To anyone thinking that Ryoga wouldn't be able to escape from all three tribes, remember that Ryoga spent his entire life running towards an unfindable place and training his body to take whatever was thrown at it. His endurance and strength are what keeps him going. To anyone thinking that the three tribes would not attack for the destruction of Jusenkyo, let me just mention that this is an AU fic. Also as far as people being blind not loving and stuff. I didn't say people who were blind. I said people who had no eyes. And when I get a person who has no eyes complaining I'll take this fic off the net immediatly. (Please don't go hunting for someone without eyes. I kinda like this story.)
And now on with the show.
Chapter 1
**********************
April is in my mistress face.
And June, beneath her eyes hath place.
And in her busom, is September.
But in her heart, a cold December.
**********************
Blasts of Ki came at her from all directions. Bonbori, Staffs, knives, swords, fireballs, ki-blasts, spiked-balls connected to chains, and a huge assortment of other things flew at her and Ryoga from all directions.
Ranma erected her ki shield... she forced herself not to fight back. Forced herself not to stoop to their level. Forced herself not to return the favor and attack them. She would never fight. Never again would she fight.
Her barrier of transparent white and black light was sufficiant. Her power was enourmous. And she hated it. It wasn't hers. She didn't EARN it. She wanted it to be gone. She wanted to fight with her OWN strength. But she had no choice. Her barrier defended her and Ryoga as they stood and slowly walked along away from the attackers.
Ranma couldn't run and hold up the barrier at the same time, however. So she was forced to walk slowly away. Of course the three tribes caught up to her. Her barrier began to wear down.
Ryoga had no idea what to do except for following the girls circle. They were bubbled inside a circle of light that pulsated everytime one of the more powerfull ki-blasts or fireballs hit it.
Ranma felt herself running low on her imense reserves of power after almost twenty minutes. She knew she would never get away... even with her immense power, she stood no chance against these extreamly powerful martial artists, gods, kings and whatever else there was that was fighting her.
Ranma let her ki off defending herself and kept it only on Ryoga.
"RUN!!!" She cried.
"And let you die!? No way!" Ryoga returned.
She dodged as best she could while keeping the barrier up.
A scimitar slashed her arm and retracted it from the meditative stance it was in. The barrier around Ryoga faded. A dagger skided past Ranma's left stomach and cut into her making her slouch to the ground. She felt herself begin to lose conciousness.
Two more blades criss-crossed her back leaving an enourmous X across it, written in her non-present skin. She screamed.
But suddenly something happened.
A blade ran through one of the amazons stomachs. The girl was only about 17. She fell to the floor... not moving.
"...My... my daughter... Said an old woman as she crouched near the unmoving form of the girl. All of the tribes had stopped looking at Ranma... who was writhing in pain on the ground...
"You... you killed my daughter... fo...forget... forget the girl. THE MUSK ARE OUR ENEMY!" The amazon cried.
And all of the fire was redirected as the three way war began.
No one noticed the pain filled scream of a battle scarred redheaded girl being drug away by a slighly less scared but still extreamly wounded, boy.
******************************
Both of them lie in the tent. One awake and one finally asleep after Ryoga used a anesthetic and a few sleeping pills.
He examined Ranma's back. It was downright scary. Little skin was left where the X had been cut and the blood flow from it was increadible. A little bone was visible as well. Fortunantly, none of the bones were broken... it's just that having ones skin ripped from ones back down to the bone hurts like hell. Ryoga had dressed her wound and wrapped it in a special cloth that he only used in the most dangerous of situations. Ryoga suspected the cloth was of a magical quality since he had only ever had one roll for the past three years and it had never run out, but he had never questioned this. He used a little of it on his own wounds and then lay down next to Ranma.
It was nighttime. Ranma lay on the right of the tent, lying on her stomach. Had she laid on her back, she would have been instantly awakened. It had taken her hours to forget the pain in her back and still a few more to fall asleep on her stomach while being a girl.
Ryoga lay on the left. He stayed awake however. He thanked his lucky stars he was still alive. And... now he could no longer blame Ranma... for anything. He owed Ranma his life... but when he thought about that more, he realized that he had also save her life.
