Permanent
Part 24
Potions and Devils.
++++++++++++
Ranma Saotome walked calmly into the gates of Furinkan with Kuno
following closely behind her. The pair remained relatively silent after
leaving the Cafe and walking to the school Ranma had briefly considered
skipping for the day to continue her research, but quickly dismissed it.
She didn't want to worry Akane and Ryoga unnecessarily. She sighed as she
walked into the building, a few moments later she was standing out in the
hallway with a bucket in her arms. She could see Kuno lazily reading a
book while holding a pair of them in one arm down the hallway.
"Since when did he become such a book worm?" she wondered idly,
she really had no room to talk, when she wasn't with Ryoga or Akane she
also had a similar hobby, at least she had a real reason for it though.
Despite the distance between them she could still make out the title,
'Birds of Japan.' She snorted in mild amusement and looked out the window
across from her. "It figures."
+++++++++++++++++
Class was relatively silent for the rest of the day and lunch came
quickly. Ranma found herself standing next to Ryoga again. "Go eat with
your fiancee."
The boy merely looked at her and frowned. "No."
"You can't ignore this forever, I know you've been avoiding her.
It won't last long, just accept it," said the girl with an evil, yet
amused smirk appearing on her face for a moment.
"Watch me," replied the boy stubbornly as he sat down next to her.
"I've got other business Ranma. We need to talk about Akane."
"I'm not breaking the engagement," replied the red head lazily.
"I don't care, something's up with her, she's a lot stronger than
she should be," replied the boy with a shrug. It was easy to hear the
slight anger in his voice.
"So? She's been busy since I arrived in Nerima," replied the girl
with a shrug.
"I don't think so, she's improved too much," Ryoga dropped off the
conversation as Akane approached them cheerfully.
"Hi guys!" Ranma frowned when she noticed Akane wasn't looking at
Ryoga at all.
"So, that's how it is eh? Oh well, it's not my problem, let Tendo
deal with them," she returned to eating once again and peacefully
exchanged pleasantries with both of her friends.
++++++++++
That evening Ranma sat in her room with a small pouch with Chinese
writing on it. She smiled and poured the concoction onto a small piece of
cloth and rubbed it in while wearing a thick pair of rubber gloves.
"Ranma, how are you doing? Will you be working tonight?" asked
Cologne as she poked her head through the door.
"Sorry, not tonight, I've got other work to do," replied the girl
simply as she focused on the task she was performing.
"What are you doing?" said the old woman as she hobbled into the
room and looked down over Ranma's shoulder.
"It's something I picked up in China, the old man has a serious
weakness. He's extremely perverted, and he gets most of his power from
that," replied Ranma with a shrug.
"Did those spirit's tell you that last night?" asked Cologne.
"Most of them weren't very helpful, they thought he was a good
student. I had to deal with a few guardian demons too. A few of them were
pretty miffed and a little vengeful," said the girl without paying much
attention.
"Guardian Demon?" the term seemed contradictory to her.
Ranma smiled. "Special demons, they keep tortured souls from
escaping hell. Not really all that evil actually. They are a bit imposing
though, and if you summon a spirit up from hell one of them comes with it,
to make sure it doesn't get away," explained Ranma. "Most of your crack
pot sorceresses and mediums either don't see them or ignore them. That's
where I found most of the people I talked with last night."
"I see, tell me what are your plans for this evil pervert?" asked
Cologne warily.
Ranma handed her the packet and smirked. Cologne couldn't help
herself as she snickered and gave it back. "I like the way you think
child."
"Yeah, well I think I can whip up something to make sure it doesn't
just wash off of him or wear off."
"Are you certain you can't kill him?" asked the elder hopefully.
"Pretty sure, he isn't a demon, and he isn't a threat to humanity,
or anyone else for that matter, he's just annoying. With a record like his
I don't think anyone will mind if I torment him to death though," replied
Ranma with a shrug.
+++++++++++
Happosai jumped from the rooftops of Nerima and glanced around in
search of more of his ill-gotten prizes. A large sack of panties and bras
was thrown over his shoulder and he cackled to himself as he spotted
another clothes line nearby.
He easily hopped along the tops of cars and signs to reach the
line and hummed merrily to himself as he plucked the undergarments off of
the rack. He stopped cold and looked at one of the pieces in his hand.
