Squire of the Paladin
By Metaverse Hellsing/Ranma/Castelvania Aria of Sorrow/Maybe one or two others will see
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor am I making any money from this. Please do not sue me.
****
It was a warm starlight evening, and in it we find Ranma Alexander strolling back from the Tendo home, deep in his own thoughts.
Dinner at the Tendo's had been a little odd and very tiring. The food was perfect, , he thought with no small amount of amusement. But truly the eldest Tendo daughters cooking was a wonder, so good was it that he was willing bet it could heal men near death.
A sigh escaped his lips as his thoughts wondered to the other aspects of dinner. Mr. Tendo had been a nice enough, though he'd grilled him with so many questions he'd begun to wonder if he was expecting him to marry his daughter or something. Not only that, but the Youngest Tendo, Akane, kept alternating between glaring at him and ignoring his presence. It was obvious that she didn't take his interruptions of the morning lunacy at school very well, though why he didn't know.
Aside from Kasumi, he and Nabiki had been able to hold a fairly pleasant conversation, when not being interrupted by Souns questions or Akane's pointed attempts to let him know she was ignoring him. Still, he got the feeling that she had an ulterior motive in talking with him. He'd heard the rumors about her around school, but was trying to remain open minded. Still, after tonight's discussion he was left with the feeling that there was at least some truth to the long laments he'd heard about her mercenary nature.
Ranma let out another sigh and continued on as he tried to untangle the Tendo web.
"EEEKK!!!"
Ranma blinked and looked up to find four punk vampire wannabes accosting a young lady, and enjoying ever moment of it.
The young squire blinked at the scene for a moment, before looking heaven ward "That'll do. Thank you Lord!" and with a glint to his eyes and a grin on his face he charged into battle.
*****
Nabiki lay on her stomach, resting on the bed in her room with a nearly filled note pad before her, while tapping a pen, idly, against her lips as she considered the events of that evening. In all honesty she wasn't sure what was more fascinating, the information she'd gained on Ranma or her fathers reaction to the youth.
Having the young man who'd quickly become the talk of the school literally dropped on her doorstep had seemed a great opportunity to learn more about him, and then sell that info to the highest bidder. Yet the fact that her father grilled him like he did was not lost on her or Kasumi. The eldest had lightly chastised their father afterwards for his asking of so many questions, to which he'd readily apologized, but still seemed far to pleased with something.
Nabiki set the pen on her desk along with the pad. For now she had too little information to go on to come to any kind of conclusion. Though she resolved to get the bottom of her fathers actions and soon.
Nabiki rolled over on to her back and set her feet on the floor and sat up, intending to get ready for bed when a scream from the open window, caught her ears. Blinking several times, she approached the portal with the intent of investigating. However, the scream was followed by several more that sounded far more like the panicked squealing of pigs, or the screech of cats. Whatever it was, it wasn't human, . She mused as She closed the window and prepared for bed.
*****
The Senshi, along with the Outers minus Pluto, had gotten a reading on some more of those dark energies in Nerima. One Mass Teleport at the hands of sailor moon and they were just around the corner from said signatures.
The group of girls was still recovering from the teleport, when three figures rounded the corner, and judging from their faces they were fleeing from the hounds of hell itself.
In the time they had before the three were on them, Mamoru was able to note that all of them were male, young, and judging by the their clothes, had once been apart of a biker gang. Though he figured the red eyes a vampire fangs were a new addition, having to do with their recent life change.
Two of the creatures charged right by the Senshi, heading off further down the street. The third was unable to match their speed due to a missing left leg, the ragged wounds around it suggesting the loss was recent. The creature was far paler than it's companions and had a wild look in his eyes, likely indicating his state of mind. A fact that was proven a moment later when he grabbed Makoto by her uniform.
"Save me!" he screamed as he shook the shocked Senshi "He's a freaking Lunatic!!"
Anything else he may have said was lost as a hand exploded through his chest. Both Senshi and vampire stared dumbly at the appendage that shouldn't be there, before the creature turned to dust and blew off into the night, revealing the manic smirk and white blazing eyes of Zealot, as he withdrew himself from his striking position.
"Wha..?" Jupiter said.
Zealot spared her a quick glance before looking up to the fleeing pair. "Stop them!"
The Senshi, still dazed from the rapid set of events turned with a great amount of sluggishness to the vampire duo. Tuxedo Mask acted first. Three roses flew from his hand. The first two sunk into the back of the knees, sending that creature stumbling into a mailbox. The third, whizzed cleanly by the others head, forcing him to zag left, right into a telephone pole. After which he flopped over on his back holding his forehead in pain.
"Good aim." Zealot said as he flashed him a thumbs up. "I figure any of your attacks should finish them off.." Uranus and Neptune immediately began approaching the downed pair, silver millennium energy charging in a nimbus around them.
Satisfied that the two vampires were going to be facing judgment on the courts in a few moments. Zealot looked over the remaining girls. "Can any of you heal, I have an injured lady back here." He shot a thumb over his shoulder to emphasize his point.
Saturn stepped foreword and the two went to the ladies side, the rest of the Senshi trailing after.
As Saturn began to treat the scrapes and bruises the poor woman had suffered, Mercury pulled out her computer. "That's odd." She began "I counted four signatures?"