Ryoga no longer knew what to do. Ranma had still risked everything to get him out alive so his claim on Ranma having sent him to hell was nullified. What would he do now?
"Help Ranma..." He thought.
Suddenly he felt something that he seriosly hoped he wouldn't feel. The urge to use the bathroom. While this may be just another thing to most, to Ryoga it was horrible. Especially when someones life was on the line. He walked out of the tent and hoped to make it back within an hour. He went to a nearby tree, and then walked back to the tent. In all of about a minute...
"Hey... I... I didn't get lost!!!" He cried. "It'a a miracle!"
Ryoga had no Idea how to explain it. He saw the stream he had decided to set up camp near. He walked to it. And then he walked back. WITHOUT GETTING LOST!
"Twice... twice in a row!" Ryoga said aloud, tears leaking from his eyes.
He got out a map. The map, which had been so increadibly confusing three days ago, was now perfectly clear. Ryoga hadn't used a map or any sence of trying to find anything for the past three days and had simply been running.
Ryoga didnt' know how it happened. But he no longer had his curse. He was free... free at last of that wreched curse. And he didn't know how, or why... but he thanked Ranma.
He had finally gotten what he wanted.
*******************************
Prince Herb found that he had gotten exactly what he had wanted.
His forces had defeated both the Pheonix tribe and the Amazons. WITHOUT A SINGLE CAUSUALTY!
All of the amazon party and all of the Pheonix were dead, save for a baby version of the pheonix god.
"This... this isn't possible. I know we have had good luck in the past... but to completely defeat the Amazon's when three of their matriarchs were present with no casualties on it's own was amazing enough. But there were also the Pheonix people here! And they were DEFINANTLY not to be underestimated. But against all odds they had come out with a "Flawless Victory"
And it scared them.
They, uneasily, claimed their victory over the defeat of the amazons. Granted it wasn't an all out war, and they were just a few hunting parties for the person who destoyed the cursed grounds that were fighting.
However, THREE matriarchs... And Herb would rather fight with a demon than fight even ONE. There clever tricks and schemes to keep them going made no one want to tangle with them out in the open.
The second Herb realized the Amazons were attacking his own instead of the girl, he retreated. But his men wouldn't do so. They threw weapons and ki... and almost every throw was a direct kill. The pheonix were much less dificult. Cool chi killed them quickly.
It had taken a long time for Herb and his men to defeat Saffron, however. Almost every one of them had horrible burn marks. But the imperfect little child Saffron was kept him on the defensive. It was his body-gaurd Kiima who was actually the nuciance in defeating them. She protected that damn child with her life. She paid it too.
Herb laughed and then decided there was only one thing left to do.
Hunt the Girl.
But he couldn't do that on his own. He realized that the girl was holding back. Had she used even minimal power to fight them, it was quite possible that they would have died. But... she didn't. Her efforts went into making a wall meaning that it was possible that she couldn't or didn't fight.
Herb decided he could use this to his advantage.
******************************
Ranma awoke. She felt a little pain in her back... as long as she didnt' move. It hurt like hell to do that. So there she was, at the mercy of her apparent child hood friend. However, it seemed that he had held a serious grudge. And Ranma, who was almost inable to move because of the pain, wouldn't be able to defend herself with anything but a barrier which would wear down sooner or later. However, Ranma didn't plan on what was happening to her.
Ranma was covered in a blanket. Her upper gi had ripped off when the blades cut into her back. Ranma found the blanket comfortable on her back. Bandages were wrapped around the dips in her skin on her back. If one pressed the bandages he would feel a dip in her back which was down right freaky. However, what she now finally began to notice was that she was a SHE. Her... her breasts were pressing into the plastic bottom of the tent. While she hated being a girl... she didn't care much about pain anymore. Her threshold for it had increased as of late. However, she was shocked at what she saw when she reached and pulled a mirror out of her backpack.
Minus all the scrachmarks on her face from being limply dragged through the brush by a crippled Ryoga, she was beautiful. Fiery red hair, good looking face, gigantic... well..., and also coupled with the fact that she knew she was almost a foot shorter made her quite sure she would be noticed in a crowd.
A thought came to her. "I'm the best looking girl I've ever seen and I'm a guy."