Caught between two bras was a pair of silk boxers. "Gah!" he tossed it do
the ground in revulsion. "How dare someone make a pair of those out of
silk! A waste of good material!"
He froze in place while balancing on the line as he felt a
presence behind him. He slowly turned around to see a cloaked figure with
glowing yellow eyes standing on the line behind him.
"Happosai," said a warped and inhuman voice as the creature stared
him down. The old man wasn't sure what it was exactly, but he didn't
really want to find out.
"Bye now," chimed the pervert as he jumped from the line and
landed neatly on the street. He looked up only to find the mysterious
figure was gone. He spun around, quickly jumping away barely in time to
avoid a well placed punch that shattered the pavement.
"Who the heck are you?" snapped the old man angrily.
The thing merely laughed and stalked forward. Happosai saw the
cloak flutter in a slight breeze for a moment and gasped as the gentle
peek of cleavage was visible for a moment. "Sweeto!" Happy found himself
sailing away as soon a he jumped towards the prize, easily swatted away by
the creature.
"Hey!" A new voice entered the fight and the cloaked woman stopped
for a moment turning slowly around.
"You leave that sweet little old man alone!" cried a young blonde
as she stepped forward pulling what looked like a broad sword from her
side. The creature's eyes dimmed for a moment as she glared at the
newcomer.
The girl was dressed in a green Chinese style dress and had her
hair put up in a ponytail. She also had a strange design on the chest of
the dress, a circle with a twin dragon embroidered into it. The girl took
up a fencing stance and smirked at her. "Youma Slayer Keiko is here to be
your opponent now!"
The girl looked down suddenly as Happosai rested between her
breasts. "Thank you for saving this defenseless old man from this evil
monster!" She planted her elbow in his head and he fell away for a
moment. "Hands off pervert!"
The creature wasted no time, it quickly charged forward slamming
it's fists into her face before jumping up over her head and onto the top
of a neon sign waiting to see what she would do.
Keiko reeled from the blow momentarily and staggered back, she
turned and looked at it for a moment growling under her breath as she
jumped upwards after it swinging her sword with amazing skill and slicing
the sign into small sparkling pieces.
The thing reached around her strikes and twisted both of them into
the air using her body to cushion the landing. Keiko seemed out for the
count and it turned towards Happosai again. Happy jumped away and onto a
rooftop laughing madly as he vanished into Nerima. A low curse was
muttered under the thing's breath as she walked towards a patch of shadows
leaving Keiko alone on the ground.
The girl woke up slowly and stood just as she vanished into the
shadows. "No you don't! I'm gonna kick your ass for that!" she screamed
as she reached into the front part of her dress and tossed several
throwing stars into the shadow where it had vanished. Jumping to her feet
she raised a spell ward over her head and gasped as the light from the
paper revealed nothing.
A crackling sound erupted in her ear and she winced. "Keiko, did
you get it? Are you all right?" called a high pitched voice from the small
earpiece that rested in her ear canal.
"No, sorry Auska-chan, the Youma got away. I met this really weird
old guy, I think he's the one that's been in the papers lately," said the
blonde with a heavy sigh.
"Did you get him?" said the voice with a small hint of hope in her
voice.
"No, he got away, besides it's not my job to catch him," retorted
the girl lazily as she replaced her sword and turned away.
"If you see him again, cream him! My favorite pair got stolen last
night!" retorted the angry girl on the other end.
"I'll remember that Auska," said the girl with a sigh.
++++++++++
Happosai sat on a rooftop looking thoughtful. "Hmm, why would I
have a monster after me? I haven't done anything to them in a long time."
He tried his best to think, after a moment he slapped his palm. "Maybe
it's that power orb I stole...nah...could be that time I got my hands on
the queen of hell?...nope, she's the only one who actually enjoyed it.
Hmm," Happosai would have sat longer trying to remember, but the call of
the lingerie was too much for him to resist. "Oh well, maybe I'll remember
later!" He forgot about it completely within five minutes.
++++++++++++
Ranma stood in the Tendo home and handed the patch to Akane. "Why
me?" said the girl with a heavy sigh.
"Because he won't trust me enough to do it, he knows what I am,"
replied the red head angrily.
