Chapter 1. In Search of the Truth
Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 . Rumiko Takahashi does.
A/N: Couple things before I go on. Some people wondered why Shampoo isn't
speaking in her 'broken' speech. Well I would suppose living in Japan for 2
years will change that. (Shampoo was 16 I believe in the beginning and now is
18.)
Some characters might act a little OOC, but hopefully you guys will enjoy this
anyways. If anyone have any questions, comments.. etc, feel free to email me at
dragonofkhaos@yahoo.com
Chinese speech
[] Thoughts
Ranma woke up suddenly, he have been waking up early ever since that
incident that hurt his father. He just couldn't get a good nights rest
for the life of him. He glanced over to a clock and knew it was time
for breakfast.
He ate breakfast silently, with the usual crew, save Genma. Every so
often one of the people will try to cheer him up, or give him a
reassuring glance, but he didn't care much for it, the news has came..
Genma was safe, but he will never be able to practice martial arts
again.
"Come on, Ranma, he'll be fine, the doctors might have made a mistake
your father is going to be just fine." Akane said trying cheer Ranma
up.
It didn't work, he was still as depressed as he could be, and it was
not only because Genma got hurt, but also because that one of his
friends would stoop that low and do such a thing, also the thought of someone
trying to kill Akane didn't make him feel any better either.
He finished his breakfast abruptly, "I'm going to get ready for
school." He announced. Without saying another word, he went to get
ready for school.
***
On the way to school it was pretty silent, recently everyone has been
treating him better: Akane, Kodachi, Ukyou even Ryouga hasn't bugged
him much. Sure, they would come bother him once in awhile, but they
seemed all around nicer.
As Ranma walked toward school on the guardrail (old habits die hard) he
seemed to be deep thought. Akane looked at him worried, recently they
were rarely late to school, they didn't argue, didn't fight, in fact
she hasn't even smashed him with her mallet in awhile, Ranma's mind
seemed to always drift elsewhere.
They finally arrived at school; the morning raids were gone, ever since
Genma got shot, everyone seemed to offer they're condolences to what
happened, all except Kuno, who was still as clueless as before.
"Face me, foul Saotome! I shall smite thee today!" He announced.
Ranma didn't even bother to answer him, smashing a fist in his face, he
knocked him out with greater force than he used to. He was no mood to
face idiots who didn't have a clue whatsoever.
"[Man, either Kuno is just that insensitive or that stupid.]" Akane
thought to herself. Without another thought, she followed Ranma to
class.
For the hundredth time, Ranma found him mind on other things, not even
being able to concentrate the slightest. Ukyou also saw this; it hurt
her greatly to see Ranma in this condition, but so far everything she
or any other person has done, did nothing to improve Ranma's condition.
At lunch time, Ranma usually sat as far away to people as possible, he
wanted to be alone. "[I have to stop doing this.]" he thought to
himself. "[This isn't helping anyone or anything, it isn't fair to the
people who actually want to help me.]"
The paced around a little trying to clear his mind but it didn't work.
"[Still, I can't believe that Shampoo would do it. Wait, what I am
THINKING? All the evidence point to her, it had to be her. Hold on, no
one actually SAW her shooting the arrow, everyone just ASSUMED she shot
the arrow, there was no solid prove that she done anything.]"
"AUGGH!" Ranma yelled in frustration, he punched a nearby tree to vent
out some anger, the tree shook violently at the impact as a few leaves
dropped down. "[Wait, maybe there is a clue that I overlooked, THAT'S
RIGHT!! Why didn't I think of that earlier!]"
Not waiting for school to end he rushed out, he managed to rush by
Akane. "Where are you going, Ranma? School's not out yet." She asked.
"I'm heading to the Nekohanten." He replied. "Want to come with me?"
Akane frowned. "Why go there? Remember how Cologne disowned Shampoo and
burned all her stuff?" she answered.
"Do you really believe that?" Ranma asked in a hurry. "I don't really
have time to explain so are you coming or not?"
Akane sighed, "Hold on, I'm coming."
Ranma and Akane rushed to the Nekohanten, although Cologne has provide
a very believable story that she disowned Shampoo and burned all her
stuff. However, judging by how treated her great granddaughter before,
he didn't really believe that.
Ranma explained it to Akane, for the first time Akane actually thought
he was making some sense, she was still angry at the Amazon for
attempting to murder her, and was tempted to level the Nekohanten she would
have, if she thought it would do any good, but it wouldn't have.
"So, you think that Cologne is lying about disowning Shampoo?" Akane
asked.
"I don't know, that's what I intend to find out." He answered.
"How? You know how sneaky and manipulative that old witch can be.
Plus she doesn't seem to be the type to be easily intimidated." She
asked.
"Don't worry, leave it to me." He answered plainly.
For some reason, that worried Akane, usually when Ranma said "I'll take
care of it, leave it to me." It translated to "I'll take care of it by
pounding the other person into the ground."
***
Inside Nekohanten
Mousse was in a bad mood. Very bad mood. He hasn't seen his lovely Shampoo for
too long. He has heard about the news, but he utterly refused to believe that
she would do such a thing. No, the others had to be wrong, but when he asked
Cologne, he got bashed in the head for asking, and was forced to drop the
subject.
That heartless old ghoul! He thought to himself as he took another person's
order. Growling he brought the order back to Cologne. The door opened making the
bells on it ring, Mousse sighed, another order to take.
"Welcome to the Nekohanten may I take your orders?" he said less than
enthusiastic.
"We're not here to eat alright? We're here to see the old ghoul!" A familiar
voice explained.
Mousse immediately came back to his senses; he adjusted his glasses "RANMA!" He
growled. "What are you doing here?" He went to a fighting stance immediately.
Ranma rolled his eyes, "Chill out dude!" Ranma exclaimed. "I'm not here to fight
you okay? I just want to talk to Cologne okay?"
Akane nodded.
Mousse snorted again. "Hey old mummy! There are some people out here to see
you!" He called out loudly.
A staff immediately found it's way to Mousse head. "I know that you idiot, I'm
old not deaf!"
"I'll take care of this, part-timer, go to the kitchen and handle orders, will
you? I'll be right back." Cologne responded. Mousse answered with a grunt as he
headed for the kitchen.
"So, what can I do for you today, Ranma?" She asked.
"I want answers, right now." He said sternly.
"Isn't that what everyone wants?" She shot back, with a near taunting tone. "We
can't always get what we want, Ranma."
Ranma glared at her. "I'm serious, old ghoul, I'm not leaving until you answer
all my questions." His aura flared up to prove his point.
Cologne gave a slight nod, she acknowledged Ranma's power and skill as a
warrior, given the right conditions, he could probably beat her in a fair match.
"Very well, what do you want to know?"
"I want to know about what happened to Shampoo, now." He hissed.
Cologne face turned white when she heard the name 'Shampoo'. She had run out of
time, she thought, and now Ranma knew, she didn't know how much, but he knew
that she was hiding something. She gave a slight nod.
"EVERYONE OUT!" She called out. "NEKOHANTEN IS CLOSED FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!
EVERYONE HERE WILL BE COMPENSATED WITH A FREE BOWL OF RAMEN TOMORROW!" She
announced loudly.
Groans and complaints could be heard everywhere, while everyone reluctantly
left. She quickly led Ranma and Akane to the back room, while Mousse 'politely'
asked everyone to leave while shutting and locking the door behind him. He was
excited that he could finally learn something if he secretly eavesdropped. Of
course the elder wouldn't like it very much, and would probably punish him for
it, but it will be worth it.
Inside, Cologne instructed Ranma and Akane to sit on crates besides her. She sat
down on opposite side.
"So, Ranma, may I ask why you want to know where Shampoo is? You plan to
personally hand her head to me on a silver platter?" She asked.
"I said I wanted to KNOW everything about what happened, not where she is, I
will decide if I want to after you told me what I want to know." Ranma
responded.
Akane was slightly surprised. When did Ranma become so analytical? It was
scaring her for him to act this way; probably the recent turn of events forced
him to be in such a way. She decided so long as the information that he's
squeezing out was ones that she also wanted to know, it was better for her to
keep her mouth shut.
"Of course." Cologne said, a look of relief crossed her face. "Oh, yea, Mousse?"
She called out. "You might want to come in, I bet you would like to hear this
too."
The door squeaked open as Mousse walked in. "How did you know I was there?" he
mumbled.
"Your just that predictable, that how." She answered. "Let me ask you something
first Ranma."
Ranma nodded.
"What do you think happened? Your version of what you believe, you too, Tendo-
chan." She said.
Akane spoke first, always jumping the gun. "I think what everyone else thinks,
Shampoo tried to kill me, and ran away afterwards. I would have been dead if Mr.
Saotome didn't take the arrow for me."
"Okay," Cologne said nodding. "And you Ranma?"
"I don't know, that was what I was hoping you could tell me. All I know is
someone shot an arrow, my father took it, and then I saw Shampoo running away
from the scene." Ranma replied. "Knowing Shampoo the first place she would come
back when there is trouble is here. So, don't try to sell me the crap that she
never returned and you burned all her stuff in anger."
The elder woman closed her eyes and nodded. "You are so much more than I
thought, Ranma." She said. "When did you become this smart?"
"When someone is forced in to the condition I am, it forces them to be like
this." He answered. "So, what's the story?"
"Before I begin, Mousse would you be so kind as to fetch one of Shampoo's
arrows?" She asked. Mousse looked up in confusion.
"I thought you burned all of them." He responded, which earned him another bash
in the head with the staff.
"Weren't you listening at all? I didn't burn anything, Shampoo brought some her
stuff with her, I kept a few arrows for myself in case they will come useful,
that and all her stuff in the hidden compartment." She eyed Mousse as giving him
a silent message.