Ranma tried to smile at her own joke. She only made it for a pathetic way of keeping her from thinking that she was a girl... and had destoyed the only possible cure she knew of. Also as a way to keep her from thinking about her dead... dead panda. And the guide. But she couldn't... her muscles had... forgotten how to. Her brain wouldn't let her mouth move up... It wasn't that she was too weak to do it. But her brain simply wasn't able to make her muscles move.
She lay there on her stomach listening to the snores of her savior from the battle field. It wasn't as if she wouldn't run if he decided to attack her. She would suck up the pain and head for the hills if forced to. Ranma, of course, believed what her father had told her about never backing down. Never losing. However, in a situation like this, he decided it would be appropriate.
Ryoga's eyes fluttered open. "UGH... anyone get the licene on that yacht?" Then he came to his senses. "Oh! Ranma. Hey are you ok?" He said getting to one knee beside her.
"I'm... I'll be allright." She replied and turned her face away from his concerned eyes..
"Can.. can you walk?" He asked.
"...Yes..." She answered in a way that indicated she couldn't.
"Can you even move?" He asked afraid of what her reaction would be.
"...Yes..." She replied in the same manner.
"So you cant do either?!" He cried.
Ranma said nothing.
She was trying to hold back tears... tears at killing her father... the guide... at her own weakness. She could move. Nothing was broken! She would be fine! Until she moved.
Ranma put her hands on the ground an d pushed up and started at the pain that rushed up her back. She fell back to the floor instantly... whimpering, and dying inside for every wince she made. She had learned to shrug off pain. That pain should be able to be washed away. But she couldn't do it. "This shouldn't hurt this much! It's only a little skin and a few blood vessels! Nothing... nothing was broken!"
She knew nothing was broken... but the pain from her back was unbearable.
"...You can have your revenge you know. Look what i've become. Some weak... pathetic... girl.. crying at a simple death. To weak to even move. I'm nothing. I can't even smile. If you want what your revenge for whatever you followed me for... you can have it. I... I couln't do anything about it anyway." Ranma said. She watched she shadow of an ant crawling on the outside of the tent. She wanted to smash it. But even a light flick of her arm would send the skin of her back streching outward and would hurt her like hell.
"... Your debt to me is repaid Ranma Saotome. It's now me who owes you. And if you can't smile... i'll make it too where you can again... somehow." Ryoga said.
Ranma almost sighed in relief but her limited ability to conduct facial features held her from doing anything not related to sadness, grief, or anger.
"Ryoga... Ryoga Hibiki right? That's your name?" Ranma asked.
"Yes." Ryoga replied.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Ryoga said as he stood up.
"You... you don't have anything else to wear, do you?" He asked.
"No, my gi is all I used to wear. I wouldn't be able to wear that now. My... my... they would, well..." Ranma stuttered. Apparently she had lost the capacity to be embarrassed.
Suddenly Ranma felt the white energy within her. The energy that had killed her father... the energy she had despised. It began to heal her back. She felt it as it quickly created the new skin. Ranma could feel it healing her. It burned her. She felt the white ki as it seeped through her very being, burning her injuries into place.
"AAHAHAHAHAHHAH STOP! STOP IT!!!" She cried as the blanket was blown off her back and the X on her back lit with white light just as the mark on her abdomon as well. She wriggled on the floor, afraid to roll onto her back for fear of the pain, she leaned to lay on her right side and curl into a ball. A single tear drop finally fell from her right eye.
And slowly the pain subsided... She stopped moving... stopped sweating, but began to breath heavily.
"I... I can't even take a little bit of pain... how weak have I become?" Ranma asked to know on in particular. She vaguely noticed the uncomfortable feeling of her knees against her breasts and the unfamiliarly large amount of space within her gi, pants.
Ryoga put the blanket on her.
Her pain subsided completely. And she fell to sleep again, looking into Ryoga's eyes and said, "Thank you... again."
Ryoga cringed under the hold of Ranma's eyes and held his head tightly. Once Ranma had fallen asleep, the pain stopped and left Ryoga with an annoying headache.
"I wish I had some asprin." He said to no one in particular.