Ryoga sat nearby at the Shogi table ignoring the events around
him. Soun looked up from the game they had going and frowned. "It isn't
wise to anger the master Ranma."
"What's he gonna do to me? I'm a sorceress," replied the girl with
a shrug.
"Remember Akane, put it on him real good, once it takes hold there
isn't anything he can do to get rid of it so get clear." The Tendo girl
nodded reluctantly and looked at the patch. "Don't hold it too long
either, I don't want any of this stuff to get on you."
+++++++++
Meanwhile, Hikaru Gosunkugi stared at a book in frustration. "Damn
it!" He fumbled through the pages, he had found a spell that boasted it
grew arms. His shoulders where killing him and he felt like his back was
about to break. The seven arms, and one stub flailed about wildly. He
could only control two of them at a time and the others grabbed, smacked,
and basically destroyed anything they touched. Including him. "Ow! Quit
it!" he snapped as one of the hands repeatedly slapped him in the face.
It stopped and went off looking for more interesting things to do as he
desperately searched for the counter spell. The arms did everything they
could to stop him, flipping pages randomly and basically making a pain of
themselves.
+++++++++++++
Tatewaki Kuno stood admiring the fine morning, it was a weekend
and school was out for the day. He sighed contentedly and looked out over
the porch of his newly constructed home. It was a small house for the
grounds, only slightly larger than the Tendo home; he didn't need such a
grand home as he once had any longer; he lived alone now. The thought was
very unpleasant, but much more bearable than it had been before. At one
time he had actually been afraid to think about his tragic family,
especially on the grounds. Now he was strangely contemplative.
After a few moments he had a whim, he opened his wings and jumped
upwards catching an air current and sailing out over the rooftops of
Nerima. He dove and rose flying where the winds took him and not really
caring. After about an hour he slowly descended and landed quietly on the
opposite side of Nerima ward.
"Hello," said an aged voice.
Kuno turned slowly and saw the creature staring him down with a
smirk on his face. "You were late for your training today."
"Pardon?" asked the boy in confusion.
Happosai merely smiled at him and sat down smoking his pipe. "Oh
well, it can't be helped, we'll start now."
+++++++++++++++
Ranma stared down at the broken and beaten form on the ground and
sighed. She lifted him off the ground and frowned as his wings hung limply
behind him as she dragged Tatewaki Kuno away from the mob of angry women.
"What the hell is wrong with you Kuno?"
"It isn't my fault!" snapped the boy in anger as he struggled to
sit down on the bench she had led him too.
"What the hell were you thinking running around with that old
fool?" snapped the girl as she sat with him and looked towards a fountain
in the center of the park they had stopped in.
"That thing had apparently decided that I am to be his heir,"
snorted the boy in disgust. "Whether I want to be or not."
"I see, hopefully that will be taken care of tonight. I don't know
if it will help you or not, but if we're lucky he'll leave Nerima
altogether."
++++++++++
Akane smiled at her work and looked on nervously. Somehow she had
managed to screw up the beautiful patch Ranma had made for her to put on
his back.
"Oh, Akane! Thank you! I'll never take it off!" cried the old man
with tears of joy on his face as he planted himself firmly between her
breasts.
Moments later he was sailing into the air above Nerima. Akane
huffed for a moment and turned away. "I hope she knows what she's doing."
++++++++++
A few minutes later Happosai looked on in confusion as he
struggled to walk. Everywhere he went women ran screaming away. That in
itself was not unusual, what was unusual was the fact that he hadn't done
anything to them yet. The aged pervert turned slowly around when he heard
an unfamiliar laughter.
Ranma stood over the scene laughing hysterically as she watched
the pervert dance around in confusion. Happy turned slowly towards her and
simply stared. "How do you like my woman repellant old man? It's a very
special mixture I put into that patch," she smiled even wider as a slow
dawning crossed his face.
Happosai snorted, "I'll just take it off then!" he took off his
shirt and pulled at the patch ripping it off easily.
"You old fool, you don't really think I'd let you off that easily
do you?" called Ranma playfully. "There is a spell around you that will
hold that sent for years."
Happosai froze and stared at her in disbelief. He shook with rage
and anger, there was nothing more horrible that she could have done. He
burned angrily letting his aura show before resorting to his final attack.
He sat down on the ground and cried.
