Chapter 2
Ranma was now on the rode to find a shard. If anyone would ask him how he felt about the situation, his answer would be that it was annoying, but deep down, he didn't mind. He liked living with his mother and he liked the quiet life away from Nerima. Even though it was only one day.
Ranma liked traveling. He was getting cabin fever at the Tendo dojo, and he was sure that he would eventually get it at his mother's house as well. That was just it really. It was the TENDO dojo and his MOTHER'S house. It wasn't his dojo, and it wasn't his house. He just lived there. It wasn't really his home. Just a place he could stay at until he decided to move on. So this was a welcome change. Ranma doubted that there were any beings as strong as Saffron here, so this should be a nice little training trip before returning to his mothers house.
Actually Ranma was whistling right now, though it was very out of tune. The fresh air was very welcome to him. He hadn't breathed in fresh air like this since the ten-year training trip. The city was always full of smoke or something. Whether or not the people actually noticed it or not were a different story. So with the sack filled with the few supplies he had on his back, he traveled on.
Ranma did come across a few demons, however he did not even need to throw his sack off his shoulder. They were so weak that he only needed one hand, or he would just use his feet. This went on for a while until it reached nightfall, and Ranma set up camp.
"Oh well, I guess that I shouldn't expect to find a shard on my first day. Kaede said that if I find a demon that is particularly strong or one that keeps regenerating, that it most likely has a shard. I haven't come across any of those." Ranma said getting ready to sleep. Tomorrow would be another day.
Yes. Ranma was having the time of his life. For once he was on his own. Even if it was only until he found a shard. No stupid old man to get him in trouble, no fiancé's glomping, flirting, or pounding him, no stupid old perverts or ghouls, and most of all, no one trying to kill him, personally anyway. Demons don't count. To bad it was only until he found a shard.
'I wonder if that Kagome girl came here, and that's why she's looking for the shards. probably not, she's probably just collecting them for a hobby or something.'
Ranma began to sleep. Something else that was very welcome. Ranma hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time. Mostly because of the random challengers and fiancé's. Even the night before he hadn't slept well. He had stayed up all night talking to his mother.
Ranma slept until eight in the morning before waking up. He was in the woods so the sun wasn't beaming down on his face like it usually did. Which was always good in his book. Ranma walked along the path he had been following earlier. He finally came across a small village. In this village he saw a few kids playing while an old woman watched over them. This was feudal Japan after all, and demons seemed to be everywhere. So he walked up to the old woman to ask for some information and maybe a little food.
"Excuse me ma'am." Ranma said, while bowing. Again, Ranma used his mother's advice to be polite. And if this old woman were anything like Cologne, he would have some bumps on his head if he weren't.
"Hello stranger. What do ye want from me?"
"I am traveling to find a certain.item, and was hoping that I could rest in this village for a few hours and maybe get some food before I continue on my journey." 'Man, it's weird talking like this!'
"I would not mind at all. Would you please watch the children while I prepare a meal."
"Thank you for you kindness." Ranma, said while bowing.
The old woman walked away to one of the houses in the village. Ranma sat down under a tree and watched the kids. It was the least he could do after asking them for food. One of the more curious kids of the group came up to him to see who he was. Not much action happened in that little village.
"Hello." The kid said, trying to get his attention.
"Hi kid."
"What's your name?"
"Ranma, what's yours?"
"I'm Jinta! Are you strong? Do ya know magic or anything?" The kid asked with a glint in his eye. By now all the kids that were playing were crowded around Ranma.
'*Sigh* this is going to be a long day.' "Yes, I'm strong, but I don't know magic."
"Really? The last guy that came to this town knew magic. He could do all sorts of things!"
"Really? Like what?" Ranma asked. Not that he was interested. He just didn't know how to answer the kid.
"He could make things come out of know where. Like swords and stuff."
"Really? I know a guy who can do that."
"He could pull chains and swords and stuff out of his sleeves."
"That's neat!" Jinta yelled.
"Mr. Ranma? Can you tell us about your adventures and stuff?" one of the little girls in the group asked.
"What makes you think I've been on an adventure?"
