Disclaimer: I don't own Usagi, Belldandy, Minako, or any of the
other beautiful and exotic characters found in this fic. Damn.
Warning: The author of this fanfic is currently suffering from a case
of Boku no Seinen volume 5 deficiency.
Warning: Altaverse (Keiichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 15
by Jose Argao
"Haruka-papa! Haruka-papa! Wake up!"
Haruka opened her eyes groggily and was greeted by the sight
of Hotaru's worried face as the young girl stood over her bed. Despite
the fact that she was very tired and still half-asleep, her addled mind
was still able to come up with the response most suited to the
situation.
"Don't worry, honey. There aren't any monsters under your bed.
I already checked."
Having done her duty as a parent, Haruka closed her eyes and
went back to sleep. Moments later, Hotaru was shaking her awake again.
"Papa, I'm not worried about monsters under my bed. I'm too
old for that. I'm worried about a dream I had... Ranma was in it!"
Haruka opened her eyes and replied sleepily, "You don't have
to worry about a thing, honey. It's perfectly normal. Even _I_ dream
of Ranma-kun sometimes. Go back to sleep."
Haruka closed her eyes once more. Hotaru started shaking her
awake again. She sighed and opened her eyes.
"What?"
Hotaru replied quickly, fearful that Haruka would fall asleep
before she was able to finish. "It wasn't just Ranma in my dream, Papa.
There was a beautiful woman with him!."
Haruka immediately sat up on her bed. She smiled at Hotaru and
hugged the young girl tightly against herself.
"Everything's fine, Hotaru-chan. It's okay for girls to like
other girls. There's nothing wrong about it. You musn't let anyone
tell you otherwise!"
Haruka grinned, leaned closer to Hotaru, then whispered
conspiratorially, "So tell me, were they doing anything interesting
with you in your dream? Ranma and the woman, I mean?"
Hotaru blushed as she extricated herself from Haruka's grasp.
"Um... that's not what I meant. I wasn't in the dream at all! The
woman, she wasn't normal.... She had these bat wings sticking out from
her back and head! She and Ranma... they were kissing! It seemed so
real! Ranma could be in trouble!"
Haruka's face became serious as she held Hotaru at arm's
length. The girl was quite obviously bisexual in nature, but her mind
was conditioned to think that having feelings for members of the same
sex was evil, even demonic. It would explain the physical appearance
of the woman in her dream.
Haruka remembered how she herself had felt at Hotaru's age,
wrestling with emotions inside her that she did not think a proper
girl would have. She could still recall all the times she had gazed
longingly at some of her prettier classmates, then realized what she
was doing and stopped immediately, berating herself for doing so.
She went on to endure years of guilt and sadness before she
finally accepted that her needs were different from a normal girl's.
She would not allow Hotaru to go through the same experience if she
could help it.
Haruka took a deep breath before speaking. "Hotaru-chan, I'm
about to tell you something very important. You must listen closely to
it, okay?"
Hotaru nodded slowly as Haruka continued. "I know that you're
at the age where your body is undergoing all sorts of changes. Most of
those changes will be physical, but a few of them will be psychological
in nature. Some of the changes may disturb or even shock you, but you
must not deny their existence. Do you understand?"
Hotaru frowned and shook her head. "Um... not really."
Haruka tried again. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that if
you suddenly get the urge to look a little bit more closely at the
other girls while they change clothes for gym class, it doesn't mean
that you're a freak, got it?"
Hotaru wasn't exactly sure why she needed to be told these
things, but she nodded anyway. "Yes, Papa. But my dream--"
"Your dream was just that, a dream. It was probably caused by
all the hormones your body is producing right now. Just remember what
I told you and go back to sleep, Hotaru-chan."
Hotaru bit her lower lip, thinking about what her papa had
said. She wasn't sure what to make of the part about looking at other
girls while changing for gym class, but she trusted her papa. If
Haruka said everything was fine, then everything was fine. Her face
brightened and her voice became more cheerful as she replied.
"Okay, papa. I'll go back to sleep now. Good night!"
Haruka watched Hotaru as the young girl padded out of the room
and closed the door behind her. She was just about to go to sleep when
she heard the sound of muffled giggling from beside her. She turned
over to face Michiru.
"Have you been awake all this time?"
Michiru's eyes remained closed for a few seconds, but her body
trembled as she fought to keep from giggling. Finally, when she could
no longer stand it, she opened her eyes and laughed out loud.
"That must have been the dumbest father-daughter talk I've ever
heard in my life!"
Haruka frowned. "And how many father-daughter talks have you
had the pleasure of listening to, exactly?"
Michiru grinned. "Not too many, but enough to know that they
don't normally involve encouraging the child to peep on girls changing
for gym class."
Haruka remained frowning. "I wasn't encouraging her. Don't put
words into my mouth."
Seeing that Haruka was getting annoyed, Michiru decided to
modify her tone. "Is that so? Maybe I can find something else to put in
your mouth."
Haruka's face brightened. "Well...."
*****
"Yes, Mistress. Your wish is my command."
Morrigan giggled. She was almost giddy with excitement. Ranma
Saotome now belonged to her! With his help, she would be able to take
energy from anyone she desired, male or female. Together with Lilith,
the three of them would become the most powerful force the world had
ever seen. Not even the gods would be able to go against them.
Before any of that could come to pass, however, she still had
some work to do on him. She kissed him lightly on his lips, delighting
in the moan of pleasure that escaped him. She continued raining soft
kisses on him, moving lower and lower until her lips were hovering over
his neck. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, opened her mouth,
then sunk her teeth into his flesh.
"Aaaaah...."
Ranma shuddered as pleasure radiated out from his neck and
spread out towards the rest of his body. His arms instinctively went
around Morrigan and held her tightly against himself. After a few
seconds, he felt her withdraw her teeth from his neck. She licked his
punctured skin a few times before finally drawing away from him.
"That was nice, Ranchan. Do you realize that we now share an
unbreakable bond? I have just given you my essence. It will increase
your strength to levels no mere human could ever hope to achieve. It
will also bind you to my will.
"The process has left me much weaker than before, however. I
have to depend on you and Lilith to provide me with nourishment from
now on. We are now completely dependent on each other to survive. You
are mine now, and I am yours."
Ranma held Morrigan in his arms, happiness filling his being
as he stroked his mistress's body. Her words were true, obviously. They
belonged to each other now. No one would ever be able to separate them.
He would kill anyone that even tried. He breathed deeply, her scent
flooding his senses. His mind could only come up with one reply.
"Yes, mistress, I will provide you with all the energy you
need. You and Lilith will never have to go hungry again."
Morrigan raised her lips toward his and kissed him deeply, her
tongue dancing around in his mouth. After they separated, she winked at
him and started talking again.
"I have something for you, Ranma. A wedding present of sorts.
It's my gift to you for giving yourself to me."
Ranma smiled at her. "Is it something I'll like?"
Morrigan grinned mischievously at him. "Oh I'm sure you're
going to love her!"
*****
"Shit."
Tuxedo Kamen did not normally swear. It was something that he
associated with people without class. It simply wasn't proper. At the
moment, however, he wasn't really thinking about what was proper.
He was thinking about sex.
Normally, that wouldn't be such a big deal. It's perfectly
normal for a healthy, virile young man such as himself to spend large
amounts of time thinking of nothing but the act of copulation. However,
he wasn't just any young man. He was a prince. Prince Endymion, to be
exact. He was supposed to be above such things. Despite this, he could
not keep his mind from drifting to thoughts that he had previously
considered unthinkable.
It was all that stupid old man's fault, too.
He went through his recent battle with the old man in his mind,
as much from the need to find something sensible to think about as the
desire to figure out just where he had gone wrong.
*****
"What's the matter, sonny? Are you just going to stand there
all night long? I'm kind of in a hurry, you know. Ah, my pretties!"
Mamoru struggled to keep his emotions in check. Not only was
the old pervert mocking his opponent, he was also brazenly rubbing his
face on the underwear he had stolen! Such a vile miscreant deserved no
mercy. He retrieved a small rose from his pocket, the stem sharpened
to a fine point. With a casual flick of his hand, he launched the rose
directly at the old pervert's hand. The projectile sailed through the
air at great speed, headed straight for its target. Mamoru smiled as
the rose approached his opponent. This battle would be as quick as it
was easy.
"Well, that was pretty quick! Not nearly fast enough, though.
You'll need to be a lot faster than that to hit me!"
Mamoru blinked his eyes in shock. Just moments ago, the old
pervert was standing on a rooftop in front of him. Just as his rose was
about to hit his target, the old man disappeared. Mamoru whirled around
towards where the taunt had come from, and saw the old pervert standing
on another rooftop, laughing. The pervert cleared his throat loudly,
then began speaking.
"You've bitten off more than you can chew, boy. Don't you
recognize who you're going up against? I am the great Happosai!"
