Ranma Tales ½: Chapter 15- Renewal
Part 1: Help
Dr. Tofu knew he was in trouble. In fact that was an understatement. The two he now faced alone had taken out three people who he'd tend to say were all stronger than he was. In fact he was still trying to figure out how he'd missed the signs in Kasumi that would tell him she was capable of this. That however would have to wait until later. For now he had other problems to worry about.
The pair he faced looked at him dismissively. One man in his mid-twenties who was already injured wasn't a real threat in their mind. Ryoga glances at Shampoo and asks "You want him? I already hurt him and all, doesn't seem fair if I kill him."
Shampoo shrugs "Xian Pu have no problem with that, old man not know what hit him." She gathers some Ki and uses a technique she knows called a 'FlashStep' which take her across the distance separating the two instantly. She combines this with a wicked strike toward Dr. Tofu's head with her mace. This move has been a one hit kill for her before against weak opponents.
It however doesn't go as planned against Dr. Tofu. Dr. Tofu sensed her presence much closer than she should be, so he let his body relax and act on it's own. He's rather glad he did when he sees the mace held in his left hand and his right hand holds the girls wrist. He smiles at the look on her face and decides it's time to show her what a master of Chin Na can do.
Xian Pu is shocked 'This man caught my attack? He's a weak old male! How could he do that?' She doesn't realize till it's to late that shock was the worst thing she could let take hold of her right then.
Dr. Tofu's left hand blurs and suddenly Shampoo shrieks and, pulling her whole body backwards, breaks out of Dr. Tofu's grip. Everyone watching looks on perplexed as her arm that Dr. Tofu had held now hangs limply at her side. A look of pain crosses her face and she looks back and shouts to Ryoga "Kill him from where you are! Close attacks bad idea against this man. He know art of Chin Na!"
Ryoga isn't sure what the heck Chin Na is, but he doesn't really care either. This had all taken way to long as far as he was concerned. So he simply shrugs and starts to gather his own Ki as Shampoo leaps back out of the way.
Things didn't go as anyone expected however when a explosion shock the ground and debris was tossed across the lawn. When the debris cleared enough to see again a perfectly circular whole had been formed in the wall Just outside the wall where two girls...
The first wore a outfit a few centuries out of date. It was basically a type of kimono style top, with a pair of pants made out of the same fabric. Both parts of the outfit were a tan color. Over this was a blue leather set of armor which consists of two separate pieces that each cover one shoulder. This piece has several metal plates inset into it and uses straps to keep both parts attached. She also had long dark black hair that went down past her waist which was tied into a long pony tail. The stern look to her face added with her strong features made her far less cute than she could have been. She was still an attractive teenage girl though.
The other girl wore a mostly white school uniform with red stitching. She had much lighter dark hair than the other girl did and with the nearly giddy looking smile on her face she was quite cute looking. She also sported a pair of Rollerblades on her feet. She was also quite... well developed compared to the other more serious girl. At once she seemed both a sort of temptress and a sweet innocent girl, which was disconcerting to most of the guys looking at her.
The one wearing the centuries out of date outfit also happened to be holding a Dai-Kyu (Japanese composite longbow) which is knocked with a blue glowing arrow. She looks over all the people in the yard, sizing each one up. The girl in the school uniform says to the other girl "Haven't you ever heard of doors before Hitome?"
The girl whose name seems to be Hitome doesn't even look at the other girl and replies "We needed to get in quickly. What would the clan say about us if we showed up late and couldn't be of any use instead?"
The girl sighs and says "Well you didn't really need to put a hole in their wall. I'm sure it was a nice wall before you put a hole in it." She pats the wall carefully then adds "So, uh do you realize which ones which?"
Hitome sighs and says "Not at all. I thought you had gotten the pictures when they called you on your cell?"
The other girl shrugs and says "Don't think so let me double check..." She pulls out her cellphone and starts scrolling through menus while everyone gawks at them.
Ryoga growls and says "Alright no one ignores Ryoga Hibiki! And who the hell are you two anyways?"
