Once again I find myself typing up the current chapter late Friday
night. Ugh, I need to stop doing that. And I've got to send these out
to my prereaders.
Oh, in other news, I'm co-writing a fanfic with a friend of mine. It's
called Serpent's Kiss. It's been taking up a lot of my time, and I've
still got a chapter to do with Shiva, a chapter with Egyptian Sands and
another chapter of Dejitaru Legend.
Thankfully, the only ones on a schedule are this fic and Serpent's
Kiss.
Christ, my fingers are numb. Stupid snow. Now I can't lock myself in my
mind and say 'Winter's not here yet. I'm still safe from freezing.'
Pfft, I should have realised that when I had to put the other two
comforters on my bed, taking the count up to seven...
True Identity
Chapter Nine: Spells
Li Xiang
When Ranma awoke, he was _not_ in a good mood.
That was probably because he'd been knocked out via telepathy, but it
could also be because of _how_ he woke up.
The restraints generally used to hold Jei in place when he had one of
his more dangerous fits were being used to hold him in place. Ranma
hung a couple inches in the air above Farfello's bed.
From wrist to elbow, and ankle to knee, were the leather restraints,
and over each was a shiny, steel shackle. Aside from that, all Ranma
was wearing were his normal blue boxers.
At least they'd thought to put a pillow beneath his head, so he
wouldn't get any cramps. He was just wondering what was going on.
The sound of a door slamming echoed through the House and Ranma
blinked. Automatically, he let the cat come forwards, and enhance his
senses. To his utter shock, Ranma didn't hear anyone. He was all alone
in the House.
Excluding maybe the main computer room-- which was heavily soundproofed
to prevent outside distractions (such as Schuldich's chasings of Ken)
for anyone within the room. Growling, Ranma flexed his muscles in an
attempt to break the shackles, but he failed.
The gender-bender sighed heavily as resolved himself to staying
strapped up. There was nothing he could do to get out.
---
Yohji blinked as both Rache and Nagi entered the Koneko, sulking.
Behind them, Ken and Oz walked in, Ken chuckling and Oz looking like he
wanted to talk to Ken about something private. If Yohji didn't know
what Oz was strictly heterosexual, he would have thought Schuldich
might have a bit of a competition problem.
"Hey Yohji," Ken greeted with a wave, "Think you could spare an apron
or two for Naru and Nagi?"
"What's up?" the long-haired male pondered, "I didn't think _these_ two
would ever want to work in a flower shop."
Rache turned to her wanna-be-boyfriend with a pout, "Irish kicked us
out of the House so he could 'play' with Ranma."
"Male or female?"
"Don't know, don't care," Nagi returned, with a sour look, "When those
two get together, I'd rather be on the other side of the universe." Ken
snickered.
Oz poked Ken in the ribs, "Oh, like _you_ like being anywhere _near_
Schuldich when he's horny."
Siberian shot the wolf a dirty look, and said wolf grinned back at him.
It was only a matter of time until he got Ken alone-- then he could
finally ask all those questions he'd been wondering.
Like why he'd changed his name.
---
On the otherwise of the district, Schuldich and Aya found themselves
trailing after Fei Li and Nobuyuki as the pair went into every music
store in the area, just to prove to themselves that "Noir et Blanc" was
not some crazy shared dream.
Those who bought the CD wondered about the two men that would trail
them from where it was, to the cashier, and where they procured various
alcoholic beverages from nowhere while cheering inanely.
Schuldich hid in the foreign language section, and Aya skulked around
the classicals. Neither really wanted to be connected to the two
weirdos.
---
Nabiki tugged at her ceremonial robes, and wondered if a black silk
dress, with ebon feathers for the collar really counted as a "robe".
Unlike her, both Omi and Xian Phu liked their outfits. As Xian Phu was
the one instruction Nabiki in the use of her powers, Tao Pei had
decided to included her daughter in the ceremony. It was not that
unheard of, it was just that normally, the instructor was the one
performing the Knighting Ceremony.
