A/N: Thanks for the reviews.
Oops, tiny mistake. Regarding my statement in the author's note of Chap 2, I meant that Ryouga had no demonic blood, or was in no way naturally hanyou. You'll understand later in this chapter. And congrats to whoever guessed (or hoped) that Ranma would be in this story. He'll be playing a small part, but he holds the key to it all.
And about the last section of Chap 2… the whole "Amazon Men for Honour" thing was completely made up. Though it was loosely inspired by the "Learning Curve" duology by Capn' Chryssalid. Go read them (after this part, of course). They're awesome.
Four
Ranma Saotome realised that he had to be very, very careful.
If that sounds reminiscent of a particularly famous rabbit and hunter, be assured that he wasn't putting on a comedic act. His carefulness stemmed from necessity, a matter of life and death. He stared at the lunchbox in front of him, hands that were steady in the face of the world's most dangerous fighters now trembling.
There was a strong possibility that Akane had prepared their lunch that morning.
Okay now, Saotome, slowly… slowly… He reached out with one shaking hand to lift the lid. Akane was sitting by his side, smiling expectantly. That definitely meant that she had prepared what could be called "lunch", by theory. Here's hoping that it's something only mildly toxic… Ranma thought, gulping. So far, he had known only Ryouga to stomach Akane's "cooking" (again, by theory) and it was well known that that guy had the endurance of Mt. Everest. Which basically meant he was a tasteless thickheaded love-blinded ox.
He was saved from a potential reason to spend a month in the hospital by an excited Hiroshi and Daisuke bounding toward their table. "Hey, Ranma! Did you hear about the big duel that's happening behind the school?"
A duel? Without his involvement in some or the other way? Well, that was certainly new. "No," Ranma said, pushing away the box with barely-concealed relief. "Who's fighting who?"
"I'm not sure," Hiroshi said, stroking his chin contemplatively. "But I do know that Ryouga, Shampoo and Mousse are involved, along with two other guys who're apparently new around these parts."
"And," Daisuke added, nudging Ranma with a smirk, "It seems Shampoo has a thing for one of the new guys."
"I'm not surprised," Akane said, with a snort.
"More like relieved, I'd say," a new voice intervened, which Ranma quickly found belonged to Nabiki Tendou. She had a frighteningly familiar anticipatory gleam in her eye. Ranma thought he could see yen notes glowing in her irises. "What about it guys? One can't let opportunities for some good entertainment go by wasted."
"You mean opportunities to earn some money," Akane said, rolling her eyes at her sister, but she stood up nonetheless. Ranma followed her as she strode toward the direction of the school grounds. She's forgotten about the lunch… there really is a God up there!
"Oh, and Ranma? You can bring the lunch – we'll have it while watching the fight."
Yes, there was a God up there, and that God really, really hated Ranma Saotome.
With the air of someone proceeding to his death at the guillotine, Ranma grabbed the dreaded box and followed the others toward the woods at the back of the school. The sight that met him there quickly pushed all thoughts of deadly lunches from his mind, replacing them with interest and not a small amount of amusement.
Ryouga and Mousse stood at one end of the clearing in combat stances. Ryouga's face was etched with pure rage, while Mousse's expression was a little harder to fathom – it was what seemed to be a mixture of betrayal, anger, sadness and longing. It was a remarkable expression, really.
On the other end of the clearing stood Shampoo, clinging almost protectively to the long red robes of a remarkable-looking man Ranma had never seen before. Once couldn't blame him, though. It isn't often that you meet a man sporting long white hair, fangs, claws sharp enough to tear the toughest of hide into shreds, and a sword that defied all sword-making logic with its gargantuan size, even in Nerima. Next to the longhaired man stood the monk Ranma had seen earlier that morning, golden staff held before him in a defensive stance.
Nothing moved for a brief moment, in which Ranma could already hear Nabiki collecting bets on the fight, and other students starting to mill around.
Then the white-haired man snarled, revealing a set of fangs big enough to rival Ryouga's.
"This is your last chance. Give me my shards and get this annoying woman off my back. Now."
Ryouga sneered. "Never."
Ranma wondered what in hell was going on (Shards? Ryouga?), before something seemed to snap within the combatants.
All hell broke loose.
