Mark of the Wolves/ Ranma 1/2
Quiet Control Chapter 2; 'The Midst'
Yesterday evening...
"Hey, you pasty faced clown, did I stutter? Do I have a stuttering problem?"
Hikaru Gosenguki shook his head frantically, waiting for the chance for the six-foot tank of a boy to stop yelling so he may begin groveling for his life.
"Now, when I want something done, it's gonna get done, right? RIGHT YOU VOODOO FREAK? Toma Youru's voice was almost screeching as he yelled. Due to his upbringing and... heritage, he was not accustomed to not getting his way, especially when it came to weird pale faced freaks of nature who believed in idiotic things like magic.
"I don't care WHAT you think this Nabiki girl's gonna do to you, you're gonna worry about what I'M gonna do to you? You got that?"
Hikaru was not a brave person, although there are times he had his moments, this was not going to be one of them. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I-I didn't want t-t-toooooo.... RUSH THINGS, that's it!" A lame attempt, but maybe he thought he could stall things and these guys who approached him would get bored and find someone else to harass into doing their dirty work for them. Gosenkugi knew the reason he was picked, he was cowardly and spineless, someone easily threatened into doing another's bidding, he was rather hoping they would find some other spineless kid to mess with.
"Rush things, hmm?" repeated Toma, "I don't think we're 'rushing things', you're saying you don't agree with my timetable you little freak? Maybe I we should introduce you to the way we get things done on time..." The tall boy motioned for two of his associates to approach, one stalky and the other one wirey and cut like a roman statue but not very tall.
"Din, Kaze, why don't you teach him the best way to 'beat' the clock?" Din, the wirey boy who Hikaru can now tell was Chinese in nationality, grew a wicked smile on his face as both him and Kaze approached the scrawny Gosenkugi, popping their knuckles and grinning in an unwholesome fashion.
"Oooh, real tough, three guys picking on a scarecrow..." All four turned to see a pigtailed boy in a red shirt and black pants crouched upon a high chain link fence.
"Oh, so you want to get in this, punk? growled Toma, his patience already at the edge.
"Why, you offering?" Asked Ranma, hopping off the fence and walking toward the quartet. "Hey, Gos, you okay?" Hikaru didn't answer; he was too busy mentally reciting his own final rites.
"So you know this freak? Maybe you'll work better to get our point across, it's best not to damage any of our...employees after all," Toma pointed at Ranma, signaling for his two associates to do not so nice things
2.4 seconds later....
"Wha? Who are you? Toma now asked incredulously as he looked upon the misarranged bodies of Kaze and Din.
"Ranma Soutome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, remember that next time you wanna pick on someone smaller than you around me!"
"So, you're the infamous Ranma Soutome, you've actually caused my Dad a few headaches, It would be an honor, and a notch on my belt, to kick your all over this lot," Toma took a stance, balanced on the ball of his right foot while his left foot was forward and bouncing on it's own ball, his left knee looking ready to go into action at anytime. His fists hung near his face with his elbows in, bouncing slightly with the rest of his body.
"Mui Tai, eh?" Ranma commented before he went into his own Kempo posture, confident that the fight was already won...
"RANMA!" yelled a singsong voice from above and in front of him. Ranma looked past Toma to see a certain purple haired Amazon on a bike, airborne and on a collision course with someone other than him for once. Shampoo kicked her bike from under her, forcing it to land, hard, on the slightly recovering Kaze and Din, and made her own ten point landing on the back of Toma's head, forcing him bend forward at a strenuous angle with one leg raised back in balance and eat dirt at Ranma's feet.
"Sh-Shampoo, what are you doing here?" Ranma stuttered, a little weary of the rambongous young girl with a hug that could crush a mighty redwood.
"Ranma take Shampoo to date, yes? Shampoo get tickets to too too classic reshowing of 'Drunken Tai Chi Master of the Bunny Fist Shao Lin Hip hop Stockbrokers'!" the amazon pleaded, fluttering her eyes and pouting just a little bit to get the full cute effect going.
