Souls and Shadows

Part 1: A Door Once Opened

Chapter 5

Even as Ranma Saotome leapt to the attack, his mind, normally considered by those who knew him to be a feeble thing, was busy reviewing the battle conditions: calculating odds and tallying the positives and negatives. Ranma usually wasn't terribly bothered by his peers' implications that he had, in fact, slightly less intelligence than the stale rolls served in the cafeteria. He fervently believed that academics were on the very bottom of the scale of 'important stuff,' just below good grooming and polite manners.

In fact, had he ever decided to apply himself to schoolwork, his associates would have been forced to reassess their opinions of him, and quickly, lest they be caught on the trailing end of a rapidly moving grade curve. Ranma was, in fact, quite intelligent. And because he channeled all of his intelligence into the art of personal combat, he possessed a genius for it that bordered on the ridiculous.

For now, he was working overtime, trying to find some way to balance out the two columns in his mind; the one labeled "Good Stuff" and the one labeled "I'm Screwed." So far, it wasn't working. The first problem was the things' obvious strength advantage. He'd seen the blow delivered to Kuno only moments previously, and while he supposed he could do the same thing himself, he doubted that was the limit of the serpent's capabilities. From the easy, casual motion the thing had displayed as it knocked Kuno through the third story window from ground level, it was on a level with Ryoga, if not better. He was getting tired of fighting super-strong opponents.

The second problem was that, while still claiming to hold an undefeated record, he was quite aware that he was fairly often defeated in the initial encounter by his more unusual foes. This wasn't usually a problem; he could always learn their style and come back to make them eat copious amounts of pavement. But if he lost here, he didn't think that the demon was likely to give him the chance.

His foot lashed out in a forceful straight kick at the end of his leap, catching the Shadow Snake on the end of its nose, snapping its head to the side. Landing he immediately followed it up with a flurry of punches to its body, before it had time to react. Inwardly, he tallied up one point towards the "Good Stuff" column; his opponent wasn't nearly as fast as he was.

Glaring at him, the serpent twisted, aiming its bony, club-like tail at Ranma's torso. Ranma dodged, turning a back flip and landing amongst a throng of students that had gathered in the hall to watch their school's battle representative take on his latest opponent.

Ranma wanted to scream at them. In his mental "I'm Screwed" column, a note was typed in thirty-six point bold font: INNOCENT BYSTANDERS. They'd make it nearly impossible to use his full power against the thing, and from how easily it appeared to have already shrugged off his body punches, he might need to.

The demon surged forward, causing most of the crowd to scatter away from its direct path. Even as it moved, its tail whistled through the air, requiring Ranma to dodge once again. This time, it knocked a sizable hole in the wall of the classroom. There were still more students inside; those who'd either been uninterested in 'yet another fight,' or those who been unable to get through the door before chaos had broken loose. The thing paused, speculative, and turned toward one of the students that was even now attempting to back away from the monster. Ranma found himself swamped, caught up amidst an increasingly anarchic mob.

There were too many targets here. Ranma couldn't fight the thing with this many people in the way. He began waving at the thing frantically; trying to distract it, but the thing ignored him, instead picking up a hapless student by coiling its tail around the boy, and dragging him close to its head. The boy stared at it in frozen shock, unable to look away.

Ranma was nearly ready to launch himself at the thing again, when a barrage of razor sharp spatulas struck the back of the serpent's head. Most of them ricocheted off its tough hide, but two of them managed to catch under its scales, drawing blood and causing the demon to rear back in a silent roar of pain. Dropping the boy, it turned towards Ukyo, and lashed out again with it's tail. Ukyo was less agile than Ranma, and took a glancing blow that numbed her arm. Another wall fell to the Shadow Snake's tail.

"Ukyo! You alright?" Ranma had to shout over the increasing din of shattering construction and screaming students. "I'll be right there!" Not waiting for an answer, he hurled himself toward the snake once again, landing on its back. Immediately, he unleashed a ridiculous barrage of punches at the back of the thing's skull, similar to what he had once done to Ryoga. The demon crashed to the ground, taking Ranma with it.

"Heh… That got him," Ranma smirked. Then, realizing that one should never, ever say those words in the midst of life or death combat, he turned around just in time to see its tail hurtling toward him once again. Just before it struck, scorpion-like, the bony club at the end split down the middle, forming a kind of thick pincer. It plowed into Ranma neck, causing him to lose his breath, and pinned him against the floor.

The demon was expressionless, but nevertheless seemed to radiate a kind of amused satisfaction. Moving forward, it brought the small aperture at the bottom of its head close to its victim, and began to draw on it.