The girl brightens and looks up at him rather than her cellphone. Then with a cute smile she says "Well I'm Kaori and this is Hitome." Then she pauses and says "I was looking up which of you were the Tendo's or one Ranma Saotome... Though I guess that doesn't matter much to you since your not either one..." She frowns and adds "You wouldn't happen to be one of the people we were sent to stop would you?"
Ryoga growls again and just before he can speak Shampoo interrupts him. She says "Ryoga we no have time for this. Let's finish Ranma and the girl then leave. I run interference while you finish them." Ryoga nods.
Kaori sighs and says to her partner "You take the guy he annoys me. The girls all mine." Then before you can blink the girl is across the lawn and in Shampoo's face. She's in a half crouch and then her foot lashes out to hit Shampoo in the jaw sending her a few feet into the air before she can respond. Shampoo lands back on the ground hard.
Ryoga starts to charge his Ki again only to get interrupted by a lance of blue light as Htome calls out "Sacred Shot!" Ryoga leaps to the side just barely avoiding the streak of light that causes the ground and part of the wall behind him to explode. Almost instantly the girl has knocked another arrow and is ready to fire again.
Meanwhile Shampoo crawls to her feet as Kaori leans back and just stand nearby. Shampoo spits some blood out of her mouth toward the girl and then says "Xian Pu teach little girl meaning of pain."
Kaori just smiles wider and motions for Shampoo to come at her. Shampoo charges in feigning a kick to the other girls chest while she uses her left hand to send a punch toward the girls neck instead. The blow never connects however as inches before reaching it's target it's held in place. The way it's held is what gives Shampoo pause. Her hand is held firmly in place by what looks like glowing red string connecting a pair a metallic yo-yo's that the girl holds in her hands.
Shampoo doesn't get long to think however as the girls hands part and the yo-yo's wind back into her opposite hands. Shampoo screams in pain as blood flies from her hand. Taking a quick look shows that whatever the glowing red 'string' was it was dangerous. Her hand had a series of bleeding cuts across it's surface.
She doesn't have much time to think though as the girl lowers her center of balance again and then comes at the injured Shampoo. Without the use of her right arm, she can't block the high speed attacks the girl dishes out. One blow after another hits her until finally one of the yo-yo's connects with her head and the world blurs as her body crashes into the ground.
Ryoga in the meantime has managed to dodge each attack, but not by much and after all this fighting and the damage from the night before he's starting to wear out. Gathering his power requires contact with the ground as well, which while leaping around he doesn't have. 'This is very bad. Now even that damn bitch Shampoo is out cold... Two against one isn't good in this case. Wait... Where is that other guy I was about to blast before?" He glances around trying to find Dr. Tofu only to see that he had gathered up all the fallen with the help of Nabiki and taken them inside. To add to his problems the other girl Kaori was leaving Shampoo's prone body to come at him...
Hitome calls out "Arrow of the Four Souls!" and shots off another arrow, this one however splits into four glowing arrows which spin in a circle as they come toward him making them incredibly hard to dodge. 'Ah crap!' was his only thought as the arrows came straight at him. Then the world lit up in front of his eyes.
Ryoga opens his eyes again when the pain doesn't come to see something that truly terrifies him standing right in front of him. He whispers one word "Talon". (Well ok really he says "Talon-Sama" as in Mistress Talon, but that's two words in English!)
In front of him much to the surprise of everyone else present is a woman who looks to be in her early thirties. That doesn't stop her from being a well endowed blonde bombshell however, with long legs and a figure other women would kill for. She also doesn't seem to feel like hiding much of it either as she wears a skin tight black dress with a super short skirt that barely covers her ass. She also happens to be wearing a pair of black high heels that lace half-way up her legs. Most young men would be lying in a pool of blood from the nosebleed she'd cause.
She looks over at Kaori and Hitome and says "I'm afraid I can't let you take these two from us quite yet." She pauses and adds "We did underestimate what was needed for this mission, now you have earned some measure of our respect." She pauses again and says "Now if you will excuse us we must be going..."
Ryoga looks startled and in a panic yells "I can still win! Just give me a few more minutes!"
Talon just gives him a look that could freeze a sauna and in a cold voice says "Ryoga collect Xian Pu. You have failed and are being recalled."