"I-uh, that is..." A trio of groans saved Ranma. "Aiya? Who boy under Shampoo feet?" asked Shampoo as she stepped off Toma.
"RANMA SOUTOME!!!" Screeched the boy at the top of his lungs, shooting upright and looking rather livid.
"Uh oh, he's ticked," Ranma thought to himself as he kept his martial arts stance ready.
"I AM GONNA {censored} ACROSS {censored} {double censored} WITH A {censored}..." Ranma plugged his ears as winced at the rather vibrant language that Toma was using, and finally uncovered them when he saw the boy breathing heavy.
"Shampoo not know salad tongs be useful that way," mused Shampoo.
Din and Kaze managed to calm down their nominal leader, Din whispering in his ear an idea he thought of. Toma's face lit up and smiled,
"I have a better idea. RANMA, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A NO HOLDS BARRED MARTIAL ARTS BASKETBALL MATCH!!!! MAKE SURE TO INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO WITNESS YOUR COMPLETE AND UTTER DEFEAT AT MY HANDS!!!!"
Ranma blinked a few times, still processing the fact that he had been challenged, Shampoo still trying to piece together how kitchen utensils can be used in such excessively violent (yet delightfully kinky sounding) ways.
"Huh? Well then I accept your challenge, just name the time and place and I'll be there to wipe your smug face all over the B-Ball court."
"Heh, he doesn't truly realize who he's dealing with," thought Ranma, a wry grin forming on his face, "I've got this one in the bag..."
Rock brought his motorcycle to a perfect skidding halt right in front of the Tendou Dojo.
"Well, here we are, in less time than it woulda taken ya walking," stated the blond boy, getting off of his bike and leaning against it. Ryoga calmly got off the bike with no comment or even a sound. Ryoga feared little physically, though his trip with Rock gave him MUCH to fear. Instead of fear, Ryoga felt resigned, at peace in fact, for he must be dead. He did not fear the bike ride; he simply accepted the fact that he was going to die. He needed not scream, or curse, or pray to Gods to let him off, he simply sweet acceptance of eternal bliss.
"Hey, Ryoga? You okay? You look a little pale. And nobodies stayed that quiet riding with me, you sure your head isn't giving you problems?"
"RANMA! QUIT DODGING AROUND AND FIGHT ME!" Ryoga and Rock were both snapped to the attention of a feminine voice screaming in frustration. Ryoga let out a growl and leapt over the wall of the Dojo parameters, leaving Rock blinking in confusion.
"Well, sounds like this may be interesting," Thought Rock to himself as he pushed the gates open further of the Tendou Dojo and walked in
Ranma dodged to and fro, barely even paying attention to the short haired girl in a karate gi throwing punches and kicks at him, since he was at the time considering some of the moves he saw in the martial arts flick he went to see with Shampoo.
"Hmm, I wonder if I can do that with my fingers too?" he thought to himself, not even acknowledging the sledgehammer blow that flew by his nose.
"RANMA QUIT DODGING AROUND AND FIGHT ME!" Akane screamed, at the peak of her frustration as she stumbled forward after missing her haymaker punch at Ranma's face.
"RANMA! HOW DARE YOU UPSET AKANE! PREPARE TO DIE!"
"Hey! Akane! Look it's P-Chan!" Ranma exclaimed as he just *barely* avoided a punch that put a hole in the training hall floor. "P-Chan, where?" enquired Akane, looking around for her little black piglet. Ranma and Ryoga blocked and traded blows back and forth, in a way that almost seemed like a choreographed fight, Rock walked in upon this and noted with interest.
"Hmm, these two are pretty good," The blond young man thought to himself, "guess it wouldn't be a total loss if I got to spar a bit here."
Akane stopped looking for P-Chan and her face turned livid as she saw Ranma fighting with Ryoga, "Ranma, quit picking on Ryoga!"
The short haired girl started towards the two of them to break them up, just as her's, Rock's, Ranma's, and Ryoga's sense of impending danger alerted them. Ranma and Ryoga both dodged different directions as a trio of razor sharp spatulas landed in the spot they were previously standing.
