Disclaimer: I still don't own Ranma1/2.
Summery: AU.
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An Unexpected Turn
Part VII
Ryona, child of the Musk
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Ryona screamed as the wooden sword moved downward through the air, and towards her unguarded throat, aiming to cut off her head. Moving on instict, Ryona felt her arm lift up to seize the offending wooden stick before it hit her. Standing completely still, Ryona gasped as she felt the pain from where the wood had impacted with her skin, but that couldn't be right. How could she have stopped it? She didn't know how to fight, let alone how to defend herself.
Almost acting on reflex, Ryona twisted her arm a little, making Kuno open his defense, then her leg kicked up, hammering hard into the chest of the large boy, sending him reeling back to drop down on his knee. A second passed as her brain tried to come up with a reason for what she was doing, failing that, she stepped back from the taller boy.
As Kuno's mouth opened, a small amount of spit dripped out and down onto the ground. Her hands went limp and the sword fell down to land next to the kendoist with a small bump. Looking at him, she began to back further away and tremble. She didn't know why she had done that, or how she had even done it.
Gripping his trusted bokken, Kuno used it as an impromptu lever to pull himself up with. Leaning on it, he felt his stomach and grimaced. A large bruise was forming, much larger then the ones inflected by his two beloveds, and if he was not wrong, his ribs might have been bruised. Looking up, he narrowed his eyes and fell into one of the strongest attack positions used in Kendo. "Warily Youkai, thy fight like a true monster, but thy evil will not defeat me. Tatewaki Kuno, The Blue Thunder, Fights ON!"
Once again, Ryona screamed as the sword blurred into action. Stepping back once again, she ducked the first swing and used her left arm to block the next. A loud hiss came out of her mouth as she noticed the cut that formed from the wooden sword. "Stop it!" She cried, yelling out in fear, as she tried to regain control of her arms. "Why are you doing this?"
Suddenly, she noticed Kuno pull his sword back into a strange position, almost like he was going to strike out into the air, but there was no way he could hit her, they were almost five meters apart.
Kuno focused his inner spirit on the most feared attack he had, the one hundred strikes. "Taste my true power Youkai, Ratatatatata." Moving his arm back and fourth in the set pattern. The air began to shimmer as Kuno struck out a hundred times as fast as he could, letting the speed build up enough air pressure to hit the girl before him.
Ryona gulped as she noticed the air shimmer around the older boy, then the air pressure hit her full on. Her body was slapped back violently by it in several places. Screaming out in pure agony and pain, Ryona didn't feel her feet leave the ground, nor did she feel the places the air pressure had broken her ribs, and ripped through her clothes to slash her skin. But she did become aware of the hands grabbing her and pulling her to safety. Opening her eyes, she felt her voice go silent as she did. Standing above her, Ranma Saotome was covered in a red flame. Slowly, Ryona opened her mouth to speak, but the pain was simply too much, settling for looking up at Ranma, she felt like crying, only what came up was a brief and very intense anger towards the pigtailed boy for interfering. Gasping, the anger vanished just as fast as it had come, and Ryona was left to wonder what the odd feeling had been about, Ranma had saved her after all.
*************
Akane nearly screamed when she saw the bruised and battered form of Ryona lying halfway on the ground and halfway in Ranma arms. Blood colored the left side of her Chinese shirt; well the few places where it still covered her. And her arms, they were filled with a crisscross of small bruises and cuts. Turning around, she felt sick to her stomach, this was much different than Kuno's usual attacks, he didn't fight to defeat her, he had fought to kill her.
"Kuno!"
The Kendoist lowered his weapon from his guarded position and looked towards the foul sorcerer holding his servant in his arms. There was something about the voice, something he didn't like. It sounded like the way his father had spoken to him in the past, whenever he did something he shouldn't have done, like borrowing his father's prized kendo sword without premission. It spoke of anger, and yet, there was more in Ranma's voice, but he couldn't figure it out, he hadn't faced that emotion before.
Ranma's body flared up as he noticed the almost vacant eyes under the purple hair, they were staring at him, and for a brief second, Ranma was sure he saw a flicker of something old and familiar in them, something he had seen before, long before China, long before he had met her. A flicker of anger, but then it was all lost in the burning hate rushing through him. "Kuno!" The name sounding like a curse as he spoke it, Ranma wanted nothing more than to beat the boy before him into a bloody pulp. Gently putting Ryona down, he noted a pair of soft hands taking her and holding Ryona for him.
