Chapter 4- Surviving Furinkan (Part 2)

It was gym class, and things so far this period had been going fairly well for the students of Furinkan High School. The principal had yet to show up and cause problems involving his insane rules, no crazy martial artist had arrived to fight Ranma and Kuno had yet to return from his impromptu flight out of the country courtesy of Ranma, Akane, and the new students. So all in all it was turning out to be a fairly peaceful day. And that is saying something considering that these students went to a school in Nerima, which is the number one weirdness capital of Japan.

Ranma sat on the sidelines of the basketball court with his two "friends", Hiroshi and Daisuke, and as usual he was being grilled by them for information about the mysterious pig-tailed girl who was second only to Akane in popularity when it came to who was the cutest girl.

"Come on Ranma, we've been over this a hundred times and every time we ask you about her you deny us. We're getting sick of your games Saotome. You have Akane, so don't be greedy."

Ranma Saotome was reminded right now of why he hated his curse so much. The fact that he turned into a girl when splashed with cold water was bad enough, but why did he have to turn into a cute and curvaceous girl when he changed? This made his female form all the harder to live with. "For the last time you two, I ain't got nuthin to do with that girl." An amused snort from behind got Ranma's attention and he glanced over at Kaigen. "Shut it dog-boy." Kaigen flashed him a smile that said, 'You're just making it worse', and then took his attention back to watching the basketball game. Ranma turned his attention back to Hiroshi and Daisuke.

"Just stop trying to find her. She wouldn't want a date with your two anyway." Hiroshi and Daisuke looked like they were about to argue with him some more, and he responded to their arguments by ignoring them. That didn't do him well as he got wrestled to the ground and forced into a submission hold, both of the boys trying to force the information out of him.

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On the other side of the gym Akane and Amy sat amidst a small crowd of the other girls in their class. Amy was currently being interrogated about Kaigen and her relationship with him. Apparently the discovery about his tail and ears made everyone in the school want more information about his life and his relationships.

"Come on Amy, why won't you tell us anything about Kaigen? Is he your boyfriend or not? Inquiring minds would like to know." When Amy didn't respond the group as a whole pressed the question again.

Amy sighed in resignation and glanced casually over at Akane. "Give me a basketball please."

Akane blinked at the strange request but nodded and handed her one. Amy wound up and threw it with all of her might at Kaigen. He yelped in surprise and barely avoided the ball that left a huge indent in the wall next to his head. All of the action in the gym had stopped as everyone stared at her in surprise and fear at the very Akane-like feat of strength. She ignored them and yelled, "It's rude to eavesdrop on other people Kaigen!" When he blushed she knew her assumption had been correct and she sat back down to talk. "Sorry, I didn't want him listening in."

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Ranma and the rest of the boys who were on the sidelines snickered at the now pale Kaigen. "You telling me you could hear everything they were saying?" A random voice from the crowd asked. When Kaigen nodded weakly he suddenly found himself mobbed by the other boys, Ranma excluded, who wanted to know if the girls on other side of the gym were talking about them at all.

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Nabiki smiled as she slipped out of the boys' locker room. It hadn't taken much to make sure no one would stop her on her way in. She had just needed to pull a few strings and the path was clear. Now she just had to take the bets before the festivities began. ("This should be one of the most profitable things I have done in a while.") Those familiar yen signs lit up in her eyes.

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Ranma and Kaigen were talking on their way back into the locker room. They were discussing the casual differences in martial arts stances. Unfortunately for the two of them they were oblivious to the fact that the rest of the male student body had not gone in. Nabiki had told them all what was going to happen and she had taken their bets on what the outcome to the situation.

As the two boys changed back into their normal clothing and got their backpacks, a sudden smell hit Kaigen's nose that hadn't been there before. He blinked in surprise and leaned down to sniff his and Ranma's backpacks before popping his open. "Someone put something in our backpack. It must've been Amy and Akane because it smells like they do."