"RANCHAN, how DARE you take that..that.. HUSSY out on a DATE WHILE YOU'RE ENGAGED TO ME!" "You took WHO on a DATE, RANMA?" Ryoga was almost past all rationality at that point as he ferally leapt at Ranma to renew their battle. Alas Ryoga would not be able to continue immediately as a bonbori mace slammed into the back of his head.
"I can see why he can take a bike to the back of the head going at 150 Kph," thought Rock as he watched the purple haired Amazon bounce towards the boy they all called Ranma.
"Ranma, you take Shampoo on date again tonight, yes? Great-Grandma give Shampoo tickets to 'Orthodontist's fist of Justice: Fighters of leather clad Goddess of Truth'!"
"HEY! Last night weren't no date or anything, we just went to see a movie, that's all!" protested Ranma as he was forced to dodge out of the way of a large spatula.
"You BIMBO! Keep away from Ranchan! He's MY Fiancee!" proclaimed Ukyo as she dove after Shampoo and wrestled her to the ground.
"Who spatula girl calling bimbo? Airen belong to Shampoo!"
"Ranma?" Ranma notably froze up at the tone of Akane's voice, "so, that's where you were yesterday? You were on A DATE WITH SHAMPOO?"
"AKANE! I said it wasn't a date! We just went to see a movie!"
"In some circles, that's called a 'date', Soutome," Said a sardonic voice from behind Rock. Rock turned to see a slender and attractively built girl not much older than him with a helmet style haircut. The Blond young man scooted a bit of a distance from her, his usual nervousness around women taking over.
Ranma froze like the proverbial dear in headlights, trying to get his mouth to form a coherent alibi before he was kissing the sky; Rock grew slightly concerned at the look of fury that was on the girl called Akane's face.
"She looks like she really wants to hurt him!" he thought to himself, then felt the massive battle aura that formed around the girl, confirming his suspicions.
"RANMA! YOU JERK!" Akane screamed, her fist screaming towards Ranma's face, about to catch him on guard. The pig tailed martial artist saw it coming and closed his eyes awaiting the inevitable....
The whole room froze and gasped at what just happened, Ranma himself opened his eyes when he noticed he wasn't airborne at the moment, and saw some blond haired foreigner holding Akane's fist securely, just millimeters away from Ranma's own face. Now, there are two things you should never do around Akane; #1, never be the target of Akane's wrath, #2, never interrupt Akane's wrath. The shorthaired girl's battle aura flared even further than before, eyeing this... this.... boy, who dared interrupt her from giving Ranma what he deserved.
"Oh man, better you than me, pal," said Ranma with not a little bit of worry in his voice.
"Akane's gonna KILL him," whispered Ukyo, who was still in a grapple with Shampoo, Shampoo only nodded in silent and concerned approval.
Akane's other fist came up to Rock's face, only for Rock to let go of the hand he was holding and shift that same hand over to catch the other fist. Akane then again tried to punch with the left fist at the blond boy, only to be parried away with Rock's right wrist. Akane tried a heavy roundhouse, which was blocked by Rock, who didn't even stagger from the blow. Then came the flurry of attacks at Rock, who calmly blocked and parried all of them, not dodging once or budging an inch from his spot.
"Wow," Shampoo said with no little hint of wonder, "he good."
"I'll say, Sugar," replied Ukyo. Both Ranma and Ryoga were speechless over the fact that this boy wasn't so much paste at the moment, while Nabiki looked upon studiently. Rock stayed dispassionate as he studied the girl who was probably the same age as him. She was powerful, she had good form, kempo and karate, but she is letting her anger control her, and she means to harm him dearly. He thought to himself, and decided it was about time to put her in her place.
::WHAM::
Akane sailed to the other side of the dojo and slammed into the wall, cracking it a bit with her impact. Akane slumped down onto her knees, trying to regain her breath. Even over her wheezing, Nabiki, Ukyo, and Shampoo were heard gasping at the fact that ANYONE had actually hit Akane back, a BOY no less. Rock stood calmly and stoically with a stare that could bore holes in steel, his attention was suddenly pulled to the sound to two male growls behind him...