Ryouga and Inu Yasha were the first to charge, umbrella and Tetsusaiga held aloft as their battle yells resounded within the clearing. The two weapons met with a crash that had half the students covering their ears. Refusing to be suckered into another deadlock, Ryouga slid the umbrella down and lunged at Inu Yasha's midsection. Inu Yasha dodged the blow by a hairbreadth, while sending the Tetsusaiga in a sweeping arc toward Ryouga's head.
Meanwhile, Mousse sent a barrage fire-tipped spears (how he did that is anybody's guess) flying toward Miroku, while shouting melodramatic phrases of betrayal and holy men teaming up with the devil. Miroku wisely kept his mouth shut and dodged the fiery projectiles, while an angry Shampoo sent one of her bonbori flying toward Mousse's head. "Stupid Mousse! You no interfere in my love!"
"FIST OF THE WHITE SWAN!"
The swan shaped potty – What is that thing? wondered Miroku – that emerged out of Mousse's robes easily intercepted the bonbori and went on to land a decisive blow on a confused Miroku's mid-section. The monk was sent flying to meet a tree in a decidedly painful manner. Mousse moved in, two long blades emerging from his sleeves, to deliver the final blow to the still-dazed monk. Miroku was saved, however, by Shampoo intervening with a lunging kick that pushed Mousse away, but, unfortunately, got her in the way of the blunt edge of the swinging Tetsusaiga.
Her head impacted against the blade, and she crumpled to the ground, only one thought lingering in her mind before she lost consciousness: He defeat me, too! This man most certainly husband!
Mousse seemed to have realised that as well, for the howl that ripped from his throat was not only one of concern, but also despair. He ought to have dealt with the rebel and Ryouga first. Now that the rebel had knocked out Shampoo in the middle of a fight – even if inadvertently – by Amazon law, they most certainly would be married. Life was being just too cruel.
Miroku advanced on a distracted Mousse, realising that there would be no better chance to get the Hidden Weaponry Master. Quite frankly, he had not expected the young Amazon to team up with Hibiki, but he must have realised earlier that there were to be no certain loyalties in such a crazy world. Swinging his staff, he landed a decisive blow on the Amazon's head, adding a bit of spiritual power to the hit, just to be safe. Mousse crumpled to the ground, out for the count. Heaving a sigh of relief (and trying to ignore the applause of the large number of students gathered there) Miroku turned to see how Inu Yasha was faring.
Apparently, his end of the fight was not going so well.
Lunge, parry, swing. Insult, grunt, kick, swerve. Ryouga went through the motions of the fight as if they were second nature to him – which they were, considering the fact that he'd been doing nothing but travelling and fighting for the past year or so – distantly marvelling at the fact that this kid, whom the other called 'Inu Yasha' was actually not half-bad. Despite the fact that the man lacked strategy or finesse, his sheer power more than made up for it. Which, Ryouga realised almost grudgingly, was pretty much the way Ryouga himself fought.
They were quite evenly matched.
Time to pull out some tricks from under the sleeve.
Ryouga abruptly flipped himself out of the thick of the duel, and crouched under the cover of a nearby tree, slowly spinning his umbrella in one hand. Inu Yasha looked annoyed. "Are you running away from me, now, Hibiki? Come on out and fight, or I'll not hesitate in killing you!"
Ryouga only smirked.
"Déjà vu," Daisuke muttered. "It's like witnessing a Ranma and Ryouga duel, only that now Ryouga's behaving like Ranma and that other guy like Ryouga."
Ranma laughed. "Hey, even a guy like Ryouga can be made to look intelligent when he's pitted against a denser opponent. It's all a matter of comparison, y'know."
"Oh, is that so?" Akane's eyebrows went up. "So you're implying that you're intelligent?"
"Glad you caught on finally," Ranma said airily before a mallet made heavy contact with his head.
"Pay attention to the fight, guys," Hiroshi said, his eyes gleaming. "I think Ryouga's going to try something." His lips pursed. "He'd better – I got a lot of money riding on him."
Ryouga charged forward once again, his umbrella now spinning at an insane speed. Ranma recognised it as being his (in)famous 'buzz-saw trick' and realised that this white-haired guy was really causing Ryouga some trouble – the Lost Boy used the buzz-saw trick only while facing tough opponents; sometimes not at all. The spinning umbrella flew toward Inu Yasha, who was rather slow to react. The spinning edges of the super-heavy umbrella grazed his arm, making pieces of blood-stained red cloth fly. Slowed down and veered off course, the umbrella flew on above Inu Yasha, and beyond.
