Send C&C to: oddball22@hotmail.com
Find my stories at: www.geocities.com/kaiphantom2000
Ranma 1/2: New Challenges
Bonds and Connections
Chapter 8
"So, which way is it?" Soun asked, somewhat frustrated. They had
been in the building for ten minutes, yet their guide seemed to become
more and more unsure as they walked along.
Konatsu glanced down the right hallway, then the left, then
down the right one again. "Um... I think..."
"Yes?" Genma leaned closer
"It's most definitely... In fact I'm almost sure..."
"And...?" Soun leaned foreword as well, as the kunoichi seemed
to come to a decision.
"I don't know," he replied sheepishly, placing a hand behind his
head and looking embarrassed.
After the two men dragged themselves off the floor, Soun
grabbed Konatsu by the shoulders and shook him. "Come now, you must
remember something! There are three woman in here that need our help!"
Konatsu shook his head slightly. "I was knocked unconscious
when I came in, and I wasn't paying attention on my way out."
"I think that the three of you are in need of more help than the
three girls you came to save," an amused, elderly female voice declared
from the end of the left hallway.
Konatsu smacked his right fist into his left palm. "I knew it
was the left!"
"And who are you?" Genma asked, studying the short shadow at the
end of the hall.
The old woman cackled. "Why, I'm Zhao Len, Saotome Genma.
Surely your children told you all about me?"
"YOU!" Soun bellowed as he took off down the hall. "You
kidnapped and threatened my little girl!"
"Wait, Tendo!" Genma called as his friend took off in a rage,
then sighed. "Guess it's up to me to keep you out of trouble." He
sprinted down the hallway after Soun.
Konatsu stood there for a second, blinking after the two men,
before running after them as well. "Wait for me!"
Zhao Len shot off down a perpendicular hall as Soun was about
to reach her, and he gave chase, Genma not far behind. Konatsu was
unable to follow, however, as his danger sense pinged and he came to a
sudden halt, just as the wall exploded, revealing a familiar black-clad
figure blocking his path with a slightly curved wakizashu outstretched.
If Konatsu hadn't stopped, the weapon would have taken his head off.
"Oh no, little ninja boy," Kae said, voice dripping with menace.
"You will fight me."
Konatsu froze for a second, then his features hardened. "As you
wish."
There was a tense moment of silence as the two fighters locked
gazes. Then, by an unspoken signal, they suddenly leapt towards each
other in a rapid flurry of attacks.
"Well, which is it?" Kodachi asked, hands on her hips.
It suddenly occurred to Nabiki that while she overheard Konatsu
say what area they were in, he didn't mention which building. She
glanced around nervously while the black-haired gymnast frowned at her.
"I... I don't know," she admitted. "But it has to be one of the
buildings on this street! These are the only condemned structures in the
Meji district!"
Kodachi sighed heavily, then scanned the boarded-up houses,
warehouses, and office buildings scattered around them.
"Never fear," Tatewaki declared, drawing his katana "For I
possess the ability to find those in danger."
"Oh really?" Kodachi said, eyes half-lidded. "How come I have
never heard of this talent of yours?"
"A samurai reveals not all his skills until needed!" her brother
countered, then knelt in the middle of the street, his sword held
upright in both hands, a streetlight shining down on him. When he spoke
next, it was in a voice barely above a whisper. "Please... honored
ancestors... if you can hear me. Somewhere nearby there are maidens in
danger, but I cannot find them without your help. If you can hear me...
then guide my sword!"
Nabiki blinked. "Wha-?"
Sasuke and Kodachi groaned.
"Don't tell me you've been watching _that_ movie again,
oniisan?" The kimono-clad girl asked her brother, tiredly. Then she
began to snicker and giggle as Tatewaki stood and wobbled around,
following where his katana tilted. "Well, I suppose that is better than
standing around wondering where to go! Ohohohoho!"
Nabiki shivered and backed away as Kodachi laughed, but the
other girl cut it off when she noticed the Tendo girl's reaction.
"Tell me something, Tendo Nabiki," Kodachi asked, suddenly
looking quite serious and troubled. "Do I... scare you?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Considering what you've been and
done in the past? Most definitely. I mean, let's face it. No one ever
knew what you were going to do, unlike your predictable brother. And
your laugh is just unnerving." Even though she felt a little bothered by
what she just said, Nabiki felt perfectly justified in saying it.
However, the look on Kodachi's face made her think twice.
The black-haired girl suddenly looked sad and downcast, even as
her eyes dropped to study the ground. "It is as I thought. Ranma-sa...n
looked at me the same way. As did the girls at my school. I am quite
detested and feared."
Nabiki felt that twinge again and sighed heavily. Several yards
away, Tatewaki swerved back across the street. "Look. You're not really
crazy anymore, right? I mean, you're mind's longer being messed up by
that hideous creature?" As Kodachi's head slowly came back up and
nodded, Nabiki continued. "Then you should be able to be whoever you
want to be now. If people still hate you, then that's their problem.
That's how I live. If they like me, fine. If they don't, then I don't
care."
Kodachi looked at Nabiki strangely and with a confused
expression. "Surely, you can't be serious?"
"Look, if you don't laugh like that anymore and start acting
like a normal human being..." [I can't believe what I'm about to say.]
"Then, I wouldn't mind being around you so much." Nabiki grimaced. [Why
don't you just ask her over for a slumber party now and the two of you
can make cookies?]
Kodachi tapped her chin in thought. "Perhaps... perhaps you
right. I shall do as you say, Nabiki-san."
Nabiki looked wide-eyed at the other girl. [Amazing! First
Kuno-baby and now her, of all people! Maybe that demented, dog-faced,
troll really did do something to these peoples' minds! She's actually
acting rather... normal. Scary.]
*Thump!* "Eureka!" Further thought was cut short by Tatewaki's
cry of success. Both girls and Sasuke turned to where Kuno's sword
rested in the wooden gate to one of the office buildings. "This be the
fiends' hiding place. Come, let us make haste!"