Mamoru frowned as he struggled to recall the names of all the
nobles of the Moon Kingdom. Try as he would, he could recall neither a
noble nor a high-ranking official named Happosai. The old man was not
a reincarnated member of the Moon Kingdom. He must have just gotten
lucky in avoiding the rose. He turned up his nose at the arrogant old
bastard and prepared to jump in for close combat.
"The name Happosai is not familiar to me. I have never heard
of you. You might have gotten lucky in avoiding my initial attack, but
I assure you that you will not be able to run away from the next one."
Happosai grinned. Tuxedo Kamen was proving to be nearly as
arrogant as Ranma, but with less than half the skill. He took a lacy
pair of panties from his bag and rubbed his face on its surface.
"Ah, my pretty...."
When Mamoru saw Happosai turn away from him, he immediately
jumped from the post he was standing on and lunged at his opponent.
With all the strength and speed at his disposal, he raised his cane
and brought it down upon the old pervert.
Suddenly, he heard a voice whispering softly into his right
ear. "Not nearly fast enough, boy."
Before he could even recover from his attack, Mamoru found
himself hurtling through the air at great speed. He fell onto the roof
of a house several blocks away from his origin and smashed into its
chimney. He struggled to open his eyes and found Happosai standing over
him, grinning. The old man laughed loudly for a few seconds before
looking down on him and talking.
"You're too weak to beat me, boy. Give it up. If you go down
on your knees and apologize to me right now, I'll forget that this
battle ever happened."
Mamoru forced himself to speak. He was down, but not out. If
he could just stall for some time, he would recover enough to launch
another attack.
"I shall never apologize to a disgusting pervert like you. You
are beneath me."
Happosai frowned at Mamoru's words. "Just what did you mean by
that?"
Mamoru smiled. He was getting to Happosai. "You heard what I
said. Perverts like you are on a level far below where I'm at. You're
all a bunch of disgusting animals!"
Happosai's face became grim. "An animal, am I? Well, we'll just
see about that."
After saying those words, Happosai walked slowly towards the
fallen Tuxedo Kamen. He formed his right hand into a fist and raised it
high into the air.
"Don't be afraid, sonny. This won't hurt a bit."
*****
Then Happosai poked him with his left finger and pushed into
Mamoru's side. Mamoru was so focused on Happosai's right hand that he
completely missed where the real attack was coming from. Immediately
after getting hit, he found himself getting extremely drowsy. The
last thing he could remember was Happosai saying a few parting words
as he leapt into the night.
"The pressure point I hit will stimulate your body's healing.
You'll wake up feeling refreshed, with all your injuries completely
gone. I'll let you deal with the side-effects yourself. I'm sure that
a fine, upstanding man like you wouldn't have any trouble with them.
It's not like you're a pervert or anything, right?"
And now all he could think about was sex. Mamoru couldn't
understand it, but Happosai had somehow awakened his basest desires
and increased their strength a thousandfold. It was getting harder
and harder to think straight. All he could think about was... was...
was... what was that?
Mamoru craned his neck around, breathing deeply as he did so.
A smile formed on his face. Yes, he could smell them.
Women.
*****
"Crescent Beam!"
Minako fired her projectile directly at Shampoo, but the
purple-haired amazon warrior dodged it with ease. She and her friends
had been hitting Shampoo and Lilith with everything they had, but
they hadn't hit either of the two even once. She was starting to get
tired. They were being backed into a corner now. She turned to Usagi,
who was panting for breath.
"Don't lose hope, girls. It's not over yet! We... we can
do this!"
Despite her brave words, Minako could tell that Usagi was
close to tears. Ami had taken a direct hit from one of Lilith's attacks
and Rei was supporting her while firing off a string of weak flame
bursts to keep their opponents at bay. Makoto was still unconscious,
lying on the opposite side of the room from them. Ranma was still
beside her.
Is this how it would all end? Was she fated to die at the hands
of two purple-haired youma tonight? She raised her right arm above her
as a chain of small hearts charged with the power of Venus spiraled all
around her. She had to win somehow. She had to survive. She could not
allow herself to lose. Sailor Venus would not die a virgin!
"Venus Love-Me Chain!"
*****
Makoto Kino was bound, gagged, blindfolded, naked, and hanging
by her wrists from the ceiling. She had no idea where she was, how she
got there, or what was going to happen to her.
Oddly enough, she did not feel scared or uncomfortable.
The last thing she remembered before waking up in her current
state was seeing her living room devastated by Usagi and Ami. She had
blacked out after that. For all she knew, she could have been out of it
for a few minutes or a few days. Anything could have happened while she
was unconscious. Makoto knew that she should at least feel concerned
about what had happened to Ranma, but she didn't. It seemed as though
she could feel nothing but calm. She was thinking about this when she
started hearing voices.
"She's right over here, Ranchan."
Makoto strained her ears to hear more. She had heard a woman's
voice. Perhaps her captor had come to see her. She hoped she would
finally find out where she was. She also wanted to know if she had
been given any drugs before waking up. Despite her knowledge that she
was in a very bad situation, she could not bring herself to muster
any negative emotions.
"Mako-chan!"
That was Ranma's voice! Maybe Ranma had come to rescue her!
It was almost too good to be true. Like a fairy tale, even. She had
to repay his kindness, of course. She didn't have any money. Makoto
wondered if he would allow her to repay him in other, more enjoyable
ways. Makoto would have called out to him, but her gag prevented her
from making any sounds other than pathetic grunts.
"You are the only woman for me, mistress. Though I appreciate
your gift, I have no need for her. Please take her away."
Wait a minute! Mistress? What the hell was Ranma talking about?
Who was he talking to? He sounded almost as if he hadn't come to rescue
her.
"I did not bring her here simply to be your toy, Ranchan. She
is here to serve a greater purpose than that. She is here to appease my
hunger. Our hunger, actually."
Makoto frowned. She could not really understand what Ranma and
the woman were talking about. Why wasn't Ranma setting her free? Didn't
he recognize her? Granted, the gag and blindfold _did_ cover a sizable
part of her face, but most boys she knew would have been able to tell
who she was simply by staring at her chest.
"Forgive me, Mistress. I do not understand what you mean."
The woman chuckled before replying. "It really is quite simple.
You see, my sister and I need to feed on a special kind of energy in
order to survive. We are well-equipped to harvest this energy from men,
but they tend to run out rather quickly and need to rest for a bit
before we can feed on them again. We usually need to feed on up to six
men before our hunger is satisfied. Even then, the energy is usually
used up within five days or so. Women, on the other hand, can produce
tremendous amounts of energy and do not require rest periods at all.
Just one woman can provide more than enough energy to last us weeks!
Unfortunately, Lilith and I cannot directly harvest energy from women.
That's where you come in."
So _that's_ what all this was about! They were going to drain
her of her energy! Makoto knew that she should have been terrified, but
she was unable to summon any emotion other than the same sense of calm
that she had been feeling since she awoke. She strained her ears to
hear the rest of what the woman was saying.
"Generally speaking, adapting a man to siphon energy for us
is an exercise in futility. They cannot harvest energy continously and
they do not have the luxury of our innate powers of seduction to aid in
acquiring suitable targets. However, you are different. You are able to
attract women simply by being yourself, an ability that most men lack.
Also, ten years of martial arts training has conditioned your body to
remain up to the task long after lesser men have fallen. You are just
the man we need, Ranchan. The ritual we performed a while ago has given
you the ability to take energy from women and transfer that energy to
me. Take this girl's energy, Ranchan. Can't you see how much she wants
it?"
Makoto had barely heard the woman's voice when she felt herself
suddenly getting incredibly excited. She had never felt so unbelievably
aroused before.
"Very well, Mistress. I will do as you command."
Electric shocks of pleasure crawled all over Makoto's skin as
she listened to Ranma's footsteps as he walked closer to her. The
anticipation was almost unbearable. She wanted him. She wanted him _now_!
Seconds later, Makoto felt Ranma trace the lines of her face
with one of his fingers. All coherent thought left her mind after that.
*****
"I need to go."
Nabiki stopped unpacking and turned towards her companion. She
gestured towards a door on the far side of the room.
"The bathroom's over there. You can take a shower too, if you
want. I already put my soap and shampoo in the medicine cabinet. You
can use those if you want. I can't believe you went on this trip and
didn't think to bring anything but manga and clothes!"
Hinako shook her head. "No, you don't understand. I need to go
outside. It's very important."
Nabiki frowned. "What for? It's too late to go looking for
Ranma, you know. We'll start tommorow. You need your rest."
Hinako's face was serious as she replied. "There's a huge
concentration of battle aura not too far from here. Can't you feel it?"
She couldn't, of course. Nabiki thought for a few moments
before replying. "Battle aura, huh? Is it Ranma?"
