Ranma ½ / BTVS
Ranma The Vampire Slayer
Book 1
Changes in the World
By Felix Webster (Felix Warstar)
Chapter 8
- - - -
Disclaimers
All original Ranma ½ Characters Copyright Rumiko Takahashi (first
published by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North America by
Viz Communications), and are used without permission.
Buffy, Giles, and the other characters that have appeared on 'Buffy
the Vampire Slayer' belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy and what
ever company they are working at, be it Warner Bros., Twentieth
Century Fox, Paramount or any others that pick it up as it goes
along. They are used with out permission and I'm making NO money off
them and no one else except those listed above should either. Please
don't sue me cause I have no money.
Any character I create are mine, ALL MINE! Wahahahahahahaha. .
*Cough couch* oops sorry. They are always ready to jump into other
people's stories just let me know.
- - - -
- Old Friends, New Friends -
"Ryouga!?!" both Ranma-chan and Cordelia exclaimed in shock,
although Cordelia's was happier sounding than Ranma-chan's
"Um, Hi," Ryouga replied nervously with a hand behind his head,
smiling in confusion.
Ranma-chan was in front of the bandana wearing travel weary boy
before anyone realized she had moved, "What are you doing here?"
"I. . I, um, came to say hi," Ryouga replied with a very nervous
smile.
"What, no 'DIE SAOTOME!' or 'You're the cause of all my problems
Ranma!'?" Ranma-chan asked as she narrowed her eyes at the boy.
"Ah, no. For some reason I'm not mad at you," Ryouga stated
realizing he wasn't and that was very unusual for him. "Went to the
Dojo to see if you wanted to spar and found out you were no longer
there. . ."
"So you went looking for me? Why? You hate me!" Ranma-chan stated in
disbelief. "and you could have Akane to yourself now since the
engagement was dissolved by my mother. . . well all to yourself if
you don't count Kuno or any of the other guys chasing after her."
"Um, yeah I could. . . But I finally chose Akari when I saw you and
Akane at Jusendo, and I'm not going to be unfaithful to her," Ryouga
smiled at the mention of the Sumo-pig training girl.
"Um, hi. Sorry to interrupt.. but are you really Ryouga Hibiki?"
Cordelia asked with a stars struck look in her eyes.
Ryouga looked between Ranma-chan and the dark haired girl then back
to Ranma-chan not really confused just a little shocked, "You mean
those tapes made it here too?"
Ranma-chan's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, "You KNEW about the
tapes!"
"Well, yeah," Ryouga replied stepping back after seeing the angry
glare in the red head's eyes. "What? You didn't? I thought it was a
scheme you and Nabiki started to help pay for the damages we caused
the Dojo. I was a little annoyed at first, but the tapes aren't that
bad."
"But since you lose so often to me I would think that would make you
very angry," Ranma-chan said as she calmed down a bit.
"Nah not really, I come out looking better than Kuno or Mousse,
especially since I'm the only one that can really give you a
challenge in a fight," Ryouga smiled as he patted the girl on the
shoulder.
Ranma-chan lifted an eyebrow at the boy, "You being nice to me is
really starting to creep me out. . . and when did you learn to speak
English!?!"
"I know lots of languages," Ryouga replied as he looked at the rest
of the room. There was a blonde girl talking to a tall older man
about something, both were basically trying to ignore Ranma's
conversation. The other red haired girl was standing just behind
Ranma to his left and seemed to want to stay out of it but kept
giving him looks of concern. A black haired boy was between the two
sets of people trying to decide which he should get involved in but
no decision seemed to be coming soon. And last the black haired girl
who had known his name when he came in was standing just off to
Ranma's right looking like she was about to burst from not saying
anything, it was the look of stars struck in her eyes that made
Ryouga nervous but he tried to ignore her. "I travel a lot remember."
"If you want to or not," Ranma-chan snickered slightly and Ryouga's
eyes drew narrow.
"So how'd you find me so soon? I've only been here a few days,"
Ranma-chan continued trying not to laugh at the lost boy's
expression. "I didn't think you could ever catch a plane on time to
get this far."
"Why would I use a plane? It wasn't that far by walking," Ryouga
stated looking a little confused.
"Sunnydale isn't in Japan, Ryouga, it's in America," Ranma-chan
informed him with a small smile.
"There's a large body of water between the two called an ocean,"
Xander piped up as he finally decided that this conversation was more
interesting then standing by himself. "You can't just walk across it."
"I never crossed any water getting here," Ryouga replied looking a
little confused.
"Of course you didn't," Ranma-chan put a hand to her forehead and
shook her head slightly. "You just try to get somewhere and you do,
it takes you awhile and takes you all over the place, but you always
get where you're going."
"That's a good possibility but it doesn't explain how he gets lost
so much," Cologne said as she smiled at Ranma-chan.
"Either he's too preoccupied to have a defined destination or it's a
side effect of being able to travel anywhere in the world with little
effort. . to balance things out a little," Ranma-chan replied
surprised at her own explanation. "Magic tends to be like that,
doesn't it?"
"Yes magic does tend to do things like that," Cologne agreed pleased
at the girl's understanding. "I still believe that it is a curse of
misdirection and the side effect is that if he's determined enough he
can get where he's is going regardless of what's in the way."
"Same thing that I said just flipped around," Ranma-chan said mostly
to herself.
"Curses? We can deal with curses," Willow added with a smile. She
grabbed Ranma-chan's hand before looking towards Giles and Buffy, "We
can cure a misdirection curse right Giles?"
Giles looked over at the other group and adjusted his glasses
slightly, "That depends on the type and power of the curse that has
been cast on the victim."
"It was cast on one of his ancestors and it's pasted down his
father's family line. . although his mother has it too," Ranma-chan
replied before Ryouga could protest that there wasn't a problem.