Turning around and stalking towards the swordsman, Ranma cracked his knuckles, the sound breaking the air of silence that had fallen over the area they were in. "Kuno, you're GOING DOWN!" Blurring as he went on the offensive, Ranma hammered a fist into the face of the upper classman, taking great pleasure from the sound of bone breaking beneath it. Pulling back, he saw the tell tale signs of a brokeen nose graze the face of the Blue Thunder, then his left leg snapped up and hit the hand holding the sword.
Kuno's head had snapped back from the force of the punch, and as the first drop of crimson liquid ran down his face, he felt his hand flare up with pain. A second later he knew that he had lost, his weapon was gone, and his hand to hand skill wasn't in the best shape. Then his whole arm flared up with pain, as it was bent the wrong way. A scream then filled the air after that. He was screaming, but why? He was the Blue Thunder. He couldn't lose.
Ranma didn't notice the scream from Kuno, he didn't notice the frantic call from his uncute fiancé, and he didn't notice the yells and screams from the other students. All he noticed, was that Kuno had left the prefect opening. Jumping up, Ranma flexed his hand as he grabbed the hair of the older boy and pulled it back, tilting Kuno's head upwards. His other hand was aimed right down towards the newly exposed throat, ready to crush the upperclassman's windpipe. Under him, he saw Kuno's eyes open with fear and
recognition.
"RANMA!!"
The fist stopped a mere centimeter over the windpipe and stayed there. Ranma's eyes narrowed into slits as he stared down into the utter terror in the older boy's eyes, then he reached up and lifted the boy into the air. "Kuno, remember this!" Pulling back his fist, Ranma spoke in a very low, and calm voice. "If I hear you hurt Ryona, or another girl. I will finish this." Then the fist blurred forwards and hammered into the already bruised rib of the older boy, forcing out a last final yell of pain.
Stepping back, Ranma felt his head, fist and heart pound away in a mad rush, nearly falling back over, Ranma blinked as a pair of hands grabbed him. Looking up, he stared into a pair of familiar glasses. "Pop?"
Genma looked from his son, the over the bloody form of Ryona on the ground, and finally to the beaten form of Kuno, who was sitting on his knees with one arm bent in a sickly angle. The blood had almost stopped flowing from the older boys face. Genma winced, he had expected this to happen, sure his son had complained about this, but wasn't this overkill.
Ranma clenched his fist and looked from the still breathing form of Ryona, to the beaten form of Kuno. The kendoist had fallen to his knees and was just staring off into space, his eyes completely vacant. Vaguely, Ranma became aware of a single phrase coming from the kendoist over and over again. The words sent a shiver down Ranma's spine as he heard them. "The Blue Thunder... will... Surrender!" He still wanted to fight, even with. The pigtail boy grinmaced as he began to see just how much he had let lose on the elder boy.
Looking at his son, Genma felt a migraine coming on. He knew that girl was bad news, and now this happening as well. He wasn't ready to leave the life he led now. The food, and his old friend Tendo-san's house were simply too good to be abandoned. It was up to him, as the oldest around to take charge of the situation. "Ranma, get that girl to a doctor, a real one. I don't think Tofu can help with this. She needs more than a chiropractor for that side wound. Akane, go with him."
Ranma stood up as he held Ryona in his arms. Her breathing had become more irregular, and her skin was... Damn it, it was getting to cold for his liking. "I can't carry both of them pops, Ryona needs help now!" Not even waiting for an answer, Ranma bolted towards the wall around the school.
Genma looked up as several teachers began to push their way towards the scene. This was really not his day. What was next, the press? He really didn't need to be on TV. Somebody might recognize him, a mental picture of a katana floated by in Genma's mind as he thought of the one person in particular who he didn't want to know where he was.
***************
Ryona blinked as she opened her eyes. All around her a loud fight was taking place among a group of young boys in dark blue uniforms. Feeling a harsh and pounding headache, as well as a very empty stomach, she lifted a hand up to her head and ran her fingers though her hair. Around her, the chaos hadn't died down, if anything it was getting worse. "Are you ready, here it comes, the last melon bread." Her head snapped up and followed the plastic wrapped food as it flew through the air.
Several students around her jumped up vainly to catch it but failed to as it soared almost a meter above them. Feeling her stomach growl in protest at not having gotten anything to eat that morning, she bent her knees and jumped up into the air, snapping out her hand to catch the bread. As the plastic wrapped goodie was almost in her hand, she felt a sudden weight on top of her head. The melon bread spun around as her fingers had just tagged it and then the sight of a dozen boys looking up at her in terror flashed before her eyes, then they parted giving her a clear landing place on the floor.
