Ranma Tales ½: Chapter 20 – Testing the Waters

Note: there is a mental dialogue in this chapter between two 'people'. I'll still have 'thoughts' shown as always, but their thoughts to each other will be in italics to show they aren't thought to themselves. If anyone has a better idea let me know.

Part 1: Abduction

A cute young teen of probably fifteen years of age walks calmly across the near deserted campus of Kaibara Junior High School. She wears a sleeveless white gi top with a black undershirt beneath it and black leggings. A broad red bandanna is tied around her head and left to trail behind her and a black belt is tied around her waist. Her brown hair is cut short and her long bangs are parted in the middle so she can see. Also of note are her small pearl earrings.

This is Hinata Yagami captain of the Kaibara Aikido club. She's also the class representative of class 3B here, a stand-in member of the archery team, and a well placed student in terms of academic skill. She has her secrets though... Like the fact that her dead twin sister Hotaru's spirit inhabits her body, acting as a sort of cross between a ghost and a multiple-personality complex. Or that she is the only remaining student and therefore defacto grandmaster of Itto-Jujutsu, a victory at any cost school of hand to hand fighting. Or even the fact that due to Hotaru's presence they both couldn't avoid seeing things in the spirit realm. There were worse secrets too.

Those were things she couldn't tell anyone. After all who would believe her dead sister resided inside her? That she 'saw' ghosts all the time? That she was a martial arts prodigy that no longer practiced her original school because her father had nearly gone insane with his attempts to make the twins the best fighters in the world? No one. Exactly. So she hid her secrets. As far as the world knew she was a normal carefree junior high girl and that was the way it was meant to be.

Hotaru's 'voice' cut in 'Don't you think we make it rather hard to be normal, really?'

Hinata sighs and thinks back 'We are as normal as can be... Is it wrong to want to be normal?'

Hotaru replies 'No of course not, but we aren't normal. We can't keep that a secret forever. One day someone else will know...'

'No, I don't care what it takes I don't want anyone to know... It's for the best...' was Hinata's decision.

Hotaru's voice gets a softer tone to it 'Hinata don't you want to fall in love and get married? Would you try to lie to him?'

Hinata flinches. She knew quite well several guys liked her and she even sort of liked a few of them. It was wrong to keep her secrets like that, but no one would understand. No one could understand. 'You know I don't want to, but I'd do it...'

Hinata could tell Hotaru 'frowned', it was strange how that worked. Hotaru asks 'So what happens when you want to have kids together? You know it will involve blood, at least a little. How will you avoid seeing it? You know I'm better at dealing with that sort of thing. Do you want to lose control while you are in labor?'

Hinata is horrified by the mere thought of that. 'Of course not! That would be dangerous and we could hurt someone...'

Hotaru 'nods' and then adds 'Then wouldn't your husband need to know if for no other reason than to help us keep that from happening? Wouldn't the hospital have to have some idea if they were to help?'

Hinata replies 'I know I know. I just don't want to be hurt when they reject us... We've been hurt enough. You know that better than me.'

Hotaru thinks 'I know. Don't take my sins on yourself. You have enough to worry about.'

Hinata argues 'Hey I am your sister and we do share a body you know... What sins there are, are ours.'

Hotaru gives in 'Alright. Alright.' She pauses, then adds 'Hey are you even paying attention to where we are?'

Hinata looks up as she realizes she hasn't really been paying attention. Luckily she was nearly to the room for class 3B, which is what she wanted as she'd left her bag in class. She hears voices and idly wonders who else would be here this late.

Her questions are answered in fairly short order when she sees the most unusual thing. In front of her surrounding three of her classmates were ten, three foot tall, dolls. Not just any dolls either, each one was a true work of art. The hands were perfect, the faces could be real, and the rest of the details were just as amazing. Clothes were works of art as well, each wore some form of traditional clothing. Six wore stylized samurai outfits of different types. The other four wore kimonos and other 'common' clothes.

The last detail however was the weapon each carried. Each one had a different weapon, but each was a smaller version of a real world counterpart. Yari (Spear), Yumi (bow), Jo (staff), Bokken, tanto, Katana, Naginata, Tachi (a longer and more curved katana like sword), Kusari-gama (a sickle with a weighted chain), and even a Tessen (a type of warfan usable as a weapon). Each was in perfect scale to the doll holding it. They also seemed quite capable of being used as weapons.

How could Hinata tell that? Simple. They were being used as weapons. Each of these dolls moved on their own and as she watched one of them even spoke.

The doll with the tessen says "You need to be quiet. We have need of only the one known as Miho. Refusal to cooperate means death." It's voice was surprisingly realistic, though somewhat stilted. It also was very feminine, which suggested the dolls were all supposed to be women.