"Well either the entity that cast the curse is reinforcing it with
each generation or the magic should be getting weaker," Giles stated
as he looked off into space for a moment. "If it's the first we have
to summon the entity and either get it to remove the curse or defeat
it in some kind of challenge or we simply have to redirect the
magical energy to be used in some other way."
"We can look into it later if you want Ranma," Willow said with a
big smile then blushed.
"Yes, well we should deal with Spike and Drusilla first then we will
have time to look into these other spells," Giles reminded turning
very serious. "But even before that you all have classes to get back
to soon."
"Right, and I should change back so I do get looked at funny," Ranma-
chan added as she took the second glass from Willow, the water in it
was still hot enough to activate the change. Dumping it over her head
she immediately was racked with pain as her form blurred, it didn't
clear for several seconds then stopped leaving Ranma-chan still a
girl laying on the floor. "Ouch. . ."
"What happened?" Cologne asked as she reached the red head, closely
followed by Willow and Cordelia.
"I.I don't know," Ranma-chan replied as she started to stand up very
unsteady. "It's like the curse was fighting it more that before. .
maybe the water wasn't hot enough."
Hopping over the library counter with little effort Ranma-chan
grabbed the kettle off the hot plate and was happy to note that it
was indeed hotter then what was in the glass. Pouring it over her
head simply caused a sudden yelp from her and nothing else, panic
stricken she dumped the rest of it over her head also with no effect.
Standing there she was far from realizing that it didn't even cause
the weakening effects it did before but others noticed.
"I was afraid of this," Cologne said sadly as she hopped around to
the girl. "I wondered if the magic that held the attraction spell
might be pulled towards the stronger field generated by the Jusenkyo
curse."
Ranma-chan's head snapped up and gave the old Amazon a very dark
look, "You could have told me that before we did the spell!"
"Don't worry child, this can be undone with the spell to balance out
you curse," Cologne replied trying to sound calm and comforting.
"You'll just have to handle staying a girl for a little while. It's
not that bad, and it's not the first time you had too after all."
"But why did this spell you talked about cause Ranma to stay a
girl?" Ryouga asked in a lot of concern, after all they talked about
using magic to cure his wandering problem and he didn't like the idea
he might end up a little pig permanently after.
"Yeah, I don't get it either. That spell had nothing to do with his
sex changing curse, just getting rid of his. . sexual attraction
curse. . never mind," Xander started then realized a possible
connection and kind of felt foolish as probably everyone else more
magically minded had already figured that out.
"Oh dear," Giles replied as Willow slapped her forehead as it
clicked for them. "Gender and attraction are connected so a transfer
of energy from one the other would be easy. . I feel like a bloody
idiot right now."
"I doubt it mattered that the magical energy were similar, I have a
feeling that the Gift was waiting for any extra magic to help get
what it wanted," Cologne countered calmly. "The Gift expects a girl
and Ranma's changing to a man confuses the power, it's done what it
thinks it has too to truly combine with Ranma."
"You act like it is alive and conscious?" Buffy stated looked
confused and unhappy. "It's just a bit of power how could it think?"
"Magic has a life girl, and the Gift has been connect to so many
girls over the centuries that it easily developed something close to
a consciousness," Cologne explained with a small smile. "My sister
and I discovered this when she had the Gift a long time ago. . And I
can feel part of her Ki in the power that you both hold now as I
could feel the flow of Ki in Ranma when I met 'her' of that which was
Chinese Amazon."
"Is that why you were teaching her?" Ryouga asked shocked, Ranma-
chan probably would have asked it first if she wasn't currently in a
state of shutting down and being comforted by the other red haired
girl. "We all figured it wasn't about him marrying Shampoo, even you
could see she never had a chance."
"Oh? Like you could see you never had a chance with the young Tendo
girl?" Cologne countered as her face became serious again.
"I. . I. . Fine! So everyone has an emotional blind spot!" Ryouga
huffed out as he turned away from the old woman.
"Excuse me, but if Ranko Tendo and Ryu. . I mean Ranma are the same
person how is she going to go to class as a girl? He's registered as
a boy isn't he?" Cordelia asked from the other side of Ranma-chan
trying to comfort the girl as Willow was doing.
"Um. . Yes, Cordelia has a valid, and intelligent point," Giles
replied as he gave Cologne a questioning look.
"Principal Snyder knows about the curse," Ranma-chan answered
finally although she sounded very close to tears and that worried two
people in the room very badly. "Miyabi and Khu-Lon felt it would be
better if he knew about the problem and I'm enrolled as both sexes."
"Snyder didn't make an issue of this?" Xander blinked in shock.
"That doesn't sound like our Principal at all."
"Yes, I agree, it sounds very odd," Giles added still expecting her
to answer him.
"He understood and agreed to it very easily as we had school and
medical documentation to back it up. And having Ranma prove it in
front of him also helped," Cologne replied. "He seemed a very
reasonable man."
"Compared to the last Principal I had to deal with," Ranma-chan
added as she noticed the wide-eyed look of disbelief all the other
were giving Cologne. "I get to participate in either of the gym
classes based what form I choose to be in. . and he even said to use
either washroom in case of emergencies."
"What!?!" Xander and Ryouga both exclaimed. Ryouga gave Ranma-chan
an angry look as Xander gave her a look of wonder. Xander was the
first to continue, "Oh man, every guy in this school is going to envy
you!"
"Akane was right! You are a pervert!" Ryouga started to shout before
Xander finished so both voices seemed to overlap.
"Hey! Trust me, I have enough problems with my own female body to go
looking at other girls like that!" Ranma-chan yelled back angry. "I
have never had any interest that way since I got this curse, it's got
to be something to do with the mystery and curiosity being gone!"
"Yeah! It's not like if she wanted to gaze at a naked girl she
couldn't just look at her own gorgeous body!" Willow backed up Ranma-
chan then realized what she had said and eeped as she blushed and
tried to hide slightly behind the Japanese girl.