Ryouga stopped for a couple of seconds, breathing heavily, assuming that Inu Yasha would take at least a minute to recover from that.
One can't blame him for not knowing that Inu Yasha was a half-demon, with healing powers that rivalled Ranma's and his own.
Inu Yasha grinned and ran forward. The students gasped. Nabiki smiled. Ranma tilted his head in interest.
Ryouga never saw it coming.
The sword swiped at him, its blunt edge making hard contact with his cranium (somehow Inu Yasha had had the feeling that killing was not as acceptable in this era as it was in his). Ryouga flew backward, smashed through two or three trees before finally coming to a painful stop at a particularly thick one. He slid down the bark, leaving a thin trail of blood behind him.
"Ryouga!" Akane cried, slapping a hand over her mouth in shocked concern.
"Don't worry 'bout him," Ranma assured her. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's got more endurance than all of us put together. Something like that shouldn't get him."
"Maybe you're right," Akane conceded. Ryouga had survived the rigorous – not to mention mortally painful – Bakusai Tenketsu training before, and had come out of it unfazed. This should be nothing at all for him.
But somehow, Akane couldn't prevent some trepidation from climbing up her spine…
Ryouga opened his eyes with some effort, the warm trickle of blood from his head tainting his vision red. Inu Yasha stood in front of him, visibly gloating. With some more effort, Ryouga got on to his feet, and looked a little beyond Inu Yasha.
Inexplicably, he smiled.
Slightly unnerved that his opponent was still standing – and smiling! – Inu Yasha grunted, "Now – what about my shards?"
Ryouga wiped the blood away and took down a dozen bandannas from his head (which led Miroku to wonder just how many Hibiki had tied around his head). "Shards?" The bandannas stiffened miraculously in Ryouga's hand, acquiring razor-sharp edges. "What shards?" He flung the bandannas at Inu Yasha, who had enough sense to leap out of their way as they thudded into the ground he had been standing on just seconds before.
Unfortunately, he had been forced to leap to the left, which wasn't good at all, as he recognised the humming sound of a projectile rushing through air toward him.
Inu Yasha turned to see the black and red shape of the umbrella rushing toward him, the tip growing big enough to cover his vision within an instant. Before the hanyou had time to say "Shit", much less leap out of the way, the tip made explosive contact with Inu Yasha's head, making him crash to the ground, causing a small crater and a dust cloud.
Miroku slapped his forehead in disgust. Why couldn't Inu Yasha anticipate that? So much for a person who travelled with – and fought – a fighter who used boomerangs as a weapon. Kagome was right – the stupid hanyou never learned.
Ranma was very impressed. Ryouga really was learning – maybe he wasn't such a hopeless case, after all. The fanged martial artist had actually thought out and set an effective trap – using his buzz-saw trick to achieve a boomerang-esque effect, taking a few blows to fool the opponent, then getting the enemy into the right position for the returning umbrella by using the ki-sharpened bandannas.
Hm. Not bad at all.
Ryouga stood over the small crater Inu Yasha had created, a smug smile on his face. He caught the umbrella neatly and twirled it almost lazily in his hand. "I hope that's taught you – and your friend – a lesson." He patted his pocket. "These shards were bestowed upon me, and I intend to keep them." With that, he proceeded to pick up his backpack and leave.
Miroku started forward to intercept him, before a muffled, but angry voice stopped both of them in their tracks. "We'll… see about that."
To Ryouga's – and the entire student population of Furinkan High – surprise, Inu Yasha stood up and bounded out of the crater, shaking off dust and rubble. There was a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face, but he otherwise looked completely unharmed. Ryouga was alarmed. Did the guy undergo surgery and get titanium plates installed beneath his skin or something? Panic and surprise fuel the imagination, it would seem.
"It'll take much more than that to get me down, human," Inu Yasha growled, and slashed at Ryouga before the young man had a chance to wonder at Inu Yasha's strange last word. He avoided it by a hairbreadth, and brought up his umbrella to take a swing at the hanyou. Umbrella met Tetsusaiga once again, but this time Inu Yasha was the one determined not to be fooled. He let go off the Tetsusaiga altogether – causing it to turn into its rusty guise and drop down – and Ryouga stumbled forward with the momentum. Inu Yasha bared his claws and slashed at Ryouga's chest – more specifically, his chest pocket – causing two pink, gently glowing lights to rise into the air and drop some distance away from the combatants.