Ryoga gulps and walks toward Shampoo's body where it lays on the ground. This is when Hitome finally reacts and says "I'm afraid you can't leave, we have our own job here." She lines up a shot toward Ryoga and calls out "Sacred Shot!"
The lance of blue light flies toward Ryoga, but suddenly Talon is in front of it's path and she moves her hand up. Deflected the arrow explodes in the ground at her feet. Only now can everyone see the set of clawed gauntlets that cover her hands.
Talon stares at Hitome and says in a cold tone "Grip of the earth." Suddenly a hand more than four feet across forms out of the ground at Hitome's feet and grabs her. It starts to squeeze and Hitome cries out in pain. Kaori yells "Hitome!" and rushes to help her. With a few quick strikes from her yo-yo's the hand crumbles releasing Hitome.
Kaori glances back toward the blonde woman just in time to see Ryoga pick up Shampoo and walk back over to the woman. The woman says "Earth Gate." the second Ryoga stands next to her. Suddenly the earth reaches up over top of them and then collapses back to where it had been. No sign remains behind of Talon, Ryoga, or Shampoo.
Part 2: Changes
Nabiki could only hope he day couldn't get any worse. She'd thought once the crazy people that had attacked them had disappeared things would return to normal. Oh how wrong she had been...
The girl Hitome started to help take care of Ranma and Akane. Her friend Kaori however had seen the TV and instantly had jumped on to the couch crying out "TV! Yeah! I hope my favorite Anime is on!" Within seconds she was channel surfing every channel they got and had to be watching at least four shows at once...
Hitome had just ignored the other girl and helped Dr. Tofu and Soun help drag the injured upstairs. Nabiki meanwhile decided to make tea. It wasn't something she was good at or liked, but right now she had a incredible desire for a strong relaxing cup of tea. She brings out the tea and several cups as Dr. Tofu comes down stairs with a gently protesting Kasumi who insists she's fine. They are followed done by Soun and Hitome.
Soun and Hitome pour themselves some of the tea and start to drink as Dr. Tofu and Kasumi start treating each others cuts and bruises in front of everyone else. Nabiki nearly starts to nearly gag on her tea as the two get all lovey dovey with each other. Kasumi would dab a cut on Dr. Tofu saying something like "this will only hurt a bit darling Tofu." In return Dr. Tofu would treat some minor injury of Kasumi's saying "I hope this doesn't hurt, my love."
She was glad they seemed to have gotten together and all, but this was a bit much... I mean really they'd been playing around for years... In fact about three if she remembered correctly... Mostly due to the way Dr. Tofu acted around Kasumi. Now one little incident, where he didn't do more than simply rest his hand on her shoulder and then stand beside her, and they were practically feeding each other in front of everyone...
She sighed inside thinking about all she'd seen today and all that had gone on since Ranma had arrived. She realized it all came back to her mothers death and her fathers near abandonment of them. That had created a Kasumi who couldn't seem to act as anything except their mother, it had made her into a person capable of doing anything no matter how right or wrong if it made money for her, and it had turned Akane into a girl that hated herself and almost everything else... Well after Kuno it had just mainly been boys, but for a long time she had problems being with anyone.
Nabiki couldn't blame her, she herself had become the 'Ice Queen'. Everyone believed she had no feelings and for a long time that could have been close to the truth. Until Ranma and Akane had confronted her she had always thought she cared about her family above all else, but that wasn't true... Somewhere she'd stopped caring and stopped showing them she cared. It had been duty to protect her family, though as Akane proved it was a duty she had failed.
She'd tried to change since the incident with the pictures. It had truly hurt her and nothing had hurt her for a long time. That was a prod she had needed. She'd stopped doing a lot of bad things she'd done without contemplating before. It had hurt financially, but she had understood it was necessary. She still hadn't been able to feel anything for other people though. Her sisters were still strangers she honored and respected, but not family in her heart...
Seeing her mothers 'ghost' for lack of a better word though... That had truly been the last straw... It was the first time in a long time that she felt the love she had for her family again. Love at all again. It was good and bad just like they last change... Well that wasn't true really... It was completely good, but it had consequences like everything always did. She understood that and could live with it once again.
