy's stomach, while a single bullet from Crawford's gun rang out.
While the bullet merely bounced off the kevlar armor the boy wore
beneath his robes, Ranma's ki claws were energy, pure and simple,
slicing through the armor. They flickered out a moment later, as blood
soaked the white robes.
A nasty, almost insane look crossed the gender-shifting teenager's
face, terrifying Muu Tzu, who's glasses had fallen over his eyes. He'd
never seen Ranma look like this, except... except while in the Nekoken.
The claws led him to believe that _that_ had to be it-- but a second of
staring into chilling smokey blue eyes left that train of thought in
the dust. There was intelligence shining in his eyes.
Ruthless, bloodthirsty, evil intelligence, but intelligence none the
less.
Was this what Saffron saw? Muu Tzu spent an eternal instant wondering.
Did the Phoenix god see his own death in Saotome's eyes? Oh god, I
don't want to die... then the instant fled, and Muu Tzu found himself
able to move again. One hand flew, by instinct, to the wound in his
stomach, pain radiating outwards, throughout his body. Blood soaked his
fingers, just as his blood soaked Ranma's hands.
"I've never gotten to taste your blood," Ranma mused to himself, "I've
had Ryouga's, and Oyagi's before, but never yours..." he trailed off,
lifting his hand to his mouth and running his tongue over the back of
his hand like a big cat.
Muu Tzu saw his chance, leaping forwards to attack while Ranma was
distracted. The fact that Ranma was distracted by his blood sickened
him, but he ignored it for the moment. When Ranma was dead, he could
hurl at the thought all he wanted. The Chinese boy knew, very well,
that some women in his village still followed the tradition of eating
the heart of any male they killed, raw and dripping with fresh blood.
It was a disgusting ritual, and had always made him throw up whenever
he saw the gruesome act.
This wasn't as bad, but it was still gross enough to make his stomach
do flip-flops.
"FIST OF THE WHITE SWAN!" he roared, launching the potty-training seat
at his enemy, following that with a ruthless side kick to Ranma's gut
in an attempt to take the martial artist out.
But the amazon had forgotten to take blood loss into account as he
moved into the attack. His first attack fell short by four inches,
causing Ranma to look up at his opponent. The kick was sloppy and weak,
Muu Tzu trying desperately to keep his balance and connect. Ranma's
hand dropped into the way, catching his foot. With the slightest of
tugs, Muu Tzu found himself falling forwards-- Ranma's fist ramming him
in the solar plexus at full strength, throwing him back to land
haphazardly on the ground, staring up at the sky, daze and panting.
"You see, Mousse, you _really_ shouldn't have attacked me last night.
Like the Amerikajin say-- Payback's a bitch."
He crawled to his knees, then stumbled to his feet as he stood up.
Using the conveniently placed light post, Muu Tzu braced himself. Ranma
was walking slowly, like a predator who knows his prey is his to play
with. Lifting both arms, the male amazon triggered the small bit of ki
in the folds of his robes, unfolding the pockets of ki that surrounded
him. Hundreds of weapons lashed out from his clothing-- on chains or
not-- ripping the air to pieces as they flew at Ranma. Shuriken,
throwing knives, darts and arrows even launched from his hair to attack
his opponent.
But Ranma had had an entire day to recover from the attack the night
before-- having slept during to day to rid himself of his sleep
depravation-- and would not be taken down so easily again. The weapons
were focused on where he _had_ been, as Ranma had leapt into the air,
lightly landing on the highest of the chains, running lightly down the
links to deliver a sharp snap kick to Muu Tzu's skull. His head snapped
back, cracking against the pole, and the boy slumped to the ground.
After a moment, Ranma kicked the teen, just to check. No movement. The
boy's breath was shallow, and he looked up at the members of Schwartz
around him, "Do we leave him unconscious, or do we kill him?"
"Leaving him unconscious means he's likely to recover and attack us
again," Nagi watched the boy with narrowed eyes, "And he's strong. He
almost broke out of my hold on him when I threw him from the restaurant
the first time-- I couldn't even get a grip on him the second time."
"I'd noticed," Ranma looked at the young boy, then over at Crawford,
"Hey, you see the future, right? Why didn't you see your shot not going
through like we planned?"
Crawford gave Kitty a flat-eyed stare, but did not speak. He wasn't
about to reveal that Ranma, himself, was the reason he couldn't get a
clear picture of the future, and that various snippets he did see--
which were less than normal, at that-- were confused. Until Ranma
officially started working for them/with them/against them, Crawford
would be unable to get a clear picture. It all depended on how the
boy's loyalties would fall. His stay with Weiss had been unpredicted,
his blossoming friendship with Abyssian had shocked him quite a bit,
having not expected it.
"Alright, alright, if you don't want to tell me, fine," Ranma lifted
his hands to his mouth to finish licking the blood off, having let the
Cat loose once again, "I'm going to go check on Jei-sama and mom."
The three Schwartz members turned their gazes on the unconscious
martial artist before them, and Crawford lifted his gun once more,
carefully aiming it at Muu Tzu's skull. He paused a moment, awaiting a
vision to see if his actions would be halted, then smiled. It was not a
nice smile.
---
As all this happened, Nodoka and Khu Lon faced off. Kojiro and
Farfello-- no matter how much Farfello had wanted to be part of the
bloodshed-- had backed off to watch from the wall. Khu Lon had speed,
and skill on her side. Nodoka had reach and a natural gift for swords
on hers.