"Oh really?" Ranma shivered slightly at a terrifying thought. "I hope Akane didn't make me a lunch and forgot to tell me. Leaving anything that girl makes anywhere for too long can destroy the container it is in." He repeated the action and in unison they took something out of their backpacks that brought a deep blush to their cheeks. ("Why in the hell are Akane's/Amy's panties in my bookbag?") Both boys thought in unison.

The click of the locker room door closing brought their attention to the burning red auras of Akane and Amy, who as one were already branding their weapons of choice at the two. Both boys froze, eyes open in confusion, with the only movement from either of them being the occasional twitch of one of Kaigen's ears.

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Nabiki allowed a truly happy smile to cross her face. For this occasion it was worth it. No matter what happened now she was going to walk away a richer woman. ("I tip my hat to you Kaigen Amero for giving me the idea of the 'Who hits their man the hardest' betting circle.") She already had cameras set up at the estimated point of exit for both boys, which would most likely be through going to be through the roof. Now she just had to wait for the starting "gun" for the race to begin. ("First boy to make it out of the building wins.")

As if on cue a stereo cry of "HENTAI!!" rose up from the boy's locker room and then it was followed by a similar stereo of thuds that shook the school slightly. She smiled at the satisfying sounds of Ranma and Kaigen crashing through the roof of the school and going who knows where. Right after school she would get the film and see who out of the two of them was the first to leave the building. Then she would collect her dues on the losing bets.

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"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW!?" Ryoga screamed for what was most likely the twentieth time this afternoon. He had passed some strange place that looked a lot like the Tendo Dojo, but no one had been home when he had gone in. Then he had walked through this really bright place and wound up in some casino. He didn't have much fun running from the security there when they thought he had stolen something from a poker table.

Right now Ryoga Hibiki found himself overlooking some kind of military base in the middle of a jungle. The odd part was that the men on top of the wall were scrambling about as if something was about to happen. ("I wonder what I have walked into this time.") He weighed the chances of getting lost on the way to the base and decided he'd take the risk; he leaped off the cliff and used his umbrella to control his descent to the ground near the building.

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"Halt or we will open fire!!" The men on the top of the bases walls had their guns all trained on the single man who was walking towards the closed gates. They had gotten word that some mysterious stranger was headed towards their location and was after the cargo they were supposed to protect. Not that it mattered. The 'mysterious man' was just a boy of about 16 years of age, and he didn't even carry a gun on him. The boy stood about 5'6" and looked distinctly American. He had bright red hair that was spiked up enough to give him an almost punk look. He wore a black leather jacket with a white undershirt, and a pair of blue jeans that looked on the verge of falling apart. If it wasn't for the fact that the guards were highly trained military professionals they may have burst out laughing at the sight of a stereotypical American 'bad-boy' showing up at their gates.

The boy looked up at all the gun barrels leveled at his head and yelled, "Give me the cargo by the count of ten and you keep your lives!" When no one responded he started counting. "1....2...3...4...5...6..." There was a bang of a warning shot that whizzed by his head but he kept counting like he didn't even notice it, "...7...8...9...10!" The silence that followed told him what he already knew he had to do. ("It's time to follow up on my threat.")

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Thankfully Ryoga actually made it to the base without getting lost at all. Of course the fact that certain parts of the base were now exploding actually made it fairly hard to miss, even for someone with his horrible sense of direction. As he approached the fairly large stone-grey building he barely flinched as a whole section of wall suddenly exploded into powder. ("Someone in there must be using explosives in there.") He would have mused more on the type of weapon that had caused this damage but the screams of pain coming from inside tugged at his instincts as a martial artist to protect the weak. Breaking into a sprint he charged inside the complex.

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"How could he have done that!? He's not human!!!"

"It doesn't matter; back-up will be arriving soon."

"Like it matters! You saw what that guy did!"

"SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!!!" If there was one thing the commander wouldn't tolerate it was cowardice. "To get to the cargo he has to go through this door, so when he runs in we shoot him dead!" The dozen or so men he had with him nodded slowly and they all readied their assorted weapons. As the sounds of screams and explosions died down they heard a single pair of feet approaching the closed steel door down the hall from them slowly. The feet stopped right outside the door and didn't move. A man next to the commander smiled smugly and yelled, "What's the matter!? You scared b...." The man who had decided to taunt the intruder clutched his throat and collapsed as his cries turned into nothing more than weak gurgles. The commander knelt down and with a professional's eye saw that the man had a small metal object that had blown through his neck with the force of bullet. He looked over at the hole in the doors at the end of the hall and felt his blood run cold. "Everyone get down!"

The boy held his hand up and flicked the next stud into the corridor. The metal spike hit the steel door and punched through leaving a small hole. A loud gurgle told him he had hit another man. He kept firing studs until a few seconds later he heard one of his studs hit the wall of the corridor. Fairly sure that most of the threat was disabled; he casually pushed the door open and walked over the corpses in his way until he reached the door at the back of hallway. Noticing that it needed a keycard, he decided that while he could break through it that might damage the cargo. That would be inexcusable to his Master though.

"....Oh....god..." The slumped figure of a man who was lying on the ground next to him cried out. Without even looking the man's way the boy grasped his throat gently and brought him to his feet. ("It's time to play the intimidation game.")

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Ryoga had his senses fully focused on everything around him now. When he had ran into the base he had seen what could only be the destruction caused by a practitioner of the martial arts that was at his level. He knew that meant that these poor souls didn't stand a chance, and considering how many were already killed, Ryoga had every intention of pummeling said martial artist until he joined his victims in the afterlife. He ran down the corridors of the building until he reached a large pair of open doors from which he could hear voices. Not wanting to put the other martial artist in a situation where he might use someone as a hostage, Ryoga edged up to the door and listened.

"Where's the card to open this door?" Silence followed and Ryoga was unsure who the boy was talking to until a weak scream of pain echoed to his ears. "Last chance friend." The scream continued and Ryoga, unable to tolerate hearing the sounds of innocents in danger, spun around to look down the corridor, just in time to see the red-haired boy give the man he had pinned against the wall one last glare. "As you wish. Feel the pain fool." His fist shot out and connected with the man's stomach, creating a hole right in his victim's lower abdomen. Within seconds the man bled to death, his face quickly going pale and cold.

Ryoga didn't know what he had walked in on but it didn't matter. This guy had murdered all of these men and now he had to pay. Charging, Ryoga arched his fist back and swung for a haymaker at the boy's head. The boy took the blow and stumbled slightly, before smiling and returning the favor with his own punch, which Ryoga dodged. The two faced off for a moment before Ryoga snarled in righteous fury and slammed a hammer blow down right on the boy's spine. For a moment it looked like the boy was about to fold, but instead he laughed light-heartedly and struck back at Ryoga.

The building shook for a few minutes and then an explosion blew a hole in a wall. From it came the form of Ryoga followed by the form of the boy, both of which landed on their feet facing each other. As they faced off in the cool air of the jungle around them, the boy glanced at his watch and grimaced. "My apologies to you but looks like it is time to finish playing. I have places to be."

Ryoga snarled and threw his backpack off to the side. He didn't need his umbrella for this fight; he planned on doing this with his fists. "You dare to take the lives of so many people and then simply walk away as if nothing is wrong!? Normally I reserve this for Ranma but......PREPARE TO DIE!!" When the boy's only reply was a snicker Ryoga charged. He lunged again and once more the boy took the hit, stumbling back from it. Smiling, the leather-jacketed murderer threw another flurry of half-hearted punches, each of which Ryoga had no trouble dodging.