Hinako shrugged. "I'm not sure. It might be. All I know is
that the concentration is very powerful. To have that much aura
floating around is very dangerous. Whoever's responsible for it is
probably a delinquent who needs to be taught a lesson."
Nabiki weighed her options carefully. If it turned out that
Ranma wasn't connected to whatever Hinako was feeling, Nabiki would be
endangering her life for nothing by going there. She had never been to
Juuban, so she had no way of knowing if these concentrations of auras
were a normal occurence or something that only started when Ranma got
there.
Nabiki sighed as she started putting her coat on. "Well, I
guess we have to go there and investigate. Let's go!"
*****
"Are you alright now?"
Yuka looked at her best friend with pity in her eyes. Ranma had
really done a number on Akane this time. What was he thinking, going to
Juuban so suddenly like he did? Didn't he care about Akane at all? What
if the rumors of him and Hinako eloping were true?
Akane smiled at Yuka as she settled in to sleep. She didn't
want to appear weak in front of her friend. "I'm fine now. Don't
worry about me. I was just swept up by my emotions, that's all. Now
that I've had a chance to think clearly, I'm practically over Ranma
already. He doesn't care about me anyway, so why should I care about
him? He can go do what he likes in Juuban for all I care."
"I see. I guess you wouldn't want to hear what I have to say,
Ms. Akane."
The two startled girls immediately turned towards the ceiling,
where the sound had come from. They were greeted by the sight of
Konatsu hanging upside-down and looking at them.
"Drawer attack!"
Suddenly, before the girls could react, the clothes drawer in
Akane's room sprouted arms and legs and jumped into the air. It tried
to punch Konatsu, but the kunoichi was able to dodge the attack by
leaning slightly to the side. The drawer fell to the ground with a loud
thud, rolled over a few times, struggled to stand up, then sprouted a
head. He retrieved a lacy pair of panties from one of his drawers and
brandished it threateningly at Konatsu.
"Who are you and why are you here? I'm warning you... I have
Akane's panties and I'm not afraid to use them!"
A smile appeared on Yuka's face as she recognized who was
inside the drawer. "Tsubasa-kun, you're here! I was wondering where
you were. I thought you'd already left!"
Tsubasa squirmed out of his costume and smiled at Yuka, his
teeth glittering. "I decided to stay behind and protect you, just in
case some strange man decides to try entering your bedroom at night.
You can never be too careful these days, you know."
Akane stood up from her bed, walked over to Tsubasa, and
smashed his face in with a mallet. She formed her right hand into a
fist as she started speaking.
"Just what do you think you're doing, sneaking into my room
and threatening Konatsu with my underwear!"
While Yuka tended to the fallen Tsubasa, Akane took her panties
and put them into another drawer, checking to make sure it was a real
drawer this time. She then turned back towards Konatsu, who was fanning
Tsubasa's face while Yuka tried to revive him.
"As for you, what were you going to say to me?"
Konatsu just shook his head. "Oh, you won't be interested in it
at all, Ms. Akane. I'd better go now."
Akane grabbed Konatsu by the shoulder as he turned to leave.
"What do you mean? How can you know I won't be interested if
you haven't told me yet?"
Konatsu grinned shyly at her. "Well, you don't care about Ranma
anymore so you wouldn't be interested in what I have to say."
Akane's eyes grew wide. "You were going to tell me something
about Ranma? What is it?"
Konatsu shook his head again. "Well, you wouldn't be interested
in it anyway so--"
Akane quickly interrupted Konatsu. "I _am_ interested, so tell
me!"
Konatsu's face became a mask of confusion. "I don't understand.
Does this mean that you care about Ranma now?"
Akane rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Yes! I mean, no, but I
still want to hear what it was that you wanted to tell me."
Konatsu thought for a few seconds before answering. "Okay, if
you say so. I just came by to tell you that Ranma might be in trouble.
I think some people might be out to kill him."
Akane sighed with relief. She had thought that Konatsu had
come to tell her that Ranma had really eloped with Ms. Hinako. Now that
she knew it was just some people making an attempt on his life, she
could rest easy.
"That's nothing to worry about, Konatsu. Ranma already has lots
of people trying to kill him. He can handle a few more."
Konatsu frowned. "Well, it seems that you didn't find it too
interesting after all. I'm still going to Juuban though, just to check
on him. Those pretty women seemed like they meant business."
Akane frowned. "Pretty women? You mean the people trying to
kill Ranma are pretty women?"
Konatsu nodded. "Yeah, two of them. There was a beautiful lady
and a pretty young girl. They were saying something about taking Ranma
to heaven."
Akane's lips trembled. This was exactly what she had feared.
Barely a day had passed since Ranma left for Juuban, and he had already
found two women willing to play his perverted games with him. He had
to be stopped! As the only woman who could see through his perverted
ways, she was just the person to do it.
Akane tapped Konatsu's shoulder before the kunouchi was able to
jump out the window. "Wait for me. I'm coming with you."
*****
"Sailor Mercury, we need to retreat! Can we teleport out of
here?"
Usagi turned to her blue-haired friend as Ami rapidly punched
buttons on the keyboard of her computer. Moments later, Ami shook her
head as she replied.
"We don't have enough energy to teleport. Even if we could,
we'd have to leave Makoto and Ranma behind."
Usagi wracked her brain for a way out of this. She hadn't
expected their opponents to be this strong. Why couldn't they just drop
dead after being blasted a couple of times like normal youma did? Ami
was injured, Rei and Minako were tired. She herself was almost drained.
Their opponents had them up against a wall and were closing in on
them. It would take a miracle to save them now.
Shampoo smiled at the senshi. "You is much weaker than Shampoo
expected. No challenge. Fight over now. Shampoo is won."
Lilith turned to her temporary ally. "Hey, wait a minute! After
we beat them, you still have to beat me. I'm not gonna... gonna...."
Shampoo smiled at the young succubus. She retrieved a small
bag from one of her pockets and threw it into the air. It exploded and
released more of the same powder she had used to break Lilith's mental
hold on the senshi.
"Amazon anti-succubus powder. Very useful. Immediately relieve
succubus mind control. If inhale by succubus, drain energy in twenty
minutes. You is feeling weak now, little succubus?"
Lilith glared at Shampoo. She had been played for a fool! "You
betrayed me!"
Shampoo chuckled. "Shampoo do no such thing. Agreement was
help each other beat senshi, yes? Senshi is beaten. Now, you is beaten
too."
"For love and justice I am the beautiful sailor-suited soldier
Sailor Pluto! I shall punish you in the name of Pluto!
Shampoo whirled around and turned towards where the sound
had come from. She saw the silhuette of a woman standing on top of
the opposite building. She couldn't tell conclusively because of
the distance, but the woman seemed to be dancing around.
"Dead Scream!"
The explosion that followed rocked the entire building. The
last thing that Shampoo heard was the sound of her own head hitting
one of the remaining walls as she was thrown off by the explosion. Ami
thought that it would collapse from the stress, but it miraculously
remained standing. She hoped that Ranma and Makoto were alright. When
the dust had cleared, a new figure stood in the middle of the room.
"Sailor Pluto?"
Usagi's jaw dropped. Was she really looking at Sailor Pluto?
The last time she had checked, senshi uniforms did not leave their
midriffs exposed. Neither did they show generous amounts of cleavage.
Sailor Pluto's uniform was also black, not orange like Minako's. The
skirts were also supposed to be a bit longer. However, Setsuna was the
only person she knew of that could do the Dead Scream attack. The
time staff also looked real. The long, flowing green hair was also
the same. What had happened to Setsuna? She looked like one of those
models in dirty magazines!
The scantily-clad woman stood still as the last of the dust
settled. "This battle is over now. None of you are in any condition to
fight me. I will be taking Ranma now. If anyone wishes to fight me, I
shall destroy her."
"I'll take that challenge."
The occupants of the room all turned towards the other side of
the room, where a beautiful woman with silver hair was standing. She was
wearing a tight cream-colored sweater and hip-hugging white pants that
showed off her figure to full effect. Sailor Pluto pointed an accusing
finger at the woman.
"Oh, it's you. I'm afraid I can't allow myself to lose to you
this time, Urd."
Ami's breath caught in her throat. The woman was Urd, the same
person Setsuna had originally warned them about. If she wasn't mistaken
then Urd was responsible for all of their current problems. Urd was the
person who had originally messed up the timelines, after all.
"Stay right where you are if you don't want to get hurt,
delinquents. Ranma is my responsibility. If anyone is taking him home,
it'll be me!"
They all turned towards one of the corners, where a teenaged
Hinako had a fifty yen coin pointed at them. Nabiki stood a few meters
away from her, trying to look inconspicuous. Setsuna was about to say
something about how it was silly of anyone to expect her to bow down
to a coin-wielding adversary when a rose passed a few scant centimeters
from her face and embedded itself onto the floor.