That however didn't mean she had any intention of giving up money... She might care for people again and she wouldn't go chase anyone down to make people pay like she had on occasion before, but that didn't mean earning money was all bad...
She decided to leave the rest of this until later however when the sound of insane giggling came from the couch. Kaori was still lying their laughing her head off at some silly program on TV. She couldn't help staring at the carefree girl.
Hotome noticed Nabiki staring at Kaori and said "Your wondering if she's always like that aren't you?"
Nabiki nods "She seems way to young to fight the way she does... In fact contrast in general seems weird..."
Hitome nods back "Oh most people say that... I've always told her she needed to be more down to earth. Instead she's happy jumping between extreme emotional states. She's even had some psychiatrists take a look at her. It's weird, but they say she's perfectly healthy mentally. Just a average seventeen year old girl with a weird personality."
Nabiki turns her head and stares at Hitome "She's my age? I got the impression she was like fifteen or something..."
Hitome smiles ever so slightly "Yes she's our age as I'm seventeen as well. It's why we end up working together so often. No one ever believes were in the same grade let alone the same age though..."
Nabiki frowns and asks "We all appreciate what you did earlier for us, but uh... Why exactly are you here?"
Hitome frowns slightly and says "You didn't get the message? Should have got something telling you we were being sent to help you out when the higher ups figured out you were going to be attacked. Not much notice though, we like to have more time..."
Nabiki pulled out her cellphone and realized she had gotten a message from the group Ranma's sensei seemed to 'run'. It was pretty simple however. "Help is coming. That's one awfully short message..."
Hitome smiles a bit and says "Well it could be worse, you should see what I've had them send me before..."
Nabiki frowns again and asks "What should I refer to this organization you two seem to work for anyways? I mean I know it's some sort of clan, but no one has ever given me a name for it..."
Hitome does actually smile now "Well almost everyone who knows of it simply calls it the 'Shadow Clan'. It's rather apt for several reasons. Once it had a real family name, but members of destroyed clans don't tend to keep their family names when they marry. So it was lost when no one alive could remember what it had been. That was centuries ago though."
Nabiki stores that info for later. At this point Kasumi lets out a giggle over some antics between her and Dr. Tofu. Nabiki decides to stare at them for awhile and then gets an idea... "Hey sis, exactly how did you do all that earlier...? You know the wall of light and... and mom and everything..."
Kasumi sighs and says "It's part of what I remember from mother, she taught me how to do those... From time to time when I couldn't deal with things I'd summon her spirit late at night and talk... She was never as clear as earlier however, and almost refused to tell me anything I didn't already know. It's something mom only taught me and she told me that the rest of you didn't need to know..."
Nabiki looks at her strange and asks "Why wouldn't mom want us to know about it?"
Kasumi shrugs "She always said 'such knowledge is dangerous and could do more harm than good till the time is right'. I realized after Ranma arrived and Shampoo's 'pets' first attacked that Akane could now see the same things I always had..."
Nabiki isn't sure what to say about all this, it didn't make much sense. Hitome however nodded and says "I can understand why. Your mother is still something of a legend among those like myself who follow the same discipline. She however abandoned the calling to start a family."
Nabiki and Kasumi both look at her strangely and Nabiki asks "What 'discipline' do you mean? What was our mother before she started our family...?"
Hitome looks at them strangely and says "Why a Miko (Shrine Maiden) of course... I'm surprised you haven't figured it out... Most martial artists don't use the gifts to deal with spirits, that's mostly left to those of more religious beliefs or feelings... Personally I'm a Martial artist and a Miko as I study Kyudo as well as my duties as a priestess."
Kasumi looks at the girl strangely and says "I knew mother was very religious, but... She never told me what I was learning, she just told me a needed to learn it... You mean I'm a shrine maiden to then?"
Hitome grins and says "You could say that, in fact if you ever want to learn more let me know... Of course I'm not an experienced Miko, but I can show you some other techniques. You already seem to understand the basics..."
The conversation went on for awhile, but the offer left Kasumi to a lot of thoughts of what the future could hold. It deserved a lot more attention.