"Well, that's good and all but we are going to be late for class,
and we really don't have to worry about the locker room until
tomorrow afternoon so we have lots of time to see if Ranma can change
back before then," Buffy stated as she headed for the Library door,
before leaving she turned and looked at the beleaguered girl, "So
patrolling tonight?"
Ranma-chan nodded unhappily, "I won't let a small thing like this
interfere with my duty of killing the Vampires and other creatures
that invade this town, it is a matter of honour after all."
"Good see you later," Buffy walked out the door ignoring the sound
of displeasure in Ranma-chan's voice.
Cordelia turned to Giles and gave him a confused look, "Vampires?"
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose in near defeat before he
started to explain to the girl about the realities of the world.
- - - -
"What took you?" Ranma-chan asked Buffy when the blonde finally
showed up at the meeting place. She raised an eyebrow when she
noticed that Willow, Xander, Giles, and Cordelia had tagged along,
"And what's with the crowd?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Buffy countered as she indicated
the other Japanese boy from earlier beside Ranma-chan.
"Ryouga's pretty good in a fight," Ranma-chan replied as Willow came
over to her and latched on, thankfully not as tightly as she first
did but it was still a little too possessive to comfort Ranma-chan.
"I don't want anyone who isn't a fighter having a chance to get hurt."
"Hey! We help Buffy patrol often," Xander stated offended by the
accusation. "Well, everyone here but Cordelia."
"I want to see this Vampire stuff," Cordelia said in annoyance. "I
was starting to think I was going crazy with the things I was seeing
so I want proof they exist!"
"Fine, but stay out of the fighting," Ranma-chan replied through
gritted teeth, this wasn't her decision and if the other Slayer
wanted to risk other peoples lives that was her problem. . . yeah,
right.
"I'm not going to fight anything, I might break an nail," Cordelia
said looking somewhat disgusted.
"Or a hand, possibly an arm, we could always hope for a neck,"
Xander continued for her which earned him a nasty look for the girl.
"Yes, well we should get started before too many of them rise,"
Giles stated trying to defuse the situation slightly.
"You still haven't told me why you are late," Ranma-chan reminded
Buffy obviously not moving until she got an answer.
"I was looking for Angel," Buffy replied in annoyance although she
looked worried. "He was supposed to have met me right after the sun
set and he wasn't home either."
"If you want we can try looking for him tonight," Ranma-chan offered.
"Unfortunately we don't have the option of doing that until later,"
Giles interrupted before Buffy could reply. "There was three Vampire
victims buried here today and we need to find them before they get
loose."
"You know this wouldn't be a big problem if you people got in a
habit of cremation," Ranma-chan stated in all seriousness.
"You know, she has a good idea there," Xander agreed energetically.
"It would cut down the amount of time we spend creeping through
graveyards late at night."
"Oh yes, why don't we go to city hall about getting a cremation
enforcement law passed so there will be less Vampires that have to be
staked," Giles replied sarcastically.
"And we don't creep, we sneak around in graveyards late at night,"
Willow corrected with a small smile.
"Um, yeah, I guess that sounds better," Ryouga said giving Ranma-
chan a look that said 'you hang around with these people?'.
"Okay then after the Vampires!" Ranma-chan stated in frustration,
being stuck in girl form was fraying her nerves and nobody seemed to
care.
Ranma-chan turned and headed off farther into the cemetery towards
the newer graves quickly caught up to by Buffy then turned her head
back, "Would someone please keep track of Ryouga so he doesn't get
lost."
"I don't get. . . oh never mind," Ryouga tried to counter in
annoyance but stopped himself when he realized Ranma-chan was to his
left and not in front of him. Cordelia smiled at him as she grabbed
his arm and started to follow the others.
"So, where do you think Angel might be?" Ranma-chan asked Buffy as
she scanned the area around her.
"I don't know. . . he was looking for Spike and Drusilla. . . he may
have found them," Buffy replied looking worried. "He's tough but even
he can be overpowered. . ."
"Fine, after we're done here we both start looking at some of the
most likely places and if we find either this Spike person or your
Angel we contact each other before going in," Ranma-chan stated
firmly before she stopped then turned slightly to her left. "One of
them is this way."
"How can you tell?" Buffy asked as she suddenly had to run to keep
up the red haired girl.
"Told you that even Vampires have an aura, I just started looking
for any trace of that in an area that shouldn't have any," Ranma-chan
explained as she moved from a quick walk to a sprint. "Khu Lon
suggested to do it to find the Vampires faster."
"Cool, that would help cut back on the hunting time," Buffy replied
as both of them entered an area that had the newer graves, they both
stopped as they realized that there was more than one there. "Spike?"
Spike stood at the head of ten Vampires, five to each side of him,
and gave the girls a sly smile, "Well hello Slayer, wasn't expecting
you here tonight."
Turning his gaze towards the red haired Asian girl he lifted an
eyebrow as his smile widened, "And you would the girl I heard of that
killed a few. . friends of mine the other night? I hear you called
yourself the Slayer too."
"I thought you said their was only one in this direction?" Buffy
asked in wide eyed shock at the mass of the Vampires, it wasn't as
bad as the other night but it was still more than she liked to deal
with at once.
"Hey I've never used it the track before!" Ranma-chan replied in
annoyance before turning serious towards the blonde haired Vampire.
"You look more intelligent then the others around you, I don't want
to kill you but if you don't give the book you took back I will."
"A Slayer who doesn't want to kill a Vampire? How bleeding novel.
Sorry girl I need that book right now, it's important to someone. .
special to me," Spike smiled as he shrugged slightly. Making a small
waving motion the other Vampires ran forward, "Anyhow it's a moot
point right now. Get them."
Ranma-chan was thankful for two things at the moment: One, there
were no female Vampires among those about to attack. And two, that
she wasn't alone as some of these Vampires knew how to fight and she
wasn't do good against multiple opponents. Spinning around she caught
one in the jaw with her foot sending him back over towards the one
known as 'Spike' and then had to content with four more who seemed
trained to work together.