"Boo hoo! How could you do such a thing to a poor little old man!?
What have I ever done to you?"
Ranma turned away from him never once losing the smile on her
face. "Your perverted and pathetic existence is enough Happosai, you can
thank Kojiro Hadoshi for that patch by the way. He asked that I use the
symbol of the school you abandoned." With that said Ranma jumped away
vanishing into the streets of Nerima.
Happosai's eyes went wide with shock. "Kojiro? He's been dead for
years!" The old man slowly began to realize that this young sorceress
might be a bit more trouble than he had originally planned. He had to do
something fast, but there wasn't much he could do without a recharge.
Weakly he staggered off in search of a young girl, even an old one would
do. "Damn you Ranma."
++++++++++++
Inside the Cat Cafe, Cologne sat in front of the crystal howling
with laughter as she watched the events play out in front of her. Ko li
watched the scene uncomfortably nearby and turned away.
"She always act that way when borrow Ranma's ball?" asked Talcum.
"You would know as well as I do," replied the other girl with a
shrug.
Talcum blinked and continued her work.
++++++++++
Soun Tendo walked along the street with his arms full or
groceries. He stopped cold when he saw a strange sight, in front of him
was Happosai. The old man looked almost dead, he was crawling on his
hands and knees reaching towards a young girl who staggered back as if she
had been hit with tear gas.
"Master, are you all right?" he said as he dropped the bag and
rushed to the man's side.
"P-p-pretty g-g-girly!" managed the old man.
Soun looked around and saw a box nearby, thinking quickly he
rushed over and grabbed it. When he returned Mr. Panda was standing with
Happosai in his claws. He blinked and stopped for a moment as the panda
made an attempt to smile at him. "T-thank you," he said dumbly as the
animal put the old man in the box and produced a book of stamps, a marker,
and some tape.
"What are you doing?" said a weak voice from inside the box.
"Why, we're express mailing you to the North Pole Master!" replied
Soun cheerfully.
Ranma stood on a rooftop and frowned as she watched the scene play
out below her. She felt a twinge of anger as she watched Genma and Soun
package the old man away and attempt to stuff him into a mailbox.
"You stupid old man! Stop acting like that, he might figure it out
dope," she snorted and mentally noted that she'd have to have a talk with
him later about this. Fortunately Soun didn't seem to notice.
++++++++++
Ryoga sat at the table and sighed as Ranma, sat with Soun toasting
the end of the evil master together. He glanced at Akane and sighed,
something wasn't right with her and he couldn't figure out what it was.
After a moment he tore his gaze away from her as she passed him a warning
glare and said nothing.
"Man she can be frigid when she want's to be," he thought
privately as he went back to watching Ranma celebrate her victory. She
wasn't drunk, but Soun insisted that she have a glass with him after what
she did for him. She had been very polite and accepted, the glass still
sat half full in front of her as Soun steadily became more and more loose.
Ryoga seemed to notice that she seemed more reserved than usual
tonight. A thoughtful look stayed on her face as she sat with the older
man. She turned to gaze at him for a moment and he turned away in disgust
shutting off his mind to her. He didn't particularly want to hear what she
had to say right now.
Something did slip through though and he froze. "It's not over
yet," he whispered quietly repeating what the girl had told him.
For the first time that night Akane looked at him without trying
to hide it. She remained silent and sipped at the cup of tea in front of
her. Her thoughts that evening had been preoccupied with trying to get out
of this mess Ranma had seen fit to place her into. The evil was gone for
now and she had other concerns to deal with. She liked Ryoga well enough,
and he was a good friend, distancing herself from him had been difficult.
Fortunately he seemed to have the same plan. She wanted to spend more time
with Ranma and try to talk her way out of it; unfortunately, the girl
wasn't very receptive and seemed to be hard to get a hold of. Akane
suspected she knew what was going on between her and Ryoga and was trying
to keep to herself more. She had a lot of feelings to sort out and all
this excitement wasn't helping that process any at all.
Ranma looked back at her as she watched her and her father. She
could see a small amount of pain in the girl's eyes, but something else
was there too. It almost looked like hope, and desire. She shook
uncomfortably at that, but the feeling quickly faded and she realized that
it was never there to begin with.
"What the hell am I thinking?" she thought as she shook her head
and turned away from the girl once again.