"You told my grandmother that you were on a journey, so I thought that you went on adventures and neat stuff like that." She said, while looking at the ground and shuffling her feet.
"Okay. How about I tell you about the time I fought Toma the prince of the Illusionary Island Togenkyo."
"NEAT! But what's an illusion?"
"An illusion is kind of like magic. It makes you think your seeing something that really isn't there."
"That is so awesome! What happened?"
About half an hour later.
"So I kicked Toma's butt so bad he started to run away. Once I saw through his illusions he was really no match."
"That coward!"
"Yeah. And he took Akane with him too."
"What did you do Ranma?" One of the girls, who thought the whole fighting for the girl thing, was romantic.
I chased after him of course! But somehow during the chase Akane began to fall into the water that would turn her into a man forever."
"Oh, no!"
"Oh, yes. So I jumped in after her."
"How did you stop her from falling in."
"I blew it up with my Mouko-takabisha!"
"Huh?"
"It's an energy blast."
"What? Only demons can do that kind of thing. That's impossible!" One of the so-called, cool kids of the group yelled.
"Wanna see me do one?"
"Yeah!" Jinta yelled.
"Watch." Ranma said cupping his hands at his side, while taking a horse stance. "Don't blink. MOUKO-TAKABISHA!" Ranma yelled. Thrusting his hands to the sky. A giant ball of yellow ki erupted from his hands and shot off into the sky, who knows when the thing actually died-down. Luckily every one was inside their homes, or Ranma might have been thrown out of town for being a demon.
"WOW! Can you teach me how to do that?!" Were the collective replies of most of the children. the ones that could talk anyway.
"Sorry. It takes years of training to be able to do this. I can't stay that long."
"Aw, man! I want to go on adventures and stuff like that too!"
"Yeah I'm cool." Ranma said, while giving the victory sign.
After that, the old woman came out to get Ranma. The food was prepared and Ranma was hungry. I bet your wondering why someone would go through all the trouble to make all that food for a stranger. The answer is simple. She was watching those children all morning and needed a break. She was grateful to the stranger who had kept the children busy with make believe stories. Magic islands. That was a good one.
"Thanks for the food. I really must get going now." Ranma said, picking up his sack.
"Aw.can't you stay a little longer? I want to here more about your adventures." One of the children begged.
"Sorry, but I really need to get going. Maybe, if I come back to this town later on."
"Okay. Bye Ranma!" Jinta yelled.
As Ranma walked away from the town, the children that he baby-sat waved goodbye. They were just children after all.
"Well, isn't he popular?" The old woman said.
Ranma walked down the path until he came to a clearing. He sat his sleeping bag down next to a bush, and started to set up camp. Ranma practiced for about an hour. He didn't want his skills to go down after all. After going through a few forms and meditation exercises, Ranma got ready for bed.
"Today was interesting. Those kids were nice and all, but I just don't know how to deal with them. Anyway, I'm tired and I'm going to bed."
Ranma was woken up by a rustling noise. Usually this wouldn't wake Ranma up, but his danger senses were going off like crazy. He looked up from where he lay and saw nothing. Of course he saw nothing. There was a bush in his way. So he got up and looked over the bush. There he had seen the most beautiful girl Ranma had ever seen in his opinion. She looked to be about seventeen and had long black hair tied back with a white ribbon, and she too, like the old woman Kaede, wore the traditional Shinto garb. Ranma failed to notice the snake like demons floating around her where ever she went, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was the eight-foot demon that was closing in on her. Though it wasn't fast, it looked strong, strong enough to tear the girl limb from limb.
Ranma jumped up from where he was and began to pounce on the demon. Began, he never got to finish. The girl lifted up her hand and it started to glow a strange light. The next thing Ranma knew, the monster had been disintegrated. So Ranma just stood there with a dumb look on his face. That wasn't ki. Actually, he couldn't sense any ki from the girl. Then she looked at him as if she noticed him for the first time. Her brown eyes seemed to look through his soul. Then she began to walk away.
"Wait!" Ranma yelled, hoping that she wouldn't leave. The girl turned around and stared at him for a few seconds. Ranma noticed that she seemed to have an expressionless face, but even though she showed no emotion. She looked sad in a way.