Ranma felt the familiar sensation of being ki-drained, and began struggling with renewed effort, but lesser effect. The thing was taking his strength rapidly, reducing him to little more than an unruly infant. He didn't know what to do; he couldn't try breaking the floor, in case there were people underneath it, the serpent certainly wasn't allowing him to get free in the other direction, and it was damned risky trying for a Mouko Takabisha while being drained. Still, he was just getting ready to try it when the Shadow Snake suddenly backed off.

Looking around itself, the Shadow Snake suddenly found itself, faced with several opponents. Its original foe, the one with the damned wooden sword, was up again. His eyes looked bleary as he advanced, saying "I'll…I'll not be beaten by you, wretched hellspawn! You will fall before me, Saotome!" He would have been dismissed, except that the sword he carried was held steady and unwavering in his hands.

At his side was a female, dressed in the same fashion as the majority of the females in this place. Her face was contorted into a kind of savage snarl as she stepped forward. "Get off him now!" she hissed, managing to put universes of threat into the statement. The serpent almost let its prey go then and there, nervous about facing the promise of deadly harm in that voice.

Looking to the other side, it saw that the other female, the one with the sharp metal things was cautiously advancing as well. The huge axe that it had previously carried on its back was out, and was being held expertly despite the blow it had dealt her. She was silent and grim featured as she approached. And below it, it could feel the other one, the quick bastard, getting ready for some kind of strike.

One other, a small child was pushing her way forward to the front of the mob. She was inconsequential, but the Shadow Snake had decided that it had had enough of this fight. Releasing the boy, it quickly closed its pincer and used it to bash a hole in the floor. With a speed the left its observers astonished, it flipped itself down through the hole and began speeding away through the lower halls.

At the Nekohanten, Ryoga Hibiki had discovered that badly broken bones did not, in fact, hurt terribly much as long as one had an ample supply of painkillers and the self-control purchased by years of martial training.

"Lost Boy NOT end up in Shampoo room again! Shampoo cook special pork ramen, if he do!"

As he backed hurriedly out of the bedroom, faced with a furious and half-dressed Amazon, he reflected on the fact that his martial training had never involved a great deal self-control. Half a dozen small curios were flung at him with lethal precision, and though they did little damage, they did serve to aggravate both the aches in his arm and his head.

Turning around, he came very close to running over his second-least-favorite person in the world. He had been standing right behind him, glasses on for once, and mouth hanging opened at the sight of Shampoo wearing very small amounts of clothing.

There was a long pause before she gave an angry, feline hiss, and slammed the door, nearly splintering it against the back of Ryoga's head.

Mousse shook aside the bliss of the previous sight, and replaced it with his more usual obtuse aggressiveness. "Hibiki! I might have expected this from Saotome, but…" He shook his head, and produced a brace of throwing knives from the inside of his robe. "We might be expected to be allies now, but if you persist in harassing Shampoo, I'll have to take steps." He waved one of the knives threateningly, as though their mere presence required help.

Ryoga eyed Mousse's cutlery warily. He was more than confident in his ability to humiliate the near-blind warrior under normal circumstances. But considering the arm… and the fact that the day had already started off not particularly well… He put up both hands in a commiserating gesture, ignoring the twinge of pain from his right. "Hey, it was an accident. Didn't mean to see nothing I shouldn't have." He glanced from side to side. "Do you know where I can find a phone?"

Mousse lowered his weapons, marginally. "Well, if anyone could make that mistake, it would be you…" He tapped the knife against his chin, ignoring the throbbing vein that appeared on Ryoga's forehead. "You can find a phone downstairs. It's in the television room." The knife returned to the inside of his voluminous robe. "Just don't walk in on Shampoo anymore, or I'll know you've been lying to me."

The painkiller coursing through Ryoga's veins might have been an explanation for what he said next. Either that or it was simply standard Ryoga stupidity. As he turned toward where he though he remembered the stairs being, he muttered under his breath, "Like I'd want to walk in on THAT."

Out came the knives. And part of the Nekohanten received a round of unscheduled demolition.

Ranma rubbed his throat as Akane rushed over to him. "Ranma! Are you okay?" she asked, almost frantic.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, voice hoarse from the blow. "Damn thing was pulling a Hinako trick. Drained me. I'll be fine in a second." He looked toward the hole, down which the serpent had vanished. "Not that we have a second." Glancing toward Ukyo, he added, "Are you alright? The thing tagged your arm…"

Ukyo nodded. "I'm fine. Getting some feeling back right now." She paused. "We have to go after it, before it kills anyone."

Striking a pose, Kuno said, "Truly, Ukyo Kounji is correct. We cannot allow a creature as vile as Saotome to remain at large within these premises. We must apprehend and destroy the creature at once!"