Buffy was punching and kicking as best she could but was fast
realizing that the Vampires were getting the upper hand. She hadn't
even come close to staking any of them yet and she was going to be
sporting a few large bruises the next day already. She gave one a
solid punch to the chest sending him back then felt that someone was
behind her. Spinning she was shocked to see the Asian boy, that Ranma-
chan had brought with her, had picked the Vampire off the ground by
the back of the neck and throw him into the air as an odd field of
green energy started to fill the area around him. The Vampire fell
back towards the ground but never touch it as the boy yelled out
'Shishi Hokodan!' and the area lit up like an explosion of green
light.
"Show off!" Ranma-chan called back as she leaped of one Vampires
head and spin kicked another. "And just what do you have to be
depressed about anyhows!?!"
"That I'm not with Akari," Ryouga replied with a weak smile as he
punched another Vampire towards Ranma-chan.
"Weak! Very weak pig boy!" Ranma-chan said as she pushed her stake
through the chest of the one that Ryouga sent her. The others around
her were a little too shocked to really fight for a moment.
"Hey! I haven't been insulting you now have I? And why haven't you
been using any chi attacks? This new power of yours make you too weak
or something?" Ryouga looked hurt for a split second then smiled back
with a bit of mirth.
"I've been trying to have a little fun with the fight instead just
killing them," Ranma-chan's look was easy for Ryouga to read, unlike
him Ranma really didn't want to kill these things. It wasn't as if
Ryouga was enjoying killing the Vampires himself, but he wasn't above
the act. He actually was pleased to know that even after Saffron
Ranma was still reluctant to kill. . it meant a lot of people were
going to live longer, especially Ranma's Father.
Spike watched the green explosion like everyone around him but
wasn't as shocked as the lesser Vampires. He gave the situation a nod
as he turned and left the fight before trying out the new girl. He
definitely wanted the have a go with the red head as she was
obviously a better fighter than the other two Slayers he'd killed
years ago but he wasn't stupid enough to do it here and now.
Cordelia was almost panicking at the sight of the Vampire turning to
dust a few feet in front of her. It proved that what she had seen at
the Bronze all that time ago had actually happened. Ryouga's little
display of explosive power shocked her a little too but only in so
much as showed her that the tapes she loved didn't use as much
special effects as she, and many others, thought they did.
Before Cordelia knew it she knew it Xander pushed a wooden object
into her hands and gave her a firm look, "If any come close to you
scream out and try to use that by thrusting into it's heart, we'll
try to get to the Vampire before it can really hurt you."
She gave Xander a bewildered look of confusion, he acted like this
was just another night to him and the fact that there were almost a
dozen Vampires trying to kill them was the usual. She watched in
confusion as Xander and the Librarian, Mr. Giles, move into the fray
each killing a Vampire before they got ten feet from where she was.
Turning her head she watched Willow thrust out with another stake at
a different Vampire than had originally attacked them, she quickly
reasoned that it was one of the three that they had come to destroy
it the first place.
Having her attention turned away made her miss the one who came up
on her, "Oh look, my first dinner. . Cordelia Chase."
Spinning forwards Cordelia looked in to eyes of Evan Riles, the
captain of the school's chess team, someone well beneath her social
tolerance. Giving the boy a disgusted look she pushed her hand out
like she had watched Willow do, "I don't think so."
Evan Riles looked down in shock at the stake in his chest and looked
back up just as his body turned to dust and blow away, "Bitc. ."
It took only a few minutes to finish the rest of the Vampires,
afterwards Buffy looked up unhappy and a little confused, "Did Spike
just leave without even trying to get into the fight?"
"Yes it seems so," Giles replied putting the crossbow he was
carrying to his shoulder and resetting his glasses before looking
around confused. "Where's Ranma?"
- - - -
Spike stopped a few blocks away from the cemetery and turned to lean
against the high wall nest to him. He gave a wide smile as the red
head came around the corner a moment later, "Well well it seems you
didn't get enough back there."
"I want to talk," Ranma-chan said calmly as she assumed a casual
pose herself.
"I'm a dangerous person, I've killed two Slayers already in my time.
Don't you think it's a bad idea to try to talk to me?" Spike replied
as he bared his fangs and his darker face.
"You've got the Vampire know as Angel don't you," Ranma-chan stated
not in a question. "I want him back."
"You do do you? Well I have a real bad need of him, or at least his
blood," Spike almost laughed at the pure balls of this girl.
"Why do you need his blood?" Ranma-chan looked very interested about
this and Spike narrowed his eyes at her.
"Why should I explain it to you? I should just kill you and be done
with another Slayer wannabe."
"Cause you know that I'd kill you. I might get a little hurt in the
process but we both know you'd die," Ranma-chan replied still calm.
"Oh I don't know about that," Spike's smile dropped at the
statement. "Why do you want to know?"
"I might be able to help you make your girlfriend get better without
more people dying," Ranma-chan answered and Spike was a little
shocked when he realized she was serious.
"How could you help? You some kinda bleeding witch or something?"
Spike wasn't happy about even considering using the girl's help but
he was willing to do just about anything to cure Dru.
"I've got a strong connection to magic," Ranma-chan replied as she
walked past him after a few feet she turned and gave him a
questioning look. "Well? Are we going or not?"
Spike looked shocked at the girl again for a moment then it turned
to a large smile as he moved up beside the red head and both started
to walk forward, "You're really sure of yourself and willing to go
half cocked into the bleeding lion's den just to save the life of a
Vampire."
"Any life I can," Ranma-chan replied coldly.
- - - -
Author's notes: There is number eight. . I know people are out of
character so no flaming about that. Ryouga finally deciding on Akari
isn't a big leap and most of his bigger hatred of Ranma sprung from
the having real feelings for Akane ( the curse is just something he
has to deal with ). As for the end with Spike, Ranma doesn't want to
kill and in that he will find any solution to do what he has to.
Next: (should I really do these bits) Ranma and Angel meet, and the
Scoobies find Spike and Drusilla.