They turned towards the top of the apartment building that she
had originally come from, and found that it was now occupied by a
familiar figure wearing clothes that looked better suited for a formal
dinner than fighting.
"While I must admire your lovely female forms, it pains me to
see you so concerned over a man other than myself. I am afraid that I
must best you all in combat so as to establish that I am infinitely
more worthy of your affection."
Usagi was about to mention something corny to Tuxedo Kamen
about her undying love for him and the fact that she didn't like how
he was actively pursuing romantic relationships with other women in
her presence but she was cut off by yet another new arrival.
"Actually, I've always thought you were gay. I mean, look at
you. You're not even half the man Master Ranma is!"
Usagi turned towards where Makoto and Ranma had previously lain
and found that they were both conscious. The words left her mouth
before she could think of them.
"Mako-chan, how could you say such a thing! Even if he _does_
like to read Fushigi Yuugi, Mamo-chan's still a man! That is, I mean,
Tuxedo Mask is still a man! As for you, Ranma, you should let go of me
right now. It's not right for us to be doing that in public, you know."
Usagi blinked, rubbed her eyes, then looked at Ranma again.
Sure enough, he was holding her close to him while she ground her body
lewdly against his side. Her voice trembled as she asked her question.
"Who are _you_?"
The girl in Ranma's arms gave Usagi the answer she feared the
most. "Me? I'm Usagi of course!"
Usagi turned to Ami, who had chosen to use the break in
fighting to put bandages on her wounds.
"Ami-chan, I don't understand! If she's me, and I'm over there,
then who am I?"
Ami used her visor to look at the girl grinding herself against
Ranma, reminding herself to think non-sexual thoughts as she did so. A
brief glance was enough to inform her of the girl's true identity.
"That's not you, Usagi. That's Lilith, the girl we were
fighting before."
After hearing Ami's words, Lilith pouted and changed back into
her true form. "Well, that was fun. I'm ready for my meal now, Ranma!"
"Of course, Mistress Lilith."
Ranma held Lilith's face in his hands, tilted her head up to
his, and kissed her. Hard. Ami absently raised her hand to the side of
her visor and pressed 'record'.
"Hey, stop that! You're behaving like delinquents! Happo no Yen
Coin Return!"
Hinako let loose with a huge burst of energy, enough to level
an entire building on contact. She never did feel comfortable watching
public displays of affection. The projectile headed towards Lilith and
Ranma at amazing speed, promising to inflict huge amounts of pain on
them.
"Supreme Thunder!"
Right before Hinako's attack connected, it was canceled out by
a field of electricity from Makoto, who had jumped between the kissing
couple and the projectile.
"I won't allow you to hurt Master Ranma!"
Usagi's mouth fell open in shock. She couldn't understand what
was happening. Not only was Makoto behaving strangely and calling
Ranma her master, she had also managed to transform into her senshi
form almost intantaneously. What was going on? She turned to Lilith,
who had just finished kissing Ranma.
Lilith smiled cutely at the assembled people before talking.
"Mmmm... very nice. Thanks for the save, Mako-chan. I'm much better
now, everyone. Look at this!"
Lilith raised her right hand and a burst of energy shot out
from her palm, exploding into a shower of colored light when it hit
the ceiling.
"Shadow Blade!"
Nabiki quickly turned towards the woman called Urd, and
found her avoiding an attack from another woman. She had never seen
the new arrival before, but the woman had wings similar to the ones
Lilith had. Their hair was also similar, though the new arrival's
locks were longer than Lilith's. She looked older than Lilith as
well. Perhaps they were sisters?
The woman had lunged at Urd with a bladed wing, but Urd dodged
the attack with ease. The woman's attack hit thin air as she passed
through Urd's previous location. She continued running, jumped high
into the air, flipped several times, and landed beside Lilith.
"Good evening, everyone. Morrigan Aensland, pleased to meet
you all."
Urd sneered at Morrigan as she spoke. "If you thought that
your sister's little display would distract me enough for that
pathetic attack to actually connect, then you've got another thing
coming."
Electricity passed between the two women's eyes as they stared
each other down. Mamoru chose this brief lull in speech to voice what
was on his mind.
"Before I beat you all up and make you fall in love with
me, I would just like to say that I do not see why reading Fushigi
Yuugi would not be an indication of manliness. Nuriko was hot!"
Nabiki burst out laughing at Mamoru's words, then grew quiet
when she saw that everyone was staring at her. Setsuna tapped the
Time Staff on the floor, gaining the attention of everyone.
"If everyone has already arrived, I propose that we get this
fight over with. I have plenty of activities planned for myself and
Ranma and I want to get started before the evening is over if that's
alright with you." Setsuna paused and turned towards Usagi. "Usagi,
will you be joining the battle? You didn't look too good when I
arrived."
Usagi looked expectantly at Ami, who gave her a thumbs up. She
turned back towards Setsuna. "We're in."
Setsuna turned towards the rest of the people. "Does anyone
else want to say anything before we start?"
Makoto shyly tugged on Ranma's shirt, then whispered something
into his ear. Ranma raised his hand shortly afterwards.
Setsuna turned towards him. "Yes?"
Ranma waved his hand at the devastated apartment around them.
"Mako-chan wants to ask if we could move this to the school's field.
It doesn't look like the walls will hold out for much longer."
Setsuna looked at the rest of the group. "Any objections? No?
Very well."
Setsuna tapped her staff twice on the ground, and a bright
green light emanated from it. The would-be combatants were all
enveloped in it. Moments later, the light died down. It left behind
the remains of a wrecked apartment and a dazed Nabiki. She looked
around her, then started walking towards the school.
"Geez, she could have at least taken me with her!"
*****
Deep inside a secret underground facility, an unknown man
sat behind his desk and pressed a button on a small keyboard located
on one of the desk's corners. A large screen flickered to life in
front of him. The image of a cloaked female figure appeared on the
screen, her cloak's shadow obscuring her face.
"The occupants have left the building. Target: Ranma Saotome
was positively identified. Mission incomplete. Fighting data gathered
was insufficient for analysis. Requesting permission to follow target
and conduct further observation."
The man nodded slowly. "Very well, permission to follow is
granted. Physical contact with the target is to be avoided if
possible. If he exhibits sufficient fighting ability, initiate
capture sequence 32-A."
"My... pretties...."
The man paused briefly before speaking. "What was that?"
The view on the screen changed as the cloaked figure trained
her camera on the prone figure of Happosai. The old pervert was lying
unconscious on the ground, twitching from time to time.
"Cover compromised by contact with subject. Subject exhibits
ninety percent similarity to previously catalouged fighter: Happosai.
Combat was initiated to preserve cover."
The man nodded once more. "I see. Have you sustained any
injuries?"
The cloaked figure appeared on the screen once more. "Minor
bruising was sustained as subject attempted intimate contact."
The man shook his head. "Was he able to get a look at your
face? Will he be able to recognize you in the future?"
The cloaked figure shook her head. "Negative. Subject's pupils
were directed at my chest for the duration of the battle."
The man sighed. Happosai's fighting ability was among the
highest ever observed, but his skills were compromised by his lecherous
ways. "If you are confident that he cannot identify you, then you need
not dispose of him. For now, I want you to follow Ranma Saotome and
gather his fighting data."
The cloaked figure nodded briskly. "As you command."
*****
Author's Notes
Took a while, ne? I actually had to take a long break from
writing in order to concentrate on my thesis. I'm finally finished with
it, and I'll be graduating soon. After graduation, I plan to go for a
master's degree. Wish me luck!
Aside from my studies, I also slowed down because I spent
unbelievable amounts of time searching for places to download Naruto
episodes (I've got 1-24 so far), Azumanga episodes (I've got 2-8 so
far) and Hanaukyo Maids episodes (I've got 1-15). I also wasted a lot
of time looking for Boku no Seinen volume five and Saigado's new
Guilty Gear dojin.
Anyone who could point me to where I can download scans of
Boku no Seinen vol. 5 or the GG Saigado dojin, or even scans of the
Hanaukyo Maids manga will be my friend for life. (unlike some other
people, I appreciate the fact that you can appreciate the fanservice
in Hanaukyo Maids without worrying about the storyline. Mahoro has
nothing on Mariel)
I've also started work on watching my incredible backlog of
anime episodes that I have on CD but have neglected to watch. The
remaining episodes that I need to watch are Great Teacher Onizuka 12
-36, Gatekeepers, Sakura Wars 9-25, DNA^2 8-15, Star Ocean EX, Full
Metal Panic, the second season of Mahoromatic, and the whole Onegai
Teacher series.
The final reason for my delay was the fact that it took me
forever to get all the endings for Gloria, Seasons of the Sakura, and
Kana Little Sister.
I would like to thank Nathan Diederich, Egan Mandreck, Tracy
Poff, Vex, Tonyloco, Shade, Kevin Henry, Chester, Takeki Kagato, and
Griever for all the help they have given me for this chapter.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.
other beautiful and exotic characters found in this fic. Damn.