There was a pause, as the rest of the group looked at each other in confusion. Finally, Akane spoke. "Um, Kuno? Who do you think this is?" She pointed at Ranma, somewhat afraid to receive the answer.

Kuno gestured grandly toward Ranma. "I cannot blame you for being taken in, fair maidens. What you see before you is but an unfortunate student, twisted into the guise of the foul demon, so that he might ravage this place of learning without consequence!" He nodded sagely. "It is lucky indeed that I am here, that you might know the truth of the matter."

Again, there was silence. Ranma got to his feet, a dangerous gleam in his eye, and hands balled into fists. "Right, Kuno. Now just hold still while I do some creative skull redecoration…" He moved forward, fully ready to beat the upperclassman into unconsciousness, only to be stopped by Akane's hand on his chest.

She glared at him. "Not now, Ranma. As stupid as he is, we can use as many allies as we can get right now." She looked back at Kuno, and her voice faltered. "…Even him."

Ukyo jerked her thumb over at Miss Hinako, who was busy trying to reorganize the rest of the students. "What about her? She might be some kind of help, especially if that thing can do something similar."

"Not similar…" muttered Ranma. "It's exactly the same. Trust me on that." He shook his head. "If she wants to go, I can't stop her, but I don't think much of her chances in a real fight."

Hinako leveled a glare at him, and by way of answer drained half a dozen students, instantly transforming from a tiny child into her rather more impressive adult form. "I think you underestimate me, Saotome." She smiled. "Let's teach this delinquent a lesson, shall we?"

Ranma shrugged. "Fine. Follow me." He grabbed Akane, ignored her protests that she could get down fine by herself, and jumped with her down through the hole that the serpent had created. The classroom below had been thoroughly destroyed, partly by falling debris and partly by the passage of a twenty-five foot long demonic snake. From the sounds of the screams, it was obvious which way the creature had gone. Allowing Akane to drop from his grasp, he began running after the thing, then abruptly slowed down again. With ill-concealed impatience, he waited as Ukyo, carrying both Kuno and Hinako, also dropped down the hole.

The Okonomiyaki chef shot him an irritated glance. "Thanks for helping, Ranchan."

Confused, Ranma looked back at Akane, who was attempting to suppress a grin. "Um... Oh. Sorry 'bout that." He shook his head. "Look, let's try to get a plan together… If this was out in the open I could take this thing, but in here…" His monologue was cut off as Hinako buzzed by him, moving with surprising speed despite her lack of training. Within moments, she had disappeared down the hallway.

"…Well, shit," finished Ranma. He threw his hands up in exasperation as both Ukyo and Akane grinned. "Fine, don't wait for the plan. Let's follow her." He took off, the rest of the group following close behind.

It didn't take long for them to catch up to Hinako, but the creature was still nowhere in sight. It had left an obvious trail of destruction and debris as it moved through the school; broken walls and shattered classrooms littered the area. More than a few students were milling about, attempting to fill their resident defenders in on the situation, and were quickly told to get out of the way. Most of them complied, and the few that didn't fell victim to Hinako's energy drain, over Akane's increasing protests.

Rounding a corner, they caught the creature in the process of bashing its way through the floor once more. It gave them a silent glare, and prepared to slither its way down to the first floor. Ranma grinned, and leapt at the creature.

Okay, learned my lesson this time. No more body punches; it's too flexible. Go for the head. Watch the tail, and make sure the thing can't…Ranma's thoughts were interrupted by a shout of "Happo No-Yen Coin Return!" from behind him, and he just barely managed to twist aside in midair to avoid the sizzling bolt of energy that Hinako had flung towards the serpent. "Hey!" he shouted, skidding as he landed off balance on the floor. "Wait till I'm out of the way, dammit!"

The bolt struck the Shadow Snake in the belly, flipping it over and propelling the creature away from the hole it had just made. There was a smell like roasting pork as some of the creature scales dropped away from ruined flesh. It quivered in silent pain for a moment before rearing up once again, and aiming its 'mouth' aperture towards the group.

Aside from Kuno, they were able to guess what was coming in plenty of time to dodge. The inestimable blue thunder, however, simply charged the creature, and was struck dead on by a bolt of power identical to the one the Hinako had thrown moments earlier. He was thrown back about thirty feet, crashing into a wall, and dropping into unconsciousness. The snake surged forward, and dropped itself down the hole it had created.

"Aw, hell…" muttered Ukyo, getting up from where she had fallen. Moving over towards, she began checking him for vital signs. A few moments later, she nodded. "He'll be fine. Probably give him a hell of a headache, though." She shook her head. "Too bad, huh?"