Mousse nodded, he ran out the door, and before long he ran back holding one of
Shampoo's arrows. He handed the arrow to the elder who hid it behind her.
"By any chance do you remember what the arrow which hit Genma looked like?" She
asked.
"Slightly, why?"
"Do you remember what it's arrow tip was like? And the tail of the arrow, what
did that look like? Can you recall at all?"
"I remember that the tip of the arrow was made out of steel, the upper part was
a sharp triangle, which hooked inside in the end. The end of the arrow was made
out of some feather like material, which had different colors." He responded.
"Is that good enough?"
The elder nodded. She handed the arrow to Ranma. "Tell me what you see, after
your done, you may pass it to Tendo-san there."
Ranma looked at the arrow, then he felt a feeling of both relief and
disappointment wash through him. The arrow tip was round and pointed, but there
was no hook at the end of it. The end of the arrow there were defiantly
feathers, but this time it was all of the same color.
He passed to Akane, she too looked at the arrow, she couldn't make out why the
elder was making them look at something so trivial. She hasn't had as much
martial arts training as Ranma did and didn't really know what to look for.
With a confused look, she passed the arrow back to Cologne, who took the arrow
and put it on the table. "Well?" She asked.
"It's not the same arrow." Ranma responded. "The arrow which wounded my father
isn't the same as this arrow."
Akane felt her anger rise. "So? It might be that Shampoo has different arrows,
how do you know that this old mummy isn't tricking us?"
Cologne also swelled up with anger. "Are you calling me a liar?" She hissed.
"For your information, our arrows don't hook back, those which do, is design to
kill, and even if it doesn't, it will be very difficult to remove."
"What do you mean?" Akane growled back.
"The reason that they make the end hook is so that if you attempt to remove it
the wrong way, it would open up the wound even more. Amazons despise that
particular tactic. Therefore our arrows are always round and sharp, I also have
reason to believe that the arrow tip that shot Mr. Saotome was poisoned."
A chill ran up Ranma's spine. "Poison? What kind? You gotta help him then!" He
blabbered.
"Easy, Ranma." She said. "I'm not too sure if it was poisoned or not. But if it
was poison I don't think it's a life threaten poison."
She continued. "I wouldn't worry about it, I think that arrow was designed for
Tendo-san."
Ranma nodded. "We'll get back to this, you still haven't told us what we wanted
to know."
Cologne smiled. "What is there to say? You already know as much as I.." Ranma
gave her an angry glare. "Oh alright, it happened as you said it, my great
granddaughter was there, and she heard an arrow swish right beside her, she
quickly went after the shadow who shot it."
Ranma gave a slight nod, where Akane still had a look of doubt etched on her
face.
The old woman continued. "Unfortunately for her, she lost the shadow, and had to
head back. When she closed in she overheard Nabiki talking with an officer and
knew she was in trouble. She ran back here and we talked. When I saw the arrow
in Genma-san, I knew it wasn't my granddaughter that shot it, but I had to make
sure so I asked her a few questions."
"So, you did lie, you lied to the police." Akane interrupted. "That you disowned
her, and burned all her stuff."
"Only to protect my great granddaughter! Because she was innocent!" She growled.
"Okay, where in heck is she now?" Ranma asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Cologne asked back. "How would I know that she isn't
going get killed by you or Tendo-san?"
"I don't hit girls." Ranma said plainly. "I just want to know because, although
I doubted her before, I didn't believe that she would attempt to murder anyone.
Don't worry about Akane here, I won't let her hurt your granddaughter."
Cologne sighed. "I don't see how seeing Shampoo will help this condition
anymore, I'm more worried about Tendo-san here."
"Me?" Akane asked surprised. "Why?"
"The assassinator meant to kill you, now that he failed, who is to say that he
or she won't make another attempt?" Cologne answered simply.
Ranma suddenly looked very worried, he has forgotten in all the confusion,
frustration and grief that AKANE not his father was the target.
"HEY!" Akane complained. "I'm also a martial artist I can take care of myself!"
She insisted.
"Tell me, Tendo-san, if it wasn't for Genma standing in front of that arrow,
where would you be now?" Cologne asked simply.
Akane found herself temperately lost for words. "I.. er..uh.."
"That's what I thought." She answered. "In any case, I still think searching for
my great granddaughter would be a good idea."
"Wait first you tell me you don't want to tell me where she is, now you WANT me
to find her?" Ranma said. "That doesn't make any sense."
"I changed my mind." She answered simply. "Besides, I want to you give her some
stuff, and make sure she's safe. In return of course I would train Tendo-san so
she will have some form of self defense if the attackers decide to try again."
"Train me?" Akane asked. "Are you serious, old woman?"
"Well, if you want, although I do have some ground rules." She replied. Akane's
face fell, of course she wouldn't teach her without anything in return.
She sighed. "Okay, let's not make this any longer then it has to be. What are
the rules?"
"Well, first of all, maybe it's high time you called me sensei instead of old
ghoul, or old mummy eh?" She said smiling.
Akane felt some sort of relief wash over her, although she didn't like Cologne
but the chance to train under one of the best martial artist outweighed her
dislike.
"Okay, sensei, when do we start?" She said finally.
"Right now, after I tell you where Shampoo might be.. it's a big area and I
don't expect you guys to find it any time soon." She explained as she took out a
book and plopped it on the table. "The technique is described in there, at least
the basics are described there. When you finish all that the book says, come
back and see me. If you have any questions ask me also."
Akane could only nod as she picked up the book.. it was pretty small and the
cover was blue. On it was written in gold the name of the technique, "The Iron
Fists".
"The Iron Fist?" She read confused.
Cologne nodded. "It allows the users hands to be has hard as steel, thus hitting
or getting hit by it could be very painful, the book explains more, now.." She
continued taking out a map. "Let me show you were you might be able to find
her."
***
In the forest..
Shampoo lit an oil lamp and continued to read one of the scrolls she was working
on. She sipped a little of her tea and sighed. She didn't have much to do, she
still haven't had a clue why her great grandmother wanted her to learn some
fighting techniques that clearly wasn't for her.
She sighed, the chestnut fists weren't that hard, but she had a bad time
learning it. It took her so long that she almost gave up because she burned
herself too many times. Then she remembered what Cologne has said, that she
expected her to learn all of the scrolls before they next met.
She unrolled more of the scroll as she continued to read the ancient Chinese
text, she stopped suddenly when she heard a sound outside her hut, quickly
grapping her sword and wearing a mask, she sneaked outside and tried to find the
attacker.
As she went through the door, she noticed a shadow on her roof, the same shadow
she has seen during Ranma's birthday. A sudden urge of anger overcame her, she
felt her blood boil, she would teach the person a lesson, never mess with an
Amazon.
Silently, she pulled out a long sharp needle; she flicked it at the shadow and
ran after it. She saw a glint of steel as a loud ding was heard as the sound of
steel hitting steel. Suddenly, she sensed an enemy coming from her back, she
quickly dodged out of the way as a sword missed her head by a few inches.
The shadow jumped from it's hiding revealing a dark figure, it of course was
wearing black from top to bottom, with his companion join him, they both pulled
out long blades and stood in a defensive stance.
"Who are you?" She called out, "Why are you trying to frame me?"
The two beings just stood there as they didn't understand what she was asking.
"What do you think she's babbling about?" One asked the other in a familiar
tongue.
"Don't know, but you know the orders, we were supposed to kill her!" The other
answered.
It was Chinese; there was no mistake about it. What were these people doing
here? Shampoo thought. "What do you want?" She asked in the 'proper' tongue.
The figure looked fairly surprised that she knew Chinese, that, Shampoo
concluded meant that they didn't know they're targets very well, a sense of
relief washed over her, but at the same time a sense of fear was born. Why did
these men come? What were they're purpose?
"Isn't it obvious? We're here to kill you." One said swing his sword a few
times to emphasize the point.
"Why?" She asked.
The figures didn't respond, instead they both charged. [Oh well] Shampoo thought
[Now is the time to see if all this learning has paid off or not.]
One of the figures swung his sword at her, she brought up her blade to block it.
The other swung from the back of her; she dodged to the side. The attacker in
the front kicked his foot up, which got pinned down by Shampoo foot, he gave a
cry of pain as her foot landed on top of his.
The other seeing that his partner was in trouble, swung his sword horizontally
at Shampoo trying to cut her in half. Shampoo eyes widened as the sword came to
her spinning herself 180 degrees she rolled in back of the assaulter that her
foot was on as she gave his arm a good kick which caused his arm to fly up and
block the incoming blow.
That surprised both of the assaulters; Shampoo seized this opportunity while
they were surprised to sheath her sword and hit them both of them over and over
again.
"Kachu Tenshin Amarguriken revised! The Autumn Wind Sweeping leaves!" She
called as the sheathed blade hit her enemies at an incredible speed, it was just
as fast as Ranma's but nowhere close to as powerful, but then again Ranma's just
er.. Ranma.
With a final blow she knocked both of the attackers swords out of they're hands.
Then with a ring of the sword she pulled it out again. "Now." She said. "I
sparred your lives, but I demand to know why you framed me."
The attacker were still stunned at her amazing display, they weren't expecting
this kind of resistance, "We..we..weren't trying to frame you, we had orders to
bring the girl at the party."
"Why? She asked with a dangerous tone.
"We..we.. don't know.." The said shaking in fear. "We were only following
orders."
"Then why are you trying to kill me now? I'm not supposed to be your target."
"We only know what we are ordered to do, please.." One responded. "Usually
they don't tell us what they're plans are."
"Whose order are you following?" Shampoo demanded.
"We can't tell you! Please, they will kill us if we do." The other said
quickly.