Ranma The Vampire Slayer
Book 1
Changes in the World
By Felix Webster (Felix Warstar)
Chapter 8
- - - -
Disclaimers
All original Ranma ½ Characters Copyright Rumiko Takahashi (first
published by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North America by
Viz Communications), and are used without permission.
Buffy, Giles, and the other characters that have appeared on 'Buffy
the Vampire Slayer' belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy and what
ever company they are working at, be it Warner Bros., Twentieth
Century Fox, Paramount or any others that pick it up as it goes
along. They are used with out permission and I'm making NO money off
them and no one else except those listed above should either. Please
don't sue me cause I have no money.
Any character I create are mine, ALL MINE! Wahahahahahahaha. .
*Cough couch* oops sorry. They are always ready to jump into other
people's stories just let me know.
- - - -
- Old Friends, New Friends -
"Ryouga!?!" both Ranma-chan and Cordelia exclaimed in shock,
although Cordelia's was happier sounding than Ranma-chan's
"Um, Hi," Ryouga replied nervously with a hand behind his head,
smiling in confusion.
Ranma-chan was in front of the bandana wearing travel weary boy
before anyone realized she had moved, "What are you doing here?"
"I. . I, um, came to say hi," Ryouga replied with a very nervous
smile.
"What, no 'DIE SAOTOME!' or 'You're the cause of all my problems
Ranma!'?" Ranma-chan asked as she narrowed her eyes at the boy.
"Ah, no. For some reason I'm not mad at you," Ryouga stated
realizing he wasn't and that was very unusual for him. "Went to the
Dojo to see if you wanted to spar and found out you were no longer
there. . ."
"So you went looking for me? Why? You hate me!" Ranma-chan stated in
disbelief. "and you could have Akane to yourself now since the
engagement was dissolved by my mother. . . well all to yourself if
you don't count Kuno or any of the other guys chasing after her."
"Um, yeah I could. . . But I finally chose Akari when I saw you and
Akane at Jusendo, and I'm not going to be unfaithful to her," Ryouga
smiled at the mention of the Sumo-pig training girl.
"Um, hi. Sorry to interrupt.. but are you really Ryouga Hibiki?"
Cordelia asked with a stars struck look in her eyes.
Ryouga looked between Ranma-chan and the dark haired girl then back
to Ranma-chan not really confused just a little shocked, "You mean
those tapes made it here too?"
Ranma-chan's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, "You KNEW about the
tapes!"
"Well, yeah," Ryouga replied stepping back after seeing the angry
glare in the red head's eyes. "What? You didn't? I thought it was a
scheme you and Nabiki started to help pay for the damages we caused
the Dojo. I was a little annoyed at first, but the tapes aren't that
bad."
"But since you lose so often to me I would think that would make you
very angry," Ranma-chan said as she calmed down a bit.
"Nah not really, I come out looking better than Kuno or Mousse,
especially since I'm the only one that can really give you a
challenge in a fight," Ryouga smiled as he patted the girl on the
shoulder.
Ranma-chan lifted an eyebrow at the boy, "You being nice to me is
really starting to creep me out. . . and when did you learn to speak
English!?!"
"I know lots of languages," Ryouga replied as he looked at the rest
of the room. There was a blonde girl talking to a tall older man
about something, both were basically trying to ignore Ranma's
conversation. The other red haired girl was standing just behind
Ranma to his left and seemed to want to stay out of it but kept
giving him looks of concern. A black haired boy was between the two
sets of people trying to decide which he should get involved in but
no decision seemed to be coming soon. And last the black haired girl
who had known his name when he came in was standing just off to
Ranma's right looking like she was about to burst from not saying
anything, it was the look of stars struck in her eyes that made
Ryouga nervous but he tried to ignore her. "I travel a lot remember."
"If you want to or not," Ranma-chan snickered slightly and Ryouga's
eyes drew narrow.
"So how'd you find me so soon? I've only been here a few days,"
Ranma-chan continued trying not to laugh at the lost boy's
expression. "I didn't think you could ever catch a plane on time to
get this far."
"Why would I use a plane? It wasn't that far by walking," Ryouga
stated looking a little confused.
"Sunnydale isn't in Japan, Ryouga, it's in America," Ranma-chan
informed him with a small smile.
"There's a large body of water between the two called an ocean,"
Xander piped up as he finally decided that this conversation was more
interesting then standing by himself. "You can't just walk across it."
"I never crossed any water getting here," Ryouga replied looking a
little confused.
"Of course you didn't," Ranma-chan put a hand to her forehead and
shook her head slightly. "You just try to get somewhere and you do,
it takes you awhile and takes you all over the place, but you always
get where you're going."
"That's a good possibility but it doesn't explain how he gets lost
so much," Cologne said as she smiled at Ranma-chan.
"Either he's too preoccupied to have a defined destination or it's a
side effect of being able to travel anywhere in the world with little
effort. . to balance things out a little," Ranma-chan replied
surprised at her own explanation. "Magic tends to be like that,
doesn't it?"
"Yes magic does tend to do things like that," Cologne agreed pleased
at the girl's understanding. "I still believe that it is a curse of
misdirection and the side effect is that if he's determined enough he
can get where he's is going regardless of what's in the way."
"Same thing that I said just flipped around," Ranma-chan said mostly
to herself.
"Curses? We can deal with curses," Willow added with a smile. She
grabbed Ranma-chan's hand before looking towards Giles and Buffy, "We
can cure a misdirection curse right Giles?"
Giles looked over at the other group and adjusted his glasses
slightly, "That depends on the type and power of the curse that has
been cast on the victim."
"It was cast on one of his ancestors and it's pasted down his
father's family line. . although his mother has it too," Ranma-chan
replied before Ryouga could protest that there wasn't a problem.
"Well either the entity that cast the curse is reinforcing it with
each generation or the magic should be getting weaker," Giles stated
as he looked off into space for a moment. "If it's the first we have
to summon the entity and either get it to remove the curse or defeat
it in some kind of challenge or we simply have to redirect the
magical energy to be used in some other way."