He walked outside to use the bathroom again, happy that he once again didn't lose his way.
He walked back into the ten and accidentally tripped over Ranma's bag. He fell down right beside her. He got up and began to curse the bag when he suddenly realized something. A bottle of asprin had rolled out of the bag.
"...God is smiling on me..." He thought.
And now on with the show.
Chapter 1
**********************
April is in my mistress face.
And June, beneath her eyes hath place.
And in her busom, is September.
But in her heart, a cold December.
**********************
Blasts of Ki came at her from all directions. Bonbori, Staffs, knives, swords, fireballs, ki-blasts, spiked-balls connected to chains, and a huge assortment of other things flew at her and Ryoga from all directions.
Ranma erected her ki shield... she forced herself not to fight back. Forced herself not to stoop to their level. Forced herself not to return the favor and attack them. She would never fight. Never again would she fight.
Her barrier of transparent white and black light was sufficiant. Her power was enourmous. And she hated it. It wasn't hers. She didn't EARN it. She wanted it to be gone. She wanted to fight with her OWN strength. But she had no choice. Her barrier defended her and Ryoga as they stood and slowly walked along away from the attackers.
Ranma couldn't run and hold up the barrier at the same time, however. So she was forced to walk slowly away. Of course the three tribes caught up to her. Her barrier began to wear down.
Ryoga had no idea what to do except for following the girls circle. They were bubbled inside a circle of light that pulsated everytime one of the more powerfull ki-blasts or fireballs hit it.
Ranma felt herself running low on her imense reserves of power after almost twenty minutes. She knew she would never get away... even with her immense power, she stood no chance against these extreamly powerful martial artists, gods, kings and whatever else there was that was fighting her.
Ranma let her ki off defending herself and kept it only on Ryoga.
"RUN!!!" She cried.
"And let you die!? No way!" Ryoga returned.
She dodged as best she could while keeping the barrier up.
A scimitar slashed her arm and retracted it from the meditative stance it was in. The barrier around Ryoga faded. A dagger skided past Ranma's left stomach and cut into her making her slouch to the ground. She felt herself begin to lose conciousness.
Two more blades criss-crossed her back leaving an enourmous X across it, written in her non-present skin. She screamed.
But suddenly something happened.
A blade ran through one of the amazons stomachs. The girl was only about 17. She fell to the floor... not moving.
"...My... my daughter... Said an old woman as she crouched near the unmoving form of the girl. All of the tribes had stopped looking at Ranma... who was writhing in pain on the ground...
"You... you killed my daughter... fo...forget... forget the girl. THE MUSK ARE OUR ENEMY!" The amazon cried.
And all of the fire was redirected as the three way war began.
No one noticed the pain filled scream of a battle scarred redheaded girl being drug away by a slighly less scared but still extreamly wounded, boy.
******************************
Both of them lie in the tent. One awake and one finally asleep after Ryoga used a anesthetic and a few sleeping pills.
He examined Ranma's back. It was downright scary. Little skin was left where the X had been cut and the blood flow from it was increadible. A little bone was visible as well. Fortunantly, none of the bones were broken... it's just that having ones skin ripped from ones back down to the bone hurts like hell. Ryoga had dressed her wound and wrapped it in a special cloth that he only used in the most dangerous of situations. Ryoga suspected the cloth was of a magical quality since he had only ever had one roll for the past three years and it had never run out, but he had never questioned this. He used a little of it on his own wounds and then lay down next to Ranma.
It was nighttime. Ranma lay on the right of the tent, lying on her stomach. Had she laid on her back, she would have been instantly awakened. It had taken her hours to forget the pain in her back and still a few more to fall asleep on her stomach while being a girl.
Ryoga lay on the left. He stayed awake however. He thanked his lucky stars he was still alive. And... now he could no longer blame Ranma... for anything. He owed Ranma his life... but when he thought about that more, he realized that he had also save her life.
Ryoga no longer knew what to do. Ranma had still risked everything to get him out alive so his claim on Ranma having sent him to hell was nullified. What would he do now?
"Help Ranma..." He thought.
