"To
Live in Darkness"
by
SaOtOmE AP
a Ranma
½ fanfic!
Disclaimer:
(not that anyone bothers to read them) IF
I owned ANY characters from Ranma ½
or from Tenchu, I
would be rich, and I wouldn't be writing
fan fiction. Anyone who wants to sue me
for this is wasting his/her time… I sure as hell don't make money off of
this. Any characters I create, I own. That's it.
Author's
Notes:
Chapter 2 is finally up. I didn't get many reviews, but then again, for those who wanted more: here it is! My only series to date, and hopefully, the first of many more. I crave some C&C here, it is very important for a writer to
know how he is doing in the eyes of others. Well, at
least for me it is.
*
thoughts*
"speech"
foreign
languages
Chapter
2
"The Shifting Sands"
Nerima district,
Present day
Kuno Tatewaki, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High, was vexed. Once again, foul sorcerer Saotome had escaped his
wrath. How could anyone defeat his
invincible skills? No base martial art
surpassed kendo. The only conceivable
explanation was that Saotome Ranma was incurring in the aid of dark magic in
his attempt to thwart the Blue Thunder. *The vengeance of heaven is slow, but sure! Saotome Ranma, your final hour is nigh… this I swear!*
With all the dignity he could muster, Kuno extracted
himself from the pile of garbage he had been smashed into. The fight had been short, as usual. Kuno's divine task of freeing Akane Tendo and
the pigtailed girl was proving more difficult in every step of the way. *Curses! I shall find a way to vanquish the dark sorcerer, but…* The feverish mind of Furinkan's kendo master struck upon an idea. *Saotome is a sorcerer. That fool, Gosunkugi deals with the dark arts as
well. I shall enlist his aid, as his dislike of Saotome is a well known
fact.* With that, Kuno Tatewaki walked away from the dumpster
smelling most foul, but as Nabiki would
put it, feeling like a million yen.
……….
*Oh Akane, if only you were not engaged to
Saotome. You and I could be married and
would be a perfect couple…* Gosunkugi Hikaru finished making his trademark voodoo doll, with pigtail and all and placed a nail on its
"chest". *Saotome! You will pay!!!* He then swung his mallet… "YAAAAAAHHHRRRRRGH!!!", and his wail of
agony was heard all around Furinkan High as the thumb holding the nail was
punished in lieu of the straw doll. Life
sucked.
"Greetings friend!", came an all too familiar voice from
behind him, "I, Tatewaki Kuno have come to your aid in order
to eradicate the demon known as Saotome Ranma!" *GROAN* "Upperclassman
Kuno." "No need to express your joy at
having my magnificent self aid you in the endeavor of defeating Saotome
Ranma. I do this for selfless reasons, I assure you! For what is to be of Akane Tendo and the
pigtailed girl…. Blah blah blah…" Gos ignored the rest of Kuno's righteous ranting, and waited for him to get to the point (if
there was any point in listening to Kuno).
Finally, said point was reached. "…and I need for you to summon the greatest
assassin of all time, a ninja by the name of Rikimaru, of the most prestigious Azuma clan." "Why would you do that?" "Because, my boorish friend, for a creature as base as Saotome, what better fate than to die by the hand of
one who was known to have defeated the king of hell himself!", Kuno exclaimed. Hikaru's eyes widened in disbelief, "This ninja, Rikimaru, defeated Meioh!? I thought that
was just a legend!" Kuno's demeanor
turned serious, "No, it is no mere legend. I am
well versed in the history of ninja clans, as my family has employed them as
retainers for ages. Among the clans of
the ninja, there
shines one clan above all others. That
is the Azuma ninja clan, known for being the most thorough and effective assassins and
servants. Their loyalty was without peer
and they would employ any means necessary to protect their lord." Kuno paused for effect, "Should you be able to summon the ninja
Rikimaru and bring him to our time, we
may be able to strike a bargain with him as he should willingly assist us in
eliminating a being of evil in exchange of his passage to the period from
whence he came."