TBC...
Part 24
Potions and Devils.
++++++++++++
Ranma Saotome walked calmly into the gates of Furinkan with Kuno
following closely behind her. The pair remained relatively silent after
leaving the Cafe and walking to the school Ranma had briefly considered
skipping for the day to continue her research, but quickly dismissed it.
She didn't want to worry Akane and Ryoga unnecessarily. She sighed as she
walked into the building, a few moments later she was standing out in the
hallway with a bucket in her arms. She could see Kuno lazily reading a
book while holding a pair of them in one arm down the hallway.
"Since when did he become such a book worm?" she wondered idly,
she really had no room to talk, when she wasn't with Ryoga or Akane she
also had a similar hobby, at least she had a real reason for it though.
Despite the distance between them she could still make out the title,
'Birds of Japan.' She snorted in mild amusement and looked out the window
across from her. "It figures."
+++++++++++++++++
Class was relatively silent for the rest of the day and lunch came
quickly. Ranma found herself standing next to Ryoga again. "Go eat with
your fiancee."
The boy merely looked at her and frowned. "No."
"You can't ignore this forever, I know you've been avoiding her.
It won't last long, just accept it," said the girl with an evil, yet
amused smirk appearing on her face for a moment.
"Watch me," replied the boy stubbornly as he sat down next to her.
"I've got other business Ranma. We need to talk about Akane."
"I'm not breaking the engagement," replied the red head lazily.
"I don't care, something's up with her, she's a lot stronger than
she should be," replied the boy with a shrug. It was easy to hear the
slight anger in his voice.
"So? She's been busy since I arrived in Nerima," replied the girl
with a shrug.
"I don't think so, she's improved too much," Ryoga dropped off the
conversation as Akane approached them cheerfully.
"Hi guys!" Ranma frowned when she noticed Akane wasn't looking at
Ryoga at all.
"So, that's how it is eh? Oh well, it's not my problem, let Tendo
deal with them," she returned to eating once again and peacefully
exchanged pleasantries with both of her friends.
++++++++++
That evening Ranma sat in her room with a small pouch with Chinese
writing on it. She smiled and poured the concoction onto a small piece of
cloth and rubbed it in while wearing a thick pair of rubber gloves.
"Ranma, how are you doing? Will you be working tonight?" asked
Cologne as she poked her head through the door.
"Sorry, not tonight, I've got other work to do," replied the girl
simply as she focused on the task she was performing.
"What are you doing?" said the old woman as she hobbled into the
room and looked down over Ranma's shoulder.
"It's something I picked up in China, the old man has a serious
weakness. He's extremely perverted, and he gets most of his power from
that," replied Ranma with a shrug.
"Did those spirit's tell you that last night?" asked Cologne.
"Most of them weren't very helpful, they thought he was a good
student. I had to deal with a few guardian demons too. A few of them were
pretty miffed and a little vengeful," said the girl without paying much
attention.
"Guardian Demon?" the term seemed contradictory to her.
Ranma smiled. "Special demons, they keep tortured souls from
escaping hell. Not really all that evil actually. They are a bit imposing
though, and if you summon a spirit up from hell one of them comes with it,
to make sure it doesn't get away," explained Ranma. "Most of your crack
pot sorceresses and mediums either don't see them or ignore them. That's
where I found most of the people I talked with last night."
"I see, tell me what are your plans for this evil pervert?" asked
Cologne warily.
Ranma handed her the packet and smirked. Cologne couldn't help
herself as she snickered and gave it back. "I like the way you think
child."
"Yeah, well I think I can whip up something to make sure it doesn't
just wash off of him or wear off."
"Are you certain you can't kill him?" asked the elder hopefully.
"Pretty sure, he isn't a demon, and he isn't a threat to humanity,
or anyone else for that matter, he's just annoying. With a record like his
I don't think anyone will mind if I torment him to death though," replied
Ranma with a shrug.
+++++++++++
Happosai jumped from the rooftops of Nerima and glanced around in
search of more of his ill-gotten prizes. A large sack of panties and bras
was thrown over his shoulder and he cackled to himself as he spotted
another clothes line nearby.
He easily hopped along the tops of cars and signs to reach the
line and hummed merrily to himself as he plucked the undergarments off of
the rack. He stopped cold and looked at one of the pieces in his hand.