Xian Phu would be included not as a second Knight, but more as a
temporary store of excess power. Her Sorceress would, at regular
intervals, "deposit" magic within Xian Phu's body, so that whenever
that power was needed, Nabiki could withdraw it.
This also helped to event he flow of power. It would be easier on
Nabiki as she could syphon power into Xian Phu and relax the strain on
her own body.
To ensure that Xian Phu wouldn't get burned out, Tao Pei modified the
spell. Once Xian Phu reached a certain limit, she could not accept any
more power until her body grew used to the magic.
In that same vein, someone had changed the original spell many, many
years earlier, to ensure one could not have all the power in the body
removed in one shot. The body became dependant on the power after a
certain amount of time, and to remove it as such would mean death to
the storage person, generally entitled the Sorceress' Shield. He or she
was much like a shield in that they were a barrier of protection.
After all, a Sorceress who's power is still connected to her could not
die.
So the Knight and Shield were dressed in identical outfits. Long, floor
length cloaks of white for Omi and violet for Xian Phu, that fell over
a simple black dress on Xian Phu's part, and a pair of black jeans a
black vest on Omi's. A blood red ribbon ran from Omi's left wrist to
Nabiki's wrist, Xian Phu was connected by the right wrist.
Omi's right and Xian Phu's left were connected by a white ribbon-- they
would be connected to one another, but not as strong as the connection
to Nabiki.
In the center of their human triangle, was a bowl filled with water and
burning incense. Tao Pei began the ritual by speaking in a soft, low,
voice.
"fithos... lusec... wecos... vinosec.."
Her voice grew steadily louder, the ribbons around their wrists
snapping taut, even as some inexplicable wind swirled up around them,
snapping the ladies' hair. Nabiki's dress clung to her curves, the dark
feathers brushing her chin. Every now and again, a feather would whip
off.
"Fithos. Lusec. Wecos. Vinosec.."
It would swirl as though in a dust devil, dancing gaily within the
confines of the ribbons. It would brush Omi, and Xian Phu before
falling into the bowl.
"Fithos! Lusec! Wecos! Vinosec!"
Omi and Xian Phu's cloaks whirled up and around them, almost like
wings.
"Fithos!! Lusec!! Wecos!! Vinosec..!!"
---
The tea cup was set gently on the table, and Nodoka stared at Kojiro in
surprise, "You must be joking."
The pet-shop owner shook his head, with a rye laugh, "Not at all,
No-chan."
"Why would _they_ offer _you_ a job, Ro-chan?"
The greying man shrugged, "They must have heard I had contact with the
Lady Raven," she smiled slyly, "but I played quite the fool, my dear. I
doubt Kritiker is really going to go after me again."
"You never know," Nodoka mused, "But in any case, have you heard from
the boys or Naru?"
"Yohji came by a few days ago," the man tipped his head, "he said that
they were taking part in some sort of cosplay thing. He was quite
excited about it."
"Ranma's not," said the mother of the boy, "He's quite upset that he
and his daimyo are on opposite teams."
Kojiro nodded in sympathy. Farfello and Kitty were rarely parted. He
sipped his tea.
"I wonder what those boys will do next."
---
Oracle frowned as he stepped into the Ucchan's. With the proprietors of
the Nekohanton dead, the Okinomiyaki ship was normally quite busy.
However, it was midday and therefor only a few customers, Kuonji Ukyou
and Konatsu. So Crawford seated himself at the counter and Kuonji moved
to stand before him.
"Hello, and welcome to the Ucchan's. What can I get you?"
"I'd like to speak to you about Saotome Ranma."
Her fingers clenched around her battle spatula's handle, "Ranchan is
going to marry me! Not your sister or daughter or whoever!"
"That's not what I'm here for," Crawford stated quite calmly. He had to
weather this, else they'd never get rid of this particular problem. She
would come back to haunt them at a most inopportune time.
He hadn't need the vision to tell him _that_.