"Oh come now, Tatchi," Kodachi told him in a condescending
voice. "You don't really think that little trick worked?"
A small explosion sounded from inside the building as if in
reply, even as it shook slightly. To those outside, it almost felt as if
an elephant had been let loose inside.
Tatewaki grinned triumphantly. "You were saying, Dachi?"
Nabiki waved it off as she stalked up to the gate and swung it
open. "I'm not going to ask. Let's just go. If that is my father in
there fighting, then we have a short window of opportunity to free the
girls and get out."
"I am with you, Nabiki-san," Kodachi declared as she flashed a
wicked smile at the other girl's frown, then jumped and somersaulted
over her.
Nabiki and Tatewaki ran to catch up to Kodachi as she sprinted
up to the main entrance doors, Sasuke trailing behind them. With
apparently not a lot of regard for caution, the gymnast threw the doors
open with a *bang*, then strode inside, followed in the same manner by
her brother.
"So much for a quiet entrance," Nabiki sighed, then entered
after the Kuno siblings.
The sounds of combat were much clearer now, kiyah's and bodily
impacts echoing from somewhere deeper within the rickety, rundown
structure. The occasional crash indicated that a another wall had failed
to withstand something being thrown against it.
"Hark!" Kuno declared, katana at the ready. "The sounds of
battle come from within. I go to join our comrades and assure victory!"
Immediately following his noble pronouncement, he took off in the
direction his senses told him was where said combat was taking place.
"Not now!" Nabiki told him sharply as he ran off. "We have to
find and free the hostages first, then you can go off and heroically get
yourself killed!"
"One almost might think you still cared for my brother," Kodachi
said wryly.
"I do NOT care for that arrogant, insensitive baka!" Nabiki
hissed, then froze and winced while Kodachi and Sasuke turned their
attention upon her. [Why did that sound so incredibly familiar?] She
shook her head. "All I meant was that it would be easier to find the
girls if all four of us looked!"
"Riiiiight," Kodachi agreed in a condescending voice.
Nabiki threw her hands up in disgust. "Whatever, I don't care.
Do what you want." She turned and stormed off in a different direction.
"Sasuke, follow my idiotic brother and protect him!" Kodachi
ordered.
The little ninja stood at attention. "Yes, Mistress! But what
about you?"
Kodachi glanced down the hallway to where Nabiki had gone, a
wicked grin forming on her face. "I think Tendo Nabiki will need at
least one of us protecting her, don't you agree?"
Most people who have watched Ranma's fights would tell you that
at times the two combatants moved so fast, they tended to blur, making
it difficult to tell what is going on. However, if one were to watch the
current fight between these two highly-skilled ninja, they wouldn't be
able to tell what was going on at all.
The clash of metal against metal, or metal on wood, and the
smack of flesh on flesh was all that could be detected. Konatsu and Kae
moved to and from, and struck while inside, the litany of shadows that
littered the hallways and rooms. Every once and awhile, one or the other
would be visible as they leapt through a lighted area, but for the most
part the fight was good as invisible.
They both knew, that a single mistake would spell the end for
either of them. Kae had hundreds of years of experience, but was limited
by Kenji's body. Konatsu had high natural talent, but not much
experience.
As their eyes locked during a brief scuffle, they both knew the
other was well aware of the stakes.
"Hiyah!"
Zhao Len easily turned aside the thrust kick with her staff,
sending Soun crashing through yet another wall. The building shook
slightly with each piece destroyed. "Pathetic. And to think you two are
the ones who trained your children."
"We're just getting warmed up!" Genma sprinted foreword and
attacked, surprising the old woman that he could move such bulk so
quickly. Still, everyone one of his punches was turned or blocked with
the staff, until he overextended with his left and Zhao Len poked him
under the armpit with the tip of her staff.
The arm went limp as Genma grunted in pain. He tried a reverse
roundhouse, but she ducked under the flying foot and thrust the head of
her weapon into his chest. As it impacted, not only did Genma 'oof' with
the wind being driven out of his body, but his large frame was sent
flying backwards. Before he struck the pillar behind him, however, Genma
managed a one-arm Kijin Rashuu Dan.
The vacuum blade sped towards Zhao Len, who nearly had her head
taken off, but sidestepped just in time so all it tore was the sleeve on
her right arm. "Surprising. You do have some skill. Maybe I'll take you
both back to the tribe, in addition to your son and daughter. We could
always use more breeding stock, which is what you're children will be if
they don't cooperate."
"YOU WON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!" Soun roared, coming out of
seemingly nowhere with a series of rapid-fire punches and kicks that
flared and then were gone.
Zhao Len was forced to give ground under the rage-fueled
onslaught, not finding an opening in the man's defense. She snarled as
she twirled the staff around, then her peripheral vision caught the
flash of something silvery coming straight at her. Again, she brought
her own weapon up just in time to block, then back-flipped to give
herself a breather from the enraged man's attack.
Sensing more than seeing the projectiles coming at her, she
spun her staff and blocked both of them, feeling the *thunk* as they
lodged in her staff. But when she finally stopped and observed her
weapon, there was nothing on it except for two small holes.
And a quarter of the staff on the tip-end was gone, shaved
clean off.
"What!?" Zhao Len did a double-take at both her staff and the
Tendo patriarch. [He's not carrying any weapons, but that looked like
the flash of a sword before I jumped away. And I could have sworn that
those were two arrows that I blocked with my staff, but he's not holding
a bow, either. So where did they come from?]
Genma stared wide-eyed at his friend. "Tendo... You
actually..." He had seen everything, and because Soun had mentioned it
once before, he kind of knew what had happened. But for his old friend
to do that...
Soun's eyes never left the outcast Amazon. "You won't touch my
daughter," he said in a quiet but deadly-serious voice.
Zhao Len's lips curved upward in an evil grin. "I won't have
to. But there are plenty of male Amazons who will."
Soun screamed in rage and shot foreword at this, while Genma
yelled, "Tendo! Don't!", knowing the old woman was just baiting him. His
breath back but arm still numb, Genma hauled himself up just as Soun
nearly collided with the deceptively frail-looking woman.