Caught between two bras was a pair of silk boxers. "Gah!" he tossed it do
the ground in revulsion. "How dare someone make a pair of those out of
silk! A waste of good material!"
He froze in place while balancing on the line as he felt a
presence behind him. He slowly turned around to see a cloaked figure with
glowing yellow eyes standing on the line behind him.
"Happosai," said a warped and inhuman voice as the creature stared
him down. The old man wasn't sure what it was exactly, but he didn't
really want to find out.
"Bye now," chimed the pervert as he jumped from the line and
landed neatly on the street. He looked up only to find the mysterious
figure was gone. He spun around, quickly jumping away barely in time to
avoid a well placed punch that shattered the pavement.
"Who the heck are you?" snapped the old man angrily.
The thing merely laughed and stalked forward. Happosai saw the
cloak flutter in a slight breeze for a moment and gasped as the gentle
peek of cleavage was visible for a moment. "Sweeto!" Happy found himself
sailing away as soon a he jumped towards the prize, easily swatted away by
the creature.
"Hey!" A new voice entered the fight and the cloaked woman stopped
for a moment turning slowly around.
"You leave that sweet little old man alone!" cried a young blonde
as she stepped forward pulling what looked like a broad sword from her
side. The creature's eyes dimmed for a moment as she glared at the
newcomer.
The girl was dressed in a green Chinese style dress and had her
hair put up in a ponytail. She also had a strange design on the chest of
the dress, a circle with a twin dragon embroidered into it. The girl took
up a fencing stance and smirked at her. "Youma Slayer Keiko is here to be
your opponent now!"
The girl looked down suddenly as Happosai rested between her
breasts. "Thank you for saving this defenseless old man from this evil
monster!" She planted her elbow in his head and he fell away for a
moment. "Hands off pervert!"
The creature wasted no time, it quickly charged forward slamming
it's fists into her face before jumping up over her head and onto the top
of a neon sign waiting to see what she would do.
Keiko reeled from the blow momentarily and staggered back, she
turned and looked at it for a moment growling under her breath as she
jumped upwards after it swinging her sword with amazing skill and slicing
the sign into small sparkling pieces.
The thing reached around her strikes and twisted both of them into
the air using her body to cushion the landing. Keiko seemed out for the
count and it turned towards Happosai again. Happy jumped away and onto a
rooftop laughing madly as he vanished into Nerima. A low curse was
muttered under the thing's breath as she walked towards a patch of shadows
leaving Keiko alone on the ground.
The girl woke up slowly and stood just as she vanished into the
shadows. "No you don't! I'm gonna kick your ass for that!" she screamed
as she reached into the front part of her dress and tossed several
throwing stars into the shadow where it had vanished. Jumping to her feet
she raised a spell ward over her head and gasped as the light from the
paper revealed nothing.
A crackling sound erupted in her ear and she winced. "Keiko, did
you get it? Are you all right?" called a high pitched voice from the small
earpiece that rested in her ear canal.
"No, sorry Auska-chan, the Youma got away. I met this really weird
old guy, I think he's the one that's been in the papers lately," said the
blonde with a heavy sigh.
"Did you get him?" said the voice with a small hint of hope in her
voice.
"No, he got away, besides it's not my job to catch him," retorted
the girl lazily as she replaced her sword and turned away.
"If you see him again, cream him! My favorite pair got stolen last
night!" retorted the angry girl on the other end.
"I'll remember that Auska," said the girl with a sigh.
++++++++++
Happosai sat on a rooftop looking thoughtful. "Hmm, why would I
have a monster after me? I haven't done anything to them in a long time."
He tried his best to think, after a moment he slapped his palm. "Maybe
it's that power orb I stole...nah...could be that time I got my hands on
the queen of hell?...nope, she's the only one who actually enjoyed it.
Hmm," Happosai would have sat longer trying to remember, but the call of
the lingerie was too much for him to resist. "Oh well, maybe I'll remember
later!" He forgot about it completely within five minutes.
++++++++++++
Ranma stood in the Tendo home and handed the patch to Akane. "Why
me?" said the girl with a heavy sigh.
"Because he won't trust me enough to do it, he knows what I am,"
replied the red head angrily.