"I must admit Mr. Hero," The boy smiled when Ryoga growled at his little nickname, "That punch of yours hits me a lot harder than I ever thought was possible from someone with your apparent skill level." The last barb sent Ryoga over the edge. Roaring in anger, the Lost Boy charged in and slammed another trio of punches to the other boy's midsection, which caused him to take a step back from the force of the blows being delivered to his body. The boy felt every punch and wanted to drink in the feeling of pain. He hadn't felt it in so long. Coughing up a few gobs of blood, he suddenly became engulfed in an aura of red-black energy. "Once again though I have places to be, so unless you have any other warm-up punches you want to throw then we had best get down to business." He held up his fists, each of which was crackling in the same aura of energy he was giving off around his body.

Ryoga felt his depression start to sink in as he realized that this guy was mocking him. He could have simply let his rage carry him through the fight, but he wanted to make sure that this monster of a person paid for his murderous crimes. He let the depression build up inside of him and cupped his hands together, aiming them at the boy. "Take this you monster!" The depression built up into a ball of energy within his palms that he released at his target. "Shi Shi Hokoudan!"

The boy blinked in surprise as he was suddenly engulfed in the unexpected ball of ki. The ball of heavy ki stopped at the point where it had hit him. He managed to hold against its sheer force for about ten more seconds before it exploded, blowing a 15' deep crater into the ground. The last thing the boy thought before oblivion consumed him was, ("I must learn that attack.")

Ryoga allowed himself a slight smile at the expression the monster had right before he had met his end, but then the realization of what had happened truly came to him. He grimaced and went to the other end of the building, using his Bakusai Tenketsu to create graves for the men who had died. As soon as he was done burying the corpses he sighed and walked off, knowing that most likely he would never see this sad place again. Within minutes of walking he was lost once more.

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From the crater that Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokoudan had created a burned hand slowly pulled itself free. Minutes later the boy managed to get to his feet, though at the moment he felt more like dying than trying to endure the seemingly insurmountable amounts of pain he was going through. He had experiences with plenty different kinds of pain, and the pain from a ki attack was not one of them. Because of that he could not have possibly withstood that attack, which now left him bloody and beaten. He groaned as he popped his dislocated right arm back into place and then he reached into what remained of his coat and pulled out his cell phone, which had somehow survived Ryoga's attack.

He flipped it open and hit speed-dial for the first number on the list, putting it to his lips. Within seconds a voice came onto the other side of the line and he grimaced as he spoke. "My apologies Master but I failed in retrieving the necklace. Another martial artist arrived and defeated me." When the other end of the line went quiet he knew what was already going to be said by his Master. On the other end of the line he heard a raspy old voice say, "Very well then Robert. I will come and get the target myself. I suggest you heal up before I arrive though, because you know what the punishment for failure in your missions is." With a click the phone call ended. Robert sighed and sat down, crossing his legs and focusing on using his ki to repair his injured body. ("That man will meet his defeat at my hands the next time we fight. Next time I'll be ready for his ki attack. Then he won't have any way to defeat me.")

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As the bell rang signaling the end of class for the day, students filed out of the school and went their separate ways. Out of all of the happy expressions that could be seen from the crowd, one person stood out for a different number of reasons. For one thing the youth in question looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Secondly, he also had been rather badly injured from his run-ins with the walls and ceiling of the high school over the course of the day. He had one black eye, a pair of bruised ribs, and a trio of bumps on different parts of his head. So all in all Kaigen's first day of school had been hell on earth. He grumbled and still noticed that everyone was giving him a wide berth. ("Screw it...if they don't like me because of how I look then I don't want their friendship anyway.") He was brought out of his thoughts by a pat on the back.

"So," Ranma said, his voice dripping in mock cheer, "What do you think of Furinkan High school?" Just like Kaigen, Ranma had been through the metaphorical meat grinder. He had several bruises on his body and lump on his head that didn't look like it would heal very soon.