"And you think I can't kill you right here?" She tightened her grip on her
sword.
"We know you can, but I don't think you have the guts to do it." One said.
"You are already accused of murder, you think killing us will help your case?
What about the bodies?"
[Damn, they're right, if anyone finds out I killed someone, that would just
darken my case even more even if it was only self defense.] She thought to
herself. "Deliver me a message then, tell your boss if he messes with me again
I'll see to it that he gets dismembered by me, even if it's the last thing I do
understand?" The two nodded. "Now, get out of my sight before I change my
mind!"
The two ran away as fast as possible, not even looking back. Shampoo sighed,
later she still needed to go hunting, and she already wasted some energy
fighting those idiots off. She shrugged and went back to her studies.
***
Nekohanten..
Cologne pointed to a thick forest in the north. "There is where Shampoo is
hiding, she might be anywhere though, we picked that place since it was easy to
find a hiding spot. There might be some trouble, but if anyone could find her,
it will be you, Ranma."
"Why the sudden trust, old ghoul? Your not afraid that I'll bring her corpse
back to you?" he asked.
"I trust you to do what you have to." Cologne replied. "And I don't think that
killing my granddaughter is one."
Ranma didn't answer, instead he turned to Akane "Let's go Akane, let's find
Shampoo and get this over with."
"Wait." Cologne called out, as she gave him a bag. "Tell my granddaughter these
are for her, if you ever find her that is."
Cologne looked at Mousse. "Another thing would you bring Mousse with you? I know
he would like to go, and there is always safety in numbers."
Mousse felt his heart leap out of him. [YES!] he thought to himself. [Finally, I
get a good chance to win back my lovely Shampoo's heart I will not fail!]
Ranma gave a slight shrug "Why not? We'll drop by before our search."
Ranma led Akane out of the store. They both decided it was best to head home
first then tomorrow they would both search for Shampoo.
"You really think she's innocent, Ranma?" She asked softly holding the book
Cologne gave her.
"I'm beginning to think more and more so." He responded, as he trotted on the
guardrails with ease.
"Just because some stupid arrow?" Akane snorted. "You know that means nothing."
"There are other reasons too." He said.
"Which are?"
"I don't think that it will change your mind." He answered. "But, I believe them
and they are reason enough for me to believe her innocence."
"What are you saying that I'm not smart enough to understand?" She growled.
"I didn't say that you uncute tomboy! Stop putting words in my mouth." He shot
back.
Usually by this time Akane would smashed Ranma into LEO, but for some reason,
the happiness that Ranma was back to normal sort of overcame the anger that was
within her.
"You meant to say that though!" she said not in her usual angry tone though.
"Glad to see your back to normal, you jerk."
"Stop calling me a jerk!" He said, also not in his normal angry voice.
The continued talking like this, all the way until they reached the Tendo Dojo.
***
Tendo Dojo..
It was near dinnertime when the duo returned; Akane decided she wanted to start
reading the book right away, so she headed toward the Dojo. Ranma who just
wanted some peace and quiet decided to go take a bath.
Akane sat in the Dojo and opened the book she silently read the first page.
'The Iron Fists: After you learn this ability your hands will be as of steel,
nothing can make you feel pain while hitting, even rock. You will be able strike
people with great force, disarm swords, spears with relative ease.'
[Sounds good so far, what's the catch? There is always a catch.] Akane thought
to herself.
'The first step in this training is will, you must have the will to carry on, no
matter how painful it might be. It is the beginning that is the most painful,
then it will ease as time goes by. First you need to find a big pot, then fill
it with metal powder, heat until red hot, then wrap your hand in cloth, make
sure the cloth can absorb enough heat, but not too much heat, you want to feel
some of the head seep though the cloth, slightly burning you hand, do this every
day until you feel nothing, then remove some of the cloth and continue do this
until you can touch the hot powder without even feeling it, then you mastered
the first part of The Iron Fists.'
[There is always a catch..] Akane thought to herself again, wondering what Ranma
would say when she started this training. [Well, no time like the present.] She
went to gather up the materials.
***
Ranma let out a sigh of relief as he soaked himself in the tub, the warm water
eased all him muscles and made him feel good. He closed his eyes and enjoyed
himself.
[Long day.] He thought to himself. The fact that people were out to kill Akane
baffled him. [Who would want to kill such an uncute tomboy anyways? It doesn't
make any sense.]
[Oh well, guess I'm just going to have to figure it out eh? Why does all this
happen to me anyways? It's like trouble always manages to find me no matter what
I do.]
He sinks a little deeper in the pool enjoying the hot water as he continued to
bathe himself, tomorrow is going to be another long day, he knew it, he could
feel it in his bones.
***
Training hall..
Akane stepped back a little, making sure she wrapped her hands correctly. She
moved her fingers a little, just to double check that it wouldn't fall off if
she moves too much.
She took a deep breath, then closing her eyes she stabbed her hands into the hot
sand of metal. She winced in pain as the heat seeped into her hands, ignoring
the pain she began find its way to her skin.
Akane opened her eyes, the pain was bad but still bearable, slowly she began to
do the basic movements for the technique. Finally, after she done all the moves,
she took her hand out of the searing hot sand and slowly removed the cloth that
was wrapped in her hand. She twiddled her finger just to make sure they were all
right.
"[I don't feel any different. Wonder if it's working.]" Akane thought to
herself.
"What are you doing up so late, Akane?" Ranma's voice called out.
She turned around, and faced Ranma who was in his pajamas now. "What are you
doing here, Ranma?"
"Just checking on what a tomboy like you were doing up this late." He said.
"Ranma.." She began. "YOU JERK!" She screamed knocking into the ground.
"OWW! That hurt! What have you been doing recently? Working out with barbells or
something?"
Akane smiled. Now she knew more or less that the technique worked, at least to
some point. Wasn't expecting it to work that fast though.
"It's the technique that Cologne wants me to learn, effective eh?" She asked.
"Figures, for a violent, uncute tomboy like you of course she will teach you a
technique that only relies on brute strength."
Ranma's back, to his old self no doubt about that, Akane thought to herself.
"[And he's royally pissing me off.]"
"RANMA NO BAKA!!" She yelled punching Ranma into a nearby wall.
"OUCH!" Was all Ranma could say.
***
Next day..
Ranma woke up earlier than everyone else; expect Kasumi. It was beginning to be
a routine that he always woke up early. "[Damnit, I have to stop waking up early
it's screwing up my timing.]"
"Good morning, Kasumi." He said, rubbing his eyes.
"Oh, good morning Ranma." She said. "How are you this morning."
"Fine, just great." He said.
[Hmm, looks like Ranma got over being depressed. That's good, better not ask him
though, he'll tell me if he wants to.] Kasumi thought to herself.
"That's good, there's some food on the table if you're ready for breakfast." She
said smiling continuing to do all the chores around the house.
"Thanks, I think I'll get some now." He said leaving the room.
A little later, the rest of the family came down and sat on the table eating
breakfast.
After that, Akane and Ranma proceed to go to school. Ranma in his usual red and
black Chinese outfit, and Akane in her school uniform. Ranma as usual walks on
the railing of the fence while Akane walk on the streets.
School went on very slow and very boring. Ranma yawned, he wanted to do
something, sitting in a classroom listing to a teacher yapping wasn't what he
wanted to do right now.
Finally, the lunch bell rang and students rushed out of the classroom to buy or
eat they're lunch. Ranma took this chance and pulled Akane to a secretive place,
then checking around to see no one was stalking them.
"What do you want Ranma?" Akane asked taken back how nervous Ranma is.
"I think we should go to the forest right now, before some of those assassins
figure out what's going on." He replied.
"Huh? What's wrong? Why are you so worried?"
"In class I had a feeling something was watching us, they might be in league
with the killer." Ranma said. "I think we should go with Ukyou just to be safe."
Akane can feel a sudden serge of anger seep in her, '[So THAT'S why you're
acting that nervous, you jerk. You don't have the guts to tell me that you
invited your childhood sweetheart, well see if I care!]'
"Oh, I see so you don't think a uncute tomboy like me can defend myself eh?"
Akane spat.
However, the nervousness in Ranma's voice overcame all the feeling of doubt. "I
serious, Akane. I'm really worried, what if they are better than we thought?
There is strength in numbers. Besides, you can never be too careful."
That was enough to wash away all the doubt that was left over. "Fine, Ranma,
bring her along, if it will make you feel better."
"Thanks, Akane, it will make me feel a lot better."
With that the two set out to find Ukyou.
***
In the forest..
Shampoo sighed. She wasn't in the mood for studies today, the assault on her
yesterday still baffled her. Why would someone come after her, wasn't Akane the
target?
She decided to go out to practice her sword skills a little. Holding her sword
behind her back she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With a flash she
thrust her sword forward; then taking a careful step back she spun her sword a
little, remembering all the moves that were on the scrolls that Cologne have
given her.
She took a deep breath then using the flat end of the sword, Shampoo hit a
nearby tree, shaking many leaves off.
"The Autumn Wind Sweeps The Leaves" She exclaimed, slicing around her in a
circular motion at incredible speed. After she was finished, all the leaves were
cut in half, and in a three feet radius there were no leaves on the ground at
all.
Satisfied, Shampoo knelt to take a quick rest. That's when she noticed that
there was a crack in her blade. That wasn't right, she thought to herself. She
was only slicing leaves, that shouldn't have damaged the blade at all.
She was defiantly puzzled now, not knowing what to do, she vaulted herself up
with the sword..
CLANG!! With a piercing noise the sword shattered into little tiny pieces, while
three scrolls and a piece of paper fell out..