'Pretty harsh coming from a Musha Ningyo (Warrior Doll).' was Hinata's thought as she took a better look at the three inside.

Miho Todoh was apparently the one they meant, but Miho wasn't all that special. In fact she didn't even belong to any clubs. It was strange these dolls would want her specifically. In fact the only thing she knew about Miho that could possibly be of interest, was that her older brother Horoshi went to that strange high school called Furinkan. But Horoshi from all accounts was less than special. So that made little sense.

Beside Miho was Tsukasa Nishino. Tsukasa was the head of the cooking club and already had plans on becoming a professional level pastry chef. Not to surprising since her father was a chef and her mother ran a bakery. It seemed to just run in her blood. That explained why she was still here though. She'd most likely had to clean up afterwards as she was one of the few reliable members in the cooking club. It was hardly be the first time she'd had to stay late.

Behind those two was Satsuki Kitaoji. Satsuki was the star girl runner on the track team. She was nicknamed 'The hundred meter goddess' and won a lot of awards. Some had even mentioned Olympic possibilities and world competitions in her future. She had a special training regime though and stayed later than anyone else as she constantly pushed herself to excel. She also had quite the temper. Which would explain why the other two stood directly in front of her so she couldn't move.

She saw Miho glance at Hinata's bag still sitting on her desk in the classroom and Hinata almost smiled at her friends look of concern. Most people didn't know that Miho was Hinata's friend, in fact some didn't think Hinata had friends. Though she did get along with most everyone. Miho though was the only girl to ever actually visit Hinata's apartment. Even Hotaru liked the young girl. Though of course Miho knew nothing of Hotaru's real nature. She just thought Hinata was shy when it came to academics. After all Hotaru was better at that kind of thing, so that's who Miho wanted to talk to when she had questions. Hinata had other things she preferred to talk about with Miho, like cute boys. Though Hotaru liked to listen to that as well.

Hinata didn't have much more time to think though, as the doll with the Tachi looked right toward where Hinata was hiding and says "We have another guest. Shall I capture her as well?"

The doll with the Tessen replies "Take Yari and Yumi."

The other two dolls named by their weapons rush to the Tachi dolls side. Hinata moves back and prepares to run. The three dolls have passed the door though and now stand in the hall. The Yari holding doll says "Do not resist. We will kill you if you try to run." As if to emphasize her words the one with the Yumi draws back an arrow and sights it on her.

Hinata thinks about her options and sighs. Hotaru interrupts her thoughts 'Let's play this one carefully Hina. These are spirit creatures bound to dolls, while we might be able to break their bodies using Aikido it may not get rid of them. That would mean we'd need to use Itto-Jujutsu. If we do that now the girls will know...'

Hinata silently agrees and raises her hands. "Ok, I won't fight you."

The dolls lead her into the room with the others. Miho looks worriedly at Hinata as she comes in and says "Hinata!" Once Hinata gets over to the other girls, Miho hugs her close and stifles a sniffle against Hinata's shoulder.

Hinata pats her on the back and whispers "It's alright Miho, we'll be ok."

Satsuki comes closer and whispers "Why didn't you go to town on these things?"

Hinata gives her a look including a raised eyebrow, then replies "Well first these are really strange dolls, not humans. Am I supposed to have experience attacking dolls? Second those aren't harmless toys they are waving around. Those seem to be in pretty good working order and I'm unarmed. Third I'm an aikidoka (a term referring to student of Aikido). We spend most of our time on learning holds and throws for use on humans. Oh yeah and four... There are ten of them. Not the best solo odds."

Satsuki looks sheepish and says "Sorry. I'm just out of my league and not acting well because of it."

Hinata nods "No problem. I'm not in my element either." Then she thinks to Hotaru 'Any ideas? I'm not sure what's going on, but we really need to do something to get the girls out so we can deal with this.'

Hotaru responds 'Not really. The numbers just aren't with us right now. If we had an external distraction we might be able to clear a path to the door before the others could get in the way, but that's a fairly reactionary plan. We'd just have to sit and wait till something happens.'

Hinata thinks 'Well I don't have any better ideas. Sit and wait it is.'

Part 2: Gathering Heroes

As Akane passes by the front entry, on her way to the kitchen to grab a snack, the phone rings. Being right next to the phone at the time she reaches over and picks it up. "Hello?"

"Hi Akane... Um is Ranma there I need to speak to him..." It takes her a minute to figure out it's Horoshi. She briefly wonders how Horoshi even got this number.

Anyways she replies "He's in the furo right now. We just got done with a little workout... Anything I can help you with...?" She didn't really want to ask, but as far as guys at Furinkan went Horoshi actually was better than most. It's why Ranma didn't ignore him completely like most of the others. Daisuke was the only other person he treated like that.