Zealot was busy calming the distraught woman down, thus he merely pointed to a nearby wall of a building. There the group found the scorched outline of a humanoid figure. Mamoru gave a low whistle at the sight.
Once sure the woman was okay, the young squire offered to escort her home, which she declined, and after thanking the assembled warriors, she left.
Ranma stood up and helped, Saturn to her feet, just as the two outers returned from finished off the remaining vampires. "Well." He said as he dusted off his knees. "Thanks for the assist. Guess I'll just."
The assembled Senshi all looked to Sailor moon as she stepped forward "Wait, we've decided that pooling our resources would be a good idea. So if you'd just tell us how to contact you."
Zealot smiled down at the future queen "Sure." He pulled out a pen and pad and quickly scribbled down a number and handed it to her. When she looked up at him quizzically he Explained, "It's my Cell phone number." He moved aside the jacket he was wearing to show a midnight black, little phone, strapped to the side of his belt. "Just give me a ring when you need me."
A slightly skeptical Moon spoke the number into her communicator and was surprised when the phone rang. Zealot chuckled at her reaction "It's a special cell phone." He added. Then unhooked it, hit a few numbers, and watched in amusement as their communicators went off.
"How?" Mercury asked.
He held the phone up so they could see the small screen. "Auto storage, you call me, I get your number to call you back, and don't bother asking me how it works."
"Trade secret" Uranus nodded sagely.
Zealot shook his head. "No I just don't know. It was a gift for saving a techno mage's daughter from the deep ones." Seeing the curious faces he sighed, "It's a long story. Anyways, I have to go, my guardian will get worried if I stay out much longer. See y'all around" He waved to the group before leaping up to a nearby roof and disappearing into the night.
*****
Days later
Ceras hefted her bag, as she entered Tokyo international Airport. The human throng moved about her, almost making her feel claustrophobic amongst the press of humanity. All of who remained unaware of her status as a member of the Undead
Dressed in a pair of gray slacks and black shirt with a dusky brown cap perched on her head, and a pair of sunglasses that hid her inhumanly red eyes. These same eyes scanned the waiting crowd of people till she found a man who held a sign with her name on it.
As she approached she noted that the man seemed young and old at the same time. He was dressed impeccably in a black business suit and red tie. His raven hair flowed to his shoulders, while his brown eyes observed her as she closed the distance between them. Only one of his hands held the sign, the other rested in his pocket lending even more support to the air of relaxed power that clung to him.
Once before him, she shifted the pack slung over her shoulder, and extended her hand. "Greetings" she said, her thick English accent shining through her Japanese speech. "I'm Ceras."
The man inclined his head slightly as he removed his hand from his pocket to grasp hers, and shake. "Genya Arikado, and this." he gestures to a man she'd not noticed before. He was dressed mostly in browns and sported a dusky red beard and a pleasant smile. "Is Julius Belmont." The man extended his hand, which she took and gave it a hearty shake. "We'll be your tutors and guides during your stay in Japan."
****
Ranma sat at a table in the cafeteria and enjoyed the lunch he'd prepared before leaving the church for school. Years of training under Anderson hadn't left too much time to master cooking but he was fully capable of making an enjoyable box lunch. Though for the past few days the priest had lent him a hand in the making of his meals, mostly since he was unused to making a bento with all the usual trimmings.
Ranma popped some sashimi into his mouth with his chopsticks, and while chewing looked around. It'd been a few days from when he'd convinced the morning loonies to exchange poetry for violence in their normal show of affection. From that time things had settled into a routine. The boys would spend the morning reciting their own attempts at literary work to Akane or slipping it to her during lunch. Akane fumed, and loudly shouted how much she hated this, yet she was unable to actually vent on anyone. Without the pretext of an attack or perverted act the youngest Tendo was left to stew. Something Ranma realized was not a very god thing for the long-term peace of this school, but until he found a way for her to release her anger safely, he merely continued to avoid her.
As Ranma looked about he noticed that Akane was sitting with her friends as usual, however, she seemed near the point of finally confronting him, as she kept glaring at him. He took in a deep breath, knowing that soon, the issue would be forced.
"Why did you interfere in my fight?" Ranma blinked in surprise, realizing that in the time he'd taken to focus himself, Akane had moved over to him, and was flanked by her two friends.
"Because it was pointless, and people were being injured unnecessarily." He cocked his head to the side as he regarded her. "Did you like being attacked?"
She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. "No, but it was my problem and I was handling it."
Ranma frowned "The way you were handling it, involved massive amounts of violence, and it did not get to the root of the problem."
She snorted derisively "Oh, and like yours does." Her friends nodded their heads in agreement.
He shrugged. "As you said it's your problem, I figured you deserved a shot at permanently resolving it yourself." He took another bite of sashimi and closed his bento "But if you want my advice, I'd be happy to share."
She cut him off. "I don't need your prescripted speeches God boy!" she glared at him now, seeming to try and burn a hole through him with her eyes alone. "The cheap words of your Gaijin God aren't going to get you anywhere with me!!"
Ranma closed his eyes and visible tried to calm himself after hearing her words. "I don't know why you hold such animosity against the Lord, but I would ask that you not speak such ill words of him in my presence."
She mockingly laughed. "Why, a lightening bolt going to hit me! Please." She bent close now, almost getting in his face. "I'll say whatever I want, and what are you gonna do about it." She punctuated the later part of her words by poking her finger in his chest on each syllable.