Warning: The author of this fanfic is currently suffering from a case
of Boku no Seinen volume 5 deficiency.
Warning: Altaverse (Keiichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 15
by Jose Argao
"Haruka-papa! Haruka-papa! Wake up!"
Haruka opened her eyes groggily and was greeted by the sight
of Hotaru's worried face as the young girl stood over her bed. Despite
the fact that she was very tired and still half-asleep, her addled mind
was still able to come up with the response most suited to the
situation.
"Don't worry, honey. There aren't any monsters under your bed.
I already checked."
Having done her duty as a parent, Haruka closed her eyes and
went back to sleep. Moments later, Hotaru was shaking her awake again.
"Papa, I'm not worried about monsters under my bed. I'm too
old for that. I'm worried about a dream I had... Ranma was in it!"
Haruka opened her eyes and replied sleepily, "You don't have
to worry about a thing, honey. It's perfectly normal. Even _I_ dream
of Ranma-kun sometimes. Go back to sleep."
Haruka closed her eyes once more. Hotaru started shaking her
awake again. She sighed and opened her eyes.
"What?"
Hotaru replied quickly, fearful that Haruka would fall asleep
before she was able to finish. "It wasn't just Ranma in my dream, Papa.
There was a beautiful woman with him!."
Haruka immediately sat up on her bed. She smiled at Hotaru and
hugged the young girl tightly against herself.
"Everything's fine, Hotaru-chan. It's okay for girls to like
other girls. There's nothing wrong about it. You musn't let anyone
tell you otherwise!"
Haruka grinned, leaned closer to Hotaru, then whispered
conspiratorially, "So tell me, were they doing anything interesting
with you in your dream? Ranma and the woman, I mean?"
Hotaru blushed as she extricated herself from Haruka's grasp.
"Um... that's not what I meant. I wasn't in the dream at all! The
woman, she wasn't normal.... She had these bat wings sticking out from
her back and head! She and Ranma... they were kissing! It seemed so
real! Ranma could be in trouble!"
Haruka's face became serious as she held Hotaru at arm's
length. The girl was quite obviously bisexual in nature, but her mind
was conditioned to think that having feelings for members of the same
sex was evil, even demonic. It would explain the physical appearance
of the woman in her dream.
Haruka remembered how she herself had felt at Hotaru's age,
wrestling with emotions inside her that she did not think a proper
girl would have. She could still recall all the times she had gazed
longingly at some of her prettier classmates, then realized what she
was doing and stopped immediately, berating herself for doing so.
She went on to endure years of guilt and sadness before she
finally accepted that her needs were different from a normal girl's.
She would not allow Hotaru to go through the same experience if she
could help it.
Haruka took a deep breath before speaking. "Hotaru-chan, I'm
about to tell you something very important. You must listen closely to
it, okay?"
Hotaru nodded slowly as Haruka continued. "I know that you're
at the age where your body is undergoing all sorts of changes. Most of
those changes will be physical, but a few of them will be psychological
in nature. Some of the changes may disturb or even shock you, but you
must not deny their existence. Do you understand?"
Hotaru frowned and shook her head. "Um... not really."
Haruka tried again. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that if
you suddenly get the urge to look a little bit more closely at the
other girls while they change clothes for gym class, it doesn't mean
that you're a freak, got it?"
Hotaru wasn't exactly sure why she needed to be told these
things, but she nodded anyway. "Yes, Papa. But my dream--"
"Your dream was just that, a dream. It was probably caused by
all the hormones your body is producing right now. Just remember what
I told you and go back to sleep, Hotaru-chan."
Hotaru bit her lower lip, thinking about what her papa had
said. She wasn't sure what to make of the part about looking at other
girls while changing for gym class, but she trusted her papa. If
Haruka said everything was fine, then everything was fine. Her face
brightened and her voice became more cheerful as she replied.
"Okay, papa. I'll go back to sleep now. Good night!"
Haruka watched Hotaru as the young girl padded out of the room
and closed the door behind her. She was just about to go to sleep when
she heard the sound of muffled giggling from beside her. She turned
over to face Michiru.
"Have you been awake all this time?"
Michiru's eyes remained closed for a few seconds, but her body
trembled as she fought to keep from giggling. Finally, when she could
no longer stand it, she opened her eyes and laughed out loud.
"That must have been the dumbest father-daughter talk I've ever
heard in my life!"
Haruka frowned. "And how many father-daughter talks have you
had the pleasure of listening to, exactly?"
Michiru grinned. "Not too many, but enough to know that they
don't normally involve encouraging the child to peep on girls changing
for gym class."
Haruka remained frowning. "I wasn't encouraging her. Don't put
words into my mouth."
Seeing that Haruka was getting annoyed, Michiru decided to
modify her tone. "Is that so? Maybe I can find something else to put in
your mouth."
Haruka's face brightened. "Well...."
*****
"Yes, Mistress. Your wish is my command."
Morrigan giggled. She was almost giddy with excitement. Ranma
Saotome now belonged to her! With his help, she would be able to take
energy from anyone she desired, male or female. Together with Lilith,
the three of them would become the most powerful force the world had
ever seen. Not even the gods would be able to go against them.
Before any of that could come to pass, however, she still had
some work to do on him. She kissed him lightly on his lips, delighting
in the moan of pleasure that escaped him. She continued raining soft
kisses on him, moving lower and lower until her lips were hovering over
his neck. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, opened her mouth,
then sunk her teeth into his flesh.
"Aaaaah...."
Ranma shuddered as pleasure radiated out from his neck and
spread out towards the rest of his body. His arms instinctively went
around Morrigan and held her tightly against himself. After a few
seconds, he felt her withdraw her teeth from his neck. She licked his
punctured skin a few times before finally drawing away from him.
"That was nice, Ranchan. Do you realize that we now share an
unbreakable bond? I have just given you my essence. It will increase
your strength to levels no mere human could ever hope to achieve. It
will also bind you to my will.
"The process has left me much weaker than before, however. I
have to depend on you and Lilith to provide me with nourishment from
now on. We are now completely dependent on each other to survive. You
are mine now, and I am yours."
Ranma held Morrigan in his arms, happiness filling his being
as he stroked his mistress's body. Her words were true, obviously. They
belonged to each other now. No one would ever be able to separate them.
He would kill anyone that even tried. He breathed deeply, her scent
flooding his senses. His mind could only come up with one reply.
"Yes, mistress, I will provide you with all the energy you
need. You and Lilith will never have to go hungry again."
Morrigan raised her lips toward his and kissed him deeply, her
tongue dancing around in his mouth. After they separated, she winked at
him and started talking again.
"I have something for you, Ranma. A wedding present of sorts.
It's my gift to you for giving yourself to me."
Ranma smiled at her. "Is it something I'll like?"
Morrigan grinned mischievously at him. "Oh I'm sure you're
going to love her!"
*****
"Shit."
Tuxedo Kamen did not normally swear. It was something that he
associated with people without class. It simply wasn't proper. At the
moment, however, he wasn't really thinking about what was proper.
He was thinking about sex.
Normally, that wouldn't be such a big deal. It's perfectly
normal for a healthy, virile young man such as himself to spend large
amounts of time thinking of nothing but the act of copulation. However,
he wasn't just any young man. He was a prince. Prince Endymion, to be
exact. He was supposed to be above such things. Despite this, he could
not keep his mind from drifting to thoughts that he had previously
considered unthinkable.
It was all that stupid old man's fault, too.
He went through his recent battle with the old man in his mind,
as much from the need to find something sensible to think about as the
desire to figure out just where he had gone wrong.
*****
"What's the matter, sonny? Are you just going to stand there
all night long? I'm kind of in a hurry, you know. Ah, my pretties!"
Mamoru struggled to keep his emotions in check. Not only was
the old pervert mocking his opponent, he was also brazenly rubbing his
face on the underwear he had stolen! Such a vile miscreant deserved no
mercy. He retrieved a small rose from his pocket, the stem sharpened
to a fine point. With a casual flick of his hand, he launched the rose
directly at the old pervert's hand. The projectile sailed through the
air at great speed, headed straight for its target. Mamoru smiled as
the rose approached his opponent. This battle would be as quick as it
was easy.
"Well, that was pretty quick! Not nearly fast enough, though.
You'll need to be a lot faster than that to hit me!"
Mamoru blinked his eyes in shock. Just moments ago, the old
pervert was standing on a rooftop in front of him. Just as his rose was
about to hit his target, the old man disappeared. Mamoru whirled around
towards where the taunt had come from, and saw the old pervert standing
on another rooftop, laughing. The pervert cleared his throat loudly,
then began speaking.
"You've bitten off more than you can chew, boy. Don't you
recognize who you're going up against? I am the great Happosai!"