Akane nodded, and ran over to help up Miss Hinako from where she lay, in her childlike form once again. "Right. We're getting nowhere fast though. Every time we try to catch it, it throws something at us and vanishes." Hinako nodded in woozy agreement.

Ranma smirked. "Nope. Look, if that thing's energy trick really is like Hinako's, he can only get off one shot before needing to recharge. Could you drain people on the run?" This last was addressed to the diminutive teacher.

"N..No. Not unless someone was carrying me. Piggyback ride?" she asked, hopefully.

Ranma paused. "Yeah, not a bad idea." He reached down and scooped her up, carrying her easily on his back. "Okay, I'm going to try to get Hinako close enough to drain the snake, okay? Ukyo, give me some cover, will you?"

She nodded, producing another fistful of throwing spats. "Right. Not a problem."

"Great. Akane?"

"Yes?" she said, pleased at being asked to contribute.

"Be careful, and try not to get hurt." With that, Ranma bounded down the hole, followed by Ukyo. Akane stood there for a moment, fuming, and then, growling under her breath, went after them.

The Shadow Snake was not having a good day. Its feedings the previous day had done nothing to prepare it for the kind of beating that it was taking now. Its belly ached as it scraped across the floor; that woman's energy blast had been excruciatingly painful.

It knew, in a sort of vague, dim sense, that the people here weren't supposed to be this kind of trouble. All it had wanted was a nice, quiet slaughter, and now this handful of natives was forcing it to run for its life. When it came time for an accounting, this episode was not going to earn it favors from its masters.

Pushing aside the unwelcome thought that it wasn't supposed to be here anyway, and that likely the only favor it could count on was a slow, painful death, it continued down the hall, grabbing a fleeing student as it went. It had expended more energy than it wanted to on that blast, and needed to recharge. Ignoring the screams of its prey, it pushed on, hoping to find someplace safe to eat.

It took them very little time to catch up to their opponent again, now that the slower members of their group were either incapacitated or being carried. This time, there was little introduction. Ranma darted forward, Hinako whooping in delight, and began running around the serpent, dodging tail swipes as he went. He could hear Hinako beginning her chant, and hoped that she'd get done with it soon.

A series of expert spatula throws caught the snake's tail, causing it to drop the student, who immediately scurried away. Distracted, the creature barely had time to react as Hinako finished her setup. With a final cry of "Happo Five-Yen Satsu!" she was deposited on the ground in front of the creature. Ranma darted away, not eager to be caught in the energy vortex.

The creature countered, forming its own twisting cyclone of negative energy, draining the small girl even as she drained it. Arcs of purple lightning flashed between them as the two conflicting fields collided. Both of them stood stock still, stalemated by each other's powers. Then, laboriously, the Shadow Snake lifted its tail, preparing to deliver a physical strike to the girl.

Akane intercepted it even as it lashed out, catching it in a two-handed grip. For a moment, she stood against it, matching her strength against the demon's. Then it pushed, and she lost her balance, allowing the creature to slam her into the wall. She fell amidst a shower of debris. Still better than doing nothing, she thought, as pain flashed up her side. At least I knocked it off course. She was bleeding, she knew that, but it didn't seem serious. The adrenaline rush of combat suffused her as she got to her feet once again.

The Shadow Snake took a punishing series of blows to the head from quick bastard, causing its concentration to slip slightly. It managed to clamp down before the little girl drained too much power away, but its wounds were beginning to tell. Frightened and desperate, it looked about itself, trying to find some way out of this deadly situation. One of the damnable metal blades struck it in the eye, causing a streak of white pain to cascade down its entire body. It could heal itself, if it managed to get away from these bouncing pests, but it couldn't think of how to do so. It needed time…

A thought came to it, dredged with great difficulty out of the reaches of what passed for its memory. Something that one of its masters had once said, about using one the opponent's friends as a weapon… Ah yes. Hostages. Before any of its enemies had time to react, it launched its pincer toward the weakest of its enemies, grasped her tightly by the front of her garment, and pulled her close.

Ranma skidded to a halt in the middle of his latest charge as the thing pulled Akane to itself, coiling its tail tightly about her. It backed away from the others, holding its hostage in front of itself. His hands clenched tightly, and he felt his vision blurring, as though the darkness at the very edge of his vision was beginning to encroach upon more normal areas of sight. His eyes were fixed on Akane as she struggled for breath.

Hinako had stopped her drain as soon as Akane had gotten in the way, and now looked nervously at Ranma and Ukyo, as though wondering what she should do. Ukyo, now out of ammunition, had drawn her large spatula again, but was unwilling to come much closer. She sidled over towards Ranma, keeping her eyes on the monster. "What do we do now? I don't think that…" Her voice cut off abruptly as Ranma turned toward her, his eyes full of madness and pain.