Horoshi sighs and says "Well... Um... I'm not really sure how to say this..."

Akane starts to tap her foot and asks "Your not making this sound all that important Horoshi, I hope you don't want to just ask him something perverted..."

Horoshi replies "Hey I don't always ask perverted stuff! I do have other interests you know..." He pauses and then says "That's not the point though! Look something freaky has happened to my little sister and I don't know who else to ask..."

Akane sighs and says "What would Ranma even know about your little sister and 'something freaky'? This is sounding more perverted all the time.."

Horoshi says "I thought you'd be off this perverted kick after the way you've been making out with Ranma lately..."

Akane growls "What I do with Ranma isn't perverted!"

Luckily for Horoshi's well being Ranma picks that moment to come down stairs and asks "Who is that?"

Akane replies "It's Horoshi that perverted friend of yours. I swear complaining because we like to kiss..."

Ranma asks "So what did Horoshi call about? I told him to call only in a dire emergency and I'd kick his ass if it wasn't..."

Akane sighs and says "He won't get around to telling me..." She hands Ranma the phone. "Here you ask him."

Ranma speaks into the phone "Ok Horoshi... What is so important you had to annoy Akane?"

Horoshi sighs and says "Well you see it's complex... Earlier I got these strange pictures from my sister to my cell phone. They showed these weird dolls dressed up for some sort of period re-enactment or something. It also showed a couple other girls with my sister. They were at their school in them, but no one else was there. She didn't text me anything to go with the pics either. I thought she'd just screwed up on who to send them to or something, until she never came home. It's only been a few hours now, so it shouldn't mean much really... Except Miho is never late without calling. So I tried to call her... Except it keeps telling me her phone is out of service... Look I know this sounds strange, but... I think Miho's in trouble and lets be honest... There is no way in hell I could help if it's physical violence kinda trouble, but then I realized your a martial artist! You could come with me and we could go help Miho! What do you say, will you come with me?"

Ranma blinks and replies "So you think your younger sister has basically been kidnapped by dolls and is being held in her school?"

Horoshi slowly says "Well I'm not sure I'd put it that way... That sounds kinda strange and all..."

Ranma interrupts "Sounds like it could be trouble. Where is her school?" Hiroshi slowly replies with the information. Ranma goes on "Ok, head there now. I'll grab Akane and we will meet you there."

Horoshi says "Thanks man. I owe you one! I'll leave right now."

Ranma says "No problem. See you there." He then turns to Akane who was still standing next to him.

Akane looks puzzled and says "What was that about dolls holding his sister at her school?"

Ranma shrugs "I'm not sure exactly, but he got a set of pictures from his sister showing a bunch of dolls and another couple of girls. Then she seems to have disappeared without a trace. "

Akane frowns "You think those dolls were like the one that attacked us? But why kidnap some random junior high schoolgirls?"

Ranma shrugs "That I can't say... But if it is the same kinda thing, we can't ignore it."

Akane sighs "Let me tell Kasumi we'll be late for dinner..."

Ranma nods "I'll grab a few things and we can head off. Meet you back here in three?"

Akane nods and heads to the kitchen. Ranma runs upstairs and grabs a first aid kit and some spare robes. After all you could never tell what would happen to your clothes when things got crazy and you were Ranma Saotome. As it is Akane seemed to be having the same sort of problems lately with clothes. Ranma thinks 'Maybe it's a martial artist thing to get your clothes ripped, torn, or otherwise destroyed on your body?'

Part 3: Rescue Attempt

Ranma and Akane find Horoshi already waiting for them in front of the school. All looks fairly normal. Of course looks could always be deceiving. In fact both knew from experience that this was normally the case.

Horoshi greets them as they come closer. Akane asks "Have any idea where they are?"

Horoshi shrugs "I think the pictures were from her classroom, which is 3B. Other than that I have no idea."

Akane sighs. Ranma just smiles and says "Ok, room it is."

They all enter through the front gates. The cross the front yard and come close to the building. Taking a look from the outside proves the lights to be on in one classroom on the fourth floor of the school building. Akane comments "Well that's a convenient sign. It's like screaming 'trap!' with six foot letters." Ranma nods. Horoshi looks confused.

They continue inside the school. They look around until they find the stairs. A single set of stairs in the middle of the building none the less. As they head up the stairs Ranma comments "Did they build this school asking to for trouble? I mean one way up and down with four floors to cover and even at the stairs there are two hallways to worry about. Left and right."