Pulling herself out of the indention she had made, she winced as her headache intensified. Snapping her head around, she roughly pushed some boys out of her way and felt a feral anger growing within her. It was just as she had expected, the one who had taken her bread, what was rightfully hers was standing there, gulping it down. Clenching her hands, she stomped forward and slammed out a finger at the boy in question. "Ranma Saotome, I, Ryouga Hibiki challenge you to a man to man fight in the empty lot tomorrow at noon." Ryona blinked as she found her anger fading. Why was she angry with Ranma, he was a friend, and why did she call herself Ryouga, she was Ryona,
Ryona!
Ranma smirked and gulped down the last bit of bread. "You're on lost boy," Ryona's face screwed up with anger, and her fist lashed out to wipe that confident smirk off of the pigtailed boy's face as everything began to fade
out.
***************
Ryona snapped her eyes open. "Dammit Ranma, that's my bread." Instantly, her fingers closed around the nearest object and squeezed tightly as the anger from her dream overpowered her thoughts and made her act in reflex.
Ranma blinked as a pair of hands snapped together around his throat cutting off his air supply. Fingers grasping helplessly in the air, he almost praised the gods as the hold eased and the eyes before him were then filled with pain instead of blind rage. Quickly pulling the hands away from him, he pushed the purple pink haired girl back into the bed and took a step out of reach. "Man, what was that about?"
Ryona semi-glared up at him and snapped out a hand to grab him and pull him close enough to yell at him, only to screw her eyes together as a needle was yanked out of her arm and the tube connected to it flew back and smacked her in the head. Pulling back to safety in reflex, she screamed as several smaller places on her body protested the sudden movement.
Ranma cursed and quickly grabbed her arms before Ryona could do more to harm herself, of course this had the effect of making it look like he was the one hurting her when the doctor and two nurses rushed into the room to see what all the commotion was about. So, between trying to convince the doctor that he hadn't done anything to her, and fidgeting under the burning glare of two females, he never noticed Akane poke her head around the corner and look into the room to see if the coast was clear.
Avoiding the arguing Ranma with snort, she walked over and looked down at the body in the bed. Several bandages were wrapped around her upper arms, with a few tubes connected to the left arm, minus the one the nurse was trying to reinsert, a task made more difficult by an inhumanly strong girl with a fear of needles. Akane blinked as the nurse sprung into a series of very colorful swearwords, while her college was trying to make the girl stop thrashing around and reopening her wounds.
Akane felt a bit of her lunch rising at the sight of the suddenly bloody hospital gown where a few of the wounds had reopened. Turning away, she noticed the rather angry look Ranma was giving as he was dragged out of the room by three security guards. Shaking her head, she turned back around and felt a wave of sympathy at the look of fear on the purple pink haired girls face as a syringe was inserted into the arm that both the doctor and the other nurse was having trouble keeping down.
Stepping close, she reached out and pulled Ryona's head over to face her and ran her hand in a comforting manner over the top of her head. "Shh, relax, it just a little needle." Slowly, she could feel the girl relax as both the soothing way she spoke to her and the drug became active. "Calm down, we're here. Kuno can't hurt you anymore."
Ryona felt like protesting at the sudden weight that her body was under. Everything seemed to become blurred and the sounds confused her. The only thing she could focus on was the fact that Akane was there, and Ranma had also been there. "I... I didn't mean it Ranma."
Akane blinked as she looked down on the sleeping girl. "Didn't mean it?"
***************
Akane looked up as she stepped out of the room and noticed the very large, and very mean looking orderly standing guard outside. A few feet down the corridor an angry pigtailed boy was rocking back and fourth on his heels. Walking down to him, Akane looked up at him and narrowed her eyes in a sign of wanting the truth. "Ranma, just what did Ryona mean when she said that she didn't mean it?"
Ranma blinked and then shook his head. He figured Ryona must have been talking about her outburst. "Ah, she woke up and attacked me, yelled
something about me stealing her bread." Ranma stopped his rocking and blinked his eyes. "That, sounds rather familiar, but I can't remember from
where."
Akane rolled her eyes and elbowed him as she walked past. "She won't wake up for the next few hours, why don't we go home and change our clothes" She for one didn't want to spend any more time in a school uniform with blood on it.
***************
Ryona blinked her eyes as she awoke once agian. Trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes, she carefully lifted up her hands to rub the sleep out. She could clearly remember the pain from before. "Hey, how are you feeling?"
Snapping her eyes open and removing her hands, Ryona blinked as she spotted Akane and Ranma were with her. Akane was sitting in the chair next to the bed, while Ranma was leaning against the wall near the window. Both of them were smiling at her. "I'm fine." Trying to sit up, she was stopped by Akane before she got very far.
"You'd better not move too much, Kuno hit you rather badly and a few of your ribs were cracked" Ranma spoke as he stepped closer to the bed, his voice turned ice cold when he spoke the name of the samurai wannabe and the way his hands were clenching also showed his annoyance at the boy.