Ryoga sat nearby at the Shogi table ignoring the events around
him. Soun looked up from the game they had going and frowned. "It isn't
wise to anger the master Ranma."
"What's he gonna do to me? I'm a sorceress," replied the girl with
a shrug.
"Remember Akane, put it on him real good, once it takes hold there
isn't anything he can do to get rid of it so get clear." The Tendo girl
nodded reluctantly and looked at the patch. "Don't hold it too long
either, I don't want any of this stuff to get on you."
+++++++++
Meanwhile, Hikaru Gosunkugi stared at a book in frustration. "Damn
it!" He fumbled through the pages, he had found a spell that boasted it
grew arms. His shoulders where killing him and he felt like his back was
about to break. The seven arms, and one stub flailed about wildly. He
could only control two of them at a time and the others grabbed, smacked,
and basically destroyed anything they touched. Including him. "Ow! Quit
it!" he snapped as one of the hands repeatedly slapped him in the face.
It stopped and went off looking for more interesting things to do as he
desperately searched for the counter spell. The arms did everything they
could to stop him, flipping pages randomly and basically making a pain of
themselves.
+++++++++++++
Tatewaki Kuno stood admiring the fine morning, it was a weekend
and school was out for the day. He sighed contentedly and looked out over
the porch of his newly constructed home. It was a small house for the
grounds, only slightly larger than the Tendo home; he didn't need such a
grand home as he once had any longer; he lived alone now. The thought was
very unpleasant, but much more bearable than it had been before. At one
time he had actually been afraid to think about his tragic family,
especially on the grounds. Now he was strangely contemplative.
After a few moments he had a whim, he opened his wings and jumped
upwards catching an air current and sailing out over the rooftops of
Nerima. He dove and rose flying where the winds took him and not really
caring. After about an hour he slowly descended and landed quietly on the
opposite side of Nerima ward.
"Hello," said an aged voice.
Kuno turned slowly and saw the creature staring him down with a
smirk on his face. "You were late for your training today."
"Pardon?" asked the boy in confusion.
Happosai merely smiled at him and sat down smoking his pipe. "Oh
well, it can't be helped, we'll start now."
+++++++++++++++
Ranma stared down at the broken and beaten form on the ground and
sighed. She lifted him off the ground and frowned as his wings hung limply
behind him as she dragged Tatewaki Kuno away from the mob of angry women.
"What the hell is wrong with you Kuno?"
"It isn't my fault!" snapped the boy in anger as he struggled to
sit down on the bench she had led him too.
"What the hell were you thinking running around with that old
fool?" snapped the girl as she sat with him and looked towards a fountain
in the center of the park they had stopped in.
"That thing had apparently decided that I am to be his heir,"
snorted the boy in disgust. "Whether I want to be or not."
"I see, hopefully that will be taken care of tonight. I don't know
if it will help you or not, but if we're lucky he'll leave Nerima
altogether."
++++++++++
Akane smiled at her work and looked on nervously. Somehow she had
managed to screw up the beautiful patch Ranma had made for her to put on
his back.
"Oh, Akane! Thank you! I'll never take it off!" cried the old man
with tears of joy on his face as he planted himself firmly between her
breasts.
Moments later he was sailing into the air above Nerima. Akane
huffed for a moment and turned away. "I hope she knows what she's doing."
++++++++++
A few minutes later Happosai looked on in confusion as he
struggled to walk. Everywhere he went women ran screaming away. That in
itself was not unusual, what was unusual was the fact that he hadn't done
anything to them yet. The aged pervert turned slowly around when he heard
an unfamiliar laughter.
Ranma stood over the scene laughing hysterically as she watched
the pervert dance around in confusion. Happy turned slowly towards her and
simply stared. "How do you like my woman repellant old man? It's a very
special mixture I put into that patch," she smiled even wider as a slow
dawning crossed his face.
Happosai snorted, "I'll just take it off then!" he took off his
shirt and pulled at the patch ripping it off easily.
"You old fool, you don't really think I'd let you off that easily
do you?" called Ranma playfully. "There is a spell around you that will
hold that sent for years."
Happosai froze and stared at her in disbelief. He shook with rage
and anger, there was nothing more horrible that she could have done. He
burned angrily letting his aura show before resorting to his final attack.
He sat down on the ground and cried.
"Boo hoo! How could you do such a thing to a poor little old man!?