No one answers him and they continue up the stairs until they arrive on the fourth floor. Once they come to out into the hall they can see the room down the hallway lite up to the left. Ranma pulls Akane and Horoshi close and whispers "I'll stay in front and play scout. Akane take the middle. Horoshi follow her and if anything happens get away from here and wait outside. We'll follow when we can..."

Horoshi whispers back "Are you serious? What if they people holding Miho are Yakuza or something? Shouldn't we call the police or somebody?"

Ranma smiles slightly and says "I don't think they are... I only sense four people in that room. Whatever may be holding them isn't... Human." He takes Akane's hand in his and gives it a squeeze. Then he asks her "Ready?"

Akane nods. Horoshi just looks confused. Ranma stands and starts to sneak down the hallway. Akane follows about six feet behind and she extends her senses outward to become more alert. Horoshi follows behind her, but makes more noise then both put together.

Ranma stops at the doorway and hiding as much of himself as possible out of the way takes a look inside. Inside the room are four young girls of about fifteen, three of which are in school uniforms and the other is dressed for a martial arts training. There was also nearly a dozen three foot tall dolls in period clothing wielding a variety of miniature weapons, though the weapons looked functional enough.

Ranma however takes a closer look at the girls, in case one of them would happen to be another threat in disguise. The first young girl of about fifteen with short straight dark brown hair. Her eyes were a soft brown color that almost matched her hair. She wore a silver butterfly hairpin in her hair along the right side. The second girl was also about fifteen with light brown hair cut in a short disarrayed style. Her eyes were also brown, though darker than the first girl. The last young girl of, again, about fifteen had medium length black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were a rare emerald green which made her stand out. She seemed to be in excellent shape as well, implying she worked out a lot. Each of these girls wore a fairly typical schoolgirl uniform in grey with red highlights. All of these had common auras that showed little if no martial arts or spiritual training. In fact the one with green eyes had the most of the three and at a guess wasn't more skilled than a blue belt.

The fourth girl was a fairly cute girl of the same age as the others. Her brown hair was cut short and her long bangs are parted in the middle so she can see. She wore a white gi top over a black set of workout clothes. The only other pieces of clothing she wore was a red bandanna around her head, a pair of pearl earrings, and a traditional black belt. Her aura however was what truly set her apart from the others. First it was strong, at a guess probably as strong as Ranma's own aura. It was also very... Odd, however. Ranma couldn't exactly pin down what it was that truly looked wrong, but it wasn't 'bad'. Her aura was far less darkened than the three girls who had just joined his class today, making him more willing to believe one of those three would create murderous dolls than this girl. Well she was also standing almost protectively by the girl with the hairpin as well.

Having decided the girls aren't a threat, he turns to the dolls. The clothes run the gamut from samurai garb, to ninja uniforms, classic monk outfits, and kimonos. Even the weapons run across the board and show off a good collection of types, one weapon to each doll. The other dolls all seemed to defer to the tallest which wore a kimono and wielded a tessen. A quick guess said that one was the leader of this motley assortment of Musha Ningyo.

Ranma was just about to motion back to Akane so they could team up and take the guards, when Horoshi catches a glimpse of his sister. To him things look pretty normal as the dolls are to short to show up in the window. Four girls standing around looking nervous was odd, but that was the way his sisters friends always acted when he came around. So he does just about the stupidest thing he possibly could do. He calls out "Miho!". He then heads straight for the room, moving around Akane.

Ranma hears Horoshi's shout and curses under his breath. He watches as the dolls jump into action. A group of five surround the girls. This group includes the leader with the tessen, who stands next to the girl in the gi. The other group of five heads out the classroom doors. This group includes the one with the yumi.

Akane on the other hand had caught a glimpse of the dolls even before the shout. She'd rather like to strangle Horoshi right about now, but that would have to wait until later. Right now she rushes up to come even with Ranma as the five dolls come out of the room.

The tachi wielding doll yells out "We have your friends. Surrender to us, or they will be hurt."

Both Ranma and Akane ignore that advice and calling on some power Akane replies back with the words "Flame Strike.", launching a streaming ball of fire at the yumi wielding doll. The doll is consumed within the flames like it was covered in oil. It tries to get away even as the fires consume it, but it's body simply blackens and crackles before it falls into a heap on the ground.

Ranma rushes forward now that the biggest threat to close combat is dead. He stops dead however as he hears the girls scream and another voice call out "I think you want to stop now. If you don't I'll have to kill these girls." The doll pauses for a moment as Ranma and Akane settle down and then adds "Come into the room."

Until the dolls had pressed their advantage with the girls, both has figured they'd take out the dolls before they could react. Now that the dolls proved they weren't going to just let themselves all be destroyed like that, things were different. So they move inside the room, Horoshi following behind them.