Mamoru frowned as he struggled to recall the names of all the
nobles of the Moon Kingdom. Try as he would, he could recall neither a
noble nor a high-ranking official named Happosai. The old man was not
a reincarnated member of the Moon Kingdom. He must have just gotten
lucky in avoiding the rose. He turned up his nose at the arrogant old
bastard and prepared to jump in for close combat.
"The name Happosai is not familiar to me. I have never heard
of you. You might have gotten lucky in avoiding my initial attack, but
I assure you that you will not be able to run away from the next one."
Happosai grinned. Tuxedo Kamen was proving to be nearly as
arrogant as Ranma, but with less than half the skill. He took a lacy
pair of panties from his bag and rubbed his face on its surface.
"Ah, my pretty...."
When Mamoru saw Happosai turn away from him, he immediately
jumped from the post he was standing on and lunged at his opponent.
With all the strength and speed at his disposal, he raised his cane
and brought it down upon the old pervert.
Suddenly, he heard a voice whispering softly into his right
ear. "Not nearly fast enough, boy."
Before he could even recover from his attack, Mamoru found
himself hurtling through the air at great speed. He fell onto the roof
of a house several blocks away from his origin and smashed into its
chimney. He struggled to open his eyes and found Happosai standing over
him, grinning. The old man laughed loudly for a few seconds before
looking down on him and talking.
"You're too weak to beat me, boy. Give it up. If you go down
on your knees and apologize to me right now, I'll forget that this
battle ever happened."
Mamoru forced himself to speak. He was down, but not out. If
he could just stall for some time, he would recover enough to launch
another attack.
"I shall never apologize to a disgusting pervert like you. You
are beneath me."
Happosai frowned at Mamoru's words. "Just what did you mean by
that?"
Mamoru smiled. He was getting to Happosai. "You heard what I
said. Perverts like you are on a level far below where I'm at. You're
all a bunch of disgusting animals!"
Happosai's face became grim. "An animal, am I? Well, we'll just
see about that."
After saying those words, Happosai walked slowly towards the
fallen Tuxedo Kamen. He formed his right hand into a fist and raised it
high into the air.
"Don't be afraid, sonny. This won't hurt a bit."
*****
Then Happosai poked him with his left finger and pushed into
Mamoru's side. Mamoru was so focused on Happosai's right hand that he
completely missed where the real attack was coming from. Immediately
after getting hit, he found himself getting extremely drowsy. The
last thing he could remember was Happosai saying a few parting words
as he leapt into the night.
"The pressure point I hit will stimulate your body's healing.
You'll wake up feeling refreshed, with all your injuries completely
gone. I'll let you deal with the side-effects yourself. I'm sure that
a fine, upstanding man like you wouldn't have any trouble with them.
It's not like you're a pervert or anything, right?"
And now all he could think about was sex. Mamoru couldn't
understand it, but Happosai had somehow awakened his basest desires
and increased their strength a thousandfold. It was getting harder
and harder to think straight. All he could think about was... was...
was... what was that?
Mamoru craned his neck around, breathing deeply as he did so.
A smile formed on his face. Yes, he could smell them.
Women.
*****
"Crescent Beam!"
Minako fired her projectile directly at Shampoo, but the
purple-haired amazon warrior dodged it with ease. She and her friends
had been hitting Shampoo and Lilith with everything they had, but
they hadn't hit either of the two even once. She was starting to get
tired. They were being backed into a corner now. She turned to Usagi,
who was panting for breath.
"Don't lose hope, girls. It's not over yet! We... we can
do this!"
Despite her brave words, Minako could tell that Usagi was
close to tears. Ami had taken a direct hit from one of Lilith's attacks
and Rei was supporting her while firing off a string of weak flame
bursts to keep their opponents at bay. Makoto was still unconscious,
lying on the opposite side of the room from them. Ranma was still
beside her.
Is this how it would all end? Was she fated to die at the hands
of two purple-haired youma tonight? She raised her right arm above her
as a chain of small hearts charged with the power of Venus spiraled all
around her. She had to win somehow. She had to survive. She could not
allow herself to lose. Sailor Venus would not die a virgin!
"Venus Love-Me Chain!"
*****
Makoto Kino was bound, gagged, blindfolded, naked, and hanging
by her wrists from the ceiling. She had no idea where she was, how she
got there, or what was going to happen to her.
Oddly enough, she did not feel scared or uncomfortable.
The last thing she remembered before waking up in her current
state was seeing her living room devastated by Usagi and Ami. She had
blacked out after that. For all she knew, she could have been out of it
for a few minutes or a few days. Anything could have happened while she
was unconscious. Makoto knew that she should at least feel concerned
about what had happened to Ranma, but she didn't. It seemed as though
she could feel nothing but calm. She was thinking about this when she
started hearing voices.
"She's right over here, Ranchan."
Makoto strained her ears to hear more. She had heard a woman's
voice. Perhaps her captor had come to see her. She hoped she would
finally find out where she was. She also wanted to know if she had
been given any drugs before waking up. Despite her knowledge that she
was in a very bad situation, she could not bring herself to muster
any negative emotions.
"Mako-chan!"
That was Ranma's voice! Maybe Ranma had come to rescue her!
It was almost too good to be true. Like a fairy tale, even. She had
to repay his kindness, of course. She didn't have any money. Makoto
wondered if he would allow her to repay him in other, more enjoyable
ways. Makoto would have called out to him, but her gag prevented her
from making any sounds other than pathetic grunts.
"You are the only woman for me, mistress. Though I appreciate
your gift, I have no need for her. Please take her away."
Wait a minute! Mistress? What the hell was Ranma talking about?
Who was he talking to? He sounded almost as if he hadn't come to rescue
her.
"I did not bring her here simply to be your toy, Ranchan. She
is here to serve a greater purpose than that. She is here to appease my
hunger. Our hunger, actually."
Makoto frowned. She could not really understand what Ranma and
the woman were talking about. Why wasn't Ranma setting her free? Didn't
he recognize her? Granted, the gag and blindfold _did_ cover a sizable
part of her face, but most boys she knew would have been able to tell
who she was simply by staring at her chest.
"Forgive me, Mistress. I do not understand what you mean."
The woman chuckled before replying. "It really is quite simple.
You see, my sister and I need to feed on a special kind of energy in
order to survive. We are well-equipped to harvest this energy from men,
but they tend to run out rather quickly and need to rest for a bit
before we can feed on them again. We usually need to feed on up to six
men before our hunger is satisfied. Even then, the energy is usually
used up within five days or so. Women, on the other hand, can produce
tremendous amounts of energy and do not require rest periods at all.
Just one woman can provide more than enough energy to last us weeks!
Unfortunately, Lilith and I cannot directly harvest energy from women.
That's where you come in."
So _that's_ what all this was about! They were going to drain
her of her energy! Makoto knew that she should have been terrified, but
she was unable to summon any emotion other than the same sense of calm
that she had been feeling since she awoke. She strained her ears to
hear the rest of what the woman was saying.
"Generally speaking, adapting a man to siphon energy for us
is an exercise in futility. They cannot harvest energy continously and
they do not have the luxury of our innate powers of seduction to aid in
acquiring suitable targets. However, you are different. You are able to
attract women simply by being yourself, an ability that most men lack.
Also, ten years of martial arts training has conditioned your body to
remain up to the task long after lesser men have fallen. You are just
the man we need, Ranchan. The ritual we performed a while ago has given
you the ability to take energy from women and transfer that energy to
me. Take this girl's energy, Ranchan. Can't you see how much she wants
it?"
Makoto had barely heard the woman's voice when she felt herself
suddenly getting incredibly excited. She had never felt so unbelievably
aroused before.
"Very well, Mistress. I will do as you command."
Electric shocks of pleasure crawled all over Makoto's skin as
she listened to Ranma's footsteps as he walked closer to her. The
anticipation was almost unbearable. She wanted him. She wanted him _now_!
Seconds later, Makoto felt Ranma trace the lines of her face
with one of his fingers. All coherent thought left her mind after that.
*****
"I need to go."
Nabiki stopped unpacking and turned towards her companion. She
gestured towards a door on the far side of the room.
"The bathroom's over there. You can take a shower too, if you
want. I already put my soap and shampoo in the medicine cabinet. You
can use those if you want. I can't believe you went on this trip and
didn't think to bring anything but manga and clothes!"
Hinako shook her head. "No, you don't understand. I need to go
outside. It's very important."
Nabiki frowned. "What for? It's too late to go looking for
Ranma, you know. We'll start tommorow. You need your rest."
Hinako's face was serious as she replied. "There's a huge
concentration of battle aura not too far from here. Can't you feel it?"
She couldn't, of course. Nabiki thought for a few moments
before replying. "Battle aura, huh? Is it Ranma?"
Hinako shrugged. "I'm not sure. It might be. All I know is
that the concentration is very powerful. To have that much aura
floating around is very dangerous. Whoever's responsible for it is
probably a delinquent who needs to be taught a lesson."