Kaigen thought back to the events of the day and very quickly came to a conclusion about the direction his life had turned. "If I had to come to this school for more than just a couple of months, I think I would kill myself."

Ranma shrugged. "It'll get better."

Kaigen laughed weakly. "It had better improve. By the way, I think Akane is starting to rub off on Amy. She never used to hit me as hard or as often as she has been recently."

Ranma sighed. "Now if only Amy's cuteness would rub off on Akane. That kawaiikune tomboy fiancé of mine is being a real pain in the....." Ranma really didn't get to finish his sentence as his face was crushed into the cement by the force of Akane's book bag, which she had solidly planted into the back of his skull.

"And people wonder why I hit you Ranma! It's because you're such a rude jerk!" Akane removed her bag from Ranma's head and smiled sweetly at a very surprised Kaigen. "And how was your first day here at Furinkan Kaigen? Did you enjoy it?"

Kaigen shrugged. "It was okay." He felt that if he said his original answer he would most likely find himself in the stratosphere again. ("Better not risk it.") Then his ears perked as he heard Amy's approach. And by the way she was laughing he understood she had been around when he had been confronted right before school had ended. ("I'm not going to sit around and listen to her laugh at me. I've had a bad enough day already.") He took off into a full run leaving a dust trail behind him as ran for the Tendo residence.

Akane watched Kaigen literally disappear with confusion etched across his face. The look of confusion got worse as she heard Amy yell after him, "Aw Kaigen! You should take it as a compliment! Most people are flattered when told they look like a celebrity!" When she got no response from the speck in the distance that was Kaigen Amero, she huffed and screamed out at him, "Fine you big baby, go and cry!"

At this point Ranma had recovered from the forced face-fall that Akane had done to him. Snapping back up from his current position, he looked curiously at Amy. "What's the matter with him?"

Amy giggled. "Oh the drama club asked him if he could play the lead role in the school play that is going on in a month."

Akane and Ranma both scratched the back of their heads in unison. "What's so bad about that? I'd think he would be flattered."

Amy smiled and started rummaging around in her backpack for something. "He didn't say yes yet, but they gave him this as something for him to learn about his role in the play." She pulled out a thick book and placed it in Ranma's hands. Ranma and Akane both looked at it, and then fell to the ground in a heap laughing.

The book had been a collection of Inuyasha manga.

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Kaigen slammed his snap-kick outwards at the training dummy, the straw figure shuddering from the force of the blow. It was nearing evening and he had already listened to almost every joke that Ranma, Amy, Akane, and Nabiki could have possibly thrown at him about his possible role as Inuyasha in the play. Not that he had said yes or anything, but it just made him so mad when he though about how they were mocking him because of this stupid curse. His claws started to glow a bright blue as he landed a flurry of snap kicks to the training dummy, causing it to shudder and groan in protest at its treatment. The glow got brighter and he felt the very air around the attack start to become disturbed. As the attack finished building its energy he slammed both of his claws down and cross-slashed the unfortunate dummy. "Claws of the Wind!" It was instantly torn to shreds as the wind ki charged claws dismembered it. With a deep breath, he turned and walked back into the house, tugging on his gi gently. ("Maybe I should just take this stupid thing in stride. After all it's not that bad when I think about it. I am getting offered the lead role in a school play. Plus I do look a lot like Inuyasha.") He smiled slightly and decided that he needed a way to relieve some stress, and he knew just how to go about it.

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Ranma had just finished his battle for dinner with his pop and he was about ready to go do his evening training. When he arrived he found someone waiting for him in dojo. "Whatcha need Kaigen?"

Kaigen was still dressed in his normal training gi and pants. He lifted his clawed hand up and pointed right at Ranma. "Ranma Saotome, I challenge you to a duel. Do you accept?"

To be continued...

Next Chapter: Duels and Demons

Author's notes: Well, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. By the way, could I get some more reviews please? I'd like to know if I even have anyone reading my work.