Only one thought resounded in Inu Yasha, Miroku and Ryouga's minds: The shards!
Inu Yasha and Miroku gave cries of triumph as one, before sprinting toward the fallen shards. Intense panic at the prospect of losing his only cure for the Jusenkyo curse propelled Ryouga into action. Flipping into the air and stepping on a distracted Inu Yasha's head, he managed to land before them, fangs bared. "You want the shards? You'll have to get through me, first."
"With pleasure," Miroku replied calmly, raising his staff, while Inu Yasha responded by hefting the Tetsusaiga.
Ryouga lifted a finger, and stabbed it into the ground.
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"
The ground exploded beneath their feet, and stone and rubble flew everywhere, at dangerous speeds. Many of the students ran for cover, while Ranma blocked the stones from hitting Akane and the others with his superior speed. What are you… oh shit. Overcome by a sense of concern for his sometime-comrade, Ranma cried out, "Ryouga, look out!"
His cause for concern was exactly this: Ryouga's Breaking Point move had just penetrated an underground water pipe, and now the water was gushing out in an uncontrollable fountain, which Ryouga couldn't avoid.
And he didn't have his shards with him.
Bloody… why does this always happen to me? Ryouga thought miserably, as he felt himself transforming under the Jusenkyo curse. His clothes pooled around him, while Inu Yasha and Miroku looked around, bewildered. Both were battered and bruised – slightly bloodied in the case of Miroku – but they were on their feet. And the shards were but metres away. Once the dust cloud cleared, the shards would be in plain view – and for their taking. There had to be some way to avoid that…
Ranma, if possible, was nearly as desperate as Ryouga. Despite the fact that he thought that Ryouga was a thick-skinned, hot-headed pig, and the fact that Ryouga was often out to 'kill' him, the fanged martial artist was one of the few real friends that he had. Besides, he had made a promise to Ryouga, and as a martial artist who reveres honour, he wanted to keep that promise.
Which basically meant this: he'd better keep Akane from discovering Ryouga's cursed form, otherwise his conscience was going to give him a lot of shit.
"What's happening? Where's Ryouga?" Akane stood on her toes trying to look over the just-dispersing dust cloud. Ranma's mind was agonisingly blank – he just couldn't think of any excuses. Well then, he thought determinedly. Desperate times call for desperate measures. "Akane," he said, in as soft a voice as he could manage, "Let's go back inside and have our lunch. We can't possibly eat in this mess."
Akane's eyes looked as if they would jump out of their sockets. Ranma actually, voluntarily wants to eat my lunch? This is something new. "O-okay then," she said, wishing she could prevent that blush from creeping across her nose, "I guess we could…"
"Holy cow! What is that… that thing?"
Daisuke's stunned voice echoed even in the noisy clearing. Curious, Ranma turned… and gasped. Bloody hell… Ryouga!
Just as Ranma had realised what desperate times called for, Ryouga had had his thoughts moving along the same lines. There was not much he could do to protect the shards in the unenviable body of a piglet. Just as he had almost thought about scampering away in despair, he had realised that there was one thing he could do. It was probably the most desperate thing he'd ever had to do in his entire troubled life, but hey. The future was worth it – so why not?
With that placating thought in mind, Ryouga Hibiki, as the adorable piglet P-Chan, swallowed the shards.
The dust-cloud cleared.
Daisuke yelled.
The students panicked.
Inu Yasha let out a string of very censorable curses.
For, in the middle of the clearing stood the most hideous thing the seasoned students of Furinkan High had ever seen. This… this creature… defined huge. It was gargantuan. Its snout was the colour of dried blood, and two huge, dangerous-looking fangs protruded from its mouth. Two long ears twitched restlessly on its head, while its eyes – huge, red and crazed – swivelled from side to side. Its hooves created tiny canyons as they scratched at the ground. Its gigantic black body seemed big enough to house all of the students of Furinkan High comfortably within its belly. What happened? Akane thought, her eyes wide in fright. How did this… thing come here?
Only Ranma recognised the creature for what it really was.
Ryouga Hibiki had just become a monster.