The sight that greets them when they come in is a bit strange. For whatever reason the tessen wielding doll had taken the girl in the gi as her hostage. The other dolls were all clustered around the girls keeping them from doing anything on their own.

Horoshi called out "Miho!", when he saw the girls. The girl with the hairpin replies "Horoshi!" She seems to want to say more, but the doll with the yari stops her by waving the spear toward the girl.

They could now see what had made the girls scream however. The girls had screamed because the doll using the fan to cut open the gi wearing girls arm. It wasn't a deep cut, but it was enough to bleed freely down her arm. The doll just held the fan against the girls wrist as a threatening gesture, since she'd proved she would hurt the girls.

The doll however completely missed the expression on the girls face behind her. It wasn't even a look related to the doll. No, the girl in the gi was staring at the blood running down her arm in absolute horror. It wasn't a look of worry however, you could tell she knew she wouldn't die of the wound or bleed to death. No, this was something else. It was like she thought the blood running down her arm would harm her somehow.

Ranma feels something very familiar in her look. He can't quite name it, but something inside says he should worry about the look of horror on her face. Akane doesn't know what to make of it at all, she's never seen anyone look so scared before. Horoshi is paying more attention to his sister, and trying really hard to not think about how they are being assaulted by walking, talking, seemingly alive dolls.

Everything changes in an instant though as Hinata growls from deep within her throat. She pulls her arm away from doll. The doll tries to resist the move by her hostage, but Hinata is considerably stronger. Tearing her arm away, she then clenches her arms close to her chest and she falls to her knees on the ground. She pulls her head back and growls again, much to the confused reactions to those around her.

Hinata's features seem to darken and her entire body tenses as a wave of energy flows from her body sending dirt in all directions and tossing the doll that had held her away. Her eyes gain a wild almost crazed look and her expression turns feral. Her hair nearly stands on end and turns a bright red color. Even her pearl earrings turn from a white iridescent color to a shimmering black drops of light. The wound on the girls arm closes up and the blood seems to seep back into her skin.

Ranma then realized what part of him recognized what was happening. It was the cat within trying to warn him another predator was about to come out. This was seriously not good. If this was closer to his original Nekoken form, which is what he couldn't help but think, then she was dangerous to anyone around her. He glanced over at Akane who was openly staring at the girl.

Akane can't help, but recognize the feel the girl is giving off. Ranma may not have gotten this wild while in his Nekoken when she had seen it, but the feel of being next to a pure predator and master of it's domain couldn't be missed. She finally glances at Ranma and asks "Is that what I think it is?"

Ranma replies "I think it could be. If not it's really similar. Either way we need to get everyone out now. I'll do what I can to stop her if she tries anything on us." Akane nods. She might not like that plan, but she didn't have any better ideas.

Part 4: Reversed Rescue

Hinata feels her spirit pushed out of the way by Hotaru's as the sight of blood makes her lose control to the power of the Blood Riot. She'd held on longer than she thought possible, riding out the whole transformation right till the end. It hasn't done any good though, she couldn't fight it off. She never could. Not once she'd started to lose control.

She can hear Miho ask cautiously "Hinata?" Hinata cringed knowing that even if she managed to keep Hotaru from killing them all like this that her friend would never accept her again after they saw her like this. She would mourn the lose of her friend later though, now she had to make sure they all lived.

She watches as Hotaru in Blood Riot form takes full control of her body and lunges toward one of the dolls. In fact it was the doll that had held the tessen and cut her arm. Hotaru drove her entire arm straight through it like it was made of soft clay. She then ripped her arm violently back out again tearing it's body in two and throwing the top half against a wall.

The doll with the Tachi tried to turn its weapon toward Hotaru, but she was on it before it ever made it around. Hotaru's arm snakes out hand straight fingers tight to each other and drives her hand through it's neck decapitating it. Then in a lightning quick follow up Hotaru kicks its body back into the doll with the bokken. Both crash into the wall shattering into pieces with the force and almost going through it in some places.

Hinata notes that only six dolls remain and when Hotaru launches herself across the room to attack the one with the kausari-gama, the girl that had come with Miho's brother Horoshi gathers up the girls and sends both them and Horoshi out of the room. Meanwhile the other boy that had come with Horoshi and the girl had taken out the two dolls in the way of the door. That left only four.

Hotaru reaches out to the doll with the kausari-gama and catches it's weapon when it tries to attack. Hotaru pulls it toward her and reaches out with her other hand to grab its head. The doll struggles as Hotaru's hand closes over her head, but Hotaru is simply too strong. With a quick squeeze the dolls head breaks in Hotaru's hand. The rest of the body fals in a clump to the ground.