"We can look into it later if you want Ranma," Willow said with a
big smile then blushed.
"Yes, well we should deal with Spike and Drusilla first then we will
have time to look into these other spells," Giles reminded turning
very serious. "But even before that you all have classes to get back
to soon."
"Right, and I should change back so I do get looked at funny," Ranma-
chan added as she took the second glass from Willow, the water in it
was still hot enough to activate the change. Dumping it over her head
she immediately was racked with pain as her form blurred, it didn't
clear for several seconds then stopped leaving Ranma-chan still a
girl laying on the floor. "Ouch. . ."
"What happened?" Cologne asked as she reached the red head, closely
followed by Willow and Cordelia.
"I.I don't know," Ranma-chan replied as she started to stand up very
unsteady. "It's like the curse was fighting it more that before. .
maybe the water wasn't hot enough."
Hopping over the library counter with little effort Ranma-chan
grabbed the kettle off the hot plate and was happy to note that it
was indeed hotter then what was in the glass. Pouring it over her
head simply caused a sudden yelp from her and nothing else, panic
stricken she dumped the rest of it over her head also with no effect.
Standing there she was far from realizing that it didn't even cause
the weakening effects it did before but others noticed.
"I was afraid of this," Cologne said sadly as she hopped around to
the girl. "I wondered if the magic that held the attraction spell
might be pulled towards the stronger field generated by the Jusenkyo
curse."
Ranma-chan's head snapped up and gave the old Amazon a very dark
look, "You could have told me that before we did the spell!"
"Don't worry child, this can be undone with the spell to balance out
you curse," Cologne replied trying to sound calm and comforting.
"You'll just have to handle staying a girl for a little while. It's
not that bad, and it's not the first time you had too after all."
"But why did this spell you talked about cause Ranma to stay a
girl?" Ryouga asked in a lot of concern, after all they talked about
using magic to cure his wandering problem and he didn't like the idea
he might end up a little pig permanently after.
"Yeah, I don't get it either. That spell had nothing to do with his
sex changing curse, just getting rid of his. . sexual attraction
curse. . never mind," Xander started then realized a possible
connection and kind of felt foolish as probably everyone else more
magically minded had already figured that out.
"Oh dear," Giles replied as Willow slapped her forehead as it
clicked for them. "Gender and attraction are connected so a transfer
of energy from one the other would be easy. . I feel like a bloody
idiot right now."
"I doubt it mattered that the magical energy were similar, I have a
feeling that the Gift was waiting for any extra magic to help get
what it wanted," Cologne countered calmly. "The Gift expects a girl
and Ranma's changing to a man confuses the power, it's done what it
thinks it has too to truly combine with Ranma."
"You act like it is alive and conscious?" Buffy stated looked
confused and unhappy. "It's just a bit of power how could it think?"
"Magic has a life girl, and the Gift has been connect to so many
girls over the centuries that it easily developed something close to
a consciousness," Cologne explained with a small smile. "My sister
and I discovered this when she had the Gift a long time ago. . And I
can feel part of her Ki in the power that you both hold now as I
could feel the flow of Ki in Ranma when I met 'her' of that which was
Chinese Amazon."
"Is that why you were teaching her?" Ryouga asked shocked, Ranma-
chan probably would have asked it first if she wasn't currently in a
state of shutting down and being comforted by the other red haired
girl. "We all figured it wasn't about him marrying Shampoo, even you
could see she never had a chance."
"Oh? Like you could see you never had a chance with the young Tendo
girl?" Cologne countered as her face became serious again.
"I. . I. . Fine! So everyone has an emotional blind spot!" Ryouga
huffed out as he turned away from the old woman.
"Excuse me, but if Ranko Tendo and Ryu. . I mean Ranma are the same
person how is she going to go to class as a girl? He's registered as
a boy isn't he?" Cordelia asked from the other side of Ranma-chan
trying to comfort the girl as Willow was doing.
"Um. . Yes, Cordelia has a valid, and intelligent point," Giles
replied as he gave Cologne a questioning look.
"Principal Snyder knows about the curse," Ranma-chan answered
finally although she sounded very close to tears and that worried two
people in the room very badly. "Miyabi and Khu-Lon felt it would be
better if he knew about the problem and I'm enrolled as both sexes."
"Snyder didn't make an issue of this?" Xander blinked in shock.
"That doesn't sound like our Principal at all."
"Yes, I agree, it sounds very odd," Giles added still expecting her
to answer him.
"He understood and agreed to it very easily as we had school and
medical documentation to back it up. And having Ranma prove it in
front of him also helped," Cologne replied. "He seemed a very
reasonable man."
"Compared to the last Principal I had to deal with," Ranma-chan
added as she noticed the wide-eyed look of disbelief all the other
were giving Cologne. "I get to participate in either of the gym
classes based what form I choose to be in. . and he even said to use
either washroom in case of emergencies."
"What!?!" Xander and Ryouga both exclaimed. Ryouga gave Ranma-chan
an angry look as Xander gave her a look of wonder. Xander was the
first to continue, "Oh man, every guy in this school is going to envy
you!"
"Akane was right! You are a pervert!" Ryouga started to shout before
Xander finished so both voices seemed to overlap.
"Hey! Trust me, I have enough problems with my own female body to go
looking at other girls like that!" Ranma-chan yelled back angry. "I
have never had any interest that way since I got this curse, it's got
to be something to do with the mystery and curiosity being gone!"
"Yeah! It's not like if she wanted to gaze at a naked girl she
couldn't just look at her own gorgeous body!" Willow backed up Ranma-
chan then realized what she had said and eeped as she blushed and
tried to hide slightly behind the Japanese girl.
"Well, that's good and all but we are going to be late for class,
and we really don't have to worry about the locker room until
tomorrow afternoon so we have lots of time to see if Ranma can change
back before then," Buffy stated as she headed for the Library door,
before leaving she turned and looked at the beleaguered girl, "So
patrolling tonight?"