So enraptured with her own mocking of the young squire was she, that she missed the dangerous light the came into his eyes, the quirking of the edges of his lips, or the way he flexed his hands experimentally. But thankfully for her sake. Ranma took several deep breaths and calmed down.
Once satisfied that he wasn't about to ring her silly neck, he looked at her, truly looked at her and was surprised but what he found. A discovery he voice a moment later. "You want me to hit you."
Akane blinked and stepped back in surprise nearly running her friends down. "What! What are you?"
Ranma nodded vigorously now, assured by her own reaction. "You want me to swing at you so you can have a pretext to beat me. That's it isn't it, that's why your so mad about the fights. They gave you a chance to pound on people, to prove you were better than anyone else, and I took that away."
She shook her head vehemently as her friends voiced how wrong he was. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do." His voice was sad now, and pitying. "You enjoy violence, I saw it on your face when you were fighting. At first I thought you were enjoying the challenge or even the thrill of the fight as some marital artist do. However as I look back on it, you weren't having any problems with the morning madness. It wasn't the challenge or capabilities of your opponents that thrilled you. It was the sheer joy of inflicting pain against those you felt deserved it."
Akane look mortified and her friends horrified at his words, and the denials poured forth like vomit from their mouths, at least that how there excuses sounded to his ears. "I see it all now, he said tiredly. "I took that away from you and you want to punish me but you need a pretext. All right then." And he stood.
Akane immediately dropped back into a fighting stance, left leg, forward, right leg back, with her fist up, ready to fight. Ranma just looked at her and shook his head. "I won't give you the excuse you crave." And with that he gathered up his things turned and left the dumbly blinking Akane and her friends.
Regaining her wits Akane tried one last tactic. "You coward! Come back here and fight!"
Ranma stopped, and turned "Until you have faced the stuff of nightmares, you have no authority to judge me a coward." He turned back and continued on his way. "Good day miss Tendo"
And thus he left Akane to fume considering what this new revelation could mean for the future of the school
****
Soun smiled as he hung up the phone. After last night he'd been sure that the boy his daughter had brought home was in fact the long lost son of Genma, and had alerted his old friend to his location. Soon, Genma would arrive to determine if this was his son for himself, but Soun was confident that he was right.
And once they were both in agreement, they would rescue Ranma from whatever horrid life he'd been forced into and secure the future of anything goes.
Things were looking up indeed.
****
Cologne, looked out over the hunting party that'd been assembled. As was proper they were all young and talented warriors, who were still single, the best of the new generation, and her granddaughter was one in their number.
She was most pleased.
Satisfied that the group was presentable she gave the order and they filed onto the boat. Traveling from the interior of China to the port wasn't easy, nor would the crossing from China to Japan. However, of late she'd heard of warriors residing in their neighbor whose talents would make their genes a valuable asset to her people.
Thus these amazons were not only the best fighters, but some of the prettiest as well.
She cracked a smile. Those poor males would never know what hit them.
****
Integra turned her chair from the window as a sheaf of files landed on her desk. Next to her Alucard stood with his normal disinterested gaze, observing herself and the documents deliverer, Walter.
She skimmed the documents getting a general feel for the information they contained, only slowing to read over the very pertinent parts. Once satisfied that she had the gist of it, she looked up to her human butler.
"What is your opinion on this?" She asked, while waving at the files.
"It looks like Umbrella is up to it's old tricks, despite their promises after that incident in Raccoon City."
Integra nodded. "Yes, but why Japan and why that area?"
Walter shifted slightly on his feet. "Well that area is known for unusual occurrences, if their experiments broke out, most people would shrug them off as another Yoma attack or some such."
"Not to mention that is near to where Dracula's castle appeared around the beginning of the century."
Both humans looked at their Vampire companion, who merely seemed amused that they'd not considered that possibility.
"Walter?"
"It makes sense. Though we are fairly sure that Umbrella is not involved in the production of Freak chips, it stands to reason that they are aware of them, and if they seek to go beyond the chips limitations."
"They'd likely wish to go to the source of such powers." Integra finished. She stared again at the documents, considering a course of action. Eventually she came to a decision. "Cera's is already over there; we'll just send her a message telling her to investigate. I won't commit what forces we have left until I know what they intend."
Walter bowed, "Very good sir, I shall make happen." he then turned smartly on his heel, and strode out of the room.
Integra turned from her desk to the window, aware that Alucard watched her all the while. "Your thoughts?" she asked as she stared at the London night scene.
"Whatever they find in the castle will likely destroy them," now he gave her a sidelong glance "The only question is how many innocents will be dragged down with them." And he left it at that.
"I see" and she did, if they acted rashly, they could miss allocate their limited forces and leave themselves vulnerable, but to act to slow, would mean the deaths of an unknown number of people. As she pulled a cigar from her breast pocket and lit it, she wondered just what she was going to do.
****
Red eyes under a mop of silver hair regarded the building before him. Soma Cruz the owner of those features consider the building that was apart of The Umbrella Corporation, or more importantly it's feel. Every since his experience in Dracula's Castles a few years ago, he'd been very sensitive to the movement of monsters, and of late, this building had grown to a beacon of Nightmarish life to his senses. Why this was so, he didn't know, as all his attempts to get in had been thwarted, and he was fast approaching the point, where he'd have to take more drastic measures to get some answers.