Instead of blocking his attacks, however, Zhao Len thrust the
staff downward and the wooden floor exploded under them. She was already
airborne while the breaking point blast went off, but Soun stumbled
through it, the wooden chips pelting him and the dust cloud blinding
him. Acting on instinct, he jumped as he felt the floor give way, but
Zhao Len was above him and clonked him in the back of the head with the
staff, sending him head first into another wall.
This time, Soun didn't get up.
"Tendo!" Genma cried, trying to get to his fallen friend, but
finding an old woman blocking his path.
"Well," she said, grinning and idly twirling her staff. "It
looks like it is down to you and me."
Ukyo broke into wide, relieved smile. "Nabiki! What in the
world are you doin' here?" Then she caught sight of the person behind
her rescuer, and started. "Kodachi!"
"Relax," Nabiki waved the chef off. "She's good."
Ukyo eyed the kimono-clad gymnast warily, still remembering
Kodachi's attack on Akane and kidnapping of Ranma, as well as all the
other insane things the Kuno girl had done. "I don't know, Nabiki-chan.
But I guess, if you say she's alright..." She still didn't feel alright,
but there was nothing she could do at the moment, other than keep an eye
on her.
"See any keys around here?" Nabiki asked, taking note of the
manacles and chains binding Ukyo and Yuri. She began to search.
Ukyo shook her head. "Sorry. I was unconscious when they
chained us up. And don't ask why there are cells and manacles in the
basement of an office building."
Nabiki shrugged. "Some businessmen have exotic tastes."
Kodachi and Ukyo stared at the middle Tendo.
"Dare I ask how you know that, Nabiki-san?" Kodachi asked.
"I make it a point to know the business world, since I plan to
rule it one day." She smirked while she continued to search the large
room, discovering something in the cell on the other side of Ukyo's.
"Yuri! She's here, too. Why didn't she say anything?" Nabiki opened the
cell door, surprised it wasn't locked, then knelt down next to the young
ninja girl, who was sitting against the wall and staring off into space.
Ukyo inwardly winced. "She hasn't exactly had the best of times
lately. I think she's still in shock over what happened to Kenji."
"What did happen to him?" Nabiki asked the chef, as she checked
Yuri for any injuries.
"Don't really know. We at first thought someone kidnapped him,
but it looks like either his mind has been totally warped, he's
possessed, or something is just imitating his body." Nabiki poked her
head around the stone partition that separated the two cells and cocked
an eyebrow at the chef. Ukyo shrugged. "Hey, I've had plenty of time to
think down here."
"Nabiki-san, I have found another little girl here," Kodachi's
voice rang out. "Could this be that 'Selah' you were speaking of?"
Nabiki walked on over the last cell on the end while Ukyo
asked, "Is she alright? I didn't know where they were keeping her."
"She's unconscious," Nabiki called back. "But she's only tied
with rope. If we had something sharp, we could cut it off her."
Kodachi reached into her kimono sleeve and produced a small
knife. "Allow me. You should continue to search for the key."
Nabiki nodded and stood, prepared to start searching again, but
was never given the chance. Instead, she mimicked the others and froze
as the door creaked open and someone stepped inside, still partially
hidden by shadows.
"Looking for this?" the figure asked idly while holding up a
steel key in the light.
"Kenji!" Ukyo moved as far foreword as her chains would allow.
In the cell next to hers, Yuri blinked and slowly crawled over
to look at her brother with hope in her eyes. "Oniichan?" she asked
softly.
'Kenji' chuckled dryly. "I already told you he's not available.
My name is Kae."
"No!" Yuri screeched. "Where's my brother!? What have you done
with him!?"
"He's gone, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better,"
Kae told her in a cold voice. With that, the ninja dragged something
from behind her and dropped it just inside the room. Ukyo's, Nabiki's,
and Yuri's eyes went wide, while Kodachi narrowed hers.
"Konatsu!" This time both Ukyo and Yuri screamed, railing
against their shackles, but were unable to go anywhere. "What did you do
to him!?" Ukyo demanded to know.
Kae shrugged. "He made a mistake. He paid the consequences."
Nabiki suddenly wished Tatewaki was here, for protection of
course. She backed up a step and knew that anybody who could take down
Konatsu, could take her out with barely a thought.
She suddenly found Kodachi beside her, handing her the knife.
"You work on freeing the child," she whispered to Nabiki, then in a
slightly louder voice declared, "I shall deal with him!"
"You are welcome to try, girl." Kae sounded almost amused.
"I shall do more than 'try'," Kodachi retorted, then began to
undo the sash on her kimono. "For I am Kuno Kodachi, the 'Black Rose!'"
The other girls stared in disbelief as the Kuno girl pulled off her
kimono in one smooth move, revealing a midnight-blue, full-body, skin-
tight leotard underneath. The only parts not covered were her hands and
head, above her neck.
She tossed the garment at her adversary and immediately set a
ribbon twirling. Kae sliced through the kimono with one smooth stroke
from her wakizashu, that wasn't in her hand a second before, but the
Black Rose was already in motion.
"Take my Petal Storm! Ohohohohoho!" Kodachi loosed a volley of
black rose petals, bathing her opponent in a literal storm of blossoms.
Kae backtracked through the door to avoid the attack, and
Kodachi bounded through after the ninja, still laughing.
Nabiki shook her head, forcing herself out of staring at the
gymnast to go and cut Selah's bonds. It didn't take her long to finish
the job Kodachi had started, and soon she was picking the girl up and
carrying her over lay near Ukyo, stopping to check on Konatsu. She
nodded to Ukyo, signaling he was still alive.
"What are you doing, Nabiki?" Ukyo asked in disbelief as the
Tendo girl began to try and pick the lock on her shackles with the
knife. "You've got to get Selah and Konatsu out of here! I don't know
how good Kodachi thinks she is, but that Kae was able to beat Konatsu
not once, but twice. He'll be back soon!"
"I came to save all of you," Nabiki told her, fiddling with the
lock. "And that's what I'm going to do."