Suddenly he felt something that he seriosly hoped he wouldn't feel. The urge to use the bathroom. While this may be just another thing to most, to Ryoga it was horrible. Especially when someones life was on the line. He walked out of the tent and hoped to make it back within an hour. He went to a nearby tree, and then walked back to the tent. In all of about a minute...
"Hey... I... I didn't get lost!!!" He cried. "It'a a miracle!"
Ryoga had no Idea how to explain it. He saw the stream he had decided to set up camp near. He walked to it. And then he walked back. WITHOUT GETTING LOST!
"Twice... twice in a row!" Ryoga said aloud, tears leaking from his eyes.
He got out a map. The map, which had been so increadibly confusing three days ago, was now perfectly clear. Ryoga hadn't used a map or any sence of trying to find anything for the past three days and had simply been running.
Ryoga didnt' know how it happened. But he no longer had his curse. He was free... free at last of that wreched curse. And he didn't know how, or why... but he thanked Ranma.
He had finally gotten what he wanted.
*******************************
Prince Herb found that he had gotten exactly what he had wanted.
His forces had defeated both the Pheonix tribe and the Amazons. WITHOUT A SINGLE CAUSUALTY!
All of the amazon party and all of the Pheonix were dead, save for a baby version of the pheonix god.
"This... this isn't possible. I know we have had good luck in the past... but to completely defeat the Amazon's when three of their matriarchs were present with no casualties on it's own was amazing enough. But there were also the Pheonix people here! And they were DEFINANTLY not to be underestimated. But against all odds they had come out with a "Flawless Victory"
And it scared them.
They, uneasily, claimed their victory over the defeat of the amazons. Granted it wasn't an all out war, and they were just a few hunting parties for the person who destoyed the cursed grounds that were fighting.
However, THREE matriarchs... And Herb would rather fight with a demon than fight even ONE. There clever tricks and schemes to keep them going made no one want to tangle with them out in the open.
The second Herb realized the Amazons were attacking his own instead of the girl, he retreated. But his men wouldn't do so. They threw weapons and ki... and almost every throw was a direct kill. The pheonix were much less dificult. Cool chi killed them quickly.
It had taken a long time for Herb and his men to defeat Saffron, however. Almost every one of them had horrible burn marks. But the imperfect little child Saffron was kept him on the defensive. It was his body-gaurd Kiima who was actually the nuciance in defeating them. She protected that damn child with her life. She paid it too.
Herb laughed and then decided there was only one thing left to do.
Hunt the Girl.
But he couldn't do that on his own. He realized that the girl was holding back. Had she used even minimal power to fight them, it was quite possible that they would have died. But... she didn't. Her efforts went into making a wall meaning that it was possible that she couldn't or didn't fight.
Herb decided he could use this to his advantage.
******************************
Ranma awoke. She felt a little pain in her back... as long as she didnt' move. It hurt like hell to do that. So there she was, at the mercy of her apparent child hood friend. However, it seemed that he had held a serious grudge. And Ranma, who was almost inable to move because of the pain, wouldn't be able to defend herself with anything but a barrier which would wear down sooner or later. However, Ranma didn't plan on what was happening to her.
Ranma was covered in a blanket. Her upper gi had ripped off when the blades cut into her back. Ranma found the blanket comfortable on her back. Bandages were wrapped around the dips in her skin on her back. If one pressed the bandages he would feel a dip in her back which was down right freaky. However, what she now finally began to notice was that she was a SHE. Her... her breasts were pressing into the plastic bottom of the tent. While she hated being a girl... she didn't care much about pain anymore. Her threshold for it had increased as of late. However, she was shocked at what she saw when she reached and pulled a mirror out of her backpack.
Minus all the scrachmarks on her face from being limply dragged through the brush by a crippled Ryoga, she was beautiful. Fiery red hair, good looking face, gigantic... well..., and also coupled with the fact that she knew she was almost a foot shorter made her quite sure she would be noticed in a crowd.
A thought came to her. "I'm the best looking girl I've ever seen and I'm a guy."
Ranma tried to smile at her own joke. She only made it for a pathetic way of keeping her from thinking that she was a girl... and had destoyed the only possible cure she knew of. Also as a way to keep her from thinking about her dead... dead panda. And the guide. But she couldn't... her muscles had... forgotten how to. Her brain wouldn't let her mouth move up... It wasn't that she was too weak to do it. But her brain simply wasn't able to make her muscles move.