"Soma, are you all right?"
But not tonight he thought, as he looked down into the eyes of his red haired girlfriend Mina. Dressed more loosely in a red dress with his jacket protecting her from the evenings chill. "Yeah, just thinking about things.
She snuggled closer as they walked on past the building to her home. "Like what."
"Oh nothing much, just how lucky I am to have you, and what I'd do to protect you."
She smiled at his words before going back to enjoying his warmth.
His smile lingered for a bit, then faded as he looked back at the building as they continued on down the street. Knowing what he'd have to do to ensure that she was safe from whatever horrors it contained.
***
Ranma Anderson, entered his quarter after Sunday service, and slumped tiredly against the door.
It'd been a long Sunday morning for Squire Ranma. Which wasn't surprising as it'd been a long week for him as well. Every since that day when he'd discovered why Akane Tendo was upset with him, things had gotten more complicated. First, Kuno had discovered the nature of their conversation and had come to a creative, if looney way to give Akane what she wanted, and do things as 'proper Japanese' should. Now whenever anyone attacked Akane, they were to recite poetry as they did so.
Upon seeing that the next morning, the young squire had let out a long suffering sigh.
Only two things were keeping him from tearing his hair out at this setback. One, was the fact that the morning mob was missing about half it's usual number. It seemed that a fair number of those involved had only done so either because of peer pressure from their clubs, or their inability to get any dates at all, which had drove them to this desperate gamble. Once they had time to think over their actions, the former came to their sense and the latter actually starting getting dates once they used their new found talent for poetry on the now date starved women of Furinkan high.
The other thing was that Akane was not causing as much havoc as she had before.
Partly because the now smaller mob, got in each other's way much less, and a few had even taken to working together. It wasn't enough to beat her, but I did prevent her from delivering any blows with sufficient power to truly injure someone, as she was constantly reacting to new attacks.
However, most of it could be traced to the poetry they were reciting as they fought. Akane, was used to short speeches and battle cry's. Thus she could not block out the constant yammering of voices as they compared her to a summer's day, the sea and any other number of beautiful phenomena, thereby breaking her concentration, and even allowing a number of blows to actually land upon her.
Anger at her inability to beat this new, leaner, meaner, poetry reciting mob had irritated Akane more, and she readily laid the blame for it at his feet. Thus whenever she had the chance, she verbally berated him and his religion, something that was quickly getting old for him.
Pushing himself off the door, he strode to the closet and began to undo his robes
The other problem was that recently he received a note from Iscariot asking him to investigate the local subsidiary of Umbrella Corporation. Knowing their history, Ranma had hoped that a simple investigating would give him enough information to do something, but so far nothing.
He sighed, as he took off his robes, and hung them in their proper place, then begin to pull on his more normal clothes.
He'd come to the conclusion that the only way he was going to get anything done was to sneak in there and see what they were doing first hand. Tonight was a Sunday, so he figured the building she be emptied of the usual staff, making tonight the best chance he was going to get to slip in and out unnoticed.
Ranma sat on his bed and pulled his journal out from under the pillow, and began going over the observations about the building that he'd written in their.
The last thing that had him on edge was the distinct feeling he was being watched of late at school, though whether by Iscariot, Hellsing, or someone else he was unsure. Though since whatever it was didn't feel hostile, he'd put it on the back burner for now.
A knock sound at the door, just preceding the old priest as he poked his head inside.
"Ranma, you have visitors, looks like the Tendo family and their friends."
He nodded "Thank you, father. I'll be right out." The priest acknowledge this and left.
Ranma sighed and shut his journal, slipping it under his pillow, then strode to the door. As he opened it he considered what the old priest had told him about the Tendo's. The most relevant information he'd learned was that the entire family had at one time attended this very church, but that after the death of Mrs. Tendo, only Kasumi came regularly, though every now and again, Nabiki would slip in and confess her sins. Akane, had been too young to understand the church and Soun had gone, mostly o humor his wife.
When she'd died, Soun no longer saw a reason to go, whereas Akane had gained a deep hatred for the church, and God specifically. In his talks with her elder sisters, he'd found that Akane blamed their mothers death on God, and felt that if he were truly loving he'd have saved her. So in her anger and grief, she spat at the lord, refusing to acknowledge him as he'd obviously, to her, refused to acknowledge her mother's faith.
Ranma sighed as he strolled down the hallway. This little bit of information explained much. He was, in essence, a personification of all that she hated unreasoningly. Meaning, for him, that thing were unlikely to improve between them.
Resolving to treat her as was proper, he rounded the corner into the receiving area and froze. Not at the sight of the Tendos, but of the people who stood with them.
"My Son!" The red haired woman cried as she ran forward and embraced his unresisting form. Ranma barely noticed her as his eyes rested on the smugly grinning face of his father.
"Hello boy, we've come to take you away from all this."
End of chapter
Author Notes: I decided to add this part I originally placed in chapter in chapter two. One, it gives a more fleshed out explanation for Akane's behavior as well as gives some hints as to the mindset of the Tendo family. Plus it's a cliff hanger and I've always wanted to use one of those : )
Next chapter begins where this one ends, as the various interest & forces begin to collide.