What have I ever done to you?"
Ranma turned away from him never once losing the smile on her
face. "Your perverted and pathetic existence is enough Happosai, you can
thank Kojiro Hadoshi for that patch by the way. He asked that I use the
symbol of the school you abandoned." With that said Ranma jumped away
vanishing into the streets of Nerima.
Happosai's eyes went wide with shock. "Kojiro? He's been dead for
years!" The old man slowly began to realize that this young sorceress
might be a bit more trouble than he had originally planned. He had to do
something fast, but there wasn't much he could do without a recharge.
Weakly he staggered off in search of a young girl, even an old one would
do. "Damn you Ranma."
++++++++++++
Inside the Cat Cafe, Cologne sat in front of the crystal howling
with laughter as she watched the events play out in front of her. Ko li
watched the scene uncomfortably nearby and turned away.
"She always act that way when borrow Ranma's ball?" asked Talcum.
"You would know as well as I do," replied the other girl with a
shrug.
Talcum blinked and continued her work.
++++++++++
Soun Tendo walked along the street with his arms full or
groceries. He stopped cold when he saw a strange sight, in front of him
was Happosai. The old man looked almost dead, he was crawling on his
hands and knees reaching towards a young girl who staggered back as if she
had been hit with tear gas.
"Master, are you all right?" he said as he dropped the bag and
rushed to the man's side.
"P-p-pretty g-g-girly!" managed the old man.
Soun looked around and saw a box nearby, thinking quickly he
rushed over and grabbed it. When he returned Mr. Panda was standing with
Happosai in his claws. He blinked and stopped for a moment as the panda
made an attempt to smile at him. "T-thank you," he said dumbly as the
animal put the old man in the box and produced a book of stamps, a marker,
and some tape.
"What are you doing?" said a weak voice from inside the box.
"Why, we're express mailing you to the North Pole Master!" replied
Soun cheerfully.
Ranma stood on a rooftop and frowned as she watched the scene play
out below her. She felt a twinge of anger as she watched Genma and Soun
package the old man away and attempt to stuff him into a mailbox.
"You stupid old man! Stop acting like that, he might figure it out
dope," she snorted and mentally noted that she'd have to have a talk with
him later about this. Fortunately Soun didn't seem to notice.
++++++++++
Ryoga sat at the table and sighed as Ranma, sat with Soun toasting
the end of the evil master together. He glanced at Akane and sighed,
something wasn't right with her and he couldn't figure out what it was.
After a moment he tore his gaze away from her as she passed him a warning
glare and said nothing.
"Man she can be frigid when she want's to be," he thought
privately as he went back to watching Ranma celebrate her victory. She
wasn't drunk, but Soun insisted that she have a glass with him after what
she did for him. She had been very polite and accepted, the glass still
sat half full in front of her as Soun steadily became more and more loose.
Ryoga seemed to notice that she seemed more reserved than usual
tonight. A thoughtful look stayed on her face as she sat with the older
man. She turned to gaze at him for a moment and he turned away in disgust
shutting off his mind to her. He didn't particularly want to hear what she
had to say right now.
Something did slip through though and he froze. "It's not over
yet," he whispered quietly repeating what the girl had told him.
For the first time that night Akane looked at him without trying
to hide it. She remained silent and sipped at the cup of tea in front of
her. Her thoughts that evening had been preoccupied with trying to get out
of this mess Ranma had seen fit to place her into. The evil was gone for
now and she had other concerns to deal with. She liked Ryoga well enough,
and he was a good friend, distancing herself from him had been difficult.
Fortunately he seemed to have the same plan. She wanted to spend more time
with Ranma and try to talk her way out of it; unfortunately, the girl
wasn't very receptive and seemed to be hard to get a hold of. Akane
suspected she knew what was going on between her and Ryoga and was trying
to keep to herself more. She had a lot of feelings to sort out and all
this excitement wasn't helping that process any at all.
Ranma looked back at her as she watched her and her father. She
could see a small amount of pain in the girl's eyes, but something else
was there too. It almost looked like hope, and desire. She shook
uncomfortably at that, but the feeling quickly faded and she realized that
it was never there to begin with.
"What the hell am I thinking?" she thought as she shook her head
and turned away from the girl once again.
TBC...
