Hi Hi, It's me again. 0_o cool huh? Heh heh... well anyway, I think you will find more about what they were fighting for and what Ranma was doing in the time he was gone ^_~ . Well I don't want to spoil it....
I'm SOOOOO sorry this is SOOOO late!!! But it's summer now so more time to write, I just had to get into the groove of things..^.^ riigght! Haha well anyway Ranma and Co don't belong to me no matter how many times I've put them on my Christmas list ^_~
Mistaken
Chapter Two: How it came to be...
Soon after standing up we both regretted it, we were hurt worse then we had thought, and there were many wounds much deeper then just flesh. I didn't know how I was ever going to forget this day, it amazed me how much had happened in just these short hours, how much I had lost...and gained. I was upset and shocked about what had happened, and who we had lost, but I was insanely happy that Akane and I had finally had our talk, the one that was seven years late.
We walked quickly through the blood and bodies, checking over our friends once more, making sure just one more time that they were truly dead. We had to make sure, but seeing our friends sprawled through out the room, their blood stained in their clothes was almost too much, it almost made the fight not worth it, almost. It's not that I'm glad their dead, not at all, I guess I'm still in shock, but each of these people came into this building knowing that they were either leaving on their own two feet, or they weren't leaving at all.
All at once I cracked, and slowly I reached up and wiped away the steady flow of tears that ran down my cheeks, I had never really had to deal with death, never known anyone that had died, but now I knew so many, too many people. This fight was more important then just the few bodies spread around the room, I knew this, but I didn't believe it. I wanted to rewind time, and make sure they never came, but then we wouldn't be here, not one of us. I heard Akane cry out, and snapped out of my daze, and hurried to her side. I felt myself wince, this was bad, too bad. Akane kneeled at her sister's side, gently cradling Nabiki's head in her lap. A wanted to rush over next to Akane, but I knew I shouldn't, she needed this, she needed to..to say goodbye.
"Biki' it's okay, you'll be okay..." Akane whispered into her dying sisters ear. I looked down at the ground; the forever bloodstained cement, tears silently rolling down my already aching cheeks. In just a few moments, Akane and I had lost our friends, and now..and now Akane had to loose her family. I felt my face flush as new tears found there way out of my eyes. Normally I would be embarrassed; I would cover up my emotion and just stand there, like the dumb jock I was. It felt good to let it out; it felt good to finally show what I was feeling.
"Don't worry, mom is here to take care of you now, you get to see mom again, aren't you lucky Biki-chan?" Akane said, gently stroking her bloodied hair.
Tears streaming out of her eyes, falling on the pale girls face. Nabiki's eyes fluttered open, hope filled my heart, she might live. I was blinded by hope, but Akane knew better, she knew how close to death her sister was. Ignoring her own wounds Akane held onto Nabiki's hands, whispering words that didn't reach my ears in her final seconds. I was sobbing now, I had never been that close to Nabiki, but she was still family, and out of all the people here, she never should have come.
"Nabiki.." Akane whispered one last time, still holding the girl's now limp hand.
I stood there a few seconds, not sure what to do. I had no words of comfort to say to Akane, I was sure she didn't want to hear them. She slowly let her sister's hand drop to the ground beside her and sighed deeply. She brushed away her remaining tears and stood wincing in pain as she wobbled slightly. All I could do was stand there dumbly. I felt like such an idiot, her sister had just died, and I had nothing to say. Akane and I stood there a few minutes, both of us in shock, the intensity of everything still rang in our heads. Akane's head was bowed, and slowly her shoulders began to shake as her sobs echoed around the room.
I rushed foreward and gathered her in my arms. This felt so right, yet so wrong, as I held her my own sorrow came out in full blast, and we were together, for the first time in so long, we were together. It made me sad to think that we had to go through so much, through so much shit that nobody should ever have to go through, just to live our lives. That we could be at home watching TV and eating popcorn, but instead we have to fight for our lives, and loose everyone we care about in around 10 seconds. Still disbelieving everything, I ran it through my head one last time
#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#
I sighed with relief as I spotted a lake beyond the next hill, finally I was going to be able to take a bath. I wasn't sure of much, and I wasn't that smart, but boy I knew I smelled bad. I smiled as I pictured the clear clean water, man I hadn't had a bath in ages, I didn't even want to count the days, and that in it's self is a bad sign. Thinking about bathing gave me a new burst of speed and I began to sprint along, as I neared the water's edge I began pulling off my clothes. I dived into the water in just my boxers, relishing in the feel of the water against my dirty skin. I relaxed in the water and allowed it to sooth my aching muscles. I had been walking for miles, hours, days, months, years, you name it, I had walked it.