Hotaru lashes out at the last of the dolls, the boy having taken out the other two now, a swift kick catches it in the side and tosses it across the room to shatter on the floor. Hinata moves in her spirit form closer to Hotaru and wraps her arms around her twin, calling her name soothingly as the doll falls. 'Please sister come back now. The threat is over. No one else can hurt us. Come back to me.'

Hotaru however doesn't listen as her blood burns with the desire to spill blood. Any blood. She feels the boy behind her and turns to face him. What little of her mind can think seeming to say 'Yes, he would do nicely'.

The boy doesn't seem to move. However he does say "I'm a friend. I don't want to hurt you. My name is Ranma and I'm here to help." Hinata expected to see surprise in his features at the sight of her, everyone else had always been surprised and scared. This boy however was different, he didn't seem concerned at all. It was almost like he'd seen this before in fact. Hinata couldn't understand that though, she and Hotaru were unique.

Hotaru still in her Blood Riot just ignores these words and hisses "Die!" before launching herself at him at a pace impossible to track with the eyes. Ranma however manages to block the attack and dodges to the side. Hotaru presses her attack with a series of punches and kicks which the boy barely manages to block.

Hinata is impressed to say the least. Hotaru gained all her martial arts skill when this happened and then the Blood Riot made her faster and stronger than normal. No one had ever lived through an attack except their father and he'd been in the hospital for weeks afterwards. Not wanting this boy to be hurt if she could avoid it she called out again to Hotaru. 'Hotaru, Please. Stop this. We don't need to hurt anyone anymore. Hotaru...'

Hotaru does a backflip as she continues ignoring her sisters voice, the Blood Riot still holding to much power over her. Ranma does his own backflip to end up in front of the window. Hotaru hisses again and says "Victory Saber".

It takes Ranma half a second to realize this is a ki attack, as Hotaru gathers her power. He dashes in time to just avoid a huge blast of power that blows out the entire wall of the classroom and raining debris down below. He crawls to his feet pushing some random debris off himself as Hotaru launches herself forward again.

Ranma decides there aren't many choices unless he could go into his new Nekoken however. Her hits hurt a lot to block and he normally couldn't avoid her at all, she is just too fast. So, drawing on his own power he leaps out the giant hole in the wall.

Hotaru launches herself out after him. Hinata almost yells to her sister 'You aren't any good up here like this! Oh god. Couldn't you at least remember we are four stories up?' Hinata herself knew if she played her cards right she could manage this fall, but only by drawing on her element. Hotaru however had a fire affinity and in Blood Riot had only a small amount of Hotaru's affinity affecting her. So she gathers her own powers and does what she can to slow their fall.

Ranma however catches sight of a small fountain in the courtyard and changes the direction of his fall in midair and drops on to the fountain. The curse changing his body in an instant on contact with the water. Shaking water off of herself Ranma hops out of the fountain and lets her Nekoken come out. Her posture shifting and the stripes forming on her skin. She flexes her hand and says "Ok, you want to play let's play..."

Hotaru senses the change in her prey as she touches the ground. Her prey was no longer the tame one she'd been fighting, but another dangerous predator like herself. This had never happened before. She didn't know what to think.

Hinata however had a million thoughts running through her head as she saw the boy become a redheaded girl, then even more when the her aura changed and the stripes formed on her body. Her thoughts were filled with things like 'How did he become a her? How did her aura change like that? Could she be something like us? She didn't seem to need an outside influence to change into this... Well except for the gender change that seemed to be on contact with water...'

The girls and Horoshi finally manage to make it outside right around then. All of them stop dead as they see the two figures out in the courtyard. Horoshi overhears a comment from Akane "Ranma be careful, ok?" Horoshi thinks 'Ranma? Uh Akane tha'ts a red-headed girl... Last time I checked Ranma was a guy...'

Ranma walks toward Hotaru and that decides Hotaru. Hotaru couldn't let another predator near her. Hotaru launches herself into a series of attacks against the other girl. This time however Ranma doesn't seem to have a problem avoiding or at least blocking each attack. She even gets a chance to toss in a few attacks of her own.

Hotaru growls and leaps backwards. As soon as her feet touch the ground again she hisses "Extinction". Then even to Ranma she seems to blur, the girls and Horoshi just saw her disappear. Ranma barely blocks the first of a series of ultra fast attacks that seem to come from all directions, but she still can't block the very last open palm strike from the front. Her body goes flying straight into the fountain shattering it.

Hinata screams 'No! No, please Hotaru... No more killing... There has been enough killing...You can stop now... Come back to me Hotaru...' If she had knees she would have fallen on them right then, her arms still wrapped around her sister.