For once, Gosunkugi Hikaru was impressed. He could not fault Kuno's logic, or assume the plan
was doomed to failure. Now the question
was: Was he capable of performing such a
spell? *Time to prove myself.* "Upperclassman
Kuno, I'll be glad to help you get rid
of Saotome." Kuno nodded, "As well you
should, for you could not hope to defeat
Saotome on your own. I myself am puzzled
as to how the cur is able to best me in combat. I shall tolerate his trickery no longer!"
Gosunkugi agreed with Kuno, although how one
could be so deluded was beyond him. Akane would never date a pompous ass like Kuno, though he wasn't about to say anything
of the matter. *Let Kuno think what he
wants, once
Saotome is gone, I will have Akane all
to myself. I'll comfort her in her time
of need, and
what can she do, but fall madly in love
with me! Besides, if Kuno doesn't like it, Akane can protect us both, should he try anything.* "Let us be off! I am sure you require a number of things to
cast such a spell." "Yes, that's right. I saw a tome on summoning spells, I believe I'll need
that as well." Kuno nodded and spoke, "I shall spare no
expense to be rid of the wretch! Just do
what you need to do, and I shall provide the moneys necessary for our divine
task!" So, they left to find the means for their
purpose. To say Saotome Ranma was in
trouble, was an
understatement.
"Well done, Rikimaru. This message from our borders seems quite
urgent." Lord Gohda Matsunoshin turned
away from his ninja to address his most trusted and loyal advisor, Naotada
Sekiya. "Ready our troops. It seems our neighbor looks upon us as though
we were naught but another conquest. It
falls upon us to quell his ambition and end the threat he represents to my
people." Toda Yoshisada had left an heir to follow in his footsteps. Another bloodthirsty tyrant, whose ambition was rumored to surpass
even his father's. Sekiya readily
acknowledged his lord's order with a deep bow and left to bring together the
war council. Strategy would be instrumental
in repelling the enemy with as little losses as possible.
The
ninja Rikimaru was now alone with his lord, ready for further instructions. Lord Gohda then spoke to him, "Rikimaru… I
grow tired of the constant bloodshed. It
seems it has always been so, and yet, there is no
choice but to fight if we are to protect those who would come to harm." Rikimaru looked on waiting for his lord to
continue. "… Even my own finance
minister, and
several corrupt merchants cause conflict within our lands. At least minister Kataoka chose an honorable
death, rather
than bring shame upon his family." "Yes
Lord, I myself
served as his second. He died a honorable death." Gohda nodded slightly and clasped his hands behind his back. He then turned to look through an open window
of the 4th story floor they were in. A complex of several buildings was visible in the distance, well beyond the
forest to the west of the border with hostile territories. "Rikimaru, as you may already know, there have been several… incidents, in which the Manji cult is involved. Innocent villagers and several people have
gone missing, and
I fear for their fate. Rumor has it the
leader of that cult is in possession of a stone with the power to twist
peoples' minds and bodies." He paused
for a moment, "It is imperative we recover such a stone, lest it remains with those who would use it
for their own twisted purposes." Gohda
then turned to face Rikimaru once again. "I have sent Ayame to eliminate the foreign barbarians who were
terrorizing our coastal villages. She
will have her hands full for the time being. I need you to recover that stone… use any means necessary."
The ninja Rikimaru nodded once and voiced
his acquiescence, "I shall infiltrate their temple at dusk, milord. It is best if I make ready for such a
mission." "Very well, Rikimaru. You may want to go to our armory, I had our weapon
smith put together a special ninja
armor. It would prove quite useful, should you need
added protection." "Thank you milord, I am most
grateful." With that, the ninja left his lord and pondered
his choice of equipment for the assigned mission. The Manji were well known for being a
particularly violent cult. Some of the
villagers in the area claimed that the cultists themselves had demonic minions
and the likes. So, Rikimaru hurried to retrieve his
weapons, and the armor. He wasn't about to take unnecessary chances.