Man I couldn't get over how good this felt. I would shout for joy but I would feel stupid doing it. All of a sudden out of no where my throat popped up and whispered "Have a drink" in my ear. I couldn't even remember the last time I had tasted water. The water level in my water bottle had long since reached empty and my throat was almost crying with anticipation. Not wanting to wait any longer I dived below the surface and gulped in the almost clear, almost clean, and almost good water. Hell I couldn't complain, not even about my soggy boxers, this was living life good. I swam about for a while longer, splashing everything in sight. Smiling and laughing as I dove beneath the surface. This was the most fun I had had in a long time. Since I had been on the road for quite some time, I had learned to relax a little, to rejoice in the simple things, like a bath, and water to drink, warm clothes, and clean hair. Regretfully they weren't things I got to experience very often, but I wouldn't give this up, being on the road, for the world, not for anything. As always with a comment like that, a little voice in the back of my head speaks up
*Would you for her?*
That answer is, yes, of course, I would do anything for her. Thoughts like that come and go, I just have to go back to thinking about the little things, the things that matter. Then with thoughts like that, the voice comes again.
*So she doesn't matter?*
Of course she matters, she matters more then anything, but she's my past. I have to put it all behind me and move on, and move on I must continue to do. I guess that's why I haven't given up this kind of life yet. It's harsh but it doesn't really allow you time to dwell. A chill runs up my spine and the breeze of the evening sweeps over the lake. I shiver slightly and drag myself out of the lake. Quickly I race out of the lake and grab my clothes as I run. I stop at my pack that I threw off in my excitement of the seeing the lake and dig for more clothes.
* * *
The campfire sang to me as I stared into the crackling flames. I was huddled up by the fire I had made on the edge of the lake. I had gotten pretty good at fire making during my years on the rode, it was more habit than anything else. I felt my eyes droop, as the long day finally caught up to me. I had long since lost my sleeping bag, so I pulled out a jacket I had found a while back, pulled it over my shoulders and let sleep over take me.
I was soon enough brought out of slumber by a scream that rang through the night, being the tough martial artist that I was, hearing a scream was like hearing my name. With years of practice I pulled my arms through my jacket sleeves and raced in the direction of the scream. Soon enough I came upon a clearing where a group of friends were camped. There was 2 girls and a boy, and they were all staring into a set of tree's to the left of me.
"Is there a problem?" I asked, people don't normally just scream when ever they feel like it in the middle of the forest. The group turned and looked at me, there eyes all wide.
"Our friend.." The boy started, he blinked a few times, as if to try and clear his mind.
"Was...was.." The blond girl said, motioning with her hands, confusion and fear set on her face.
"Was..?" I asked
"I don't..I don't know" The boy managed to say, shock still written on his face as he clenched his fist together trying to keep his cool for the girls.
"Taken.." One of the girls whispered, her head bowed to her chest. She trembled slightly and goosebumps ran quickly up my arm.
"Look, I don't know what happened, but we can still try to do something, did you see which way it went?" I asked, hoping that I could do something to help.
The other girl pointed with a shaky hand down a path to the left, clearly it had been made just secounds earlier, whatever this creature was..it was big.
"Alright then, umm normally we'd split up, but I don't want you guys going off along, so it'll take longer but there'll be less of a chance of another us getting...taken"
"Do any of you have a flashlight?" I asked, dawn was still hours away, and their campfire wasn't providing much light. The guy nodded slowly and ran to the tent. He pulled out a red flash light, and jogged back to me. I took the flashlight in my hand and turned it on, letting the beam of light fall on the path. In the light the path looked less hopeful then it had in the dark. I sighed slowly.
" Let's go." They nodded slowly, still in a fresh state of shock.
* * *
We had been walking for a while now, and still we had found nothing, just a few more broken branches, and more blood. Always more blood. It was starting to sink in, and the thought of actually finding him became less and less a reality and more something from a fiction book, with a happy ending. This didn't look anywhere near happy. I heard one of the girl's cry out and ran to where she was kneeling in the blood soaked dirt.
The guy, squatted next to her and pulled a bloody necklace from where it had been lying in the dirt. He bowed his head, and gripped onto the necklace. He grabbed the girls arm, she turned to him, and he shook his head, his eyes full of grief. The other girl raced forward and fell to her knees. She started sobbing slowly and her shoulders began to shake violently. The guy took her in his arms and began to stroke her hair. Tears streaked down his face as he gently brushed away her tears.
The other girl was still staring at the necklace in the guys hands, pain slowly swept over her features as the realization sank in. Her anguished cry rose above all else, pouring her heartache and love into the wind as it blew through the trees. Her pain echoed around the forest, filling the night with her cries of loss, and misery.
Their cries were torture to my ears, I hadn't known the young man, but still I felt my heart clench with sadness as I watched this man's friends cry over his necklace. At first I had been confused, it was just a necklace, but the man had dropped it into the dirt as he comforted the girl in his arms. The clasp was still together, it hadn't fallen off, it hadn't been torn of. I felt a stray tear work it's way down my cheeks as a cloud of gloom settled over our hearts. I slumped against a near by tree as the friends huddled together, the guy swept up the necklace and placed it in the blond girl's hand.