Ranma however gets back up again and shakes the debris off of herself. She stretches briefly, which in her current form she makes it look fairly sexual even if she doesn't intend to. Finally she says "Want to play like that huh? Ok we can play like that..." She pauses and then calls out "Wind's Fury!" and she lashes her hand outwards. Glowing blue winds swirl around her hand and form into a fast moving ball that shoots toward Hotaru.

Hotaru however dodges out of the way and hisses "Victory Saber". Her blast this time shattering what's left of the fountain.

Ranma however manages to dodge by going airborne and she calls out "Lightning Flash!" in reply. Her hands outstretched as arcs of ki powered lightning arc from her hands.

This attack manages to hit the girl and she growls as she twitches under the effects of the lightning. Hinata uses the chance to call out to her sister again. 'Hotaru! Please, we need to stop... If this goes on all of us could get hurt... Come back to me sis...'

Hotaru tries to fight the urges, but she can't stop quite yet. She picks herself off the ground as Ranma lands. She gathers her power again to make yet another attack. Ranma decides to do the same. Twin blooms of power form in front of them lighting up the courtyard. A red pulsing one for Hotaru and a Blue swirling one for Ranma.

Just before Hotaru launches her power Hinata exerts her will as much as she can and yells 'No!' to Hotaru. So instead of firing off like normal the energy instead explodes outwards in all directions. Ranma quickly tosses her ball of power high into the air as she is knocked back by the force of the energy wave.

Part 5: Reactions

Hotaru is knocked out of her Blood Riot and she runs from the body in a rush as her spirit is freed once more. Hinata collapses to her knees as she comes back into control of her body once again. Power leaks from her body as the effects of the Blood Riot fade from her body and she curls up on the ground and cries.

Ranma gets back up and looks around for his opponent. She however finds the other girl curled up crying on the ground. 'Hardly a threat now...' was her thought.

Akane noticing the climactic end of the fight hurries over to Ranma. Who smiles as she gets closer. She yells "Ranma!" as she gets close. She hugs the other girl.

This wasn't helping Ranma's erratic mood changes in her new Nekoken and she leans forward toward Akane pulling the other girls head around. Then she kisses the startled Akane. The kiss is one of raw passion that fills Akane as well and makes her weak in the knees. Ranma pulls away from the kiss and licks Akane's neck as she runs her hands over Akane's body.

Really regretting it, Akane pushes Ranma away and manages to breathlessly say "Ranma, uh not here..."

Ranma breaths into Akane's ear as she replies "But I need you so much..." Ranma's actions causing a shiver to run through Akane's body.

Akane however hadn't come over to the fighters by herself. Horoshi and the other girls had followed them as well. Akane could tell they were there even if she couldn't see them. As it was they were putting on quite the lesbian show for everyone to watch.

Akane says "We can't do this sort of thing in front of everyone... Horoshi is bad enough as it is, let alone four complete strangers... I'll make it up to you later ok...?" Hoping that the last part at least would get Ranma to stop for now. Though she was only turning her down due to the audience. If they'd been alone at this moment she wouldn't have cared at all. Though she might later care later...

Ranma sighs her breath on Akane's ear making the other girl shiver again. Finally Ranma says "I guess... Though I bet Horoshi would pass out..."

Akane giggles slightly and says "Ranma..."

Ranma growls purrs slightly "Ok... Later Akane..." And then she pulls away and is gone. Leaving Akane to feel rather lonely as she turns back to the others.

The other girls aren't sure how to react to Akane after seeing the two girls making out. Horoshi wasn't sure what he'd seen, but he knew he wanted to see more... Or better yet, be involved in more...

Miho however breaks the silence by going over to Hinata and putting her hand on the other girls shoulder gently. Miho says "Hinata... Are you ok...?"

Hinata sniffs and says in a small voice "You don't have to be nice to me... I know you think I'm some sort of freak after all of that... You don't have to talk to me ever again..."

Miho frowns and replies "Don't even say that Hinata... I'm your friend and you saved us! Please Hinata look at me..."

Hinata shakes her head "Even daddy couldn't figure out how to deal with us... No one has ever been able to understand..."

Miho shakes her head "I don't need to understand, your my friend that's all there is to know..."

Hinata gets angry and says "You don't understand! You can't possibly understand us!" She pulls away from the other girl and stands up.

Miho backs away so Hinata doesn't bump into her as she stands. She goes to reach out to her friend after she finishes standing Hinata just says "Leave me alone! I don't need your pity!" Then she's gone as a single leap takes her to the top of the school.

Miho yells "Hinata!" She hugs herself as her best friend runs away. Leaving her feeling miserable.