…..
*Damn that Onikage… he dares to threaten Lord Gohda!* Rikimaru warily watched the demon Onikage
leap away, his peals of laughter
trailing after him. *At least I captured
the stone. It will no longer serve evil
purposes.* The
corpse of the cultist leader lay behind Rikimaru in a pool of blood. Gutting someone to extract a magical stone
usually tends to result in that. The
fight was hopelessly one-sided and the ninja armor was simply extra
weight. In the fight with Onikage though, it saved Rikimaru
from some possibly fatal injuries. Onikage was very highly skilled. Though he usually fought barehanded, he often used concealed weapons to
strike at unwary opponents. Even though
the demon had clearly been overconfident, and had underestimated Rikimaru's
abilities, he did have some right to
brag about his abilities. Rikimaru had
found himself hard pressed to keep himself alive during their brief fight. He was able to attack the demon though, even if he didn't
do any significant damage.
Rikimaru headed back to
Upon his arrival at the gates, relief was evident
on his features. No one had attacked the
castle in his absence, and Lord Gohda was conducting a meeting with his armies'
officers. It seemed that all was going
as planned concerning the defense against the invading armies from Toda's
lands. That was a relief. Rikimaru wasn't looking forward to another
infiltration into enemy territories. Though he would lay his life for his lord without question, he still didn't
look forward to highly suicidal missions. Not that he would never admit that to
anyone. Specially not to Ayame, who wouldn't quit
nagging him if he ever opened up about something like that.
What Rikimaru was really looking forward
to was sparring with the wandering martial artist who claimed he wanted to
learn as many existing styles as possible. He was particularly curious about ninjitsu, for some unknown reason. The little runt was pretty good in his own
right, but
couldn't beat the grandmaster of the Azuma Ninja Ryu. Rikimaru obviously used a wooden sword during
their sparring; otherwise, his now regular sparring partner would have been
long since dead. They had not sparred in
about four days. All the latest missions
had kept him quite occupied. Today they
would spar once again. Some relaxation
was in order after such toilsome missions. The lone figure of Rikimaru stood in the middle of the soldiers'
training grounds, in
wait.
The Azuma ninja warrior pondered the
whereabouts of his "rival", wondering if he was ever going to show. *What would keep him this long? This is most unusual. Happi should show on time, he knows I cannot spare much of it…
* Rikimaru was aching for a fight in
which his life or his opponent's wasn't on the line.
Elsewhere in the castle grounds… Screams and crashes
were heard as most of the female inhabitants of
Just as the grandmaster of the Azuma ninja
gave up and was about to leave, he was encompassed by an unearthly
glow. It seemed to come out of nowhere, as though the very
earth beneath his feet were illuminating him. The trace of a complex diagram was clearly visible all around the
ninja. Rikimaru franticly tried to leap
away from his current position, but found he could not. He could not move at all. His eyes widened as he realized dark magic
was upon him. Could it be that Onikage
was trying to eliminate him in such a cowardly manner? Highly doubtful, but if not him, then who? Rikimaru had no time to ponder anymore thoughts on the one responsible
for his current situation. The glowing
patterns closed in on him and he was hidden from view, had anyone been watching. Unconsciousness claimed the ninja as he was
transported to destinations unknown.
……..
Author's notes:
I know this is a short
chapter, but
bear with me! I am in need of C&C to
know how I'm doing… Are the chapters too
short? I know they could be longer, but I promise they
will be if I can sense some interest on the readers' part. Otherwise, why bother? I love writing, but I also like to know how I'm
doing. So c'mon, drop me a line or take the time to
review! This story will be finished, but that'll happen
a lot sooner if I have the readers' help. There, all
done for chapter 2. Until next time
then!