"Get out of the way, Ucchan…" he growled, his voice barely recognizable.

She hesitated, reaching out to him. "Ranchan, are you okay? What's…"

"I said get out of the way!" The words burst forth in a pained roar, and he shoved Ukyo hard. She flew backward twenty feet, and barely managed to keep her balance. She looked back toward Ranma, angry words coming to her lips, all of which died as she saw the shadows engulf him.

The world blinked.

And Ranma straightened up from his previous tortured half-crouch, no longer fighting himself. Every movement spoke of deadly control as he turned toward the serpent, which still held Akane in its grasp. When he spoke, Ukyo imagined that she could hear the tinkle of ice forming on the surface of his words.

"Let her go. Now." His face was calm, and his stance casual. If not for his eyes; blank and blazing with cold fire, and the sense of unavoidable menace that surrounded him, he could have been asking the time of some passerby.

The serpent backed up, its spine touching the wall. All of its instincts screamed at it to simply drop the girl and abase itself before this new opponent, but at the same time fear had frozen it in place. Even the girl appeared too shocked to move, and had ceased her struggling in its coils.

"I told you to let her go." There was a blur of motion, and suddenly the Snake felt the newcomer's foot impact it in the side of the head. The sheer force of the blow almost caused the creature to black out, and propelled it through the wall and out into a courtyard of screaming students. They scattered as it landed, stunned. For a few moments it lay there, wondering what had happened, before realizing that the girl was gone, plucked from its grasp as it flew.

For Akane's part, the experience was little less surprising. One moment she had been fighting to get free of the thing, and the next Ranma had been saying… something. And then she had been flying through the air, wondering how she was going to land. And finally, she had been grabbed in mid flight, and had come to rest…

…In Ranma's arms. Her mind almost shut down from embarrassment. Here she was, in front of practically the entire school, being carried in Ranma's arms in the classic 'damsel in distress' pose. While she wasn't sure that being left with the snake would have been preferable, she was at least going to have a few choice words to say to Ranma about this when it was all done.

He deposited her quite gently on the ground, and looked her up and down critically. Biting back a flush of embarrassment, Akane noticed for the first time the insubstantial black armor that covered him, and the blue-white fire in his eyes. "Oh," she said.

"Are you well? The creature did not hurt you, I hope?" The words were cold, passionless. Ranma could have been asking her about tonight's homework assignment.

"Yes…" she began, still looking at him in a kind of daze. "It was just a little hard to breath. Nothing to worry about…" Her voice cut off abruptly as he took her hand in his. Now he was smiling, although it was a small wintry thing.

"Good. I am pleased that you have come to no harm. Now wait here. This will not take long." His hand traced the line of her jaw, and before she could react, pulled her into an intense kiss.

Akanes mind shut down almost completely at this point. Long moments passed as she stood there, unresisting, as Ranma kissed her in full view of the schoolranmaogodogodwhatamIdoingwhycan'tIbreakawayeveryoneswatchingogod… And then it was over, and Ranma turned back toward the snake, which was attempting, with some success, to extract itself from the furrow it had plowed upon landing in the courtyard.

She touched two fingers to her lips, still numb about what happened to her. Even Ranma's body temperature seemed below normal in this state.

"You have harmed my beloved, and threatened greater harm to her…" noted Ranma as he walked up to the beast, apparently taking no thought whatsoever to defense. "It is time you learned the consequences of you actions."

The snake's tail shot forward once again, but this time Ranma made no move to jump away. Instead, he merely stepped to one side, and caught it in one hand as it cascaded past his shoulder. Without a second glance, he snapped off the killing club and tossed it to the side, where it twitched on the pavement for a few seconds before lying still.

Wiping ichor from his hands, he advanced. Attempting to ignore the pain of its severed tail, the serpent shot away from this lethal new opponent, only to find that, somehow, he was in front of it again. He smirked at the monster. "You aren't fast enough to get away from me. You aren't fast enough to stop me."

It couldn't even see the movements as its foe's fists crashed into it, breaking ribs and vertebrae all up and down its body. Even with its bred-in resistance to pain, the sensation was indescribable. Feeling all hope of escape drop away from it, it collapsed to the ground, waiting for the killing blow.

And then the blows ended. The black-armored figure was in front of it again, regarding it solemnly. It could just see the man's expression through the haze of pain. He appeared speculative.

"You're really little more than a dumb beast, aren't you? Just following instinct and programming. I suppose I should let you go. You're crime was fairly small, after all. I think you've learned your lesson." His head tilted to one side, as he seemed to think about this.