The amazon elder lead off, a jab to the pressure point on Nodoka's
wrist for her to drop the sword-- it worked, but Nodoka merely swapped
hands in that instant, grinning, "I'm ambidextrous."
Damn, Khu Lon growled to herself, weaving in and out of attacks that
flew at her with blinding speed. Nodoka was skilled with a sword-- no
wonder Genma was terrified of his wife-- and she had no compunctions
against taking blood. Khu Lon had little doubt that _that_ was the
reason she had come. Revenge for her near death the night before. The
Old woman didn't stay focused on that for long, nor on wondering
exactly _how_ Nodoka had survived the fatal shot...
...that reminded her...
One moment she was parrying sword strikes with her staff, the next she
was across the room, firing her small 9mm handgun. Nodoka grit her
eeth, dodging as best she could, and still receiving a bullet to her
shoulder for her efforts. Three more shots rang out, and again Nodoka
dodged. Only one bullet hit her flesh this time-- cutting across the
flat of her stomach-- the other two ripping through the silk of her
kimono, but not her.
Letting a hissing breath through her teeth, Nodoka only let herself
calm down from her frantic dodging when Khu Lon dropped the gun. Empty
of bullets as it was, it was pretty much useless. There was no point in
trying to put another clip in. In the time it would take to do that,
Nodoka could quite feasiblely cut her into pieces.
Oh yes, Khu Lon had noticed that Nodoka was strengthening, and
sharpening, the sword with her own ki. It was probably the only ki
manipulation the woman knew, but it was a dangerous one. The blade had
become sharp enough to cut through diamond.
Rolling her shoulder-- the one with the bullet still in it-- Nodoka
scowled at her opponent. Across the room, Kojiro stood, slack jawed, as
for the first time ever, he got to see Nodoka fight full-out with her
sword. Farfello had pulled out one of his knives to suckle on it,
seeing as he wasn't allowed to participate until Nodoka went down.
Normally, he wouldn't have cared, but the warnings from both Crawford
and Kitty as to what should happen to him if he interfered kept him
from leaping in to massacre.
Nodoka licked her lips, dropping into a defensive stance, and creeping
closer to Khu Lon, waiting for anything.
Well, almost anything. The Splitting Cat Hairs technique was not one
the woman had been prepared for. The multiple images of Khu Lon dancing
around her, darting in and out to attack confused her. She'd whirl to
defend herself, but that image was just like smoke, impervious, as she
was hit from behind by Khu Lon herself.
A snarl curled the woman's lips as bruises began to form, and paralysis
stole over half her body. She found herself unable to move her legs--
legs unable to hold her up and she tumbled to the floor, katana still
in her grip. She would not lose this battle!
The images faded as Khu Lon launched a frontal attack, merely for the
sake of seeing the shock on Nodoka's face as she was utterly defeated--
then killed. She would not make the same mistake she had the night
before.
There was one thing Khu Lon forgot, in paralyzing Nodoka.
Nodoka had told her, out right, she was ambidextrous. Khu Lon only
froze the arm that had been holding the sword. In one single, fluid
movement, the katana went from her paralyzed left hand to her right
hand. And in the movement, Nodoka raised the sword.
Khu Lon, in her overconfidence, found herself impaled on the sword. The
redheaded middle aged woman snarled at the ancient amazon, "Now, it
ends." And she jerked the sword upwards.
Kojiro felt like hurling at the brutality of the death. He was used to
a simple knife through the ribs, or maybe a bullet to the heart or
head. He was not used to seeing a dangerous, old, wrinkled woman get
impaled on a sword, then cut open from stomach to collar. Jei grinned
widely, crowing with joy at the death. This was what he liked. The
death of this ancient woman had been a beautiful display of savagery.
It made him almost _quiver_ with excitement.[1]
"Whoa, what happened to the Old Ghoul?"
Jei bounded across the room, happily sweeping his Kitty into his arms
and nuzzling his neck. The nuzzling, however, turned into a sharp,
stinging bite that drew blood a moment later. Ranma revealed in the
feeling for a second, before returning his attention to his mother.
Nodoka had pulled the blade from her victim's body, removing the cloth
that she always carried to clean the blood off of it. She glanced,
curiously, at her son and the man who was so possessive of him, then
returned to her work.
"Cologne was overconfident. She used a frontal assault when it would
have been smarter to attack from behind."
"So beautiful," Farfello murmured into his pet's neck, "Her blood
spilled across the floor, splattering with the force of her death. God
wails this night, as one of his oldest children lay dead at our feet.
And he will continue to--" he was cut off by the sound of a single,
unsilenced shot ringing out over the business district. Schuldich let
out a loud whoop, accompanied by a hoot of laughter.
/Crawford let off a little bit of steam, unsilenced. We'd better get,
before the cops arrive,/ his voice rushed through their minds, and the
group glanced at each other.
Three minutes later, Schwartz, Ranma, Kojiro and Nodoka had left the
premises, the only signs of their even being there, the corpse of Khu
Lon in her restaurant, pinned to the table by her own staff-- courtesy
of Farfello, who had no known fingerprints due to burning them off for
fun-- and Muu Tzu who lay in a puddle of his own blood against a light
post, a bullet through his skull.
It was a nice night, indeed.
End
[1] is it only me, or is that kind of a scary thought...?