Quiet Control Chapter 2; 'The Midst'
Yesterday evening...
"Hey, you pasty faced clown, did I stutter? Do I have a stuttering problem?"
Hikaru Gosenguki shook his head frantically, waiting for the chance for the six-foot tank of a boy to stop yelling so he may begin groveling for his life.
"Now, when I want something done, it's gonna get done, right? RIGHT YOU VOODOO FREAK? Toma Youru's voice was almost screeching as he yelled. Due to his upbringing and... heritage, he was not accustomed to not getting his way, especially when it came to weird pale faced freaks of nature who believed in idiotic things like magic.
"I don't care WHAT you think this Nabiki girl's gonna do to you, you're gonna worry about what I'M gonna do to you? You got that?"
Hikaru was not a brave person, although there are times he had his moments, this was not going to be one of them. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I-I didn't want t-t-toooooo.... RUSH THINGS, that's it!" A lame attempt, but maybe he thought he could stall things and these guys who approached him would get bored and find someone else to harass into doing their dirty work for them. Gosenkugi knew the reason he was picked, he was cowardly and spineless, someone easily threatened into doing another's bidding, he was rather hoping they would find some other spineless kid to mess with.
"Rush things, hmm?" repeated Toma, "I don't think we're 'rushing things', you're saying you don't agree with my timetable you little freak? Maybe I we should introduce you to the way we get things done on time..." The tall boy motioned for two of his associates to approach, one stalky and the other one wirey and cut like a roman statue but not very tall.
"Din, Kaze, why don't you teach him the best way to 'beat' the clock?" Din, the wirey boy who Hikaru can now tell was Chinese in nationality, grew a wicked smile on his face as both him and Kaze approached the scrawny Gosenkugi, popping their knuckles and grinning in an unwholesome fashion.
"Oooh, real tough, three guys picking on a scarecrow..." All four turned to see a pigtailed boy in a red shirt and black pants crouched upon a high chain link fence.
"Oh, so you want to get in this, punk? growled Toma, his patience already at the edge.
"Why, you offering?" Asked Ranma, hopping off the fence and walking toward the quartet. "Hey, Gos, you okay?" Hikaru didn't answer; he was too busy mentally reciting his own final rites.
"So you know this freak? Maybe you'll work better to get our point across, it's best not to damage any of our...employees after all," Toma pointed at Ranma, signaling for his two associates to do not so nice things
2.4 seconds later....
"Wha? Who are you? Toma now asked incredulously as he looked upon the misarranged bodies of Kaze and Din.
"Ranma Soutome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, remember that next time you wanna pick on someone smaller than you around me!"
"So, you're the infamous Ranma Soutome, you've actually caused my Dad a few headaches, It would be an honor, and a notch on my belt, to kick your all over this lot," Toma took a stance, balanced on the ball of his right foot while his left foot was forward and bouncing on it's own ball, his left knee looking ready to go into action at anytime. His fists hung near his face with his elbows in, bouncing slightly with the rest of his body.
"Mui Tai, eh?" Ranma commented before he went into his own Kempo posture, confident that the fight was already won...
"RANMA!" yelled a singsong voice from above and in front of him. Ranma looked past Toma to see a certain purple haired Amazon on a bike, airborne and on a collision course with someone other than him for once. Shampoo kicked her bike from under her, forcing it to land, hard, on the slightly recovering Kaze and Din, and made her own ten point landing on the back of Toma's head, forcing him bend forward at a strenuous angle with one leg raised back in balance and eat dirt at Ranma's feet.
"Sh-Shampoo, what are you doing here?" Ranma stuttered, a little weary of the rambongous young girl with a hug that could crush a mighty redwood.
"Ranma take Shampoo to date, yes? Shampoo get tickets to too too classic reshowing of 'Drunken Tai Chi Master of the Bunny Fist Shao Lin Hip hop Stockbrokers'!" the amazon pleaded, fluttering her eyes and pouting just a little bit to get the full cute effect going.
"I-uh, that is..." A trio of groans saved Ranma. "Aiya? Who boy under Shampoo feet?" asked Shampoo as she stepped off Toma.