Dumb as it was, the Shadow Snake knew that he wasn't about to be let free. When the man's palm came up, pointing directly at its face, it wasn't the least bit surprised.

"And yet, you harmed my beloved. I think an example must be made." His voice remained passionless even as he pronounced death for the creature. "Mouko Takabisha."

Whatever thoughts the Shadow Snake had going through its dim mind were cut off as the blazing rush of energy struck it. It lasted only a moment, and when it was done only a patch of greasy char remained on the pavement to mark its passing. Ranma wiped his hands, smirked again, and turned back toward his companions, only to be met by a rush of enthusiastically grateful students.

"Wow! That was great! Didja learn some technique?"

"You really wasted that thing didn't you…"

"…Teach it to mess with Furinkan…"

"…Wasn't scared for a second. Ranma always comes through…"

Their praise and commentary on his fighting technique were quickly boring Ranma, and he was about to begin shoving his way through the crowd to get back to his beloved when a familiar face confronted him. Daisuke. The slightly smaller boy clapped a companionable hand to his shoulder, smiling broadly.

"Damn, Ranma. Nice work on that thing. I couldn't even see you move." He shook his head in wonderment. "Been training with Cologne again?" He looked down at the ashes that had only seconds before been a deadly serpentine demon, and whistled. "Pretty impressive."

Coming up behind him was Hiroshi, second half of their ever-present duo. Currently he was munching on a small bag of chips as he surveyed the scene. "I'll say. Forget killin' giant snakes, I wanna know how you managed to kiss Akane like that!"

Daisuke sniggered. "Yeah, no kidding. I mean, that was kinda out of the blue wasn't it? And in front of all these people too. She's gonna kill you when you get alone."

Hiroshi grinned. "Well, maybe not kill, exactly." He clasped his hands in front of him, and began making a series of rather embarrassing noises. "Oh, Ranma, you're so brave and strong! Let me show you my appreciation for saving me…" He pursed his lips in series of mock kisses, and then collapsed in laughter.

Ranma's eyes narrowed, and quicker than the eye could follow he grasped the front of Hiroshi's shirt and dragged the boy towards him until they were eye to eye. "Are you mocking my beloved?" he asked, voice dangerously quiet. The laughter and jostling of the crowd died away almost instantly, replaced by worried murmurs.

"Hey, come on, Ranma. Leggo. You know I didn't mean anything…" Hiroshi's protests died as he looked into Ranma's eyes. If he still had pupils they couldn't be seen. There was only endless blue white flame.

"Do I? I seem to remember you professing interest in her more than a few times." Ranma grinned mirthlessly. "And you certainly sounded as though you were insulting her." With a single easy motion he tossed Hiroshi away from him. The boy came down hard on the pavement.

The rest of the crowd began to back off, nervously. They had no idea what was going on, but weren't about to get in between Ranma and Hiroshi now. Ranma walked over toward his fallen friend, who was groaning as he tried to get up, and casually stepped on his chest.

"I could just crush your ribcage now, you know. That would stop you from making jokes like that in the future." He smiled. "Or I could remove your hands. You'd find it harder to touch her then. Or…"

"Ranma! What do you think you're doing?" Akane's voice rang out over the mutterings and groans of pain, causing Ranma to look in her direction. Akane had finally managed to recover from the shock Ranma's actions, and was looking at him with an expression of horror on her face. "Get away from him right now, or…"

Ranma shrugged, and released Hiroshi. The other boy scrambled out of the way, thankful for his reprieve. The martial artist didn't bother watching him go. Instead, he walked toward Akane, a slight smile crossing his face. Less than five paces away, Ukyo interposed herself between the two, her face full of fear and her large Spatula held in a combat position.

"Akane," she said, speaking in a quiet voice that nonetheless carried across the yard. "I want you to get away, as quick as you can. This isn't Ranma now, and I don't know what he'll do to us. I'll try to hold him off…"

"Not Ranma?" he said, puzzlement crossing his face for the first time. "Who else would I be, friend Ukyo?" He shook his head. "Ah, of course. The Demon. No, I don't think so. I am Ranma, but clearer. More focused. Why would I want to harm my best friend?" He stepped forward, ignoring her stricken expression at the words 'best friend.' "Now get out of the way, Ukyo. As welcome as your company is, I intend to speak to my beloved again first."

Her face hardened, and she gripped her spatula with renewed energy. "Oh no you don't. I'm not letting you get near her, not while you're like this." She risked a glance over her shoulder. Akane hadn't moved. "Dammit Akane, get out of here! He's dangerous right now!" She turned back, only to find that Ranma was right next to her, practically breathing the same air. She gulped.