Ranma-chan nodded unhappily, "I won't let a small thing like this
interfere with my duty of killing the Vampires and other creatures
that invade this town, it is a matter of honour after all."
"Good see you later," Buffy walked out the door ignoring the sound
of displeasure in Ranma-chan's voice.
Cordelia turned to Giles and gave him a confused look, "Vampires?"
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose in near defeat before he
started to explain to the girl about the realities of the world.
- - - -
"What took you?" Ranma-chan asked Buffy when the blonde finally
showed up at the meeting place. She raised an eyebrow when she
noticed that Willow, Xander, Giles, and Cordelia had tagged along,
"And what's with the crowd?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Buffy countered as she indicated
the other Japanese boy from earlier beside Ranma-chan.
"Ryouga's pretty good in a fight," Ranma-chan replied as Willow came
over to her and latched on, thankfully not as tightly as she first
did but it was still a little too possessive to comfort Ranma-chan.
"I don't want anyone who isn't a fighter having a chance to get hurt."
"Hey! We help Buffy patrol often," Xander stated offended by the
accusation. "Well, everyone here but Cordelia."
"I want to see this Vampire stuff," Cordelia said in annoyance. "I
was starting to think I was going crazy with the things I was seeing
so I want proof they exist!"
"Fine, but stay out of the fighting," Ranma-chan replied through
gritted teeth, this wasn't her decision and if the other Slayer
wanted to risk other peoples lives that was her problem. . . yeah,
right.
"I'm not going to fight anything, I might break an nail," Cordelia
said looking somewhat disgusted.
"Or a hand, possibly an arm, we could always hope for a neck,"
Xander continued for her which earned him a nasty look for the girl.
"Yes, well we should get started before too many of them rise,"
Giles stated trying to defuse the situation slightly.
"You still haven't told me why you are late," Ranma-chan reminded
Buffy obviously not moving until she got an answer.
"I was looking for Angel," Buffy replied in annoyance although she
looked worried. "He was supposed to have met me right after the sun
set and he wasn't home either."
"If you want we can try looking for him tonight," Ranma-chan offered.
"Unfortunately we don't have the option of doing that until later,"
Giles interrupted before Buffy could reply. "There was three Vampire
victims buried here today and we need to find them before they get
loose."
"You know this wouldn't be a big problem if you people got in a
habit of cremation," Ranma-chan stated in all seriousness.
"You know, she has a good idea there," Xander agreed energetically.
"It would cut down the amount of time we spend creeping through
graveyards late at night."
"Oh yes, why don't we go to city hall about getting a cremation
enforcement law passed so there will be less Vampires that have to be
staked," Giles replied sarcastically.
"And we don't creep, we sneak around in graveyards late at night,"
Willow corrected with a small smile.
"Um, yeah, I guess that sounds better," Ryouga said giving Ranma-
chan a look that said 'you hang around with these people?'.
"Okay then after the Vampires!" Ranma-chan stated in frustration,
being stuck in girl form was fraying her nerves and nobody seemed to
care.
Ranma-chan turned and headed off farther into the cemetery towards
the newer graves quickly caught up to by Buffy then turned her head
back, "Would someone please keep track of Ryouga so he doesn't get
lost."
"I don't get. . . oh never mind," Ryouga tried to counter in
annoyance but stopped himself when he realized Ranma-chan was to his
left and not in front of him. Cordelia smiled at him as she grabbed
his arm and started to follow the others.
"So, where do you think Angel might be?" Ranma-chan asked Buffy as
she scanned the area around her.
"I don't know. . . he was looking for Spike and Drusilla. . . he may
have found them," Buffy replied looking worried. "He's tough but even
he can be overpowered. . ."
"Fine, after we're done here we both start looking at some of the
most likely places and if we find either this Spike person or your
Angel we contact each other before going in," Ranma-chan stated
firmly before she stopped then turned slightly to her left. "One of
them is this way."
"How can you tell?" Buffy asked as she suddenly had to run to keep
up the red haired girl.
"Told you that even Vampires have an aura, I just started looking
for any trace of that in an area that shouldn't have any," Ranma-chan
explained as she moved from a quick walk to a sprint. "Khu Lon
suggested to do it to find the Vampires faster."
"Cool, that would help cut back on the hunting time," Buffy replied
as both of them entered an area that had the newer graves, they both
stopped as they realized that there was more than one there. "Spike?"
Spike stood at the head of ten Vampires, five to each side of him,
and gave the girls a sly smile, "Well hello Slayer, wasn't expecting
you here tonight."
Turning his gaze towards the red haired Asian girl he lifted an
eyebrow as his smile widened, "And you would the girl I heard of that
killed a few. . friends of mine the other night? I hear you called
yourself the Slayer too."
"I thought you said their was only one in this direction?" Buffy
asked in wide eyed shock at the mass of the Vampires, it wasn't as
bad as the other night but it was still more than she liked to deal
with at once.
"Hey I've never used it the track before!" Ranma-chan replied in
annoyance before turning serious towards the blonde haired Vampire.
"You look more intelligent then the others around you, I don't want
to kill you but if you don't give the book you took back I will."
"A Slayer who doesn't want to kill a Vampire? How bleeding novel.
Sorry girl I need that book right now, it's important to someone. .
special to me," Spike smiled as he shrugged slightly. Making a small
waving motion the other Vampires ran forward, "Anyhow it's a moot
point right now. Get them."
Ranma-chan was thankful for two things at the moment: One, there
were no female Vampires among those about to attack. And two, that
she wasn't alone as some of these Vampires knew how to fight and she
wasn't do good against multiple opponents. Spinning around she caught
one in the jaw with her foot sending him back over towards the one
known as 'Spike' and then had to content with four more who seemed
trained to work together.