Weird, Shampoo thought as she picked up the scrolls and the paper, she looked
puzzled as she saw the scrolls, the first one said "The White Snake" the second
one said "The Red Serpent" and the last one said "The Purple Dragon".
Each of the scrolls were sealed of with a weird piece of yellow paper, on it
there was the Kanji 'sealed' written on it. Then, she picked up the piece of
paper that came with it, and discovered it was a letter, in Chinese. Suspicious,
she began to read the letter.
_Dear my daughter Shan Pu:
If you are reading this, I'm then gone from this world. You see, the reason why
this sword was so powerful was because of the scrolls that were sealed within
it. These scrolls have three powerful techniques that our family used, however,
because the nature of the techniques, it's only possible to master one of the
three. I hope Grandmother has trained you enough that you will know which one to
choose.
The reason I sealed these techniques was because I knew they would be needed
once more after I passed away, and would be safer here than it would be any
other place.
You see, the story about me dying when you were young was made up to protect
you, everyone thought it was for the best for you not to know the truth yet.
However, it's best that you know now, that you are grown into a strong woman
(Hopefully) that you know the truth and the seriousness of the case you are in.
You see, I sealed the scrolls with my blood to assure that no one finds the
scroll in the swords. Even if they knew where they were they would have a hard
time opening the seal. The seal will only be broken if I'm not in this world and
if it's touched by my descendent.
I have also taken part in sealing a demon, I sealed it the same way that I
sealed the scrolls. However, there's always been a cult trying to revive it.
Before I sealed the demon however, it was up to me and two others to defeat it.
We all mastered one of three scrolls, and was able to use them against the
enemy.
Now, I have the feeling that it is up to you to seal this demon once again,
hopefully better yet, destroy it for good. I hope you can forgive me for leaving
you one day, but it had to be done. Good luck, blood of my blood, flesh of my
flesh.
Your Mother with love,
Shan Sheu.
**
Shampoo froze, she quickly read the letter again just to make sure she had
everything right. Although she didn't really remember her mother at all,
however, she remembered the handwriting, Cologne had her read old parchments
that her mother kept ever since she was young. There was no mistake, this was
written by her mother.
Then Shampoo did something she hasn't been able to do recently-She cried.
***
Ranma found Ukyou rather quickly, since Ukyou was looking for Ranma also. They
all (including Akane) stood around a tree. Ranma quickly explained the situation
to Ukyou..
"Well, Ran-chan, what kind of mess did you get yourself into now?" Ukyou asked.
"Ucchan, I told you, I don't think things are as easy as they look, some people
are after Akane; and the fact that I don't believe Shampoo has shot that damn
arrow."
"Hey, you can always count on me, Ran-chan." Ukyou said. "I follow you to the
ends of the earth if it makes you happy."
For once, Ranma was glad Ukyou didn't take much to convince for her to tag
along. Then again when didn't Ukyou show enthusiasm when it came to her 'Ran-
chan'?
Akane who still wasn't happy, and perhaps a little jealous (Although she'll
never admit it.) but since Ranma was clearly worried about her she let it slide.
The three headed toward the Nekohanten where they would pick up Mousse and then
head out to find Shampoo, of course finding Shampoo would be the hardest part.
Looking at the map, Ranma sighed; the old ghoul was right about one thing:
Shampoo wouldn't be very easy to find.
On a happier note, or if you can even call that, was that Ranma was sure that
Shampoo wasn't the one that shot the arrow. However, every coin has two sides,
if it wasn't her, then who?
That was another thing that Ranma couldn't really get out his mind, someone
trying to hurt Akane? Why? What will it gain them to kill a tomboy like her?
(Good thing Akane can't hear my thoughts, or I'll probably eat another mallet
just for THINKING that.)
For some reason, Ranma thought, everything bad happens to him, but everyone is
out to capture Akane for some reason. Kirin, Toma, Saffereon.. the list goes on.
Just when Ranma had all these thoughts swimming in his mind they arrived at the
Nekohanten. Ukyou and Akane waited patiently as Ranma went in and grabbed
Mousse.
It only took a second as the two men stepped out, Mousse was wearing his usual
attire white robes and thick glasses.
"You guys ready?" Mousse asked.
"As we'll ever be." Ukyou responded.
"Then let's get this over with." Ranma said, eyes glittering with determination.
So, they all set off after that.
***
After Shampoo had cried her heart out, she grimly clenched the letter with her
hand. "[It'll do me no good to just crying here. If this isn't destiny, I don't
know what is.]"
She proceeded to pick up one of the scroll, right as she picked it up the seal
broke off suddenly and the scroll opened with a blinding light.
Shampoo covered her eyes as the light faded away. "[Great.]" She thought to
herself, she was supposed to pick one, however this one picked her, "[Maybe it
was for the best.]"
"[Might as well see what scroll choose me.]" She flipped the scroll over 'The
Purple Dragon'
Shampoo sighed. "Why am I not surprised."
She silently picked up the other scroll while going back to her hut. Once inside
the hut, she placed the scrolls on the table, and picked up the "Purple Dragon
Technique"
Shampoo opened the scroll and started to read the beginning of the scroll. As
she read it she slowly got so absorbed in the scroll, that she forgot about the
time.
***
Shampoo sat up from her studies, taking a peek at the outside to estimate what
the time was.
She gasped as she found out it was almost dark; she had missed the time to go
hunting.
Then she remembered that her trusted sword had been broken. Having no time to
spare, she grabbed a straight sword that she had brought along. Although she
wasn't too sure how to use it, but who cares, at least she was partially armed.
She put on a black 'ninja' outfit, and a face mask, she didn't want to risk it,
covering her thick purple hair, she finished dressing up.
Grabbing her bow and a quiver of arrows, she left her little hut and went out to
hunt, then finally with a swing of the sword she strapped it behind her back.
***
Ranma sighed. They're search was leading them nowhere; the forest was a way too
big to really spot anyone. The others were equally as frustrated; there were
pretty much no clue on where she would be.
"This sucks." Mousse mumbled.
"You can say that again, sugar." Ukyou said.
"Look here guys," Ranma started. "Why don't we split up? We still got an hour or
so before it gets too dark, we'll split up and look around? We'll meet back here
in half an hour."
"Good idea, I'll go with Mousse and search the eastern area." Ukyou replied,
grabbing Mousse they walked away to search they're area.
"I guess I'm with you then." Ranma said to Akane.
Akane nodded.
"Well, let's not waste any time then."
They both walked into the west side of the forest.
***
Mousse put on his glasses of the nth time. No luck, not even the slightest,
Shampoo's Amazon training was really starting to pay off he thought to himself.
Ukyou was on the ground looking for any foot prints but there were none.
Suddenly, Ukyou felt something "WHO'S THERE!" She yelled throwing a few mini
spatula's in a tree.
With a thump a shadow fell from the tree and stood up quickly it ran away.
"Wait come back here!" Ukyou yelled running after it.
Mousse quickly jumped up a tree and chased after the other two.
***
"Shampoo!" Ranma hollered.
"This is hopeless." Akane sighed. "We've been looking forever."
"I can't give up though, we'll come back tomorrow." Ranma said. "If necessary."
"Ranma." Akane began. "Is this so important to you?"
Before Ranma could reply there were footsteps coming from the thick trees.
"Over there!" Akane said, quickly running toward the sound.
"Wait don't run off by yourself you uncute tomboy!" Ranma said. Too late, she
already disappeared into the thick leaves.
"Stupid uncute.." Ranma mumbled running after her.
***
For how long Akane ran, she did not know, but it was awhile. She reached a empty
ring with a small hut.
"A hut?" She thought to herself "What is hut doing out here?"
Her thoughts came short when a five figures jumped in front of her.
"Well, our target found us." One said.
"I can't believe she would be dumb enough to look for us, Masho" The other
said.
"Since she's here, let's finish the job!"
The all took out they're swords and started to attack.
"[Well, five on one those aren't bad odds.]" Akane thought to herself.
One swung his sword at her, she dodged to the side, while giving another one a
slight push, the one pushed took two step backwards.. rubbing the place he got
hit.
"Be careful, the metal fists." yelled to the others.
Once he said that they seem to all keep they're distance. Akane was getting worn
out, since she couldn't get to them while they played keep away, they're swords
provided much more reach then her fists do.
Masho jumped back and slyly took out a sharp steel dart, then when Akane turned
her back on him he threw the dart at her.
Akane gasped as the dart came at her, it was too late to do anything about it.
She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. "[I'm sorry Ranma.]" She thought
to herself.
Whoosh! Bing!
The dart never hit, Akane opened her eyes and saw what happened an arrow neatly
planted itself in the dart. She looked at her assaulters and they looked equally
surprised.
Suddenly, a hail of arrows seem to drop, chasing the assassins away, they all
quickly ran and disappeared.
The person who was responsible for the arrows stepped out. He held a bow and
arrow.
"Thanks." Akane said.
"AKANE!" Ranma voice rang out. He appeared through the thickets. He saw the
figure with the bow.
"You! What do you think your doing to Akane?" He said attacking the figure.
"Wait.." Akane said. "He helped me."
Too late, Ranma in a blind fury started to attack the figure.
Ranma released a fury of punches at the figure, who blocked all of them, Ranma
backed up to catch his breath for awhile. The figure also flipped back, although
he was shaking his hand seemed like blocking those punches hurt more than he
thought it would.
Ranma rushed up, the figure reached for his sword, Ranma keen eyes saw it, and
rushed to push the sword back in the scabbard. The figure did a 180 spinning and
slapping the sword and scabbard right in Ranma's face.
Ranma quickly grabbed anything in his reach as he fell backwards. Coincidentally
it was the figure's mask, he ripped the whole thing off..
Revealing long lavender hair as the mask came off..
"SHAMPOO?" Akane gasped.