"Oh," she blushed, "Sorry... what did you want to talk about, Sugar?"
"Are you aware," Crawford began, "Of Ranma's part in the deaths of Muu
Tzu and Khu Lon?"
"Hmph," Ukyou crossed her arms, "Ranma would never take another
person's life!"
"Saffron."
She stiffened, "How did you...?"
"I've been living with him for the past few months," Crawford stated
cooly, "And you know Ranma very little if you think that way."
"My Ranchan would never kill!" she spat angrily, "Get out of her, now!"
"Of course," Crawford stood and began to leave, "Oh, and Kuonji-san?"
"What?" she growled, clenching the handle of her big-ass battle
spatula, again.
"If you _do_ marry Ranma, you should remember his loyalty is to his
master first, and mate second."
---
Ranma awoke for a second time, surprised that he'd fallen asleep. With
a yawn, the blue-eyed martial artist blinked the sleep form his eyes
and found himself looking up into an amber eye and an eyepatch.
"Morning Kitty," Jei snickered, having decided to use his pet as a bed.
"Jei-sama," Ranma tugged at his restraints, "Why am I tied up like
this?"
"We're going to teach my Kitty a lesson," the Irishman grinned at the
martial artist, nuzzling his neck, before biting him-- hard.
Ranma jumped at the bite, "Wha... what for?" Not that he was
complaining. Pain was nice, familiar, a companion through-out his life.
It was normal.
Jei's eye glittered, "Have to be taught how to be Bastet, don't you?"
"Say whaaaa?" Obviously, Ranma had not yet made the connection between
passing out and waking up restrained. Of course, he wasn't about to
make that connection for a little while, as Farfello pulled out his
favorite knife, and went to work making shallow cuts in Ranma's skin.
Oh yes, the sociopath thought with a sick grin, this would be fun.
---
End Chapter
No, I'm not going to explain what Farfie did.
Sorry about the lack of SchuuKen, _Krypt_. I'll get back to it soon (I
hope. *crosses her fingers*)
night. Ugh, I need to stop doing that. And I've got to send these out
to my prereaders.
Oh, in other news, I'm co-writing a fanfic with a friend of mine. It's
called Serpent's Kiss. It's been taking up a lot of my time, and I've
still got a chapter to do with Shiva, a chapter with Egyptian Sands and
another chapter of Dejitaru Legend.
Thankfully, the only ones on a schedule are this fic and Serpent's
Kiss.
Christ, my fingers are numb. Stupid snow. Now I can't lock myself in my
mind and say 'Winter's not here yet. I'm still safe from freezing.'
Pfft, I should have realised that when I had to put the other two
comforters on my bed, taking the count up to seven...
True Identity
Chapter Nine: Spells
Li Xiang
When Ranma awoke, he was _not_ in a good mood.
That was probably because he'd been knocked out via telepathy, but it
could also be because of _how_ he woke up.
The restraints generally used to hold Jei in place when he had one of
his more dangerous fits were being used to hold him in place. Ranma
hung a couple inches in the air above Farfello's bed.
From wrist to elbow, and ankle to knee, were the leather restraints,
and over each was a shiny, steel shackle. Aside from that, all Ranma
was wearing were his normal blue boxers.
At least they'd thought to put a pillow beneath his head, so he
wouldn't get any cramps. He was just wondering what was going on.
The sound of a door slamming echoed through the House and Ranma
blinked. Automatically, he let the cat come forwards, and enhance his
senses. To his utter shock, Ranma didn't hear anyone. He was all alone
in the House.
Excluding maybe the main computer room-- which was heavily soundproofed
to prevent outside distractions (such as Schuldich's chasings of Ken)
for anyone within the room. Growling, Ranma flexed his muscles in an
attempt to break the shackles, but he failed.
The gender-bender sighed heavily as resolved himself to staying
strapped up. There was nothing he could do to get out.
---
Yohji blinked as both Rache and Nagi entered the Koneko, sulking.