Buffy was punching and kicking as best she could but was fast
realizing that the Vampires were getting the upper hand. She hadn't
even come close to staking any of them yet and she was going to be
sporting a few large bruises the next day already. She gave one a
solid punch to the chest sending him back then felt that someone was
behind her. Spinning she was shocked to see the Asian boy, that Ranma-
chan had brought with her, had picked the Vampire off the ground by
the back of the neck and throw him into the air as an odd field of
green energy started to fill the area around him. The Vampire fell
back towards the ground but never touch it as the boy yelled out
'Shishi Hokodan!' and the area lit up like an explosion of green
light.
"Show off!" Ranma-chan called back as she leaped of one Vampires
head and spin kicked another. "And just what do you have to be
depressed about anyhows!?!"
"That I'm not with Akari," Ryouga replied with a weak smile as he
punched another Vampire towards Ranma-chan.
"Weak! Very weak pig boy!" Ranma-chan said as she pushed her stake
through the chest of the one that Ryouga sent her. The others around
her were a little too shocked to really fight for a moment.
"Hey! I haven't been insulting you now have I? And why haven't you
been using any chi attacks? This new power of yours make you too weak
or something?" Ryouga looked hurt for a split second then smiled back
with a bit of mirth.
"I've been trying to have a little fun with the fight instead just
killing them," Ranma-chan's look was easy for Ryouga to read, unlike
him Ranma really didn't want to kill these things. It wasn't as if
Ryouga was enjoying killing the Vampires himself, but he wasn't above
the act. He actually was pleased to know that even after Saffron
Ranma was still reluctant to kill. . it meant a lot of people were
going to live longer, especially Ranma's Father.
Spike watched the green explosion like everyone around him but
wasn't as shocked as the lesser Vampires. He gave the situation a nod
as he turned and left the fight before trying out the new girl. He
definitely wanted the have a go with the red head as she was
obviously a better fighter than the other two Slayers he'd killed
years ago but he wasn't stupid enough to do it here and now.
Cordelia was almost panicking at the sight of the Vampire turning to
dust a few feet in front of her. It proved that what she had seen at
the Bronze all that time ago had actually happened. Ryouga's little
display of explosive power shocked her a little too but only in so
much as showed her that the tapes she loved didn't use as much
special effects as she, and many others, thought they did.
Before Cordelia knew it she knew it Xander pushed a wooden object
into her hands and gave her a firm look, "If any come close to you
scream out and try to use that by thrusting into it's heart, we'll
try to get to the Vampire before it can really hurt you."
She gave Xander a bewildered look of confusion, he acted like this
was just another night to him and the fact that there were almost a
dozen Vampires trying to kill them was the usual. She watched in
confusion as Xander and the Librarian, Mr. Giles, move into the fray
each killing a Vampire before they got ten feet from where she was.
Turning her head she watched Willow thrust out with another stake at
a different Vampire than had originally attacked them, she quickly
reasoned that it was one of the three that they had come to destroy
it the first place.
Having her attention turned away made her miss the one who came up
on her, "Oh look, my first dinner. . Cordelia Chase."
Spinning forwards Cordelia looked in to eyes of Evan Riles, the
captain of the school's chess team, someone well beneath her social
tolerance. Giving the boy a disgusted look she pushed her hand out
like she had watched Willow do, "I don't think so."
Evan Riles looked down in shock at the stake in his chest and looked
back up just as his body turned to dust and blow away, "Bitc. ."
It took only a few minutes to finish the rest of the Vampires,
afterwards Buffy looked up unhappy and a little confused, "Did Spike
just leave without even trying to get into the fight?"
"Yes it seems so," Giles replied putting the crossbow he was
carrying to his shoulder and resetting his glasses before looking
around confused. "Where's Ranma?"
- - - -
Spike stopped a few blocks away from the cemetery and turned to lean
against the high wall nest to him. He gave a wide smile as the red
head came around the corner a moment later, "Well well it seems you
didn't get enough back there."
"I want to talk," Ranma-chan said calmly as she assumed a casual
pose herself.
"I'm a dangerous person, I've killed two Slayers already in my time.
Don't you think it's a bad idea to try to talk to me?" Spike replied
as he bared his fangs and his darker face.
"You've got the Vampire know as Angel don't you," Ranma-chan stated
not in a question. "I want him back."
"You do do you? Well I have a real bad need of him, or at least his
blood," Spike almost laughed at the pure balls of this girl.
"Why do you need his blood?" Ranma-chan looked very interested about
this and Spike narrowed his eyes at her.
"Why should I explain it to you? I should just kill you and be done
with another Slayer wannabe."
"Cause you know that I'd kill you. I might get a little hurt in the
process but we both know you'd die," Ranma-chan replied still calm.
"Oh I don't know about that," Spike's smile dropped at the
statement. "Why do you want to know?"
"I might be able to help you make your girlfriend get better without
more people dying," Ranma-chan answered and Spike was a little
shocked when he realized she was serious.
"How could you help? You some kinda bleeding witch or something?"
Spike wasn't happy about even considering using the girl's help but
he was willing to do just about anything to cure Dru.
"I've got a strong connection to magic," Ranma-chan replied as she
walked past him after a few feet she turned and gave him a
questioning look. "Well? Are we going or not?"
Spike looked shocked at the girl again for a moment then it turned
to a large smile as he moved up beside the red head and both started
to walk forward, "You're really sure of yourself and willing to go
half cocked into the bleeding lion's den just to save the life of a
Vampire."
"Any life I can," Ranma-chan replied coldly.
- - - -
Author's notes: There is number eight. . I know people are out of
character so no flaming about that. Ryouga finally deciding on Akari
isn't a big leap and most of his bigger hatred of Ranma sprung from
the having real feelings for Akane ( the curse is just something he
has to deal with ). As for the end with Spike, Ranma doesn't want to
kill and in that he will find any solution to do what he has to.
Next: (should I really do these bits) Ranma and Angel meet, and the
Scoobies find Spike and Drusilla.