End of Chapter 1.
Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2 . Rumiko Takahashi does.
A/N: Couple things before I go on. Some people wondered why Shampoo isn't
speaking in her 'broken' speech. Well I would suppose living in Japan for 2
years will change that. (Shampoo was 16 I believe in the beginning and now is
18.)
Some characters might act a little OOC, but hopefully you guys will enjoy this
anyways. If anyone have any questions, comments.. etc, feel free to email me at
dragonofkhaos@yahoo.com
Chinese speech
[] Thoughts
Ranma woke up suddenly, he have been waking up early ever since that
incident that hurt his father. He just couldn't get a good nights rest
for the life of him. He glanced over to a clock and knew it was time
for breakfast.
He ate breakfast silently, with the usual crew, save Genma. Every so
often one of the people will try to cheer him up, or give him a
reassuring glance, but he didn't care much for it, the news has came..
Genma was safe, but he will never be able to practice martial arts
again.
"Come on, Ranma, he'll be fine, the doctors might have made a mistake
your father is going to be just fine." Akane said trying cheer Ranma
up.
It didn't work, he was still as depressed as he could be, and it was
not only because Genma got hurt, but also because that one of his
friends would stoop that low and do such a thing, also the thought of someone
trying to kill Akane didn't make him feel any better either.
He finished his breakfast abruptly, "I'm going to get ready for
school." He announced. Without saying another word, he went to get
ready for school.
***
On the way to school it was pretty silent, recently everyone has been
treating him better: Akane, Kodachi, Ukyou even Ryouga hasn't bugged
him much. Sure, they would come bother him once in awhile, but they
seemed all around nicer.
As Ranma walked toward school on the guardrail (old habits die hard) he
seemed to be deep thought. Akane looked at him worried, recently they
were rarely late to school, they didn't argue, didn't fight, in fact
she hasn't even smashed him with her mallet in awhile, Ranma's mind
seemed to always drift elsewhere.
They finally arrived at school; the morning raids were gone, ever since
Genma got shot, everyone seemed to offer they're condolences to what
happened, all except Kuno, who was still as clueless as before.
"Face me, foul Saotome! I shall smite thee today!" He announced.
Ranma didn't even bother to answer him, smashing a fist in his face, he
knocked him out with greater force than he used to. He was no mood to
face idiots who didn't have a clue whatsoever.
"[Man, either Kuno is just that insensitive or that stupid.]" Akane
thought to herself. Without another thought, she followed Ranma to
class.
For the hundredth time, Ranma found him mind on other things, not even
being able to concentrate the slightest. Ukyou also saw this; it hurt
her greatly to see Ranma in this condition, but so far everything she
or any other person has done, did nothing to improve Ranma's condition.
At lunch time, Ranma usually sat as far away to people as possible, he
wanted to be alone. "[I have to stop doing this.]" he thought to
himself. "[This isn't helping anyone or anything, it isn't fair to the
people who actually want to help me.]"
The paced around a little trying to clear his mind but it didn't work.
"[Still, I can't believe that Shampoo would do it. Wait, what I am
THINKING? All the evidence point to her, it had to be her. Hold on, no
one actually SAW her shooting the arrow, everyone just ASSUMED she shot
the arrow, there was no solid prove that she done anything.]"
"AUGGH!" Ranma yelled in frustration, he punched a nearby tree to vent
out some anger, the tree shook violently at the impact as a few leaves
dropped down. "[Wait, maybe there is a clue that I overlooked, THAT'S
RIGHT!! Why didn't I think of that earlier!]"
Not waiting for school to end he rushed out, he managed to rush by
Akane. "Where are you going, Ranma? School's not out yet." She asked.
"I'm heading to the Nekohanten." He replied. "Want to come with me?"
Akane frowned. "Why go there? Remember how Cologne disowned Shampoo and
burned all her stuff?" she answered.
"Do you really believe that?" Ranma asked in a hurry. "I don't really
have time to explain so are you coming or not?"
Akane sighed, "Hold on, I'm coming."
Ranma and Akane rushed to the Nekohanten, although Cologne has provide
a very believable story that she disowned Shampoo and burned all her
stuff. However, judging by how treated her great granddaughter before,
he didn't really believe that.
Ranma explained it to Akane, for the first time Akane actually thought
he was making some sense, she was still angry at the Amazon for
attempting to murder her, and was tempted to level the Nekohanten she would
have, if she thought it would do any good, but it wouldn't have.
"So, you think that Cologne is lying about disowning Shampoo?" Akane
asked.
"I don't know, that's what I intend to find out." He answered.
"How? You know how sneaky and manipulative that old witch can be.
Plus she doesn't seem to be the type to be easily intimidated." She
asked.
"Don't worry, leave it to me." He answered plainly.
For some reason, that worried Akane, usually when Ranma said "I'll take
care of it, leave it to me." It translated to "I'll take care of it by
pounding the other person into the ground."
***
Inside Nekohanten
Mousse was in a bad mood. Very bad mood. He hasn't seen his lovely Shampoo for
too long. He has heard about the news, but he utterly refused to believe that
she would do such a thing. No, the others had to be wrong, but when he asked
Cologne, he got bashed in the head for asking, and was forced to drop the
subject.
That heartless old ghoul! He thought to himself as he took another person's
order. Growling he brought the order back to Cologne. The door opened making the
bells on it ring, Mousse sighed, another order to take.
"Welcome to the Nekohanten may I take your orders?" he said less than
enthusiastic.
"We're not here to eat alright? We're here to see the old ghoul!" A familiar
voice explained.
Mousse immediately came back to his senses; he adjusted his glasses "RANMA!" He
growled. "What are you doing here?" He went to a fighting stance immediately.
Ranma rolled his eyes, "Chill out dude!" Ranma exclaimed. "I'm not here to fight
you okay? I just want to talk to Cologne okay?"
Akane nodded.
Mousse snorted again. "Hey old mummy! There are some people out here to see
you!" He called out loudly.
A staff immediately found it's way to Mousse head. "I know that you idiot, I'm
old not deaf!"
"I'll take care of this, part-timer, go to the kitchen and handle orders, will
you? I'll be right back." Cologne responded. Mousse answered with a grunt as he
headed for the kitchen.
"So, what can I do for you today, Ranma?" She asked.
"I want answers, right now." He said sternly.
"Isn't that what everyone wants?" She shot back, with a near taunting tone. "We
can't always get what we want, Ranma."
Ranma glared at her. "I'm serious, old ghoul, I'm not leaving until you answer
all my questions." His aura flared up to prove his point.
Cologne gave a slight nod, she acknowledged Ranma's power and skill as a
warrior, given the right conditions, he could probably beat her in a fair match.
"Very well, what do you want to know?"
"I want to know about what happened to Shampoo, now." He hissed.
Cologne face turned white when she heard the name 'Shampoo'. She had run out of
time, she thought, and now Ranma knew, she didn't know how much, but he knew
that she was hiding something. She gave a slight nod.
"EVERYONE OUT!" She called out. "NEKOHANTEN IS CLOSED FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!
EVERYONE HERE WILL BE COMPENSATED WITH A FREE BOWL OF RAMEN TOMORROW!" She
announced loudly.
Groans and complaints could be heard everywhere, while everyone reluctantly
left. She quickly led Ranma and Akane to the back room, while Mousse 'politely'
asked everyone to leave while shutting and locking the door behind him. He was
excited that he could finally learn something if he secretly eavesdropped. Of
course the elder wouldn't like it very much, and would probably punish him for
it, but it will be worth it.
Inside, Cologne instructed Ranma and Akane to sit on crates besides her. She sat
down on opposite side.
"So, Ranma, may I ask why you want to know where Shampoo is? You plan to
personally hand her head to me on a silver platter?" She asked.
"I said I wanted to KNOW everything about what happened, not where she is, I
will decide if I want to after you told me what I want to know." Ranma
responded.
Akane was slightly surprised. When did Ranma become so analytical? It was
scaring her for him to act this way; probably the recent turn of events forced
him to be in such a way. She decided so long as the information that he's
squeezing out was ones that she also wanted to know, it was better for her to
keep her mouth shut.
"Of course." Cologne said, a look of relief crossed her face. "Oh, yea, Mousse?"
She called out. "You might want to come in, I bet you would like to hear this
too."
The door squeaked open as Mousse walked in. "How did you know I was there?" he
mumbled.
"Your just that predictable, that how." She answered. "Let me ask you something
first Ranma."
Ranma nodded.
"What do you think happened? Your version of what you believe, you too, Tendo-
chan." She said.
Akane spoke first, always jumping the gun. "I think what everyone else thinks,
Shampoo tried to kill me, and ran away afterwards. I would have been dead if Mr.
Saotome didn't take the arrow for me."
"Okay," Cologne said nodding. "And you Ranma?"
"I don't know, that was what I was hoping you could tell me. All I know is
someone shot an arrow, my father took it, and then I saw Shampoo running away
from the scene." Ranma replied. "Knowing Shampoo the first place she would come
back when there is trouble is here. So, don't try to sell me the crap that she
never returned and you burned all her stuff in anger."
The elder woman closed her eyes and nodded. "You are so much more than I
thought, Ranma." She said. "When did you become this smart?"
"When someone is forced in to the condition I am, it forces them to be like
this." He answered. "So, what's the story?"
"Before I begin, Mousse would you be so kind as to fetch one of Shampoo's
arrows?" She asked. Mousse looked up in confusion.
"I thought you burned all of them." He responded, which earned him another bash
in the head with the staff.
"Weren't you listening at all? I didn't burn anything, Shampoo brought some her
stuff with her, I kept a few arrows for myself in case they will come useful,
that and all her stuff in the hidden compartment." She eyed Mousse as giving him
a silent message.