By Metaverse Hellsing/Ranma/Castelvania Aria of Sorrow/Maybe one or two others will see
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor am I making any money from this. Please do not sue me.
****
It was a warm starlight evening, and in it we find Ranma Alexander strolling back from the Tendo home, deep in his own thoughts.
Dinner at the Tendo's had been a little odd and very tiring. The food was perfect, , he thought with no small amount of amusement. But truly the eldest Tendo daughters cooking was a wonder, so good was it that he was willing bet it could heal men near death.
A sigh escaped his lips as his thoughts wondered to the other aspects of dinner. Mr. Tendo had been a nice enough, though he'd grilled him with so many questions he'd begun to wonder if he was expecting him to marry his daughter or something. Not only that, but the Youngest Tendo, Akane, kept alternating between glaring at him and ignoring his presence. It was obvious that she didn't take his interruptions of the morning lunacy at school very well, though why he didn't know.
Aside from Kasumi, he and Nabiki had been able to hold a fairly pleasant conversation, when not being interrupted by Souns questions or Akane's pointed attempts to let him know she was ignoring him. Still, he got the feeling that she had an ulterior motive in talking with him. He'd heard the rumors about her around school, but was trying to remain open minded. Still, after tonight's discussion he was left with the feeling that there was at least some truth to the long laments he'd heard about her mercenary nature.
Ranma let out another sigh and continued on as he tried to untangle the Tendo web.
"EEEKK!!!"
Ranma blinked and looked up to find four punk vampire wannabes accosting a young lady, and enjoying ever moment of it.
The young squire blinked at the scene for a moment, before looking heaven ward "That'll do. Thank you Lord!" and with a glint to his eyes and a grin on his face he charged into battle.
*****
Nabiki lay on her stomach, resting on the bed in her room with a nearly filled note pad before her, while tapping a pen, idly, against her lips as she considered the events of that evening. In all honesty she wasn't sure what was more fascinating, the information she'd gained on Ranma or her fathers reaction to the youth.
Having the young man who'd quickly become the talk of the school literally dropped on her doorstep had seemed a great opportunity to learn more about him, and then sell that info to the highest bidder. Yet the fact that her father grilled him like he did was not lost on her or Kasumi. The eldest had lightly chastised their father afterwards for his asking of so many questions, to which he'd readily apologized, but still seemed far to pleased with something.
Nabiki set the pen on her desk along with the pad. For now she had too little information to go on to come to any kind of conclusion. Though she resolved to get the bottom of her fathers actions and soon.
Nabiki rolled over on to her back and set her feet on the floor and sat up, intending to get ready for bed when a scream from the open window, caught her ears. Blinking several times, she approached the portal with the intent of investigating. However, the scream was followed by several more that sounded far more like the panicked squealing of pigs, or the screech of cats. Whatever it was, it wasn't human, . She mused as She closed the window and prepared for bed.
*****
The Senshi, along with the Outers minus Pluto, had gotten a reading on some more of those dark energies in Nerima. One Mass Teleport at the hands of sailor moon and they were just around the corner from said signatures.
The group of girls was still recovering from the teleport, when three figures rounded the corner, and judging from their faces they were fleeing from the hounds of hell itself.
In the time they had before the three were on them, Mamoru was able to note that all of them were male, young, and judging by the their clothes, had once been apart of a biker gang. Though he figured the red eyes a vampire fangs were a new addition, having to do with their recent life change.
Two of the creatures charged right by the Senshi, heading off further down the street. The third was unable to match their speed due to a missing left leg, the ragged wounds around it suggesting the loss was recent. The creature was far paler than it's companions and had a wild look in his eyes, likely indicating his state of mind. A fact that was proven a moment later when he grabbed Makoto by her uniform.
"Save me!" he screamed as he shook the shocked Senshi "He's a freaking Lunatic!!"
Anything else he may have said was lost as a hand exploded through his chest. Both Senshi and vampire stared dumbly at the appendage that shouldn't be there, before the creature turned to dust and blew off into the night, revealing the manic smirk and white blazing eyes of Zealot, as he withdrew himself from his striking position.
"Wha..?" Jupiter said.
Zealot spared her a quick glance before looking up to the fleeing pair. "Stop them!"
The Senshi, still dazed from the rapid set of events turned with a great amount of sluggishness to the vampire duo. Tuxedo Mask acted first. Three roses flew from his hand. The first two sunk into the back of the knees, sending that creature stumbling into a mailbox. The third, whizzed cleanly by the others head, forcing him to zag left, right into a telephone pole. After which he flopped over on his back holding his forehead in pain.
"Good aim." Zealot said as he flashed him a thumbs up. "I figure any of your attacks should finish them off.." Uranus and Neptune immediately began approaching the downed pair, silver millennium energy charging in a nimbus around them.
Satisfied that the two vampires were going to be facing judgment on the courts in a few moments. Zealot looked over the remaining girls. "Can any of you heal, I have an injured lady back here." He shot a thumb over his shoulder to emphasize his point.
Saturn stepped foreword and the two went to the ladies side, the rest of the Senshi trailing after.
As Saturn began to treat the scrapes and bruises the poor woman had suffered, Mercury pulled out her computer. "That's odd." She began "I counted four signatures?"