"Wha.What's your name?" Ranma asked, not really sure why he asked her to wait.
"My name.is Kikyou." She said, and then turned around to walk away once more. Ranma rolled up camp then grabbed his sack to chase after her.
"Wait a sec.!"
"What do you want?" She said. She was obviously getting annoyed, even though she didn't show it.
"Uh." Ranma said, intelligently.
"If you have nothing to say, I will be going now."
"Wait a sec. I know that you don't really know me or anything, but I was wondering how you did that."
"You mean, when I killed the demon?"
"Yeah. It wasn't ki, and I've never seen anything like it."
"I am a priestess. I have a great deal of power stored away. That was just a small portion of it. Now I must get going."
'Man, it's like talking to a brick wall. She's completely emotionless.' "Uh, I know this seems kind of forward and all, but maybe we should travel with each other."
"And why is that?" Kikyou asked.
"I don't know. For starters, I want to know why you don't have any ki.At all. Oh yeah, and I'm looking for this thing called a shikon shard, and."
"You are looking for a shard from the sacred jewel?"
"Yeah, you know about it?"
"You should give up on your search. The jewel only brings suffering and hatred."
"But, I kind of need the jewel to get back home. You see, I'm from the future and."
"You came from the well."
"No.the wardrobe, but."
"But you need a jewel shard to travel between the two times."
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"I guarded the jewel once. A long time ago."
"Oh.so do you have a shard I could use then?"
"No. The jewel was stolen from me, and then later on it was shattered. I do not have any of the fragments of the jewel."
"Oh. wait a second. What are these glowy, floating, snake thingies?"
"They are soul collectors."
"Oh. Why do they follow you? That one looks like it's going to bite my head off."
"They belong to me.and it sees you as a threat to me, so it is on guard."
"Oh, I see. Well I'm not really a threat, so can you call it off.or something."
"Yes." She lifted her hand, and then the soul collector backed away from Ranma.
"So.uh. about us traveling together?"
"You can follow me if you want, I could care less either way."
"Okay! And my names Ranma." 'Maybe I can get her to have a regular conversation.or not.'
Ranma was now on the rode to find a shard. If anyone would ask him how he felt about the situation, his answer would be that it was annoying, but deep down, he didn't mind. He liked living with his mother and he liked the quiet life away from Nerima. Even though it was only one day.
Ranma liked traveling. He was getting cabin fever at the Tendo dojo, and he was sure that he would eventually get it at his mother's house as well. That was just it really. It was the TENDO dojo and his MOTHER'S house. It wasn't his dojo, and it wasn't his house. He just lived there. It wasn't really his home. Just a place he could stay at until he decided to move on. So this was a welcome change. Ranma doubted that there were any beings as strong as Saffron here, so this should be a nice little training trip before returning to his mothers house.
Actually Ranma was whistling right now, though it was very out of tune. The fresh air was very welcome to him. He hadn't breathed in fresh air like this since the ten-year training trip. The city was always full of smoke or something. Whether or not the people actually noticed it or not were a different story. So with the sack filled with the few supplies he had on his back, he traveled on.
Ranma did come across a few demons, however he did not even need to throw his sack off his shoulder. They were so weak that he only needed one hand, or he would just use his feet. This went on for a while until it reached nightfall, and Ranma set up camp.
"Oh well, I guess that I shouldn't expect to find a shard on my first day. Kaede said that if I find a demon that is particularly strong or one that keeps regenerating, that it most likely has a shard. I haven't come across any of those." Ranma said getting ready to sleep. Tomorrow would be another day.
Yes. Ranma was having the time of his life. For once he was on his own. Even if it was only until he found a shard. No stupid old man to get him in trouble, no fiancé's glomping, flirting, or pounding him, no stupid old perverts or ghouls, and most of all, no one trying to kill him, personally anyway. Demons don't count. To bad it was only until he found a shard.
'I wonder if that Kagome girl came here, and that's why she's looking for the shards. probably not, she's probably just collecting them for a hobby or something.'
Ranma began to sleep. Something else that was very welcome. Ranma hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time. Mostly because of the random challengers and fiancé's. Even the night before he hadn't slept well. He had stayed up all night talking to his mother.