Mousse nodded, he ran out the door, and before long he ran back holding one of
Shampoo's arrows. He handed the arrow to the elder who hid it behind her.
"By any chance do you remember what the arrow which hit Genma looked like?" She
asked.
"Slightly, why?"
"Do you remember what it's arrow tip was like? And the tail of the arrow, what
did that look like? Can you recall at all?"
"I remember that the tip of the arrow was made out of steel, the upper part was
a sharp triangle, which hooked inside in the end. The end of the arrow was made
out of some feather like material, which had different colors." He responded.
"Is that good enough?"
The elder nodded. She handed the arrow to Ranma. "Tell me what you see, after
your done, you may pass it to Tendo-san there."
Ranma looked at the arrow, then he felt a feeling of both relief and
disappointment wash through him. The arrow tip was round and pointed, but there
was no hook at the end of it. The end of the arrow there were defiantly
feathers, but this time it was all of the same color.
He passed to Akane, she too looked at the arrow, she couldn't make out why the
elder was making them look at something so trivial. She hasn't had as much
martial arts training as Ranma did and didn't really know what to look for.
With a confused look, she passed the arrow back to Cologne, who took the arrow
and put it on the table. "Well?" She asked.
"It's not the same arrow." Ranma responded. "The arrow which wounded my father
isn't the same as this arrow."
Akane felt her anger rise. "So? It might be that Shampoo has different arrows,
how do you know that this old mummy isn't tricking us?"
Cologne also swelled up with anger. "Are you calling me a liar?" She hissed.
"For your information, our arrows don't hook back, those which do, is design to
kill, and even if it doesn't, it will be very difficult to remove."
"What do you mean?" Akane growled back.
"The reason that they make the end hook is so that if you attempt to remove it
the wrong way, it would open up the wound even more. Amazons despise that
particular tactic. Therefore our arrows are always round and sharp, I also have
reason to believe that the arrow tip that shot Mr. Saotome was poisoned."
A chill ran up Ranma's spine. "Poison? What kind? You gotta help him then!" He
blabbered.
"Easy, Ranma." She said. "I'm not too sure if it was poisoned or not. But if it
was poison I don't think it's a life threaten poison."
She continued. "I wouldn't worry about it, I think that arrow was designed for
Tendo-san."
Ranma nodded. "We'll get back to this, you still haven't told us what we wanted
to know."
Cologne smiled. "What is there to say? You already know as much as I.." Ranma
gave her an angry glare. "Oh alright, it happened as you said it, my great
granddaughter was there, and she heard an arrow swish right beside her, she
quickly went after the shadow who shot it."
Ranma gave a slight nod, where Akane still had a look of doubt etched on her
face.
The old woman continued. "Unfortunately for her, she lost the shadow, and had to
head back. When she closed in she overheard Nabiki talking with an officer and
knew she was in trouble. She ran back here and we talked. When I saw the arrow
in Genma-san, I knew it wasn't my granddaughter that shot it, but I had to make
sure so I asked her a few questions."
"So, you did lie, you lied to the police." Akane interrupted. "That you disowned
her, and burned all her stuff."
"Only to protect my great granddaughter! Because she was innocent!" She growled.
"Okay, where in heck is she now?" Ranma asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Cologne asked back. "How would I know that she isn't
going get killed by you or Tendo-san?"
"I don't hit girls." Ranma said plainly. "I just want to know because, although
I doubted her before, I didn't believe that she would attempt to murder anyone.
Don't worry about Akane here, I won't let her hurt your granddaughter."
Cologne sighed. "I don't see how seeing Shampoo will help this condition
anymore, I'm more worried about Tendo-san here."
"Me?" Akane asked surprised. "Why?"
"The assassinator meant to kill you, now that he failed, who is to say that he
or she won't make another attempt?" Cologne answered simply.
Ranma suddenly looked very worried, he has forgotten in all the confusion,
frustration and grief that AKANE not his father was the target.
"HEY!" Akane complained. "I'm also a martial artist I can take care of myself!"
She insisted.
"Tell me, Tendo-san, if it wasn't for Genma standing in front of that arrow,
where would you be now?" Cologne asked simply.
Akane found herself temperately lost for words. "I.. er..uh.."
"That's what I thought." She answered. "In any case, I still think searching for
my great granddaughter would be a good idea."
"Wait first you tell me you don't want to tell me where she is, now you WANT me
to find her?" Ranma said. "That doesn't make any sense."
"I changed my mind." She answered simply. "Besides, I want to you give her some
stuff, and make sure she's safe. In return of course I would train Tendo-san so
she will have some form of self defense if the attackers decide to try again."
"Train me?" Akane asked. "Are you serious, old woman?"
"Well, if you want, although I do have some ground rules." She replied. Akane's
face fell, of course she wouldn't teach her without anything in return.
She sighed. "Okay, let's not make this any longer then it has to be. What are
the rules?"
"Well, first of all, maybe it's high time you called me sensei instead of old
ghoul, or old mummy eh?" She said smiling.
Akane felt some sort of relief wash over her, although she didn't like Cologne
but the chance to train under one of the best martial artist outweighed her
dislike.
"Okay, sensei, when do we start?" She said finally.
"Right now, after I tell you where Shampoo might be.. it's a big area and I
don't expect you guys to find it any time soon." She explained as she took out a
book and plopped it on the table. "The technique is described in there, at least
the basics are described there. When you finish all that the book says, come
back and see me. If you have any questions ask me also."
Akane could only nod as she picked up the book.. it was pretty small and the
cover was blue. On it was written in gold the name of the technique, "The Iron
Fists".
"The Iron Fist?" She read confused.
Cologne nodded. "It allows the users hands to be has hard as steel, thus hitting
or getting hit by it could be very painful, the book explains more, now.." She
continued taking out a map. "Let me show you were you might be able to find
her."
***
In the forest..
Shampoo lit an oil lamp and continued to read one of the scrolls she was working
on. She sipped a little of her tea and sighed. She didn't have much to do, she
still haven't had a clue why her great grandmother wanted her to learn some
fighting techniques that clearly wasn't for her.
She sighed, the chestnut fists weren't that hard, but she had a bad time
learning it. It took her so long that she almost gave up because she burned
herself too many times. Then she remembered what Cologne has said, that she
expected her to learn all of the scrolls before they next met.
She unrolled more of the scroll as she continued to read the ancient Chinese
text, she stopped suddenly when she heard a sound outside her hut, quickly
grapping her sword and wearing a mask, she sneaked outside and tried to find the
attacker.
As she went through the door, she noticed a shadow on her roof, the same shadow
she has seen during Ranma's birthday. A sudden urge of anger overcame her, she
felt her blood boil, she would teach the person a lesson, never mess with an
Amazon.
Silently, she pulled out a long sharp needle; she flicked it at the shadow and
ran after it. She saw a glint of steel as a loud ding was heard as the sound of
steel hitting steel. Suddenly, she sensed an enemy coming from her back, she
quickly dodged out of the way as a sword missed her head by a few inches.
The shadow jumped from it's hiding revealing a dark figure, it of course was
wearing black from top to bottom, with his companion join him, they both pulled
out long blades and stood in a defensive stance.
"Who are you?" She called out, "Why are you trying to frame me?"
The two beings just stood there as they didn't understand what she was asking.
"What do you think she's babbling about?" One asked the other in a familiar
tongue.
"Don't know, but you know the orders, we were supposed to kill her!" The other
answered.
It was Chinese; there was no mistake about it. What were these people doing
here? Shampoo thought. "What do you want?" She asked in the 'proper' tongue.
The figure looked fairly surprised that she knew Chinese, that, Shampoo
concluded meant that they didn't know they're targets very well, a sense of
relief washed over her, but at the same time a sense of fear was born. Why did
these men come? What were they're purpose?
"Isn't it obvious? We're here to kill you." One said swing his sword a few
times to emphasize the point.
"Why?" She asked.
The figures didn't respond, instead they both charged. [Oh well] Shampoo thought
[Now is the time to see if all this learning has paid off or not.]
One of the figures swung his sword at her, she brought up her blade to block it.
The other swung from the back of her; she dodged to the side. The attacker in
the front kicked his foot up, which got pinned down by Shampoo foot, he gave a
cry of pain as her foot landed on top of his.
The other seeing that his partner was in trouble, swung his sword horizontally
at Shampoo trying to cut her in half. Shampoo eyes widened as the sword came to
her spinning herself 180 degrees she rolled in back of the assaulter that her
foot was on as she gave his arm a good kick which caused his arm to fly up and
block the incoming blow.
That surprised both of the assaulters; Shampoo seized this opportunity while
they were surprised to sheath her sword and hit them both of them over and over
again.
"Kachu Tenshin Amarguriken revised! The Autumn Wind Sweeping leaves!" She
called as the sheathed blade hit her enemies at an incredible speed, it was just
as fast as Ranma's but nowhere close to as powerful, but then again Ranma's just
er.. Ranma.
With a final blow she knocked both of the attackers swords out of they're hands.
Then with a ring of the sword she pulled it out again. "Now." She said. "I
sparred your lives, but I demand to know why you framed me."
The attacker were still stunned at her amazing display, they weren't expecting
this kind of resistance, "We..we..weren't trying to frame you, we had orders to
bring the girl at the party."
"Why? She asked with a dangerous tone.
"We..we.. don't know.." The said shaking in fear. "We were only following
orders."
"Then why are you trying to kill me now? I'm not supposed to be your target."
"We only know what we are ordered to do, please.." One responded. "Usually
they don't tell us what they're plans are."
"Whose order are you following?" Shampoo demanded.
"We can't tell you! Please, they will kill us if we do." The other said
quickly.