Nabiki weighed her options carefully. If it turned out that
Ranma wasn't connected to whatever Hinako was feeling, Nabiki would be
endangering her life for nothing by going there. She had never been to
Juuban, so she had no way of knowing if these concentrations of auras
were a normal occurence or something that only started when Ranma got
there.
Nabiki sighed as she started putting her coat on. "Well, I
guess we have to go there and investigate. Let's go!"
*****
"Are you alright now?"
Yuka looked at her best friend with pity in her eyes. Ranma had
really done a number on Akane this time. What was he thinking, going to
Juuban so suddenly like he did? Didn't he care about Akane at all? What
if the rumors of him and Hinako eloping were true?
Akane smiled at Yuka as she settled in to sleep. She didn't
want to appear weak in front of her friend. "I'm fine now. Don't
worry about me. I was just swept up by my emotions, that's all. Now
that I've had a chance to think clearly, I'm practically over Ranma
already. He doesn't care about me anyway, so why should I care about
him? He can go do what he likes in Juuban for all I care."
"I see. I guess you wouldn't want to hear what I have to say,
Ms. Akane."
The two startled girls immediately turned towards the ceiling,
where the sound had come from. They were greeted by the sight of
Konatsu hanging upside-down and looking at them.
"Drawer attack!"
Suddenly, before the girls could react, the clothes drawer in
Akane's room sprouted arms and legs and jumped into the air. It tried
to punch Konatsu, but the kunoichi was able to dodge the attack by
leaning slightly to the side. The drawer fell to the ground with a loud
thud, rolled over a few times, struggled to stand up, then sprouted a
head. He retrieved a lacy pair of panties from one of his drawers and
brandished it threateningly at Konatsu.
"Who are you and why are you here? I'm warning you... I have
Akane's panties and I'm not afraid to use them!"
A smile appeared on Yuka's face as she recognized who was
inside the drawer. "Tsubasa-kun, you're here! I was wondering where
you were. I thought you'd already left!"
Tsubasa squirmed out of his costume and smiled at Yuka, his
teeth glittering. "I decided to stay behind and protect you, just in
case some strange man decides to try entering your bedroom at night.
You can never be too careful these days, you know."
Akane stood up from her bed, walked over to Tsubasa, and
smashed his face in with a mallet. She formed her right hand into a
fist as she started speaking.
"Just what do you think you're doing, sneaking into my room
and threatening Konatsu with my underwear!"
While Yuka tended to the fallen Tsubasa, Akane took her panties
and put them into another drawer, checking to make sure it was a real
drawer this time. She then turned back towards Konatsu, who was fanning
Tsubasa's face while Yuka tried to revive him.
"As for you, what were you going to say to me?"
Konatsu just shook his head. "Oh, you won't be interested in it
at all, Ms. Akane. I'd better go now."
Akane grabbed Konatsu by the shoulder as he turned to leave.
"What do you mean? How can you know I won't be interested if
you haven't told me yet?"
Konatsu grinned shyly at her. "Well, you don't care about Ranma
anymore so you wouldn't be interested in what I have to say."
Akane's eyes grew wide. "You were going to tell me something
about Ranma? What is it?"
Konatsu shook his head again. "Well, you wouldn't be interested
in it anyway so--"
Akane quickly interrupted Konatsu. "I _am_ interested, so tell
me!"
Konatsu's face became a mask of confusion. "I don't understand.
Does this mean that you care about Ranma now?"
Akane rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Yes! I mean, no, but I
still want to hear what it was that you wanted to tell me."
Konatsu thought for a few seconds before answering. "Okay, if
you say so. I just came by to tell you that Ranma might be in trouble.
I think some people might be out to kill him."
Akane sighed with relief. She had thought that Konatsu had
come to tell her that Ranma had really eloped with Ms. Hinako. Now that
she knew it was just some people making an attempt on his life, she
could rest easy.
"That's nothing to worry about, Konatsu. Ranma already has lots
of people trying to kill him. He can handle a few more."
Konatsu frowned. "Well, it seems that you didn't find it too
interesting after all. I'm still going to Juuban though, just to check
on him. Those pretty women seemed like they meant business."
Akane frowned. "Pretty women? You mean the people trying to
kill Ranma are pretty women?"
Konatsu nodded. "Yeah, two of them. There was a beautiful lady
and a pretty young girl. They were saying something about taking Ranma
to heaven."
Akane's lips trembled. This was exactly what she had feared.
Barely a day had passed since Ranma left for Juuban, and he had already
found two women willing to play his perverted games with him. He had
to be stopped! As the only woman who could see through his perverted
ways, she was just the person to do it.
Akane tapped Konatsu's shoulder before the kunouchi was able to
jump out the window. "Wait for me. I'm coming with you."
*****
"Sailor Mercury, we need to retreat! Can we teleport out of
here?"
Usagi turned to her blue-haired friend as Ami rapidly punched
buttons on the keyboard of her computer. Moments later, Ami shook her
head as she replied.
"We don't have enough energy to teleport. Even if we could,
we'd have to leave Makoto and Ranma behind."
Usagi wracked her brain for a way out of this. She hadn't
expected their opponents to be this strong. Why couldn't they just drop
dead after being blasted a couple of times like normal youma did? Ami
was injured, Rei and Minako were tired. She herself was almost drained.
Their opponents had them up against a wall and were closing in on
them. It would take a miracle to save them now.
Shampoo smiled at the senshi. "You is much weaker than Shampoo
expected. No challenge. Fight over now. Shampoo is won."
Lilith turned to her temporary ally. "Hey, wait a minute! After
we beat them, you still have to beat me. I'm not gonna... gonna...."
Shampoo smiled at the young succubus. She retrieved a small
bag from one of her pockets and threw it into the air. It exploded and
released more of the same powder she had used to break Lilith's mental
hold on the senshi.
"Amazon anti-succubus powder. Very useful. Immediately relieve
succubus mind control. If inhale by succubus, drain energy in twenty
minutes. You is feeling weak now, little succubus?"
Lilith glared at Shampoo. She had been played for a fool! "You
betrayed me!"
Shampoo chuckled. "Shampoo do no such thing. Agreement was
help each other beat senshi, yes? Senshi is beaten. Now, you is beaten
too."
"For love and justice I am the beautiful sailor-suited soldier
Sailor Pluto! I shall punish you in the name of Pluto!
Shampoo whirled around and turned towards where the sound
had come from. She saw the silhuette of a woman standing on top of
the opposite building. She couldn't tell conclusively because of
the distance, but the woman seemed to be dancing around.
"Dead Scream!"
The explosion that followed rocked the entire building. The
last thing that Shampoo heard was the sound of her own head hitting
one of the remaining walls as she was thrown off by the explosion. Ami
thought that it would collapse from the stress, but it miraculously
remained standing. She hoped that Ranma and Makoto were alright. When
the dust had cleared, a new figure stood in the middle of the room.
"Sailor Pluto?"
Usagi's jaw dropped. Was she really looking at Sailor Pluto?
The last time she had checked, senshi uniforms did not leave their
midriffs exposed. Neither did they show generous amounts of cleavage.
Sailor Pluto's uniform was also black, not orange like Minako's. The
skirts were also supposed to be a bit longer. However, Setsuna was the
only person she knew of that could do the Dead Scream attack. The
time staff also looked real. The long, flowing green hair was also
the same. What had happened to Setsuna? She looked like one of those
models in dirty magazines!
The scantily-clad woman stood still as the last of the dust
settled. "This battle is over now. None of you are in any condition to
fight me. I will be taking Ranma now. If anyone wishes to fight me, I
shall destroy her."
"I'll take that challenge."
The occupants of the room all turned towards the other side of
the room, where a beautiful woman with silver hair was standing. She was
wearing a tight cream-colored sweater and hip-hugging white pants that
showed off her figure to full effect. Sailor Pluto pointed an accusing
finger at the woman.
"Oh, it's you. I'm afraid I can't allow myself to lose to you
this time, Urd."
Ami's breath caught in her throat. The woman was Urd, the same
person Setsuna had originally warned them about. If she wasn't mistaken
then Urd was responsible for all of their current problems. Urd was the
person who had originally messed up the timelines, after all.
"Stay right where you are if you don't want to get hurt,
delinquents. Ranma is my responsibility. If anyone is taking him home,
it'll be me!"
They all turned towards one of the corners, where a teenaged
Hinako had a fifty yen coin pointed at them. Nabiki stood a few meters
away from her, trying to look inconspicuous. Setsuna was about to say
something about how it was silly of anyone to expect her to bow down
to a coin-wielding adversary when a rose passed a few scant centimeters
from her face and embedded itself onto the floor.
They turned towards the top of the apartment building that she
had originally come from, and found that it was now occupied by a
familiar figure wearing clothes that looked better suited for a formal
dinner than fighting.