Ranma slept until eight in the morning before waking up. He was in the woods so the sun wasn't beaming down on his face like it usually did. Which was always good in his book. Ranma walked along the path he had been following earlier. He finally came across a small village. In this village he saw a few kids playing while an old woman watched over them. This was feudal Japan after all, and demons seemed to be everywhere. So he walked up to the old woman to ask for some information and maybe a little food.
"Excuse me ma'am." Ranma said, while bowing. Again, Ranma used his mother's advice to be polite. And if this old woman were anything like Cologne, he would have some bumps on his head if he weren't.
"Hello stranger. What do ye want from me?"
"I am traveling to find a certain.item, and was hoping that I could rest in this village for a few hours and maybe get some food before I continue on my journey." 'Man, it's weird talking like this!'
"I would not mind at all. Would you please watch the children while I prepare a meal."
"Thank you for you kindness." Ranma, said while bowing.
The old woman walked away to one of the houses in the village. Ranma sat down under a tree and watched the kids. It was the least he could do after asking them for food. One of the more curious kids of the group came up to him to see who he was. Not much action happened in that little village.
"Hello." The kid said, trying to get his attention.
"Hi kid."
"What's your name?"
"Ranma, what's yours?"
"I'm Jinta! Are you strong? Do ya know magic or anything?" The kid asked with a glint in his eye. By now all the kids that were playing were crowded around Ranma.
'*Sigh* this is going to be a long day.' "Yes, I'm strong, but I don't know magic."
"Really? The last guy that came to this town knew magic. He could do all sorts of things!"
"Really? Like what?" Ranma asked. Not that he was interested. He just didn't know how to answer the kid.
"He could make things come out of know where. Like swords and stuff."
"Really? I know a guy who can do that."
"He could pull chains and swords and stuff out of his sleeves."
"That's neat!" Jinta yelled.
"Mr. Ranma? Can you tell us about your adventures and stuff?" one of the little girls in the group asked.
"What makes you think I've been on an adventure?"
"You told my grandmother that you were on a journey, so I thought that you went on adventures and neat stuff like that." She said, while looking at the ground and shuffling her feet.
"Okay. How about I tell you about the time I fought Toma the prince of the Illusionary Island Togenkyo."
"NEAT! But what's an illusion?"
"An illusion is kind of like magic. It makes you think your seeing something that really isn't there."
"That is so awesome! What happened?"
About half an hour later.
"So I kicked Toma's butt so bad he started to run away. Once I saw through his illusions he was really no match."
"That coward!"
"Yeah. And he took Akane with him too."
"What did you do Ranma?" One of the girls, who thought the whole fighting for the girl thing, was romantic.
I chased after him of course! But somehow during the chase Akane began to fall into the water that would turn her into a man forever."
"Oh, no!"
"Oh, yes. So I jumped in after her."
"How did you stop her from falling in."
"I blew it up with my Mouko-takabisha!"
"Huh?"
"It's an energy blast."
"What? Only demons can do that kind of thing. That's impossible!" One of the so-called, cool kids of the group yelled.
"Wanna see me do one?"
"Yeah!" Jinta yelled.
"Watch." Ranma said cupping his hands at his side, while taking a horse stance. "Don't blink. MOUKO-TAKABISHA!" Ranma yelled. Thrusting his hands to the sky. A giant ball of yellow ki erupted from his hands and shot off into the sky, who knows when the thing actually died-down. Luckily every one was inside their homes, or Ranma might have been thrown out of town for being a demon.
"WOW! Can you teach me how to do that?!" Were the collective replies of most of the children. the ones that could talk anyway.
"Sorry. It takes years of training to be able to do this. I can't stay that long."
"Aw, man! I want to go on adventures and stuff like that too!"
"Yeah I'm cool." Ranma said, while giving the victory sign.
After that, the old woman came out to get Ranma. The food was prepared and Ranma was hungry. I bet your wondering why someone would go through all the trouble to make all that food for a stranger. The answer is simple. She was watching those children all morning and needed a break. She was grateful to the stranger who had kept the children busy with make believe stories. Magic islands. That was a good one.