"And you think I can't kill you right here?" She tightened her grip on her
sword.
"We know you can, but I don't think you have the guts to do it." One said.
"You are already accused of murder, you think killing us will help your case?
What about the bodies?"
[Damn, they're right, if anyone finds out I killed someone, that would just
darken my case even more even if it was only self defense.] She thought to
herself. "Deliver me a message then, tell your boss if he messes with me again
I'll see to it that he gets dismembered by me, even if it's the last thing I do
understand?" The two nodded. "Now, get out of my sight before I change my
mind!"
The two ran away as fast as possible, not even looking back. Shampoo sighed,
later she still needed to go hunting, and she already wasted some energy
fighting those idiots off. She shrugged and went back to her studies.
***
Nekohanten..
Cologne pointed to a thick forest in the north. "There is where Shampoo is
hiding, she might be anywhere though, we picked that place since it was easy to
find a hiding spot. There might be some trouble, but if anyone could find her,
it will be you, Ranma."
"Why the sudden trust, old ghoul? Your not afraid that I'll bring her corpse
back to you?" he asked.
"I trust you to do what you have to." Cologne replied. "And I don't think that
killing my granddaughter is one."
Ranma didn't answer, instead he turned to Akane "Let's go Akane, let's find
Shampoo and get this over with."
"Wait." Cologne called out, as she gave him a bag. "Tell my granddaughter these
are for her, if you ever find her that is."
Cologne looked at Mousse. "Another thing would you bring Mousse with you? I know
he would like to go, and there is always safety in numbers."
Mousse felt his heart leap out of him. [YES!] he thought to himself. [Finally, I
get a good chance to win back my lovely Shampoo's heart I will not fail!]
Ranma gave a slight shrug "Why not? We'll drop by before our search."
Ranma led Akane out of the store. They both decided it was best to head home
first then tomorrow they would both search for Shampoo.
"You really think she's innocent, Ranma?" She asked softly holding the book
Cologne gave her.
"I'm beginning to think more and more so." He responded, as he trotted on the
guardrails with ease.
"Just because some stupid arrow?" Akane snorted. "You know that means nothing."
"There are other reasons too." He said.
"Which are?"
"I don't think that it will change your mind." He answered. "But, I believe them
and they are reason enough for me to believe her innocence."
"What are you saying that I'm not smart enough to understand?" She growled.
"I didn't say that you uncute tomboy! Stop putting words in my mouth." He shot
back.
Usually by this time Akane would smashed Ranma into LEO, but for some reason,
the happiness that Ranma was back to normal sort of overcame the anger that was
within her.
"You meant to say that though!" she said not in her usual angry tone though.
"Glad to see your back to normal, you jerk."
"Stop calling me a jerk!" He said, also not in his normal angry voice.
The continued talking like this, all the way until they reached the Tendo Dojo.
***
Tendo Dojo..
It was near dinnertime when the duo returned; Akane decided she wanted to start
reading the book right away, so she headed toward the Dojo. Ranma who just
wanted some peace and quiet decided to go take a bath.
Akane sat in the Dojo and opened the book she silently read the first page.
'The Iron Fists: After you learn this ability your hands will be as of steel,
nothing can make you feel pain while hitting, even rock. You will be able strike
people with great force, disarm swords, spears with relative ease.'
[Sounds good so far, what's the catch? There is always a catch.] Akane thought
to herself.
'The first step in this training is will, you must have the will to carry on, no
matter how painful it might be. It is the beginning that is the most painful,
then it will ease as time goes by. First you need to find a big pot, then fill
it with metal powder, heat until red hot, then wrap your hand in cloth, make
sure the cloth can absorb enough heat, but not too much heat, you want to feel
some of the head seep though the cloth, slightly burning you hand, do this every
day until you feel nothing, then remove some of the cloth and continue do this
until you can touch the hot powder without even feeling it, then you mastered
the first part of The Iron Fists.'
[There is always a catch..] Akane thought to herself again, wondering what Ranma
would say when she started this training. [Well, no time like the present.] She
went to gather up the materials.
***
Ranma let out a sigh of relief as he soaked himself in the tub, the warm water
eased all him muscles and made him feel good. He closed his eyes and enjoyed
himself.
[Long day.] He thought to himself. The fact that people were out to kill Akane
baffled him. [Who would want to kill such an uncute tomboy anyways? It doesn't
make any sense.]
[Oh well, guess I'm just going to have to figure it out eh? Why does all this
happen to me anyways? It's like trouble always manages to find me no matter what
I do.]
He sinks a little deeper in the pool enjoying the hot water as he continued to
bathe himself, tomorrow is going to be another long day, he knew it, he could
feel it in his bones.
***
Training hall..
Akane stepped back a little, making sure she wrapped her hands correctly. She
moved her fingers a little, just to double check that it wouldn't fall off if
she moves too much.
She took a deep breath, then closing her eyes she stabbed her hands into the hot
sand of metal. She winced in pain as the heat seeped into her hands, ignoring
the pain she began find its way to her skin.
Akane opened her eyes, the pain was bad but still bearable, slowly she began to
do the basic movements for the technique. Finally, after she done all the moves,
she took her hand out of the searing hot sand and slowly removed the cloth that
was wrapped in her hand. She twiddled her finger just to make sure they were all
right.
"[I don't feel any different. Wonder if it's working.]" Akane thought to
herself.
"What are you doing up so late, Akane?" Ranma's voice called out.
She turned around, and faced Ranma who was in his pajamas now. "What are you
doing here, Ranma?"
"Just checking on what a tomboy like you were doing up this late." He said.
"Ranma.." She began. "YOU JERK!" She screamed knocking into the ground.
"OWW! That hurt! What have you been doing recently? Working out with barbells or
something?"
Akane smiled. Now she knew more or less that the technique worked, at least to
some point. Wasn't expecting it to work that fast though.
"It's the technique that Cologne wants me to learn, effective eh?" She asked.
"Figures, for a violent, uncute tomboy like you of course she will teach you a
technique that only relies on brute strength."
Ranma's back, to his old self no doubt about that, Akane thought to herself.
"[And he's royally pissing me off.]"
"RANMA NO BAKA!!" She yelled punching Ranma into a nearby wall.
"OUCH!" Was all Ranma could say.
***
Next day..
Ranma woke up earlier than everyone else; expect Kasumi. It was beginning to be
a routine that he always woke up early. "[Damnit, I have to stop waking up early
it's screwing up my timing.]"
"Good morning, Kasumi." He said, rubbing his eyes.
"Oh, good morning Ranma." She said. "How are you this morning."
"Fine, just great." He said.
[Hmm, looks like Ranma got over being depressed. That's good, better not ask him
though, he'll tell me if he wants to.] Kasumi thought to herself.
"That's good, there's some food on the table if you're ready for breakfast." She
said smiling continuing to do all the chores around the house.
"Thanks, I think I'll get some now." He said leaving the room.
A little later, the rest of the family came down and sat on the table eating
breakfast.
After that, Akane and Ranma proceed to go to school. Ranma in his usual red and
black Chinese outfit, and Akane in her school uniform. Ranma as usual walks on
the railing of the fence while Akane walk on the streets.
School went on very slow and very boring. Ranma yawned, he wanted to do
something, sitting in a classroom listing to a teacher yapping wasn't what he
wanted to do right now.
Finally, the lunch bell rang and students rushed out of the classroom to buy or
eat they're lunch. Ranma took this chance and pulled Akane to a secretive place,
then checking around to see no one was stalking them.
"What do you want Ranma?" Akane asked taken back how nervous Ranma is.
"I think we should go to the forest right now, before some of those assassins
figure out what's going on." He replied.
"Huh? What's wrong? Why are you so worried?"
"In class I had a feeling something was watching us, they might be in league
with the killer." Ranma said. "I think we should go with Ukyou just to be safe."
Akane can feel a sudden serge of anger seep in her, '[So THAT'S why you're
acting that nervous, you jerk. You don't have the guts to tell me that you
invited your childhood sweetheart, well see if I care!]'
"Oh, I see so you don't think a uncute tomboy like me can defend myself eh?"
Akane spat.
However, the nervousness in Ranma's voice overcame all the feeling of doubt. "I
serious, Akane. I'm really worried, what if they are better than we thought?
There is strength in numbers. Besides, you can never be too careful."
That was enough to wash away all the doubt that was left over. "Fine, Ranma,
bring her along, if it will make you feel better."
"Thanks, Akane, it will make me feel a lot better."
With that the two set out to find Ukyou.
***
In the forest..
Shampoo sighed. She wasn't in the mood for studies today, the assault on her
yesterday still baffled her. Why would someone come after her, wasn't Akane the
target?
She decided to go out to practice her sword skills a little. Holding her sword
behind her back she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. With a flash she
thrust her sword forward; then taking a careful step back she spun her sword a
little, remembering all the moves that were on the scrolls that Cologne have
given her.
She took a deep breath then using the flat end of the sword, Shampoo hit a
nearby tree, shaking many leaves off.
"The Autumn Wind Sweeps The Leaves" She exclaimed, slicing around her in a
circular motion at incredible speed. After she was finished, all the leaves were
cut in half, and in a three feet radius there were no leaves on the ground at
all.
Satisfied, Shampoo knelt to take a quick rest. That's when she noticed that
there was a crack in her blade. That wasn't right, she thought to herself. She
was only slicing leaves, that shouldn't have damaged the blade at all.
She was defiantly puzzled now, not knowing what to do, she vaulted herself up
with the sword..
CLANG!! With a piercing noise the sword shattered into little tiny pieces, while
three scrolls and a piece of paper fell out..
Weird, Shampoo thought as she picked up the scrolls and the paper, she looked
puzzled as she saw the scrolls, the first one said "The White Snake" the second
one said "The Red Serpent" and the last one said "The Purple Dragon".