Behind them, Ken and Oz walked in, Ken chuckling and Oz looking like he
wanted to talk to Ken about something private. If Yohji didn't know
what Oz was strictly heterosexual, he would have thought Schuldich
might have a bit of a competition problem.
"Hey Yohji," Ken greeted with a wave, "Think you could spare an apron
or two for Naru and Nagi?"
"What's up?" the long-haired male pondered, "I didn't think _these_ two
would ever want to work in a flower shop."
Rache turned to her wanna-be-boyfriend with a pout, "Irish kicked us
out of the House so he could 'play' with Ranma."
"Male or female?"
"Don't know, don't care," Nagi returned, with a sour look, "When those
two get together, I'd rather be on the other side of the universe." Ken
snickered.
Oz poked Ken in the ribs, "Oh, like _you_ like being anywhere _near_
Schuldich when he's horny."
Siberian shot the wolf a dirty look, and said wolf grinned back at him.
It was only a matter of time until he got Ken alone-- then he could
finally ask all those questions he'd been wondering.
Like why he'd changed his name.
---
On the otherwise of the district, Schuldich and Aya found themselves
trailing after Fei Li and Nobuyuki as the pair went into every music
store in the area, just to prove to themselves that "Noir et Blanc" was
not some crazy shared dream.
Those who bought the CD wondered about the two men that would trail
them from where it was, to the cashier, and where they procured various
alcoholic beverages from nowhere while cheering inanely.
Schuldich hid in the foreign language section, and Aya skulked around
the classicals. Neither really wanted to be connected to the two
weirdos.
---
Nabiki tugged at her ceremonial robes, and wondered if a black silk
dress, with ebon feathers for the collar really counted as a "robe".
Unlike her, both Omi and Xian Phu liked their outfits. As Xian Phu was
the one instruction Nabiki in the use of her powers, Tao Pei had
decided to included her daughter in the ceremony. It was not that
unheard of, it was just that normally, the instructor was the one
performing the Knighting Ceremony.
Xian Phu would be included not as a second Knight, but more as a
temporary store of excess power. Her Sorceress would, at regular
intervals, "deposit" magic within Xian Phu's body, so that whenever
that power was needed, Nabiki could withdraw it.
This also helped to event he flow of power. It would be easier on
Nabiki as she could syphon power into Xian Phu and relax the strain on
her own body.
To ensure that Xian Phu wouldn't get burned out, Tao Pei modified the
spell. Once Xian Phu reached a certain limit, she could not accept any
more power until her body grew used to the magic.
In that same vein, someone had changed the original spell many, many
years earlier, to ensure one could not have all the power in the body
removed in one shot. The body became dependant on the power after a
certain amount of time, and to remove it as such would mean death to
the storage person, generally entitled the Sorceress' Shield. He or she
was much like a shield in that they were a barrier of protection.
After all, a Sorceress who's power is still connected to her could not
die.
So the Knight and Shield were dressed in identical outfits. Long, floor
length cloaks of white for Omi and violet for Xian Phu, that fell over
a simple black dress on Xian Phu's part, and a pair of black jeans a
black vest on Omi's. A blood red ribbon ran from Omi's left wrist to
Nabiki's wrist, Xian Phu was connected by the right wrist.
Omi's right and Xian Phu's left were connected by a white ribbon-- they
would be connected to one another, but not as strong as the connection
to Nabiki.
In the center of their human triangle, was a bowl filled with water and
burning incense. Tao Pei began the ritual by speaking in a soft, low,
voice.
"fithos... lusec... wecos... vinosec.."
Her voice grew steadily louder, the ribbons around their wrists
snapping taut, even as some inexplicable wind swirled up around them,
snapping the ladies' hair. Nabiki's dress clung to her curves, the dark
feathers brushing her chin. Every now and again, a feather would whip
off.
"Fithos. Lusec. Wecos. Vinosec.."
It would swirl as though in a dust devil, dancing gaily within the
confines of the ribbons. It would brush Omi, and Xian Phu before
falling into the bowl.