"Thanks for the food. I really must get going now." Ranma said, picking up his sack.
"Aw.can't you stay a little longer? I want to here more about your adventures." One of the children begged.
"Sorry, but I really need to get going. Maybe, if I come back to this town later on."
"Okay. Bye Ranma!" Jinta yelled.
As Ranma walked away from the town, the children that he baby-sat waved goodbye. They were just children after all.
"Well, isn't he popular?" The old woman said.
Ranma walked down the path until he came to a clearing. He sat his sleeping bag down next to a bush, and started to set up camp. Ranma practiced for about an hour. He didn't want his skills to go down after all. After going through a few forms and meditation exercises, Ranma got ready for bed.
"Today was interesting. Those kids were nice and all, but I just don't know how to deal with them. Anyway, I'm tired and I'm going to bed."
Ranma was woken up by a rustling noise. Usually this wouldn't wake Ranma up, but his danger senses were going off like crazy. He looked up from where he lay and saw nothing. Of course he saw nothing. There was a bush in his way. So he got up and looked over the bush. There he had seen the most beautiful girl Ranma had ever seen in his opinion. She looked to be about seventeen and had long black hair tied back with a white ribbon, and she too, like the old woman Kaede, wore the traditional Shinto garb. Ranma failed to notice the snake like demons floating around her where ever she went, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was the eight-foot demon that was closing in on her. Though it wasn't fast, it looked strong, strong enough to tear the girl limb from limb.
Ranma jumped up from where he was and began to pounce on the demon. Began, he never got to finish. The girl lifted up her hand and it started to glow a strange light. The next thing Ranma knew, the monster had been disintegrated. So Ranma just stood there with a dumb look on his face. That wasn't ki. Actually, he couldn't sense any ki from the girl. Then she looked at him as if she noticed him for the first time. Her brown eyes seemed to look through his soul. Then she began to walk away.
"Wait!" Ranma yelled, hoping that she wouldn't leave. The girl turned around and stared at him for a few seconds. Ranma noticed that she seemed to have an expressionless face, but even though she showed no emotion. She looked sad in a way.
"Wha.What's your name?" Ranma asked, not really sure why he asked her to wait.
"My name.is Kikyou." She said, and then turned around to walk away once more. Ranma rolled up camp then grabbed his sack to chase after her.
"Wait a sec.!"
"What do you want?" She said. She was obviously getting annoyed, even though she didn't show it.
"Uh." Ranma said, intelligently.
"If you have nothing to say, I will be going now."
"Wait a sec. I know that you don't really know me or anything, but I was wondering how you did that."
"You mean, when I killed the demon?"
"Yeah. It wasn't ki, and I've never seen anything like it."
"I am a priestess. I have a great deal of power stored away. That was just a small portion of it. Now I must get going."
'Man, it's like talking to a brick wall. She's completely emotionless.' "Uh, I know this seems kind of forward and all, but maybe we should travel with each other."
"And why is that?" Kikyou asked.
"I don't know. For starters, I want to know why you don't have any ki.At all. Oh yeah, and I'm looking for this thing called a shikon shard, and."
"You are looking for a shard from the sacred jewel?"
"Yeah, you know about it?"
"You should give up on your search. The jewel only brings suffering and hatred."
"But, I kind of need the jewel to get back home. You see, I'm from the future and."
"You came from the well."
"No.the wardrobe, but."
"But you need a jewel shard to travel between the two times."
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"I guarded the jewel once. A long time ago."
"Oh.so do you have a shard I could use then?"
"No. The jewel was stolen from me, and then later on it was shattered. I do not have any of the fragments of the jewel."
"Oh. wait a second. What are these glowy, floating, snake thingies?"
"They are soul collectors."
"Oh. Why do they follow you? That one looks like it's going to bite my head off."
"They belong to me.and it sees you as a threat to me, so it is on guard."
"Oh, I see. Well I'm not really a threat, so can you call it off.or something."
"Yes." She lifted her hand, and then the soul collector backed away from Ranma.
"So.uh. about us traveling together?"
"You can follow me if you want, I could care less either way."
"Okay! And my names Ranma." 'Maybe I can get her to have a regular conversation.or not.'