Zealot was busy calming the distraught woman down, thus he merely pointed to a nearby wall of a building. There the group found the scorched outline of a humanoid figure. Mamoru gave a low whistle at the sight.
Once sure the woman was okay, the young squire offered to escort her home, which she declined, and after thanking the assembled warriors, she left.
Ranma stood up and helped, Saturn to her feet, just as the two outers returned from finished off the remaining vampires. "Well." He said as he dusted off his knees. "Thanks for the assist. Guess I'll just."
The assembled Senshi all looked to Sailor moon as she stepped forward "Wait, we've decided that pooling our resources would be a good idea. So if you'd just tell us how to contact you."
Zealot smiled down at the future queen "Sure." He pulled out a pen and pad and quickly scribbled down a number and handed it to her. When she looked up at him quizzically he Explained, "It's my Cell phone number." He moved aside the jacket he was wearing to show a midnight black, little phone, strapped to the side of his belt. "Just give me a ring when you need me."
A slightly skeptical Moon spoke the number into her communicator and was surprised when the phone rang. Zealot chuckled at her reaction "It's a special cell phone." He added. Then unhooked it, hit a few numbers, and watched in amusement as their communicators went off.
"How?" Mercury asked.
He held the phone up so they could see the small screen. "Auto storage, you call me, I get your number to call you back, and don't bother asking me how it works."
"Trade secret" Uranus nodded sagely.
Zealot shook his head. "No I just don't know. It was a gift for saving a techno mage's daughter from the deep ones." Seeing the curious faces he sighed, "It's a long story. Anyways, I have to go, my guardian will get worried if I stay out much longer. See y'all around" He waved to the group before leaping up to a nearby roof and disappearing into the night.
*****
Days later
Ceras hefted her bag, as she entered Tokyo international Airport. The human throng moved about her, almost making her feel claustrophobic amongst the press of humanity. All of who remained unaware of her status as a member of the Undead
Dressed in a pair of gray slacks and black shirt with a dusky brown cap perched on her head, and a pair of sunglasses that hid her inhumanly red eyes. These same eyes scanned the waiting crowd of people till she found a man who held a sign with her name on it.
As she approached she noted that the man seemed young and old at the same time. He was dressed impeccably in a black business suit and red tie. His raven hair flowed to his shoulders, while his brown eyes observed her as she closed the distance between them. Only one of his hands held the sign, the other rested in his pocket lending even more support to the air of relaxed power that clung to him.
Once before him, she shifted the pack slung over her shoulder, and extended her hand. "Greetings" she said, her thick English accent shining through her Japanese speech. "I'm Ceras."
The man inclined his head slightly as he removed his hand from his pocket to grasp hers, and shake. "Genya Arikado, and this." he gestures to a man she'd not noticed before. He was dressed mostly in browns and sported a dusky red beard and a pleasant smile. "Is Julius Belmont." The man extended his hand, which she took and gave it a hearty shake. "We'll be your tutors and guides during your stay in Japan."
****
Ranma sat at a table in the cafeteria and enjoyed the lunch he'd prepared before leaving the church for school. Years of training under Anderson hadn't left too much time to master cooking but he was fully capable of making an enjoyable box lunch. Though for the past few days the priest had lent him a hand in the making of his meals, mostly since he was unused to making a bento with all the usual trimmings.
Ranma popped some sashimi into his mouth with his chopsticks, and while chewing looked around. It'd been a few days from when he'd convinced the morning loonies to exchange poetry for violence in their normal show of affection. From that time things had settled into a routine. The boys would spend the morning reciting their own attempts at literary work to Akane or slipping it to her during lunch. Akane fumed, and loudly shouted how much she hated this, yet she was unable to actually vent on anyone. Without the pretext of an attack or perverted act the youngest Tendo was left to stew. Something Ranma realized was not a very god thing for the long-term peace of this school, but until he found a way for her to release her anger safely, he merely continued to avoid her.
As Ranma looked about he noticed that Akane was sitting with her friends as usual, however, she seemed near the point of finally confronting him, as she kept glaring at him. He took in a deep breath, knowing that soon, the issue would be forced.
"Why did you interfere in my fight?" Ranma blinked in surprise, realizing that in the time he'd taken to focus himself, Akane had moved over to him, and was flanked by her two friends.
"Because it was pointless, and people were being injured unnecessarily." He cocked his head to the side as he regarded her. "Did you like being attacked?"
She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. "No, but it was my problem and I was handling it."
Ranma frowned "The way you were handling it, involved massive amounts of violence, and it did not get to the root of the problem."
She snorted derisively "Oh, and like yours does." Her friends nodded their heads in agreement.
He shrugged. "As you said it's your problem, I figured you deserved a shot at permanently resolving it yourself." He took another bite of sashimi and closed his bento "But if you want my advice, I'd be happy to share."
She cut him off. "I don't need your prescripted speeches God boy!" she glared at him now, seeming to try and burn a hole through him with her eyes alone. "The cheap words of your Gaijin God aren't going to get you anywhere with me!!"
Ranma closed his eyes and visible tried to calm himself after hearing her words. "I don't know why you hold such animosity against the Lord, but I would ask that you not speak such ill words of him in my presence."
She mockingly laughed. "Why, a lightening bolt going to hit me! Please." She bent close now, almost getting in his face. "I'll say whatever I want, and what are you gonna do about it." She punctuated the later part of her words by poking her finger in his chest on each syllable.