Ukyo looked at her strangely. "Why? I don't recall you ever
getting this personally involved in our fights before."
Nabiki froze in mid-lock-pick as understanding failed her. [Why
AM I doing this?] She had left the relative safety of her house only to
put herself in a life-or-death situation that was best left to the
martial artists. [Which I'm not. So where did this desire come from?]
Her throat suddenly became dry as the motivation for her behavior was
comprehended.
Nabiki had always been a intelligent thinker, not taking long
to come to the most logical conclusion. [That sword, that damned sword!
I was so intent on fighting it's overt control, that it subconsciously
altered my thoughts!] She didn't figure that out until now, when Ukyo
had asked her the question, and she realized she didn't have an answer.
"Nabiki?" Ukyo waved a hand in front of her friend's face. "You
in there?"
"I'm fine," she spat angrily, then resumed work on the lock.
[Well, I'm already here. Might as well finish the job.] "Besides, you
still owe me money. If you die here, I can't collect now, can I?"
Ukyo just shook her head , while Yuri continued to watch the
doorway where her brother had vanished, as well as the fallen form of
Konatsu.
Before Zhao Len or Genma could initiate any more actions, the
steady rhythm of a pair of running feet drew both their attentions to
the doorway across the ravaged room. Both wondered who it was, but they
didn't have to wait long.
Tatewaki Kuno burst into the room and surveyed the situation.
Akane's father was laying in the far corner against a pillar, while the
man he recognized as Ranma's father was facing off with a short,
withered old hag who reminded him of the other old woman who used to run
that noodle emporium, the Nekohanten.
Kuno blinked. This was the dangerous Amazon one that once
kidnapped both Ranma and Akane? he almost felt like laughing, if not for
a small, long unused part of his brain told him that a little caution
wouldn't hurt and not to underestimate his enemy.
"I demand you free the maidens you have imprisoned, or you shall
feel the wrath of mine blade!" He brought said instrument of war up,
while gauging the old woman's reaction.
Zhao Len nearly burst out laughing. "Oh, that's rich! I had
heard the Kuno family were a bunch of loons, but I never expected this!"
She quickly parried an attack by Genma, who sought to take advantage of
a supposed distraction, and sent the man flying across to the other side
of the large hole in the floor.
"Silence, old woman!" Kuno commanded, while circling around to
face her. "As much as it is detestable to me to fight such an old and
frail matron, I shall not hesitate if means freeing those you hold
captive."
The 'old and frail matron' cackled. "Well, perhaps you'll be
good for a few laughs. Let's see what you got, boy."
Across the room, Genma picked himself up once more and sighed
as he watched Kuno attack Zhao Len, then get sent on a flying trip of
his own. Somehow he knew, things had just gotten worse, not better.
"Ohohohohoho!"
"Would you shut up," Kae growled, becoming increasingly annoyed
by his opponent. This 'Black Rose' didn't seem highly skilled, but so
far she had stayed out of close range, flicking that damned ribbon and
spouting that irritating laugh. On the next flick, however, the ninja
blurred foreword and sliced half the ribbon away. "Time to end this,
little girl."
"I have not yet begun!" Kodachi declared, flipping backward and
rebounding off the wall, grabbing something attached to her waist and
flinging it foreword. It whistled as it flew, but pinged off the metal
of Kae's curved wakizashu as she brought it up to block. Kodachi was
already moving on, flicking out a whip with the other hand as she
flipped over her opponent.
Kae found the whip wrapped around the upper hilt of her sword,
even as Kodachi gave a fierce tug, trying to pull the weapon away. Kae
resisted, the strength of the boy's body being slightly greater then
that of the Black Rose. As Kodachi landed, Kae caught the familiar sound
of whistling once more. It pinged once off a far wall then struck the
back of the ninja's head, sending Kae stumbling foreword. It pinged once
more as it rebounded of another wall, then Kodachi caught it and re-
secured it to her waist.
It was only then that Kae saw it: A slivery, circular chakram.
The spirit in Kenji's body snarled. "I've had enough!" He
sprung foreword at top speed, wrapping the whip around his weapon as she
went.
Kodachi attempted to leap back but Kae caught her in mid-air,
sending an elbow into the girl's stomach. He then somersaulted in mid-
air, swinging his feet up to catch Kodachi in the chin and rocket the
other girl into a wall. Kodachi moaned dizzily as she slid to the
ground.
"Give it up, girl," Kae spat. "The only reason I didn't kill
that pretty boy ninja is because Zhao Len forbids it a the moment. You,
on the other hand, she didn't say anything about." He pulled the whip
off her weapon and tossed it to the ground, then readied to take
Kodachi's head off. "I've been waiting and planning my vengeance for
almost a thousand years, and I'm not going to be stopped by you."
"Just who ARE you?" Ukyo demanded to know.
Kae turned to see the chef and the ninja girl, Yuri, on the
other side of the room. "I was a warrior a long time ago, but was
trapped within the earth for nearly a millennia until this boy foolishly
wandered into my trap. My body had long since decayed, but my spirit
lived on. And now I have a new body with which to extract my revenge, as
soon as I fulfill my bargain to the old woman." Kae suddenly smiled and
looked up at the ceiling, as if hearing something only she could hear.
"And it appears I've finally been given the right to kill you."
"I don't know what you want," Yuri said in a low, dangerous
voice. "But for what you've done to my brother, Konatsu, and all my
friends, I will stop you." She brought her own, shorter wakizashu up.
"It wasn't that smart to leave our weapons nearby," Ukyo said,
ginning and hefting her battle spatula. "How about I show you what this
'short-order cook' can do now?"
"Do not count me out either, Kuonji-san," Kodachi said, rising
and readying a pair of tonfa.
Kae's eyes narrowed, then she grinned evilly. "Well then, come
and get me, little girls. If you think you can."
-------------------------------------
Author's Notes:
Just a little clarification, in case you're confused. Kae is female, but
Kenji's body is male. Nobody knows Kae is female, so all Ukyo and
everybody see is a possessed boy. This explains why they refer to Kae as
a male.