Ryona's eyes widened as she remembered the sword cutting towards her, how Kuno's every movement had hurt her. And then, someone had grabbed her and pulled her to safety. "You saved me." Ryona spoke softly as she lifted her head to face Ranma. "I... thank you." Still staring, Ryona tried to ignore the way her heart began to beat a little faster.
Ranma gave her a warm smile as he nodded his head. "No problem." Straightening up a bit, he looked down at the girl lying in the bed.
Somehow, he missed noticing the look on Ryona's face when he looked at her, or how fast she whipped her face down to hide her blush.
Akane shook her head at the level of confidence in Ranma's voice, and if she wasn't mistaken, there was something about the way Ryona had just blushed that spoke of more than just embarrassment at staring. "Ranma, why don't you go get us something to drink?" Throwing a look at the boy as she spoke.
Ranma opened his mouth to protest, but closed it when he noticed the way her eyes held a strange look. It wasn't angry, or happy, it was more of a commanding look. Somehow, despit all the machoness within him that would have normally protested against it, Ranma left the room to find them something to drink. Hell, he would have done anything to get away from that look.
As the door closed behind the pigtailed boy, Akane turned her head around to grill the girl for information. "Okay Ryona, how long have you had something for Ranma?"
Ryona blushed as she heard the rather eager sound in Akane's voice. What did she mean? She didn't have anything for Ranma, he was her friend and nothing more. But that smile he gave her... Ryona grimaced when she spotted Akane's eyes light up with suppressed laughter. Slowly, she lifted her hand up to her face and grimaced when she felt just how hot her cheeks were, causing her to blush even harder.
Akane couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. "You do have a crush on him." Looking closely at the girl, she smiled. "So tell me, what is it about that perverted arrogant and self centered boy that you like?" Akane's eyes twinkled with her laughter as she stared at the deeply blushing girl before her.
Both of the girls snapped to attention as the door opened with a bang and Ranma stepped in. "They only had some half cold coffee down at the cart..." Ranma stopped as he noticed the strange sight before him. Ryona was fighting down a blush, and Akane's eyes had that special glow in them that almost made him want to hold her and kiss her. "Hey, did something happen while I was gone?" They hadn't done anything, had they? Heh, no matter how much Akane said she hated guys, there was no way that she would be one of those people, would she?
***************
Ryona smiled as she was finally allowed to step out of the bed. It had been a pain for her to be confined in this small metallic bed. The food was awful as was the way one of the other patients in the room was always leering at her, Thank the gods for the twin casts on his legs, otherwise she would never have gotten any sleep out of fear of getting groped by him during the night. In fact, she had almost kissed the ward that came and took her off to her checkup earlier that day since it meant getting away from that guy. Now she was enjoying the feeling of walking around on her somewhat shaky legs again.
Passing by the hospital common room, she stopped and watched the small TV blearing inside it. Then she was off to find the few places where she could get out and take a breath of fresh air. Grabbing the door in front of her, she pulled it back and began to take a step through it, only to stop when she noticed that this was not the place that she had wanted to go to. And judging by the looks that the elder man behind the desk was shooting at her, he didn't like being disturbed either. "Sorry." Closing the door, Ryona cursed her bad sense of direction and began to make her way down the corridor again.
Finally after several minutes and wrong turns bringing her back into her own room, the office with the angry man again, and the hospital kitchen, she found herself standing in the open corridor outside the common room, leaning her arms on the iron rail running along the building. Below her, the whole district of Nerima stretched out before her. Taking a deep breath of air, she looked up into the sky with a look of satisfaction. It was great to finally feel the fresh air on her face and how it moved through her hair. Turning her head, her mouth opened. Shaking her head, Ryona grumbled as she fought down the desire to give a loud howl of joy and to show the other pack members in the area where she was. She was a human and not a common animal. Well she was a Musk, whatever the heck that was.
Stepping back from the railing, Ryona lowered her head and stared down at her feet. Slowly, her thoughts wandered from the joy of being up and about and not confined to a bed anymore, to the dream that she had had weeks ago. She didn't know why, but she had been so angry with Ranma. And why did she want to fight with him over bread, they were friends weren't theyy? But whenever she remembered that dream, she felt angry and confused over it. She could only remember bits and pieces of the dream, like standing in a crowd and yelling at Ranma, but not all the details. Could it be a memory? But why had she seen Ranma in it. Ryona felt her cheeks grow hot. "Why do I feel this way, Ranma's my friend, yet, do I want more from him than friendship?" She wondered as she looked back out over the many buildings and towards the blue sky beyond with a lost look in her eyes.
Tbc.