So enraptured with her own mocking of the young squire was she, that she missed the dangerous light the came into his eyes, the quirking of the edges of his lips, or the way he flexed his hands experimentally. But thankfully for her sake. Ranma took several deep breaths and calmed down.
Once satisfied that he wasn't about to ring her silly neck, he looked at her, truly looked at her and was surprised but what he found. A discovery he voice a moment later. "You want me to hit you."
Akane blinked and stepped back in surprise nearly running her friends down. "What! What are you?"
Ranma nodded vigorously now, assured by her own reaction. "You want me to swing at you so you can have a pretext to beat me. That's it isn't it, that's why your so mad about the fights. They gave you a chance to pound on people, to prove you were better than anyone else, and I took that away."
She shook her head vehemently as her friends voiced how wrong he was. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do." His voice was sad now, and pitying. "You enjoy violence, I saw it on your face when you were fighting. At first I thought you were enjoying the challenge or even the thrill of the fight as some marital artist do. However as I look back on it, you weren't having any problems with the morning madness. It wasn't the challenge or capabilities of your opponents that thrilled you. It was the sheer joy of inflicting pain against those you felt deserved it."
Akane look mortified and her friends horrified at his words, and the denials poured forth like vomit from their mouths, at least that how there excuses sounded to his ears. "I see it all now, he said tiredly. "I took that away from you and you want to punish me but you need a pretext. All right then." And he stood.
Akane immediately dropped back into a fighting stance, left leg, forward, right leg back, with her fist up, ready to fight. Ranma just looked at her and shook his head. "I won't give you the excuse you crave." And with that he gathered up his things turned and left the dumbly blinking Akane and her friends.
Regaining her wits Akane tried one last tactic. "You coward! Come back here and fight!"
Ranma stopped, and turned "Until you have faced the stuff of nightmares, you have no authority to judge me a coward." He turned back and continued on his way. "Good day miss Tendo"
And thus he left Akane to fume considering what this new revelation could mean for the future of the school
****
Soun smiled as he hung up the phone. After last night he'd been sure that the boy his daughter had brought home was in fact the long lost son of Genma, and had alerted his old friend to his location. Soon, Genma would arrive to determine if this was his son for himself, but Soun was confident that he was right.
And once they were both in agreement, they would rescue Ranma from whatever horrid life he'd been forced into and secure the future of anything goes.
Things were looking up indeed.
****
Cologne, looked out over the hunting party that'd been assembled. As was proper they were all young and talented warriors, who were still single, the best of the new generation, and her granddaughter was one in their number.
She was most pleased.
Satisfied that the group was presentable she gave the order and they filed onto the boat. Traveling from the interior of China to the port wasn't easy, nor would the crossing from China to Japan. However, of late she'd heard of warriors residing in their neighbor whose talents would make their genes a valuable asset to her people.
Thus these amazons were not only the best fighters, but some of the prettiest as well.
She cracked a smile. Those poor males would never know what hit them.
****
Integra turned her chair from the window as a sheaf of files landed on her desk. Next to her Alucard stood with his normal disinterested gaze, observing herself and the documents deliverer, Walter.
She skimmed the documents getting a general feel for the information they contained, only slowing to read over the very pertinent parts. Once satisfied that she had the gist of it, she looked up to her human butler.
"What is your opinion on this?" She asked, while waving at the files.
"It looks like Umbrella is up to it's old tricks, despite their promises after that incident in Raccoon City."
Integra nodded. "Yes, but why Japan and why that area?"
Walter shifted slightly on his feet. "Well that area is known for unusual occurrences, if their experiments broke out, most people would shrug them off as another Yoma attack or some such."
"Not to mention that is near to where Dracula's castle appeared around the beginning of the century."
Both humans looked at their Vampire companion, who merely seemed amused that they'd not considered that possibility.
"Walter?"
"It makes sense. Though we are fairly sure that Umbrella is not involved in the production of Freak chips, it stands to reason that they are aware of them, and if they seek to go beyond the chips limitations."
"They'd likely wish to go to the source of such powers." Integra finished. She stared again at the documents, considering a course of action. Eventually she came to a decision. "Cera's is already over there; we'll just send her a message telling her to investigate. I won't commit what forces we have left until I know what they intend."
Walter bowed, "Very good sir, I shall make happen." he then turned smartly on his heel, and strode out of the room.
Integra turned from her desk to the window, aware that Alucard watched her all the while. "Your thoughts?" she asked as she stared at the London night scene.
"Whatever they find in the castle will likely destroy them," now he gave her a sidelong glance "The only question is how many innocents will be dragged down with them." And he left it at that.
"I see" and she did, if they acted rashly, they could miss allocate their limited forces and leave themselves vulnerable, but to act to slow, would mean the deaths of an unknown number of people. As she pulled a cigar from her breast pocket and lit it, she wondered just what she was going to do.
****
Red eyes under a mop of silver hair regarded the building before him. Soma Cruz the owner of those features consider the building that was apart of The Umbrella Corporation, or more importantly it's feel. Every since his experience in Dracula's Castles a few years ago, he'd been very sensitive to the movement of monsters, and of late, this building had grown to a beacon of Nightmarish life to his senses. Why this was so, he didn't know, as all his attempts to get in had been thwarted, and he was fast approaching the point, where he'd have to take more drastic measures to get some answers.