Find my stories at: www.geocities.com/kaiphantom2000
Ranma 1/2: New Challenges
Bonds and Connections
Chapter 8
"So, which way is it?" Soun asked, somewhat frustrated. They had
been in the building for ten minutes, yet their guide seemed to become
more and more unsure as they walked along.
Konatsu glanced down the right hallway, then the left, then
down the right one again. "Um... I think..."
"Yes?" Genma leaned closer
"It's most definitely... In fact I'm almost sure..."
"And...?" Soun leaned foreword as well, as the kunoichi seemed
to come to a decision.
"I don't know," he replied sheepishly, placing a hand behind his
head and looking embarrassed.
After the two men dragged themselves off the floor, Soun
grabbed Konatsu by the shoulders and shook him. "Come now, you must
remember something! There are three woman in here that need our help!"
Konatsu shook his head slightly. "I was knocked unconscious
when I came in, and I wasn't paying attention on my way out."
"I think that the three of you are in need of more help than the
three girls you came to save," an amused, elderly female voice declared
from the end of the left hallway.
Konatsu smacked his right fist into his left palm. "I knew it
was the left!"
"And who are you?" Genma asked, studying the short shadow at the
end of the hall.
The old woman cackled. "Why, I'm Zhao Len, Saotome Genma.
Surely your children told you all about me?"
"YOU!" Soun bellowed as he took off down the hall. "You
kidnapped and threatened my little girl!"
"Wait, Tendo!" Genma called as his friend took off in a rage,
then sighed. "Guess it's up to me to keep you out of trouble." He
sprinted down the hallway after Soun.
Konatsu stood there for a second, blinking after the two men,
before running after them as well. "Wait for me!"
Zhao Len shot off down a perpendicular hall as Soun was about
to reach her, and he gave chase, Genma not far behind. Konatsu was
unable to follow, however, as his danger sense pinged and he came to a
sudden halt, just as the wall exploded, revealing a familiar black-clad
figure blocking his path with a slightly curved wakizashu outstretched.
If Konatsu hadn't stopped, the weapon would have taken his head off.
"Oh no, little ninja boy," Kae said, voice dripping with menace.
"You will fight me."
Konatsu froze for a second, then his features hardened. "As you
wish."
There was a tense moment of silence as the two fighters locked
gazes. Then, by an unspoken signal, they suddenly leapt towards each
other in a rapid flurry of attacks.
"Well, which is it?" Kodachi asked, hands on her hips.
It suddenly occurred to Nabiki that while she overheard Konatsu
say what area they were in, he didn't mention which building. She
glanced around nervously while the black-haired gymnast frowned at her.
"I... I don't know," she admitted. "But it has to be one of the
buildings on this street! These are the only condemned structures in the
Meji district!"
Kodachi sighed heavily, then scanned the boarded-up houses,
warehouses, and office buildings scattered around them.
"Never fear," Tatewaki declared, drawing his katana "For I
possess the ability to find those in danger."
"Oh really?" Kodachi said, eyes half-lidded. "How come I have
never heard of this talent of yours?"
"A samurai reveals not all his skills until needed!" her brother
countered, then knelt in the middle of the street, his sword held
upright in both hands, a streetlight shining down on him. When he spoke
next, it was in a voice barely above a whisper. "Please... honored
ancestors... if you can hear me. Somewhere nearby there are maidens in
danger, but I cannot find them without your help. If you can hear me...
then guide my sword!"
Nabiki blinked. "Wha-?"
Sasuke and Kodachi groaned.
"Don't tell me you've been watching _that_ movie again,
oniisan?" The kimono-clad girl asked her brother, tiredly. Then she
began to snicker and giggle as Tatewaki stood and wobbled around,
following where his katana tilted. "Well, I suppose that is better than
standing around wondering where to go! Ohohohoho!"
Nabiki shivered and backed away as Kodachi laughed, but the
other girl cut it off when she noticed the Tendo girl's reaction.
"Tell me something, Tendo Nabiki," Kodachi asked, suddenly
looking quite serious and troubled. "Do I... scare you?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Considering what you've been and
done in the past? Most definitely. I mean, let's face it. No one ever
knew what you were going to do, unlike your predictable brother. And
your laugh is just unnerving." Even though she felt a little bothered by
what she just said, Nabiki felt perfectly justified in saying it.
However, the look on Kodachi's face made her think twice.
The black-haired girl suddenly looked sad and downcast, even as
her eyes dropped to study the ground. "It is as I thought. Ranma-sa...n
looked at me the same way. As did the girls at my school. I am quite
detested and feared."
Nabiki felt that twinge again and sighed heavily. Several yards
away, Tatewaki swerved back across the street. "Look. You're not really
crazy anymore, right? I mean, you're mind's longer being messed up by
that hideous creature?" As Kodachi's head slowly came back up and
nodded, Nabiki continued. "Then you should be able to be whoever you
want to be now. If people still hate you, then that's their problem.
That's how I live. If they like me, fine. If they don't, then I don't
care."
Kodachi looked at Nabiki strangely and with a confused
expression. "Surely, you can't be serious?"
"Look, if you don't laugh like that anymore and start acting
like a normal human being..." [I can't believe what I'm about to say.]
"Then, I wouldn't mind being around you so much." Nabiki grimaced. [Why
don't you just ask her over for a slumber party now and the two of you
can make cookies?]
Kodachi tapped her chin in thought. "Perhaps... perhaps you
right. I shall do as you say, Nabiki-san."
Nabiki looked wide-eyed at the other girl. [Amazing! First
Kuno-baby and now her, of all people! Maybe that demented, dog-faced,
troll really did do something to these peoples' minds! She's actually
acting rather... normal. Scary.]
*Thump!* "Eureka!" Further thought was cut short by Tatewaki's
cry of success. Both girls and Sasuke turned to where Kuno's sword
rested in the wooden gate to one of the office buildings. "This be the
fiends' hiding place. Come, let us make haste!"
"Oh come now, Tatchi," Kodachi told him in a condescending
voice. "You don't really think that little trick worked?"