She lay there on her stomach listening to the snores of her savior from the battle field. It wasn't as if she wouldn't run if he decided to attack her. She would suck up the pain and head for the hills if forced to. Ranma, of course, believed what her father had told her about never backing down. Never losing. However, in a situation like this, he decided it would be appropriate.
Ryoga's eyes fluttered open. "UGH... anyone get the licene on that yacht?" Then he came to his senses. "Oh! Ranma. Hey are you ok?" He said getting to one knee beside her.
"I'm... I'll be allright." She replied and turned her face away from his concerned eyes..
"Can.. can you walk?" He asked.
"...Yes..." She answered in a way that indicated she couldn't.
"Can you even move?" He asked afraid of what her reaction would be.
"...Yes..." She replied in the same manner.
"So you cant do either?!" He cried.
Ranma said nothing.
She was trying to hold back tears... tears at killing her father... the guide... at her own weakness. She could move. Nothing was broken! She would be fine! Until she moved.
Ranma put her hands on the ground an d pushed up and started at the pain that rushed up her back. She fell back to the floor instantly... whimpering, and dying inside for every wince she made. She had learned to shrug off pain. That pain should be able to be washed away. But she couldn't do it. "This shouldn't hurt this much! It's only a little skin and a few blood vessels! Nothing... nothing was broken!"
She knew nothing was broken... but the pain from her back was unbearable.
"...You can have your revenge you know. Look what i've become. Some weak... pathetic... girl.. crying at a simple death. To weak to even move. I'm nothing. I can't even smile. If you want what your revenge for whatever you followed me for... you can have it. I... I couln't do anything about it anyway." Ranma said. She watched she shadow of an ant crawling on the outside of the tent. She wanted to smash it. But even a light flick of her arm would send the skin of her back streching outward and would hurt her like hell.
"... Your debt to me is repaid Ranma Saotome. It's now me who owes you. And if you can't smile... i'll make it too where you can again... somehow." Ryoga said.
Ranma almost sighed in relief but her limited ability to conduct facial features held her from doing anything not related to sadness, grief, or anger.
"Ryoga... Ryoga Hibiki right? That's your name?" Ranma asked.
"Yes." Ryoga replied.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Ryoga said as he stood up.
"You... you don't have anything else to wear, do you?" He asked.
"No, my gi is all I used to wear. I wouldn't be able to wear that now. My... my... they would, well..." Ranma stuttered. Apparently she had lost the capacity to be embarrassed.
Suddenly Ranma felt the white energy within her. The energy that had killed her father... the energy she had despised. It began to heal her back. She felt it as it quickly created the new skin. Ranma could feel it healing her. It burned her. She felt the white ki as it seeped through her very being, burning her injuries into place.
"AAHAHAHAHAHHAH STOP! STOP IT!!!" She cried as the blanket was blown off her back and the X on her back lit with white light just as the mark on her abdomon as well. She wriggled on the floor, afraid to roll onto her back for fear of the pain, she leaned to lay on her right side and curl into a ball. A single tear drop finally fell from her right eye.
And slowly the pain subsided... She stopped moving... stopped sweating, but began to breath heavily.
"I... I can't even take a little bit of pain... how weak have I become?" Ranma asked to know on in particular. She vaguely noticed the uncomfortable feeling of her knees against her breasts and the unfamiliarly large amount of space within her gi, pants.
Ryoga put the blanket on her.
Her pain subsided completely. And she fell to sleep again, looking into Ryoga's eyes and said, "Thank you... again."
Ryoga cringed under the hold of Ranma's eyes and held his head tightly. Once Ranma had fallen asleep, the pain stopped and left Ryoga with an annoying headache.
"I wish I had some asprin." He said to no one in particular.
He walked outside to use the bathroom again, happy that he once again didn't lose his way.
He walked back into the ten and accidentally tripped over Ranma's bag. He fell down right beside her. He got up and began to curse the bag when he suddenly realized something. A bottle of asprin had rolled out of the bag.
"...God is smiling on me..." He thought.