Horoshi interrupts as he turns to Akane and asks "Ok... I've waited long enough... What the hell just happened? Living dolls with weapons... You tossing fire around... Then Hinata freaking out and tearing the dolls a new one... Then we get outside... And that fight! It looked like something from a American big budget summer action movie! But it was Hinata against some red headed girl who you called Ranma... But Ranma's a guy... In fact where is Ranma? I thought he stayed behind to help Hinata? How did they beat us downstairs from the fourth floor? How could the girl you called Ranma survive breaking a fountain? What the heck was that light show to end the fight? Why the heck were you making out with that red-headed girl?" Finally he ran out of steam and just sort of stuttered.

Miho laughs at her brothers temporary insanity and says "You might want to give her a chance to speak if you want answers..." She pauses, her face turning sad and adds "I don't think she has all the answers though... Hinata never even told me about what happened to her earlier... That's why she ran away..."

Akane nods "I don't have all the answers, but I think I might have more than you think... How about we go somewhere else for this though...? I really don't want to be here when the police finally show up..."

The others all nod. No one wants to be left out of these answers. This may be Nerima, but this was freakier than normal even for Nerima...

Part 6: Three in the Shadows

The now empty courtyard is peaceful for a few minutes until a clump of trees at one end fade away to reveal three girls that are naked except for red glowing patterns on their bodies.

Aya says "This was most interesting. Ranma isn't just a boy... That has... Potential."

Kasha teases "You just find it easier to play with girls..."

Aya shrugs "Of course, I am one... It gives me a certain... Insight... That I lack with men."

Kasha smirks "Personally I'd rather try him out as a guy... Just from looking at him I can guess how enticing that body of his is bound to be..."

Aya glances at Nori and says "What about you?"

Nori smiles and says "You know I'm not picky... I'd be happy either way."

The three girls laugh. Aya says "Then we keep him? And what of the other two girls?"

Kasha replies "I say we keep him, he has potential if we can twist him around our fingers... The girl he fought also has great potential. Akane however... Well we don't really need her, she didn't seem to be nearly as interesting..."

Nori responds as well "I think Akane has potential, but she seems harder to control. It does seem however like Ranma has little problem controlling her... Ranma of course is a keeper if he proves malleable. The new girl... She seems almost as powerful, or maybe even a little more powerful than, Ranma. She could be a threat if she can't be controlled. We need to do some more research on her."

Aya nods "Now that we have settled that matter... Lets go back to our place. I feel the need for some physical training..." The other two girls giggle and the three leave the courtyard.

In the now silent courtyard, one shadow moves away from the others. This shadow soon disappears when it crosses under a street light. However this shadow wasn't cast by an object...

Author's Notes:

It's actually kinda funny, but strangely there was a 8th dan master of Aikido named Mitsugi Saotome. In fact Mitsugi Saotome was instrumental in bringing Aikido to the US in the late 1970's. I thought that was fairly interesting. Hinata trained in Aikido for others reasons entirely, but I figured I'd toss out that bit of trivia. Another piece of trivia for you about Aikido is that most Aikido schools don't hold competitions and so it's kinda rare to have a 'captain' for the club Hinata is in. However I decided her aikido school would be an exception (it's the Shodokan style of Aikido).

Oh before I forget... What do you guys think of Hinata? I wanted a counterpart on the wrecking crew team to keep Ranma in shape and take the role of Ryoga (sort of friendly rival) in a lot of ways from the original series. Ryoga will still show up, but I wanted some other evils to come play before he comes back and he's not much of a rival here. I spent an entire day randomly playing with ideas, and looking at info for various fighting games, for characters. My concept of Hinata inspired me to write three pages of backstory for her, so she won out. Some others will still show up, but not yet. I am kinda tempted to write another side story to fill in a lot of her history (and use all that backstory I created), but I doubt I could post it on the fanfiction site with the rest. If there is interest in it, I could post them on my own site however... Let me know what you all think...

Oh yeah in case your curious Hinata Yagami is inspired by Hinata Hyuga (from Naruto) and Iori Yagami (from King of Fighters) for her name. Though she has little in common with either. Far more of her look is inspired by Yuri Sakazaki (from Art of Fighting). Her style and personality are also somewhat based on Yuri, though crossed with Kasumi Todoh (also from Art of Fighting) and somewhat Leona Heidern (from King of Fighters). Then I twisted things up... a lot. If you see something you recognize though it's a piece that came from one of those sources...

I reread these after borg rabbit sent me a revised copy back, but in case either of us missed something, let us know!

Anyway... I hope you all enjoyed this chapter... As always let me know what you think! The next is already mostly done. That will be something of a big chapter... Nabiki and Kasumi try to find answers to the strange family history, Ranma and Akane talk to Hinata about her strange Neko-ken like abilities ans instead learn more about their own family histories, And finally Hitome and Kaori tell Nabiki how they know the Shinjugi sisters.