A small explosion sounded from inside the building as if in
reply, even as it shook slightly. To those outside, it almost felt as if
an elephant had been let loose inside.
Tatewaki grinned triumphantly. "You were saying, Dachi?"
Nabiki waved it off as she stalked up to the gate and swung it
open. "I'm not going to ask. Let's just go. If that is my father in
there fighting, then we have a short window of opportunity to free the
girls and get out."
"I am with you, Nabiki-san," Kodachi declared as she flashed a
wicked smile at the other girl's frown, then jumped and somersaulted
over her.
Nabiki and Tatewaki ran to catch up to Kodachi as she sprinted
up to the main entrance doors, Sasuke trailing behind them. With
apparently not a lot of regard for caution, the gymnast threw the doors
open with a *bang*, then strode inside, followed in the same manner by
her brother.
"So much for a quiet entrance," Nabiki sighed, then entered
after the Kuno siblings.
The sounds of combat were much clearer now, kiyah's and bodily
impacts echoing from somewhere deeper within the rickety, rundown
structure. The occasional crash indicated that a another wall had failed
to withstand something being thrown against it.
"Hark!" Kuno declared, katana at the ready. "The sounds of
battle come from within. I go to join our comrades and assure victory!"
Immediately following his noble pronouncement, he took off in the
direction his senses told him was where said combat was taking place.
"Not now!" Nabiki told him sharply as he ran off. "We have to
find and free the hostages first, then you can go off and heroically get
yourself killed!"
"One almost might think you still cared for my brother," Kodachi
said wryly.
"I do NOT care for that arrogant, insensitive baka!" Nabiki
hissed, then froze and winced while Kodachi and Sasuke turned their
attention upon her. [Why did that sound so incredibly familiar?] She
shook her head. "All I meant was that it would be easier to find the
girls if all four of us looked!"
"Riiiiight," Kodachi agreed in a condescending voice.
Nabiki threw her hands up in disgust. "Whatever, I don't care.
Do what you want." She turned and stormed off in a different direction.
"Sasuke, follow my idiotic brother and protect him!" Kodachi
ordered.
The little ninja stood at attention. "Yes, Mistress! But what
about you?"
Kodachi glanced down the hallway to where Nabiki had gone, a
wicked grin forming on her face. "I think Tendo Nabiki will need at
least one of us protecting her, don't you agree?"
Most people who have watched Ranma's fights would tell you that
at times the two combatants moved so fast, they tended to blur, making
it difficult to tell what is going on. However, if one were to watch the
current fight between these two highly-skilled ninja, they wouldn't be
able to tell what was going on at all.
The clash of metal against metal, or metal on wood, and the
smack of flesh on flesh was all that could be detected. Konatsu and Kae
moved to and from, and struck while inside, the litany of shadows that
littered the hallways and rooms. Every once and awhile, one or the other
would be visible as they leapt through a lighted area, but for the most
part the fight was good as invisible.
They both knew, that a single mistake would spell the end for
either of them. Kae had hundreds of years of experience, but was limited
by Kenji's body. Konatsu had high natural talent, but not much
experience.
As their eyes locked during a brief scuffle, they both knew the
other was well aware of the stakes.
"Hiyah!"
Zhao Len easily turned aside the thrust kick with her staff,
sending Soun crashing through yet another wall. The building shook
slightly with each piece destroyed. "Pathetic. And to think you two are
the ones who trained your children."
"We're just getting warmed up!" Genma sprinted foreword and
attacked, surprising the old woman that he could move such bulk so
quickly. Still, everyone one of his punches was turned or blocked with
the staff, until he overextended with his left and Zhao Len poked him
under the armpit with the tip of her staff.
The arm went limp as Genma grunted in pain. He tried a reverse
roundhouse, but she ducked under the flying foot and thrust the head of
her weapon into his chest. As it impacted, not only did Genma 'oof' with
the wind being driven out of his body, but his large frame was sent
flying backwards. Before he struck the pillar behind him, however, Genma
managed a one-arm Kijin Rashuu Dan.
The vacuum blade sped towards Zhao Len, who nearly had her head
taken off, but sidestepped just in time so all it tore was the sleeve on
her right arm. "Surprising. You do have some skill. Maybe I'll take you
both back to the tribe, in addition to your son and daughter. We could
always use more breeding stock, which is what you're children will be if
they don't cooperate."
"YOU WON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!" Soun roared, coming out of
seemingly nowhere with a series of rapid-fire punches and kicks that
flared and then were gone.
Zhao Len was forced to give ground under the rage-fueled
onslaught, not finding an opening in the man's defense. She snarled as
she twirled the staff around, then her peripheral vision caught the
flash of something silvery coming straight at her. Again, she brought
her own weapon up just in time to block, then back-flipped to give
herself a breather from the enraged man's attack.
Sensing more than seeing the projectiles coming at her, she
spun her staff and blocked both of them, feeling the *thunk* as they
lodged in her staff. But when she finally stopped and observed her
weapon, there was nothing on it except for two small holes.
And a quarter of the staff on the tip-end was gone, shaved
clean off.
"What!?" Zhao Len did a double-take at both her staff and the
Tendo patriarch. [He's not carrying any weapons, but that looked like
the flash of a sword before I jumped away. And I could have sworn that
those were two arrows that I blocked with my staff, but he's not holding
a bow, either. So where did they come from?]
Genma stared wide-eyed at his friend. "Tendo... You
actually..." He had seen everything, and because Soun had mentioned it
once before, he kind of knew what had happened. But for his old friend
to do that...
Soun's eyes never left the outcast Amazon. "You won't touch my
daughter," he said in a quiet but deadly-serious voice.
Zhao Len's lips curved upward in an evil grin. "I won't have
to. But there are plenty of male Amazons who will."
Soun screamed in rage and shot foreword at this, while Genma
yelled, "Tendo! Don't!", knowing the old woman was just baiting him. His
breath back but arm still numb, Genma hauled himself up just as Soun
nearly collided with the deceptively frail-looking woman.