"You gotta keep it, Kiku, Mariku would want you to" The guy said, his voice breaking on every word.
As the friends talked I began to put together the pieces of the puzzle. This guy "Nobu," I think, and "Mariku" had been best friends, and were camping with their girlfriends. Kiku, being Mariku's girlfriend, and the other girl, I think her name was "Atsuko" being Nobu's girlfriend. They had just graduated from highschool, and it had been a celebration outing.
I stood on weak legs, I didn't want to rush them, but we would never find this creature and destroy it if we didn't start moving, and I didn't want to just leave them here, by themselves. The blond girl saw me stand, and understood, I was glad I didn't have to say anything. She quietly pushed herself off the ground, tears still streaming down her face.
"Let's find the..the bastard who did this..who did this to Mariku." She said looking at me but talking more to her friends. I nodded slowly as her friends made their way over to where I was standing. We had just began walking, when a scream pierced the night. It was a scream filled with fear and pain, and it was close by. We started to race down the path made by the creature, and soon enough we came to where a group of travelers about 5 people were standing. They turned to us as we crashed through the trees into their group. The girl who had screamed, stared at me wide eyed, her face turned pale, and she began to tremble violently.
"Ranma...." She said, as she walked a step foreward, placing a hand on my face, as if seeing if it was real. I glanced over her face, she looked familiar but I just couldn't place it...then it dawned on me. Ukyo. This girl was Ukyo, my Ucchan.
"Uk...Ucchan?" I said, rolling the name across my tongue, it felt good to say again, after so long. I glanced over the rest of the crowd and found all my old group, Mouse, Shampoo, Ryouga, and..and Nabiki, everyone was there, everyone but Akane.
"Where's Akane?" I asked, a slight tremble in my voice. Ukyo glanced at the ground, ashamed.
"She..she was...was.."
"NO..Not Akane...She wasn't..." I stuttered, I wouldn't believe it, she hadn't been...
"Which way, which way did the thing go??!" I yelled at no one in particular, She was still alive, we still had time. No one moved, they all just stared at my flushed face.
"WHICH WAY DID IT GO?!" I yelled, patience was no longer with me, I had no time to have a reunion, I had to find her.
Nabiki pointed to the right down a path similar to the one we had just came from, but this time, this time it wouldn't end like that, with death, I wouldn't let it. I nodded and began to race down the path, the flashlight bobbing as I ran. I heard the others come begin to follow me as we raced against everything. It was only a matter of time before some similar fate would befall Akane. Thinking of her brought upon much needed speed as I nearly doubled my energy as I raced through the darkness, unaware of my surroundings, only one past, one thing, one girl.
Suddenly I could feel it. It's Ki leaked out of it through a whole in it's side, a recent wound. It's black Ki flowed through the forest, marking it's path. Black Ki was not something one saw very often, or for that matter, wanted to see very often. It was the sign of unadulterated crime, unashamed wrong doing, simple, pure, perfect evil. There was no blacker a heart then one with black Ki, it saw no dishonor in killing, it's heart was not big enough for thoughts other then murder. Blood was it's past time, screams were it's favorite music, and tears it's favorite food. Pain caused it to smile, to grin, an ugly face for a creature that disgusting, that revolting to the human eye.
I caught a whiff of fresh blood, and sped even quicker down the path. The others were further behind me now, but they'd catch up soon enough, but I had to be fast, I had to go even faster than I had been going, I had to push myself even farther beyond the limit. As I said before, I would do anything for her, and I will, and I am. The light from my flashlight bobbed wildly as I ran, and soon it fell upon a stone wall directly in the way of the path. I skidded to a halt, this wasn't the end, this couldn't be the end. I shone my light all around the base of the wall, the bushes weren't broken, nothing had passed that way. I shone it up the wall with trembling fingers. The light fell from my hands as it reached a body, and hit the ground with a thud.
The guy, Nobu from the camp sight came running up behind me, out of breath, and dead silent. Our eyes were use to the dark by now, and we could see a little better. I bent down and picked up the flashlight, I looked him right in the eyes, and shook my head.
"You don't want to see this..." I began.
"Stop! He was my friend, your right I don't want to look, but I'm not going to let my feelings stop the search from continuing." He grabbed the flashlight from me and shone it around the top of the wall, until it rested on the body, or part of the body for that matter.
He inhaled deeply and new tears began to form in his eyes. I lowered head, and took the flashlight back from him and with shaking hands, I began to search the rest of the wall, and to my great relief I found nothing. I wasn't sure how we were going to get up the wall , but all I knew was we were going to find a way.
{well, well, well, looks like I'll end it here ^_^ I have the begingin of the next chapter writen and everything so don't worry, it wont take nearly as long!! So you should Never Fear cuz T is here!!! O_o }