"Fithos! Lusec! Wecos! Vinosec!"
Omi and Xian Phu's cloaks whirled up and around them, almost like
wings.
"Fithos!! Lusec!! Wecos!! Vinosec..!!"
---
The tea cup was set gently on the table, and Nodoka stared at Kojiro in
surprise, "You must be joking."
The pet-shop owner shook his head, with a rye laugh, "Not at all,
No-chan."
"Why would _they_ offer _you_ a job, Ro-chan?"
The greying man shrugged, "They must have heard I had contact with the
Lady Raven," she smiled slyly, "but I played quite the fool, my dear. I
doubt Kritiker is really going to go after me again."
"You never know," Nodoka mused, "But in any case, have you heard from
the boys or Naru?"
"Yohji came by a few days ago," the man tipped his head, "he said that
they were taking part in some sort of cosplay thing. He was quite
excited about it."
"Ranma's not," said the mother of the boy, "He's quite upset that he
and his daimyo are on opposite teams."
Kojiro nodded in sympathy. Farfello and Kitty were rarely parted. He
sipped his tea.
"I wonder what those boys will do next."
---
Oracle frowned as he stepped into the Ucchan's. With the proprietors of
the Nekohanton dead, the Okinomiyaki ship was normally quite busy.
However, it was midday and therefor only a few customers, Kuonji Ukyou
and Konatsu. So Crawford seated himself at the counter and Kuonji moved
to stand before him.
"Hello, and welcome to the Ucchan's. What can I get you?"
"I'd like to speak to you about Saotome Ranma."
Her fingers clenched around her battle spatula's handle, "Ranchan is
going to marry me! Not your sister or daughter or whoever!"
"That's not what I'm here for," Crawford stated quite calmly. He had to
weather this, else they'd never get rid of this particular problem. She
would come back to haunt them at a most inopportune time.
He hadn't need the vision to tell him _that_.
"Oh," she blushed, "Sorry... what did you want to talk about, Sugar?"
"Are you aware," Crawford began, "Of Ranma's part in the deaths of Muu
Tzu and Khu Lon?"
"Hmph," Ukyou crossed her arms, "Ranma would never take another
person's life!"
"Saffron."
She stiffened, "How did you...?"
"I've been living with him for the past few months," Crawford stated
cooly, "And you know Ranma very little if you think that way."
"My Ranchan would never kill!" she spat angrily, "Get out of her, now!"
"Of course," Crawford stood and began to leave, "Oh, and Kuonji-san?"
"What?" she growled, clenching the handle of her big-ass battle
spatula, again.
"If you _do_ marry Ranma, you should remember his loyalty is to his
master first, and mate second."
---
Ranma awoke for a second time, surprised that he'd fallen asleep. With
a yawn, the blue-eyed martial artist blinked the sleep form his eyes
and found himself looking up into an amber eye and an eyepatch.
"Morning Kitty," Jei snickered, having decided to use his pet as a bed.
"Jei-sama," Ranma tugged at his restraints, "Why am I tied up like
this?"
"We're going to teach my Kitty a lesson," the Irishman grinned at the
martial artist, nuzzling his neck, before biting him-- hard.
Ranma jumped at the bite, "Wha... what for?" Not that he was
complaining. Pain was nice, familiar, a companion through-out his life.
It was normal.
Jei's eye glittered, "Have to be taught how to be Bastet, don't you?"
"Say whaaaa?" Obviously, Ranma had not yet made the connection between
passing out and waking up restrained. Of course, he wasn't about to
make that connection for a little while, as Farfello pulled out his
favorite knife, and went to work making shallow cuts in Ranma's skin.
Oh yes, the sociopath thought with a sick grin, this would be fun.
---
End Chapter
No, I'm not going to explain what Farfie did.
Sorry about the lack of SchuuKen, _Krypt_. I'll get back to it soon (I
hope. *crosses her fingers*)