Instead of blocking his attacks, however, Zhao Len thrust the
staff downward and the wooden floor exploded under them. She was already
airborne while the breaking point blast went off, but Soun stumbled
through it, the wooden chips pelting him and the dust cloud blinding
him. Acting on instinct, he jumped as he felt the floor give way, but
Zhao Len was above him and clonked him in the back of the head with the
staff, sending him head first into another wall.
This time, Soun didn't get up.
"Tendo!" Genma cried, trying to get to his fallen friend, but
finding an old woman blocking his path.
"Well," she said, grinning and idly twirling her staff. "It
looks like it is down to you and me."
Ukyo broke into wide, relieved smile. "Nabiki! What in the
world are you doin' here?" Then she caught sight of the person behind
her rescuer, and started. "Kodachi!"
"Relax," Nabiki waved the chef off. "She's good."
Ukyo eyed the kimono-clad gymnast warily, still remembering
Kodachi's attack on Akane and kidnapping of Ranma, as well as all the
other insane things the Kuno girl had done. "I don't know, Nabiki-chan.
But I guess, if you say she's alright..." She still didn't feel alright,
but there was nothing she could do at the moment, other than keep an eye
on her.
"See any keys around here?" Nabiki asked, taking note of the
manacles and chains binding Ukyo and Yuri. She began to search.
Ukyo shook her head. "Sorry. I was unconscious when they
chained us up. And don't ask why there are cells and manacles in the
basement of an office building."
Nabiki shrugged. "Some businessmen have exotic tastes."
Kodachi and Ukyo stared at the middle Tendo.
"Dare I ask how you know that, Nabiki-san?" Kodachi asked.
"I make it a point to know the business world, since I plan to
rule it one day." She smirked while she continued to search the large
room, discovering something in the cell on the other side of Ukyo's.
"Yuri! She's here, too. Why didn't she say anything?" Nabiki opened the
cell door, surprised it wasn't locked, then knelt down next to the young
ninja girl, who was sitting against the wall and staring off into space.
Ukyo inwardly winced. "She hasn't exactly had the best of times
lately. I think she's still in shock over what happened to Kenji."
"What did happen to him?" Nabiki asked the chef, as she checked
Yuri for any injuries.
"Don't really know. We at first thought someone kidnapped him,
but it looks like either his mind has been totally warped, he's
possessed, or something is just imitating his body." Nabiki poked her
head around the stone partition that separated the two cells and cocked
an eyebrow at the chef. Ukyo shrugged. "Hey, I've had plenty of time to
think down here."
"Nabiki-san, I have found another little girl here," Kodachi's
voice rang out. "Could this be that 'Selah' you were speaking of?"
Nabiki walked on over the last cell on the end while Ukyo
asked, "Is she alright? I didn't know where they were keeping her."
"She's unconscious," Nabiki called back. "But she's only tied
with rope. If we had something sharp, we could cut it off her."
Kodachi reached into her kimono sleeve and produced a small
knife. "Allow me. You should continue to search for the key."
Nabiki nodded and stood, prepared to start searching again, but
was never given the chance. Instead, she mimicked the others and froze
as the door creaked open and someone stepped inside, still partially
hidden by shadows.
"Looking for this?" the figure asked idly while holding up a
steel key in the light.
"Kenji!" Ukyo moved as far foreword as her chains would allow.
In the cell next to hers, Yuri blinked and slowly crawled over
to look at her brother with hope in her eyes. "Oniichan?" she asked
softly.
'Kenji' chuckled dryly. "I already told you he's not available.
My name is Kae."
"No!" Yuri screeched. "Where's my brother!? What have you done
with him!?"
"He's gone, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better,"
Kae told her in a cold voice. With that, the ninja dragged something
from behind her and dropped it just inside the room. Ukyo's, Nabiki's,
and Yuri's eyes went wide, while Kodachi narrowed hers.
"Konatsu!" This time both Ukyo and Yuri screamed, railing
against their shackles, but were unable to go anywhere. "What did you do
to him!?" Ukyo demanded to know.
Kae shrugged. "He made a mistake. He paid the consequences."
Nabiki suddenly wished Tatewaki was here, for protection of
course. She backed up a step and knew that anybody who could take down
Konatsu, could take her out with barely a thought.
She suddenly found Kodachi beside her, handing her the knife.
"You work on freeing the child," she whispered to Nabiki, then in a
slightly louder voice declared, "I shall deal with him!"
"You are welcome to try, girl." Kae sounded almost amused.
"I shall do more than 'try'," Kodachi retorted, then began to
undo the sash on her kimono. "For I am Kuno Kodachi, the 'Black Rose!'"
The other girls stared in disbelief as the Kuno girl pulled off her
kimono in one smooth move, revealing a midnight-blue, full-body, skin-
tight leotard underneath. The only parts not covered were her hands and
head, above her neck.
She tossed the garment at her adversary and immediately set a
ribbon twirling. Kae sliced through the kimono with one smooth stroke
from her wakizashu, that wasn't in her hand a second before, but the
Black Rose was already in motion.
"Take my Petal Storm! Ohohohohoho!" Kodachi loosed a volley of
black rose petals, bathing her opponent in a literal storm of blossoms.
Kae backtracked through the door to avoid the attack, and
Kodachi bounded through after the ninja, still laughing.
Nabiki shook her head, forcing herself out of staring at the
gymnast to go and cut Selah's bonds. It didn't take her long to finish
the job Kodachi had started, and soon she was picking the girl up and
carrying her over lay near Ukyo, stopping to check on Konatsu. She
nodded to Ukyo, signaling he was still alive.
"What are you doing, Nabiki?" Ukyo asked in disbelief as the
Tendo girl began to try and pick the lock on her shackles with the
knife. "You've got to get Selah and Konatsu out of here! I don't know
how good Kodachi thinks she is, but that Kae was able to beat Konatsu
not once, but twice. He'll be back soon!"
"I came to save all of you," Nabiki told her, fiddling with the
lock. "And that's what I'm going to do."