"Dangerous? Perhaps. Why haven't you moved aside? I really don't want to hurt you, Ukyo." His voice was lower now. Threatening.

She looked up at him defiantly. "Then don't. If you don't want to hurt me, then don't do it."

He glanced at her spatula. "Put away your weapon, Ukyo."

"No. Not until you're normal again."

There was a blur, and Ukyo suddenly felt the spatula wrenched from her hands. She had as much chance of keeping a grip on it as she had of spontaneously speaking Russian. With no warning at all, the weapon was simply in Ranma's hands. He threw it over his shoulder. There were indents in the metal from where his hands had gripped it.

"Now get out of the way before I have to hurt you, Ukyo." He raised one hand, ready to cut her down.

She knew that she couldn't stop him, knew that she couldn't even slow him down. Screwing up every ounce of her courage, once again she said, "No."

A look of pain crossed Ranma's face, and then anger. They were the first genuine emotions that he'd displayed since Changing. "Dammit, Ucchan. Why can't ya just listen to me?" For a moment, his speech lapsed back into the casual patterns that Ranma usually displayed.

She breathed a sigh of relief. There was something left in there, after all. "Ranchan, please, you need to… change back, do whatever it is you do to stop this." She realized belatedly that she had no idea whatsoever about how to go about doing that. She reached out and hesitantly touched his shoulder. "C'mon. Quit this."

Ranma stared at her, and with a sudden strangled cry of rage and fear and pain knelt and slammed his fist into the ground. The pavement lurched from the impact, knocking Ukyo and half the student body off their feet. "No! Get away! You… You too wish me to betray my beloved… No! You're my friend…I'm not going to hurt you… Don't make me hurt you!"

Akane's hand touched him, hesitantly. He stared up at her, eyes for a moment unseeing. He hadn't seen her approach. Then the world blinked once more, and Ranma was kneeling in the crater created by the blow of his fist, tears coming to his eyes. He looked around wildly for a few moments, as if not understanding what had happened.

Everything had been so clear when he had allowed the Demon to take him. All of his doubts about himself, about his feelings, about the world… All of it had fallen away, leaving sharp clear focus and mathematical certainty. It was as though everything in his life was easily categorized by numbers, A being more valuable than B but not so much as C… Up until Ukyo had nearly gotten him to kill her. He suppressed the sudden wash of bile in his throat at the thought. If I hadn't remembered at the last minute that I don't act that way… He looked back up at his fiancée.

"Ranma, are you alright?" Akane's voice was worried, and for the first time he realized that she too had been on the verge of crying. "You almost…"

He nodded. "I'm…okay now, I think." He got up, pointedly ignoring the crater and the charred remains of his opponent. Dammit, I did it again, didn't I? I killed the damn thing. I mean, sure it was a demon, but… He shook his head, and than looked toward where Daisuke was helping Hiroshi to his feet. He took a few steps toward them, and was rewarded with the sight of the rest of the student body backing nervously away. "I'm sorry, guys… I didn't mean any of that, I promise!"

You did then, said a little voice inside him.

He raised one hand, beseeching, and then dropped it to his side. "Ukyo," he said, not looking at her. "I'm sorry. I want you to know that I'd never try to hurt you. This was…" he looked around himself. "This was a mistake. A bad one. Sorry."

Ukyo managed a weak smile. "S'okay, Ranchan. I know you wouldn't try to hurt me. This was proof enough of that, right?" Her voice dropped off when she realized that he wasn't listening to her.

"Akane," he continued. "You should probably do what Cologne said. Get packed up, and head over to the Nekohanten. I've… I've got to do some thinking, okay?"

She barely had time to nod in response before he ran, clearing the wall in a single leap, and headed off into the city. Pursing her lips in worry, she turned back toward the scene of destruction that was the high school. "Should we try to follow him?"

Ukyo shook her head. "Hell no. We couldn't anyway; you saw the way he was moving." She walked over to where the remains of the creature lay, and began prodding it with her foot. There was a clinking sound. Reaching down, she discovered one of her own throwing spats, half melted from the blast but still intact. The side that had faced Ranma's Mouko Takabisha was blackened from heat and ash, but the side that had been away from it still retained it's finished gleam. "I think it might be best to leave him alone for a while."

Akane nodded reluctantly. Already the students were beginning to drift off, eager to tell their families about what had happened at school that day. Miss Hinako was attempting to keep them in line with stern words and judicious energy drain, but was having little success. It appeared as though school was out for the foreseeable future.