Each of the scrolls were sealed of with a weird piece of yellow paper, on it
there was the Kanji 'sealed' written on it. Then, she picked up the piece of
paper that came with it, and discovered it was a letter, in Chinese. Suspicious,
she began to read the letter.
_Dear my daughter Shan Pu:
If you are reading this, I'm then gone from this world. You see, the reason why
this sword was so powerful was because of the scrolls that were sealed within
it. These scrolls have three powerful techniques that our family used, however,
because the nature of the techniques, it's only possible to master one of the
three. I hope Grandmother has trained you enough that you will know which one to
choose.
The reason I sealed these techniques was because I knew they would be needed
once more after I passed away, and would be safer here than it would be any
other place.
You see, the story about me dying when you were young was made up to protect
you, everyone thought it was for the best for you not to know the truth yet.
However, it's best that you know now, that you are grown into a strong woman
(Hopefully) that you know the truth and the seriousness of the case you are in.
You see, I sealed the scrolls with my blood to assure that no one finds the
scroll in the swords. Even if they knew where they were they would have a hard
time opening the seal. The seal will only be broken if I'm not in this world and
if it's touched by my descendent.
I have also taken part in sealing a demon, I sealed it the same way that I
sealed the scrolls. However, there's always been a cult trying to revive it.
Before I sealed the demon however, it was up to me and two others to defeat it.
We all mastered one of three scrolls, and was able to use them against the
enemy.
Now, I have the feeling that it is up to you to seal this demon once again,
hopefully better yet, destroy it for good. I hope you can forgive me for leaving
you one day, but it had to be done. Good luck, blood of my blood, flesh of my
flesh.
Your Mother with love,
Shan Sheu.
**
Shampoo froze, she quickly read the letter again just to make sure she had
everything right. Although she didn't really remember her mother at all,
however, she remembered the handwriting, Cologne had her read old parchments
that her mother kept ever since she was young. There was no mistake, this was
written by her mother.
Then Shampoo did something she hasn't been able to do recently-She cried.
***
Ranma found Ukyou rather quickly, since Ukyou was looking for Ranma also. They
all (including Akane) stood around a tree. Ranma quickly explained the situation
to Ukyou..
"Well, Ran-chan, what kind of mess did you get yourself into now?" Ukyou asked.
"Ucchan, I told you, I don't think things are as easy as they look, some people
are after Akane; and the fact that I don't believe Shampoo has shot that damn
arrow."
"Hey, you can always count on me, Ran-chan." Ukyou said. "I follow you to the
ends of the earth if it makes you happy."
For once, Ranma was glad Ukyou didn't take much to convince for her to tag
along. Then again when didn't Ukyou show enthusiasm when it came to her 'Ran-
chan'?
Akane who still wasn't happy, and perhaps a little jealous (Although she'll
never admit it.) but since Ranma was clearly worried about her she let it slide.
The three headed toward the Nekohanten where they would pick up Mousse and then
head out to find Shampoo, of course finding Shampoo would be the hardest part.
Looking at the map, Ranma sighed; the old ghoul was right about one thing:
Shampoo wouldn't be very easy to find.
On a happier note, or if you can even call that, was that Ranma was sure that
Shampoo wasn't the one that shot the arrow. However, every coin has two sides,
if it wasn't her, then who?
That was another thing that Ranma couldn't really get out his mind, someone
trying to hurt Akane? Why? What will it gain them to kill a tomboy like her?
(Good thing Akane can't hear my thoughts, or I'll probably eat another mallet
just for THINKING that.)
For some reason, Ranma thought, everything bad happens to him, but everyone is
out to capture Akane for some reason. Kirin, Toma, Saffereon.. the list goes on.
Just when Ranma had all these thoughts swimming in his mind they arrived at the
Nekohanten. Ukyou and Akane waited patiently as Ranma went in and grabbed
Mousse.
It only took a second as the two men stepped out, Mousse was wearing his usual
attire white robes and thick glasses.
"You guys ready?" Mousse asked.
"As we'll ever be." Ukyou responded.
"Then let's get this over with." Ranma said, eyes glittering with determination.
So, they all set off after that.
***
After Shampoo had cried her heart out, she grimly clenched the letter with her
hand. "[It'll do me no good to just crying here. If this isn't destiny, I don't
know what is.]"
She proceeded to pick up one of the scroll, right as she picked it up the seal
broke off suddenly and the scroll opened with a blinding light.
Shampoo covered her eyes as the light faded away. "[Great.]" She thought to
herself, she was supposed to pick one, however this one picked her, "[Maybe it
was for the best.]"
"[Might as well see what scroll choose me.]" She flipped the scroll over 'The
Purple Dragon'
Shampoo sighed. "Why am I not surprised."
She silently picked up the other scroll while going back to her hut. Once inside
the hut, she placed the scrolls on the table, and picked up the "Purple Dragon
Technique"
Shampoo opened the scroll and started to read the beginning of the scroll. As
she read it she slowly got so absorbed in the scroll, that she forgot about the
time.
***
Shampoo sat up from her studies, taking a peek at the outside to estimate what
the time was.
She gasped as she found out it was almost dark; she had missed the time to go
hunting.
Then she remembered that her trusted sword had been broken. Having no time to
spare, she grabbed a straight sword that she had brought along. Although she
wasn't too sure how to use it, but who cares, at least she was partially armed.
She put on a black 'ninja' outfit, and a face mask, she didn't want to risk it,
covering her thick purple hair, she finished dressing up.
Grabbing her bow and a quiver of arrows, she left her little hut and went out to
hunt, then finally with a swing of the sword she strapped it behind her back.
***
Ranma sighed. They're search was leading them nowhere; the forest was a way too
big to really spot anyone. The others were equally as frustrated; there were
pretty much no clue on where she would be.
"This sucks." Mousse mumbled.
"You can say that again, sugar." Ukyou said.
"Look here guys," Ranma started. "Why don't we split up? We still got an hour or
so before it gets too dark, we'll split up and look around? We'll meet back here
in half an hour."
"Good idea, I'll go with Mousse and search the eastern area." Ukyou replied,
grabbing Mousse they walked away to search they're area.
"I guess I'm with you then." Ranma said to Akane.
Akane nodded.
"Well, let's not waste any time then."
They both walked into the west side of the forest.
***
Mousse put on his glasses of the nth time. No luck, not even the slightest,
Shampoo's Amazon training was really starting to pay off he thought to himself.
Ukyou was on the ground looking for any foot prints but there were none.
Suddenly, Ukyou felt something "WHO'S THERE!" She yelled throwing a few mini
spatula's in a tree.
With a thump a shadow fell from the tree and stood up quickly it ran away.
"Wait come back here!" Ukyou yelled running after it.
Mousse quickly jumped up a tree and chased after the other two.
***
"Shampoo!" Ranma hollered.
"This is hopeless." Akane sighed. "We've been looking forever."
"I can't give up though, we'll come back tomorrow." Ranma said. "If necessary."
"Ranma." Akane began. "Is this so important to you?"
Before Ranma could reply there were footsteps coming from the thick trees.
"Over there!" Akane said, quickly running toward the sound.
"Wait don't run off by yourself you uncute tomboy!" Ranma said. Too late, she
already disappeared into the thick leaves.
"Stupid uncute.." Ranma mumbled running after her.
***
For how long Akane ran, she did not know, but it was awhile. She reached a empty
ring with a small hut.
"A hut?" She thought to herself "What is hut doing out here?"
Her thoughts came short when a five figures jumped in front of her.
"Well, our target found us." One said.
"I can't believe she would be dumb enough to look for us, Masho" The other
said.
"Since she's here, let's finish the job!"
The all took out they're swords and started to attack.
"[Well, five on one those aren't bad odds.]" Akane thought to herself.
One swung his sword at her, she dodged to the side, while giving another one a
slight push, the one pushed took two step backwards.. rubbing the place he got
hit.
"Be careful, the metal fists." yelled to the others.
Once he said that they seem to all keep they're distance. Akane was getting worn
out, since she couldn't get to them while they played keep away, they're swords
provided much more reach then her fists do.
Masho jumped back and slyly took out a sharp steel dart, then when Akane turned
her back on him he threw the dart at her.
Akane gasped as the dart came at her, it was too late to do anything about it.
She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. "[I'm sorry Ranma.]" She thought
to herself.
Whoosh! Bing!
The dart never hit, Akane opened her eyes and saw what happened an arrow neatly
planted itself in the dart. She looked at her assaulters and they looked equally
surprised.
Suddenly, a hail of arrows seem to drop, chasing the assassins away, they all
quickly ran and disappeared.
The person who was responsible for the arrows stepped out. He held a bow and
arrow.
"Thanks." Akane said.
"AKANE!" Ranma voice rang out. He appeared through the thickets. He saw the
figure with the bow.
"You! What do you think your doing to Akane?" He said attacking the figure.
"Wait.." Akane said. "He helped me."
Too late, Ranma in a blind fury started to attack the figure.
Ranma released a fury of punches at the figure, who blocked all of them, Ranma
backed up to catch his breath for awhile. The figure also flipped back, although
he was shaking his hand seemed like blocking those punches hurt more than he
thought it would.
Ranma rushed up, the figure reached for his sword, Ranma keen eyes saw it, and
rushed to push the sword back in the scabbard. The figure did a 180 spinning and
slapping the sword and scabbard right in Ranma's face.
Ranma quickly grabbed anything in his reach as he fell backwards. Coincidentally
it was the figure's mask, he ripped the whole thing off..
Revealing long lavender hair as the mask came off..
"SHAMPOO?" Akane gasped.
End of Chapter 1.