Ukyo looked at her strangely. "Why? I don't recall you ever
getting this personally involved in our fights before."
Nabiki froze in mid-lock-pick as understanding failed her. [Why
AM I doing this?] She had left the relative safety of her house only to
put herself in a life-or-death situation that was best left to the
martial artists. [Which I'm not. So where did this desire come from?]
Her throat suddenly became dry as the motivation for her behavior was
comprehended.
Nabiki had always been a intelligent thinker, not taking long
to come to the most logical conclusion. [That sword, that damned sword!
I was so intent on fighting it's overt control, that it subconsciously
altered my thoughts!] She didn't figure that out until now, when Ukyo
had asked her the question, and she realized she didn't have an answer.
"Nabiki?" Ukyo waved a hand in front of her friend's face. "You
in there?"
"I'm fine," she spat angrily, then resumed work on the lock.
[Well, I'm already here. Might as well finish the job.] "Besides, you
still owe me money. If you die here, I can't collect now, can I?"
Ukyo just shook her head , while Yuri continued to watch the
doorway where her brother had vanished, as well as the fallen form of
Konatsu.
Before Zhao Len or Genma could initiate any more actions, the
steady rhythm of a pair of running feet drew both their attentions to
the doorway across the ravaged room. Both wondered who it was, but they
didn't have to wait long.
Tatewaki Kuno burst into the room and surveyed the situation.
Akane's father was laying in the far corner against a pillar, while the
man he recognized as Ranma's father was facing off with a short,
withered old hag who reminded him of the other old woman who used to run
that noodle emporium, the Nekohanten.
Kuno blinked. This was the dangerous Amazon one that once
kidnapped both Ranma and Akane? he almost felt like laughing, if not for
a small, long unused part of his brain told him that a little caution
wouldn't hurt and not to underestimate his enemy.
"I demand you free the maidens you have imprisoned, or you shall
feel the wrath of mine blade!" He brought said instrument of war up,
while gauging the old woman's reaction.
Zhao Len nearly burst out laughing. "Oh, that's rich! I had
heard the Kuno family were a bunch of loons, but I never expected this!"
She quickly parried an attack by Genma, who sought to take advantage of
a supposed distraction, and sent the man flying across to the other side
of the large hole in the floor.
"Silence, old woman!" Kuno commanded, while circling around to
face her. "As much as it is detestable to me to fight such an old and
frail matron, I shall not hesitate if means freeing those you hold
captive."
The 'old and frail matron' cackled. "Well, perhaps you'll be
good for a few laughs. Let's see what you got, boy."
Across the room, Genma picked himself up once more and sighed
as he watched Kuno attack Zhao Len, then get sent on a flying trip of
his own. Somehow he knew, things had just gotten worse, not better.
"Ohohohohoho!"
"Would you shut up," Kae growled, becoming increasingly annoyed
by his opponent. This 'Black Rose' didn't seem highly skilled, but so
far she had stayed out of close range, flicking that damned ribbon and
spouting that irritating laugh. On the next flick, however, the ninja
blurred foreword and sliced half the ribbon away. "Time to end this,
little girl."
"I have not yet begun!" Kodachi declared, flipping backward and
rebounding off the wall, grabbing something attached to her waist and
flinging it foreword. It whistled as it flew, but pinged off the metal
of Kae's curved wakizashu as she brought it up to block. Kodachi was
already moving on, flicking out a whip with the other hand as she
flipped over her opponent.
Kae found the whip wrapped around the upper hilt of her sword,
even as Kodachi gave a fierce tug, trying to pull the weapon away. Kae
resisted, the strength of the boy's body being slightly greater then
that of the Black Rose. As Kodachi landed, Kae caught the familiar sound
of whistling once more. It pinged once off a far wall then struck the
back of the ninja's head, sending Kae stumbling foreword. It pinged once
more as it rebounded of another wall, then Kodachi caught it and re-
secured it to her waist.
It was only then that Kae saw it: A slivery, circular chakram.
The spirit in Kenji's body snarled. "I've had enough!" He
sprung foreword at top speed, wrapping the whip around his weapon as she
went.
Kodachi attempted to leap back but Kae caught her in mid-air,
sending an elbow into the girl's stomach. He then somersaulted in mid-
air, swinging his feet up to catch Kodachi in the chin and rocket the
other girl into a wall. Kodachi moaned dizzily as she slid to the
ground.
"Give it up, girl," Kae spat. "The only reason I didn't kill
that pretty boy ninja is because Zhao Len forbids it a the moment. You,
on the other hand, she didn't say anything about." He pulled the whip
off her weapon and tossed it to the ground, then readied to take
Kodachi's head off. "I've been waiting and planning my vengeance for
almost a thousand years, and I'm not going to be stopped by you."
"Just who ARE you?" Ukyo demanded to know.
Kae turned to see the chef and the ninja girl, Yuri, on the
other side of the room. "I was a warrior a long time ago, but was
trapped within the earth for nearly a millennia until this boy foolishly
wandered into my trap. My body had long since decayed, but my spirit
lived on. And now I have a new body with which to extract my revenge, as
soon as I fulfill my bargain to the old woman." Kae suddenly smiled and
looked up at the ceiling, as if hearing something only she could hear.
"And it appears I've finally been given the right to kill you."
"I don't know what you want," Yuri said in a low, dangerous
voice. "But for what you've done to my brother, Konatsu, and all my
friends, I will stop you." She brought her own, shorter wakizashu up.
"It wasn't that smart to leave our weapons nearby," Ukyo said,
ginning and hefting her battle spatula. "How about I show you what this
'short-order cook' can do now?"
"Do not count me out either, Kuonji-san," Kodachi said, rising
and readying a pair of tonfa.
Kae's eyes narrowed, then she grinned evilly. "Well then, come
and get me, little girls. If you think you can."
-------------------------------------
Author's Notes:
Just a little clarification, in case you're confused. Kae is female, but
Kenji's body is male. Nobody knows Kae is female, so all Ukyo and
everybody see is a possessed boy. This explains why they refer to Kae as
a male.