Later that night there was a rainstorm. It quite fit the mood, Cologne thought as she sat by the fire and sipped her tea. The day had been somewhat trying; first the somewhat difficult attempts at suppressing news coverage of the 'event' at Furinkan High, combined with the usual bribes to witnesses and family members and taken up most of her day. Normally she could just put some of her underlings on the case, but the situation now involved the mission directly, and that made it all the more crucial. She could no longer foist these things off on her unlucky henchmen, and she was just beginning to realize exactly how much work would be required.

When she had finally arrived home, she had been greeted to the sight of Tofu helping Akane and Ukyo into their new accommodation. While not unwelcome, this had added a layer of complexity to her day that she didn't need at the time. Just keeping Mousse from killing the Hibiki boy was work enough. Now she had to be vigilant against Shampoo's possible attempts at assassinating her romantic rivals on top of it.

Sometimes she worried about her granddaughter.

She sighed as she took another sip of the excellent imported tea. The biggest problem, of course, was Ranma. The fool boy still hadn't returned from wherever he had gone after he'd destroyed the demon. And according to her sources, 'destroyed' was a good word for what he'd done. She shuddered. Keeping the boy in line physically was not going to be an option any longer. Oh well.

There was a flash of lightning, and the accompanying roll of thunder occurred at nearly the same time as the knock on her window. She looked over quite calmly to see Ranma's red-haired female form outside, soaked, and gazing in with despondent eyes.

Supressing a yell of triumph, she opened the window for her. "Well, come in, boy. I don't want to get more water inside than I have to."

Ranma nodded and climbed inside. She quickly took the chair that was offered to her, and sat staring at the fire. After a while, she spoke. "You were right, you know."

Cologne feigned ignorance. "Eh? What do you mean by that?"

The girl sighed. "You were right, when you said that you needed to teach me control. I…" She leaned over and rested her chin in her hands, still gazing at the flame. "The first time this happened to me, it was because Akane nearly died, and it affected me just enough to let me win. The next time, it happened just 'cause she got a bit hurt, an' I broke Ryoga's arm. This time, I went over when she got threatened, and I came damn close to killing Ukyo and Hiroshi." She sighed again, and buried her face in her hands. "What if next time, Akane just gets insulted or somethin', and I decide to friggin' blow up the school? I can't control this."

She turned toward Cologne, and for the first time the old woman could see that she was genuinely weeping. "I know you can't cure me, or any of us… But you might be the only person who can help us. I thought that I could ignore it, make it so it never happened, but…"

Cologne suddenly felt all ill will towards Ranma vanish in a wave of genuine sympathy. She moved forward, and placed a hand on the girls shoulder, attempting to comfort her. "Oh, dear child…" She shook her head. "A door, once opened, can never truly be closed again. But I shall do my best to give you a lock and key."

Ranma nodded, and wiped away her tears. And Cologne held the girl silently, already thinking of what the next day would bring.

And just outside the northern limits of Nerima, another hole opened in the air. This had none of the violence or raw spectacle of the last; it was a clean violet disk, and barely stirred the air around it. From inside it stepped two figures. Both were the size and shape of tall men, and wore loose robes with cowls covering their faces. They were nearly identical, save for the fact that one of the robes was pure white, while the other was a neutral gray.

As the hole closed silently behind them, they stood, gazing out over the sights of Tokyo that their vantage point atop the hill afforded them. Finally, the white robed one spoke. His voice was pleasant and well cultured, if perhaps a bit flat. "Quite amazing. And according to the reports, the natives were using copper tools the last time? They seem to have advanced somewhat."

His counterpart in the gray robe responded. His voice was much the same, but instead of the flatness possessed a slight musical lilt, as though he were perpetually amused by whatever he saw in front of him "Yes, that's certainly true. But these places are all the same. Read your histories. No matter how powerful their weapons, they will have been constructed to kill each other. Not us." He paused, looking to the northeast. "Do you have a reading on the Shandago that managed to escape through the portal?"

White shook his head. "I'm afraid not. It must already have been dispatched." There was a hint of a smile behind his cowl. "So much for your theories about their weapons, perhaps?"

Gray shook his head. "Shandagos are tough enough, but they're stupid war beasts. Not what I meant when I said 'us.'" He too smiled. "Be at ease, my junior partner. Tonight we'll search for a suitable staging ground, and then we'll start taking readings on the surrounding area. You shouldn't worry so much. There will be little in this world capable of hurting the two of us."

White nodded, then, after a few moments, ventured "And if we do run into trouble, there is always Triel, is there not?"

Gray scowled, his displeasure evident even behind his robe. "Not unless we have to. Not unless all else fails."

Author's Notes:

This chapter gave me a million headaches, and it still came out horrible. This one is definitely going to be rewritten before the end, but I figured I'd better post it anyhow.

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