"RANMA SOUTOME!!!" Screeched the boy at the top of his lungs, shooting upright and looking rather livid.
"Uh oh, he's ticked," Ranma thought to himself as he kept his martial arts stance ready.
"I AM GONNA {censored} ACROSS {censored} {double censored} WITH A {censored}..." Ranma plugged his ears as winced at the rather vibrant language that Toma was using, and finally uncovered them when he saw the boy breathing heavy.
"Shampoo not know salad tongs be useful that way," mused Shampoo.
Din and Kaze managed to calm down their nominal leader, Din whispering in his ear an idea he thought of. Toma's face lit up and smiled,
"I have a better idea. RANMA, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A NO HOLDS BARRED MARTIAL ARTS BASKETBALL MATCH!!!! MAKE SURE TO INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO WITNESS YOUR COMPLETE AND UTTER DEFEAT AT MY HANDS!!!!"
Ranma blinked a few times, still processing the fact that he had been challenged, Shampoo still trying to piece together how kitchen utensils can be used in such excessively violent (yet delightfully kinky sounding) ways.
"Huh? Well then I accept your challenge, just name the time and place and I'll be there to wipe your smug face all over the B-Ball court."
"Heh, he doesn't truly realize who he's dealing with," thought Ranma, a wry grin forming on his face, "I've got this one in the bag..."
Rock brought his motorcycle to a perfect skidding halt right in front of the Tendou Dojo.
"Well, here we are, in less time than it woulda taken ya walking," stated the blond boy, getting off of his bike and leaning against it. Ryoga calmly got off the bike with no comment or even a sound. Ryoga feared little physically, though his trip with Rock gave him MUCH to fear. Instead of fear, Ryoga felt resigned, at peace in fact, for he must be dead. He did not fear the bike ride; he simply accepted the fact that he was going to die. He needed not scream, or curse, or pray to Gods to let him off, he simply sweet acceptance of eternal bliss.
"Hey, Ryoga? You okay? You look a little pale. And nobodies stayed that quiet riding with me, you sure your head isn't giving you problems?"
"RANMA! QUIT DODGING AROUND AND FIGHT ME!" Ryoga and Rock were both snapped to the attention of a feminine voice screaming in frustration. Ryoga let out a growl and leapt over the wall of the Dojo parameters, leaving Rock blinking in confusion.
"Well, sounds like this may be interesting," Thought Rock to himself as he pushed the gates open further of the Tendou Dojo and walked in
Ranma dodged to and fro, barely even paying attention to the short haired girl in a karate gi throwing punches and kicks at him, since he was at the time considering some of the moves he saw in the martial arts flick he went to see with Shampoo.
"Hmm, I wonder if I can do that with my fingers too?" he thought to himself, not even acknowledging the sledgehammer blow that flew by his nose.
"RANMA QUIT DODGING AROUND AND FIGHT ME!" Akane screamed, at the peak of her frustration as she stumbled forward after missing her haymaker punch at Ranma's face.
"RANMA! HOW DARE YOU UPSET AKANE! PREPARE TO DIE!"
"Hey! Akane! Look it's P-Chan!" Ranma exclaimed as he just *barely* avoided a punch that put a hole in the training hall floor. "P-Chan, where?" enquired Akane, looking around for her little black piglet. Ranma and Ryoga blocked and traded blows back and forth, in a way that almost seemed like a choreographed fight, Rock walked in upon this and noted with interest.
"Hmm, these two are pretty good," The blond young man thought to himself, "guess it wouldn't be a total loss if I got to spar a bit here."
Akane stopped looking for P-Chan and her face turned livid as she saw Ranma fighting with Ryoga, "Ranma, quit picking on Ryoga!"
The short haired girl started towards the two of them to break them up, just as her's, Rock's, Ranma's, and Ryoga's sense of impending danger alerted them. Ranma and Ryoga both dodged different directions as a trio of razor sharp spatulas landed in the spot they were previously standing.