"Soma, are you all right?"
But not tonight he thought, as he looked down into the eyes of his red haired girlfriend Mina. Dressed more loosely in a red dress with his jacket protecting her from the evenings chill. "Yeah, just thinking about things.
She snuggled closer as they walked on past the building to her home. "Like what."
"Oh nothing much, just how lucky I am to have you, and what I'd do to protect you."
She smiled at his words before going back to enjoying his warmth.
His smile lingered for a bit, then faded as he looked back at the building as they continued on down the street. Knowing what he'd have to do to ensure that she was safe from whatever horrors it contained.
***
Ranma Anderson, entered his quarter after Sunday service, and slumped tiredly against the door.
It'd been a long Sunday morning for Squire Ranma. Which wasn't surprising as it'd been a long week for him as well. Every since that day when he'd discovered why Akane Tendo was upset with him, things had gotten more complicated. First, Kuno had discovered the nature of their conversation and had come to a creative, if looney way to give Akane what she wanted, and do things as 'proper Japanese' should. Now whenever anyone attacked Akane, they were to recite poetry as they did so.
Upon seeing that the next morning, the young squire had let out a long suffering sigh.
Only two things were keeping him from tearing his hair out at this setback. One, was the fact that the morning mob was missing about half it's usual number. It seemed that a fair number of those involved had only done so either because of peer pressure from their clubs, or their inability to get any dates at all, which had drove them to this desperate gamble. Once they had time to think over their actions, the former came to their sense and the latter actually starting getting dates once they used their new found talent for poetry on the now date starved women of Furinkan high.
The other thing was that Akane was not causing as much havoc as she had before.
Partly because the now smaller mob, got in each other's way much less, and a few had even taken to working together. It wasn't enough to beat her, but I did prevent her from delivering any blows with sufficient power to truly injure someone, as she was constantly reacting to new attacks.
However, most of it could be traced to the poetry they were reciting as they fought. Akane, was used to short speeches and battle cry's. Thus she could not block out the constant yammering of voices as they compared her to a summer's day, the sea and any other number of beautiful phenomena, thereby breaking her concentration, and even allowing a number of blows to actually land upon her.
Anger at her inability to beat this new, leaner, meaner, poetry reciting mob had irritated Akane more, and she readily laid the blame for it at his feet. Thus whenever she had the chance, she verbally berated him and his religion, something that was quickly getting old for him.
Pushing himself off the door, he strode to the closet and began to undo his robes
The other problem was that recently he received a note from Iscariot asking him to investigate the local subsidiary of Umbrella Corporation. Knowing their history, Ranma had hoped that a simple investigating would give him enough information to do something, but so far nothing.
He sighed, as he took off his robes, and hung them in their proper place, then begin to pull on his more normal clothes.
He'd come to the conclusion that the only way he was going to get anything done was to sneak in there and see what they were doing first hand. Tonight was a Sunday, so he figured the building she be emptied of the usual staff, making tonight the best chance he was going to get to slip in and out unnoticed.
Ranma sat on his bed and pulled his journal out from under the pillow, and began going over the observations about the building that he'd written in their.
The last thing that had him on edge was the distinct feeling he was being watched of late at school, though whether by Iscariot, Hellsing, or someone else he was unsure. Though since whatever it was didn't feel hostile, he'd put it on the back burner for now.
A knock sound at the door, just preceding the old priest as he poked his head inside.
"Ranma, you have visitors, looks like the Tendo family and their friends."
He nodded "Thank you, father. I'll be right out." The priest acknowledge this and left.
Ranma sighed and shut his journal, slipping it under his pillow, then strode to the door. As he opened it he considered what the old priest had told him about the Tendo's. The most relevant information he'd learned was that the entire family had at one time attended this very church, but that after the death of Mrs. Tendo, only Kasumi came regularly, though every now and again, Nabiki would slip in and confess her sins. Akane, had been too young to understand the church and Soun had gone, mostly o humor his wife.
When she'd died, Soun no longer saw a reason to go, whereas Akane had gained a deep hatred for the church, and God specifically. In his talks with her elder sisters, he'd found that Akane blamed their mothers death on God, and felt that if he were truly loving he'd have saved her. So in her anger and grief, she spat at the lord, refusing to acknowledge him as he'd obviously, to her, refused to acknowledge her mother's faith.
Ranma sighed as he strolled down the hallway. This little bit of information explained much. He was, in essence, a personification of all that she hated unreasoningly. Meaning, for him, that thing were unlikely to improve between them.
Resolving to treat her as was proper, he rounded the corner into the receiving area and froze. Not at the sight of the Tendos, but of the people who stood with them.
"My Son!" The red haired woman cried as she ran forward and embraced his unresisting form. Ranma barely noticed her as his eyes rested on the smugly grinning face of his father.
"Hello boy, we've come to take you away from all this."
End of chapter
Author Notes: I decided to add this part I originally placed in chapter in chapter two. One, it gives a more fleshed out explanation for Akane's behavior as well as gives some hints as to the mindset of the Tendo family. Plus it's a cliff hanger and I've always wanted to use one of those : )
Next chapter begins where this one ends, as the various interest & forces begin to collide.