Nabiki couldn't believe the news... I mean she wasn't even religious as such, yet her mother had been a Miko and never told them! It made her wonder even more what secrets her mother had in store for them. It also made her wonder why she had needed to hide these things to begin with...
Soun listened and enjoyed the fact that people ignored him so often these days. The news his wife had been a Miko shocked him. He knew of course, she'd always tried to bend him away from the masters bad habits and toward a better path... He hadn't ever known why or how important it had been to her. He also didn't understand why she had never told him of her past, they would have had much more in common...
Part 3: Admitting to Love
Ranma woke up feeling like he'd been run over by a car. He also shortly remembered why. 'Oh how could I fail so? I should have stopped Ryoga and Shampoo... Damn it Ryoga why have you become such a bastard? Hurting Akane like that though... Even one of my few friends from earlier in my life doesn't make up for what you've done... I both hope I see you so I can beat you into a bloody pulp and dread ever seeing your face again...'
He takes a look around after he lets his thoughts play and sees him and Akane are lying on mats left in the guest room, side by side. In fact their hands seemed to have meet during their sleep, his was holding hers and vice versa... It felt so good and yet he knew this wasn't going to be easy for her... He remembered his own feelings from being in situations all to similar. He'd told them about the first time, but their had been another... It made him feel so weak to have to be saved by sensei each time...
Akane decides to slowly stir at this point herself. She doesn't feel much better than Ranma however. The feeling of his hand in hers though sends a tingle through her whole body. It felt so right... She never wanted it to end.
The events of the night before however intruded on her thoughts. The pain and misery came back and she started to cry again before she could help it. Ranma notices her sob as she starts to cry however and regardless of his own pain he comes over to her and holds her again.
Akane thinks somewhat as she cries into his chest and realizes something... The dislike of guys she had from the Hentai Horde is most definitely back, heck it had never really left... But Ranma... Ranma didn't count. She knew he was a guy, even as a girl, yet somehow it didn't matter. Ranma was Ranma and he could hold her anytime without having to worry about causing her pain. It was almost funny when she realized her own father would cause her more emotional pain right now if he tried to hold her than Ranma would. In fact a part of her needed Ranma to hold her now. In his arms she didn't feel filthy or disgusting... She felt normal. Normal like she had before her mothers death so many years before...
When her tears finally died away, Ranma pulled back slightly and looked at her. "Think your at least a little better now?" was what he decided to say. Without realizing it he reached up and brushed the hair from her eyes.
Akane nods and after a long pause says "I keep seeing it over and over again... I felt so helpless... I hated feeling that way..."
Ranma nods and replies "I know the feeling... I wish I could say it goes away entirely, but at least for me it never has... For a long time I remembered it each and everyone time I changed to my female form. It isn't so bad anymore though, so I can say it does get better."
Akane smiles slightly looking up at him and says "Your the only guy in the world who could understand completely..." She reaches up to caress his cheek.
Ranma looks at her smiling face (even if it's not her full normal smile again yet) and looses himself in her beauty. Slowly coming back to normal he decides he has to say something that he's been arguing about for most of the last couple days "Akane... I need to say a few things to you... First is how I only realized afterwards that I was pushing you away the other day at school. The day when he asked you out. I hadn't intended to. I didn't realize... Anything at the time... I feel so stupid..."
Akane shakes her head and says "It's ok. It's not your fault. I agreed to go out with him. I could have still said no, but I didn't... I let my anger cloud my judgment. Not just once, but over and over again... I've done the same thing for years..." She pauses for what seems like a long time and then adds "It was Mother's death... It changed us all... For me though... I was angry. At first it was at mother for dying and leaving us. Then at father for acting like he was dead as well. Then angry at myself for being angry at them. It kept spiraling and I kept getting angry at more and more things..."
She pauses as she thinks about what she wants to say "I haven't said anything about it, but you are the first person to get passed my anger and actually make me feel something else... It's something that confuses me, because I've never felt quite that way before. I was scared of it. It's why I let my anger take control and said all those mean things to you at the park... I didn't mean any of them."