"RANCHAN, how DARE you take that..that.. HUSSY out on a DATE WHILE YOU'RE ENGAGED TO ME!" "You took WHO on a DATE, RANMA?" Ryoga was almost past all rationality at that point as he ferally leapt at Ranma to renew their battle. Alas Ryoga would not be able to continue immediately as a bonbori mace slammed into the back of his head.
"I can see why he can take a bike to the back of the head going at 150 Kph," thought Rock as he watched the purple haired Amazon bounce towards the boy they all called Ranma.
"Ranma, you take Shampoo on date again tonight, yes? Great-Grandma give Shampoo tickets to 'Orthodontist's fist of Justice: Fighters of leather clad Goddess of Truth'!"
"HEY! Last night weren't no date or anything, we just went to see a movie, that's all!" protested Ranma as he was forced to dodge out of the way of a large spatula.
"You BIMBO! Keep away from Ranchan! He's MY Fiancee!" proclaimed Ukyo as she dove after Shampoo and wrestled her to the ground.
"Who spatula girl calling bimbo? Airen belong to Shampoo!"
"Ranma?" Ranma notably froze up at the tone of Akane's voice, "so, that's where you were yesterday? You were on A DATE WITH SHAMPOO?"
"AKANE! I said it wasn't a date! We just went to see a movie!"
"In some circles, that's called a 'date', Soutome," Said a sardonic voice from behind Rock. Rock turned to see a slender and attractively built girl not much older than him with a helmet style haircut. The Blond young man scooted a bit of a distance from her, his usual nervousness around women taking over.
Ranma froze like the proverbial dear in headlights, trying to get his mouth to form a coherent alibi before he was kissing the sky; Rock grew slightly concerned at the look of fury that was on the girl called Akane's face.
"She looks like she really wants to hurt him!" he thought to himself, then felt the massive battle aura that formed around the girl, confirming his suspicions.
"RANMA! YOU JERK!" Akane screamed, her fist screaming towards Ranma's face, about to catch him on guard. The pig tailed martial artist saw it coming and closed his eyes awaiting the inevitable....
The whole room froze and gasped at what just happened, Ranma himself opened his eyes when he noticed he wasn't airborne at the moment, and saw some blond haired foreigner holding Akane's fist securely, just millimeters away from Ranma's own face. Now, there are two things you should never do around Akane; #1, never be the target of Akane's wrath, #2, never interrupt Akane's wrath. The shorthaired girl's battle aura flared even further than before, eyeing this... this.... boy, who dared interrupt her from giving Ranma what he deserved.
"Oh man, better you than me, pal," said Ranma with not a little bit of worry in his voice.
"Akane's gonna KILL him," whispered Ukyo, who was still in a grapple with Shampoo, Shampoo only nodded in silent and concerned approval.
Akane's other fist came up to Rock's face, only for Rock to let go of the hand he was holding and shift that same hand over to catch the other fist. Akane then again tried to punch with the left fist at the blond boy, only to be parried away with Rock's right wrist. Akane tried a heavy roundhouse, which was blocked by Rock, who didn't even stagger from the blow. Then came the flurry of attacks at Rock, who calmly blocked and parried all of them, not dodging once or budging an inch from his spot.
"Wow," Shampoo said with no little hint of wonder, "he good."
"I'll say, Sugar," replied Ukyo. Both Ranma and Ryoga were speechless over the fact that this boy wasn't so much paste at the moment, while Nabiki looked upon studiently. Rock stayed dispassionate as he studied the girl who was probably the same age as him. She was powerful, she had good form, kempo and karate, but she is letting her anger control her, and she means to harm him dearly. He thought to himself, and decided it was about time to put her in her place.
::WHAM::
Akane sailed to the other side of the dojo and slammed into the wall, cracking it a bit with her impact. Akane slumped down onto her knees, trying to regain her breath. Even over her wheezing, Nabiki, Ukyo, and Shampoo were heard gasping at the fact that ANYONE had actually hit Akane back, a BOY no less. Rock stood calmly and stoically with a stare that could bore holes in steel, his attention was suddenly pulled to the sound to two male growls behind him...