"While I must admire your lovely female forms, it pains me to
see you so concerned over a man other than myself. I am afraid that I
must best you all in combat so as to establish that I am infinitely
more worthy of your affection."
Usagi was about to mention something corny to Tuxedo Kamen
about her undying love for him and the fact that she didn't like how
he was actively pursuing romantic relationships with other women in
her presence but she was cut off by yet another new arrival.
"Actually, I've always thought you were gay. I mean, look at
you. You're not even half the man Master Ranma is!"
Usagi turned towards where Makoto and Ranma had previously lain
and found that they were both conscious. The words left her mouth
before she could think of them.
"Mako-chan, how could you say such a thing! Even if he _does_
like to read Fushigi Yuugi, Mamo-chan's still a man! That is, I mean,
Tuxedo Mask is still a man! As for you, Ranma, you should let go of me
right now. It's not right for us to be doing that in public, you know."
Usagi blinked, rubbed her eyes, then looked at Ranma again.
Sure enough, he was holding her close to him while she ground her body
lewdly against his side. Her voice trembled as she asked her question.
"Who are _you_?"
The girl in Ranma's arms gave Usagi the answer she feared the
most. "Me? I'm Usagi of course!"
Usagi turned to Ami, who had chosen to use the break in
fighting to put bandages on her wounds.
"Ami-chan, I don't understand! If she's me, and I'm over there,
then who am I?"
Ami used her visor to look at the girl grinding herself against
Ranma, reminding herself to think non-sexual thoughts as she did so. A
brief glance was enough to inform her of the girl's true identity.
"That's not you, Usagi. That's Lilith, the girl we were
fighting before."
After hearing Ami's words, Lilith pouted and changed back into
her true form. "Well, that was fun. I'm ready for my meal now, Ranma!"
"Of course, Mistress Lilith."
Ranma held Lilith's face in his hands, tilted her head up to
his, and kissed her. Hard. Ami absently raised her hand to the side of
her visor and pressed 'record'.
"Hey, stop that! You're behaving like delinquents! Happo no Yen
Coin Return!"
Hinako let loose with a huge burst of energy, enough to level
an entire building on contact. She never did feel comfortable watching
public displays of affection. The projectile headed towards Lilith and
Ranma at amazing speed, promising to inflict huge amounts of pain on
them.
"Supreme Thunder!"
Right before Hinako's attack connected, it was canceled out by
a field of electricity from Makoto, who had jumped between the kissing
couple and the projectile.
"I won't allow you to hurt Master Ranma!"
Usagi's mouth fell open in shock. She couldn't understand what
was happening. Not only was Makoto behaving strangely and calling
Ranma her master, she had also managed to transform into her senshi
form almost intantaneously. What was going on? She turned to Lilith,
who had just finished kissing Ranma.
Lilith smiled cutely at the assembled people before talking.
"Mmmm... very nice. Thanks for the save, Mako-chan. I'm much better
now, everyone. Look at this!"
Lilith raised her right hand and a burst of energy shot out
from her palm, exploding into a shower of colored light when it hit
the ceiling.
"Shadow Blade!"
Nabiki quickly turned towards the woman called Urd, and
found her avoiding an attack from another woman. She had never seen
the new arrival before, but the woman had wings similar to the ones
Lilith had. Their hair was also similar, though the new arrival's
locks were longer than Lilith's. She looked older than Lilith as
well. Perhaps they were sisters?
The woman had lunged at Urd with a bladed wing, but Urd dodged
the attack with ease. The woman's attack hit thin air as she passed
through Urd's previous location. She continued running, jumped high
into the air, flipped several times, and landed beside Lilith.
"Good evening, everyone. Morrigan Aensland, pleased to meet
you all."
Urd sneered at Morrigan as she spoke. "If you thought that
your sister's little display would distract me enough for that
pathetic attack to actually connect, then you've got another thing
coming."
Electricity passed between the two women's eyes as they stared
each other down. Mamoru chose this brief lull in speech to voice what
was on his mind.
"Before I beat you all up and make you fall in love with
me, I would just like to say that I do not see why reading Fushigi
Yuugi would not be an indication of manliness. Nuriko was hot!"
Nabiki burst out laughing at Mamoru's words, then grew quiet
when she saw that everyone was staring at her. Setsuna tapped the
Time Staff on the floor, gaining the attention of everyone.
"If everyone has already arrived, I propose that we get this
fight over with. I have plenty of activities planned for myself and
Ranma and I want to get started before the evening is over if that's
alright with you." Setsuna paused and turned towards Usagi. "Usagi,
will you be joining the battle? You didn't look too good when I
arrived."
Usagi looked expectantly at Ami, who gave her a thumbs up. She
turned back towards Setsuna. "We're in."
Setsuna turned towards the rest of the people. "Does anyone
else want to say anything before we start?"
Makoto shyly tugged on Ranma's shirt, then whispered something
into his ear. Ranma raised his hand shortly afterwards.
Setsuna turned towards him. "Yes?"
Ranma waved his hand at the devastated apartment around them.
"Mako-chan wants to ask if we could move this to the school's field.
It doesn't look like the walls will hold out for much longer."
Setsuna looked at the rest of the group. "Any objections? No?
Very well."
Setsuna tapped her staff twice on the ground, and a bright
green light emanated from it. The would-be combatants were all
enveloped in it. Moments later, the light died down. It left behind
the remains of a wrecked apartment and a dazed Nabiki. She looked
around her, then started walking towards the school.
"Geez, she could have at least taken me with her!"
*****
Deep inside a secret underground facility, an unknown man
sat behind his desk and pressed a button on a small keyboard located
on one of the desk's corners. A large screen flickered to life in
front of him. The image of a cloaked female figure appeared on the
screen, her cloak's shadow obscuring her face.
"The occupants have left the building. Target: Ranma Saotome
was positively identified. Mission incomplete. Fighting data gathered
was insufficient for analysis. Requesting permission to follow target
and conduct further observation."
The man nodded slowly. "Very well, permission to follow is
granted. Physical contact with the target is to be avoided if
possible. If he exhibits sufficient fighting ability, initiate
capture sequence 32-A."
"My... pretties...."
The man paused briefly before speaking. "What was that?"
The view on the screen changed as the cloaked figure trained
her camera on the prone figure of Happosai. The old pervert was lying
unconscious on the ground, twitching from time to time.
"Cover compromised by contact with subject. Subject exhibits
ninety percent similarity to previously catalouged fighter: Happosai.
Combat was initiated to preserve cover."
The man nodded once more. "I see. Have you sustained any
injuries?"
The cloaked figure appeared on the screen once more. "Minor
bruising was sustained as subject attempted intimate contact."
The man shook his head. "Was he able to get a look at your
face? Will he be able to recognize you in the future?"
The cloaked figure shook her head. "Negative. Subject's pupils
were directed at my chest for the duration of the battle."
The man sighed. Happosai's fighting ability was among the
highest ever observed, but his skills were compromised by his lecherous
ways. "If you are confident that he cannot identify you, then you need
not dispose of him. For now, I want you to follow Ranma Saotome and
gather his fighting data."
The cloaked figure nodded briskly. "As you command."
*****
Author's Notes
Took a while, ne? I actually had to take a long break from
writing in order to concentrate on my thesis. I'm finally finished with
it, and I'll be graduating soon. After graduation, I plan to go for a
master's degree. Wish me luck!
Aside from my studies, I also slowed down because I spent
unbelievable amounts of time searching for places to download Naruto
episodes (I've got 1-24 so far), Azumanga episodes (I've got 2-8 so
far) and Hanaukyo Maids episodes (I've got 1-15). I also wasted a lot
of time looking for Boku no Seinen volume five and Saigado's new
Guilty Gear dojin.
Anyone who could point me to where I can download scans of
Boku no Seinen vol. 5 or the GG Saigado dojin, or even scans of the
Hanaukyo Maids manga will be my friend for life. (unlike some other
people, I appreciate the fact that you can appreciate the fanservice
in Hanaukyo Maids without worrying about the storyline. Mahoro has
nothing on Mariel)
I've also started work on watching my incredible backlog of
anime episodes that I have on CD but have neglected to watch. The
remaining episodes that I need to watch are Great Teacher Onizuka 12
-36, Gatekeepers, Sakura Wars 9-25, DNA^2 8-15, Star Ocean EX, Full
Metal Panic, the second season of Mahoromatic, and the whole Onegai
Teacher series.
The final reason for my delay was the fact that it took me
forever to get all the endings for Gloria, Seasons of the Sakura, and
Kana Little Sister.
I would like to thank Nathan Diederich, Egan Mandreck, Tracy
Poff, Vex, Tonyloco, Shade, Kevin Henry, Chester, Takeki Kagato, and
Griever for all the help they have given me for this chapter.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.