Ranma looks at her and decides he has to say it now or he'd never say it "Akane... I don't mind what you said really, I did deserve at least some of it... Besides pop and sensei I've never really had friends, let alone the chance at more than that. I didn't realize what I wanted until I thought I'd lost any chance at that happening..." He pauses for a moment and says "If you can forgive me... I'd like the chance to be more than just friends. I realized I need you in my life... I want the chance to make you as happy as possible. As happy as the world will let us be... Together. I don't mean get married, at least not yet, but I want to be the person you go on dates with and do things with..." He pauses when he realizes exactly how little he does know about dating and adds "I'm not even exactly sure what couples do, but whatever it is I want to do those things with you..."
Akane just smiles up at him as she places both hands on his cheeks. Then she leans her head up towards his and opens her mouth slightly, inviting him to respond. Instinctively Ranma pulls her closer and leans his head to hers. Then they kiss. It's tentative at first which isn't strange since this is the first kiss for both of them, but they work things out without any words as emotions swirl through both of them.
Finally they both part from the other just enough to breathe again. For awhile all that could be heard in the room is both of them breathing heavily. Then finally Akane looks up at him and says "Just to make sure you got the message, I'll say it out loud... I want to do all those things with you as well." She grins and says "After that kiss I could sure get use to having you as my boyfriend..."
They share another kiss deciding they want to stay lost in the moment for awhile longer.
Part 4: The way of things
Sometime later Ranma and Akane come downstairs to join the rest of their family, holding hands as they walk. Staying close to each other the whole time. Reactions are mixed and some would surprise everyone.
Kasumi just looks on them happily. She knew they were meant to be together and now things were looking up for the two. It made her own happiness at finally having a chance to be with Dr. Tofu grow even larger...
Nabiki was somewhat surprised, she hadn't thought her little sister would take that big a step so soon after what had happened. Heck Nabiki could see lots of reasons her sister would like him. 'He's a drop dead gorgeous hunk. He's kind and caring. He makes one heck of a protector when things get dangerous... Damn I need to find myself a good date..."
Dr. Tofu was happy for the two. He had seen Akane's spiral deeper into her anger over the years. He'd also seen her crush on him, but no matter how much he wanted to help her he felt way to old to have those kinds of feelings for her. He was glad she finally had someone to bring out her more positive emotions.
Hitome didn't care at all. These were nice people, but she hardly knew them. She did however feel a certain kinship to both Kasumi and Nabiki for different reasons. She'd have to make a point of keeping in touch.
Kaori looked on the couple and couldn't help but feel they were such a cute pair. Of course no one else noticed her attention shift from the TV. She may act like she's not paying attention, because it's fun to catch everyone completely off guard, but really she hardly missed anything. It was part of her secret charm... she sighs wistfully and then turns back to watching TV.
Soun was torn. He was happy the two seemed to be an item. That spoke to the eventual joining of the two families. He was angry however in the fact that they seemed to want to take things slow. He didn't have decades to wait for the two to decide they were ready. 'Maybe it's time to use my last ploy. It's going to take a few days to get her to visit since she must be busy with her work, but if she is here I have a chance to force them to act now. I didn't want to have to explain that her husband is dead since she's dangerous, but it looks like it's needed.' He had plans to make, the schools would be joined once and for all.
Author's Notes:
Kaori Mikoyo and Hitome Mukai (as well as Lady/Mistress Talon) are original characters created for this series. Way to many Ranma ½ characters are useless in anything related to real combat, though the original series doesn't care. Modifying existing characters requires, at least to myself, that I explain why they are different or alter them only to brush them up with a dose of 'real'. However Ranma ½ in any form demands a large cast... So I created some unique characters to fill out the ranks... I hope you enjoy them.
Oh, in case your curious neither of the girls is any more powerful than say Ranma, but the hold the upper hand here for a whole bunch of reasons. They will show up from time to time to lend a hand when it's needed.
Hitome Mukai is wearing the same outfit as Minamoto Hikari from Otogizoushi during the first half of that series.
In case your wondering 'FlashStep' is named after the same move in the Bleach Anime/Manga, however it's something talked about in a lot of martial arts legends. In fact that's where Bleach picked it up.
Well the next chapter is one I like to think as the Halloween chapter, though it's going to arrive a bit late for that... It also might prove to be the first chapter to explain something about the villains behind everything.