DISCLAIMER: Relatively standard stuff. Existing characters are properties of the people who made them up. Mitsuki, and several other characters are mine, and so's the story, hence ownership and copyright of them belongs to me. Contact me at misato_98@yahoo.com if you want permission to use anything I've written for whatnot purposes.
WARNING: There is some bad language used in this chapter. Note if you don't like four-letter words, or aren't allowed to read them, skip this chapter.
LOVE
By
Raymond Cooper
Chapter 9
** Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough **
Saturn went to say something. Ranma knew what he had to do now. He'd worked out the script in his head.
Well, the start of it. Basically, get his girlfriend... if that was what she was, still... angry enough to make mistakes. Then to get her down on the ground, make sure she was anchored safely to the ground, and try to bring her around once more. He knew this woman. Knew her as well as someone could without being her. Her ki had told him everything she hadn't, and she'd known. He knew when she was sad, when she was angry, when she was happy... when she was shy. The small nuances in her gestures and speech, he'd known from them, too. This Yoshihiro, who'd twisted her mind and body, hadn't gotten to know her like that.
He'd had to have rammed his way in with his influence, pushed what made her interesting and unique to one side, stolen her mind and used what little bit of her that interested him: her power.
That, and her attachment to Ranma himself. Ranma was beginning to feel that Yoshihiro was making this a personal vendetta between the two of them. Why, Ranma didn't know. At the moment, he didn't really care, either. His girlfriend stood before him, ready to speak, anxious to spout forth with whatever malicious bile she could generate to injure Ranma before he could make a move.
That made him so really not interested in knowing why Yoshihiro was interested in him.
So he pointed his finger, filling it with all the rage and pain he felt, willing his bones back into position, forcing his bruises to fade. He pointed at Mistress Saturn. He opened his mouth. Sucked in a breath.
"I am Ranma Saotome. And I am going to kick your ass."
Saturn stopped, momentarily stunned. Obviously, either she or Yoshihiro hadn't expected this. Most likely, Saturn had expected Ranma to plead once more for the return of his Hotaru-chan, innocent child that she was, and fall to his knees and beg that she be allowed to go free.
But hey, Ranma encouraged anyone to have an active fantasy life. After all, that's the only way people like Kuno got dates, wasn't it?
A foot stamped into the ground, and Ranma's blast of ki sank it into the hard dirt of the Tendo's, sending chunks of the stuff upwards as the energies pouring from Ranma's body momentarily altered the force of gravity around him. His other foot pushed backwards into the ground
and then he was moving forward, a full-body amagurriken smashing into Saturn's unprepared defences. Ranma's full bodymass, smashing into her unprepared body at near supersonic speeds, created a huge force that not even a senshi could halt in its path. She pulled a fist down, to smash into his back
but Ranma was gone again, and she barely stopped from thumping herself in the gut. Saturn growled, looked skywards to where Ranma floated, taunting her with a face. She pushed off from the ground herself, tucked her body up around her, twirling her Silence Glaive in her left hand while her right made to pull back for a punch.
In the tenth of a second this had happened in, Ranma had dodged back to the ground, spinning around on his way and sending a heel into her stomach. She stopped her forward motion suddenly, eyes opened wide as she fought for breath. It wasn't long in coming, and she blinked from the sight of the Tendos watching again.
There was a smash at one end of the yard as part of the wall was demolished, then a scant heartbeat later, the wall at the other end of the yard exploded. Soun raised a hand to ward off the projectiles spreading outwards from that explosion, before noting that he had half-a-dozen young women in sailor outfits around him again.
"We've got to deflect these chunks from hitting anyone!" Sailor Moon yelled.
Nemesis prepared to leave the Inner senshi to their work and join Ranma, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, and saw the hand was connected to Kasumi Tendo.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Kasumi smiled. "Ranma knows what he's doing."
"So do I," Nemesis countered.
The air in the room chilled slightly as Kasumi frowned. "He has already paid off his debt to this family for abandoning my sister," she said quietly. "You won't be good for him."
"I'm going to help my sensei," Nemesis said again, and made to shake off the elder Tendo sister's hand, but Kasumi wasn't shaken off that easily.
"I said, you can't help him."
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Nemesis said, trying not to get angry, trying to ignore the voices coming through now. Most of them were tugging her outside, to the fight with Ranma, at any cost. At least one, though, was suggesting equally strongly that she remain here as Ranma was possibly in trouble from other sources as well. This other character people had reported at the school was troubling, and conspicuously absent. Would he turn up to threaten her... her sensei?
That voice won out in the end. There may be threats other than Hotaru. And yet, in not helping Ranma fight Hotaru, that placed Mitsuki in a slightly worse position in the romantic stakes. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. She decided to watch the fight and hate herselves.
******
A fist traded places with a foot traded places with a forehead traded places with a knee with a fist with a fist fist foot elbow double-fist at speeds faster than normal eyes could follow. Ranma didn't let up on Saturn, knowing if she got a punch in, he'd be that much slower. Two punches, he could be nursing broken ribs again. More than that, and he would be in serious danger.
He was in his female form at the moment, and thus wasn't quite as strong as he would have liked. But there was no time to go looking for hot water to change back to his male form, and it wasn't like Ranma could just stop the fight and heat some up. No way was Saturn going to sit with him and drink lemonade while he waiting for a kettle to boil.
Five minutes into the fight, and Ranma's concentration was still strong. His body was worsening slightly, though, as even Saturn's near-misses were bringing with them walls of wind strong enough to raise bruises. His punches and kicks, though, were beinging delivered faster than Saturn could move. For every near miss of hers, he connected more than two dozen times.
Moving too fast for the eye to follow once more, Ranma brought a leg up in a very unladylike manoeuvre, and brought Saturn to her knees, a shocked look on her face.
"Hey, works on girls, too," Ranma complimented himself. He noted to himself that the NEXT time he was set upon by a super-strong invulnerable woman, he'd knee them in the groin first up and save himself the injuries.
A quick spin-kick brought his right heel in behind Saturn's head, and smashed into the base of her skull. She groaned, and thumped to the ground.
******
Over. It was over.
Ranma had breathing space.
Caught his breath. Stood upright, sucked in another deep breath as bruises caught up with him. He picked a few chunks of stone from his hair, rubbed the small amounts of blood seeping from microcuts along his jaw from his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
And heard the stone chink behind him.
"Oh, is that ALL?" saturn asked, pulling herself to her feet. She was bleeding in several places, bruised, fuku ripped and torn around the edges where near-misses and actual impacts at supersonic velocities had pulled the superstrong material in different directions faster than it was capable of withstanding. Her arms held just out from her body, she brought them upwards in semi-circles, passing each other over her stomach, and as they travelled, her injuries healed. Damn.
Ranma couldn't do that. He couldn't match that healing ability of Hotaru's. He'd only been hoping somewhere in the most primal parts of his brain that believed in elements taken from religions he'd been exposed to throughout the years that she wouldn't have access to that power.
Yet, he knew it was a weak hope. She had access to all of Saturn's other powers, presumably even the power to destroy the world.
But Ranma was banking on the fact that Yoshihiro most likely had other needs for Earth, and he wouldn't allow the planet to be damaged.
Well, much.
Ranma, on the other hand, was only going to be safe so long as he provided some entertainment for Mistress Saturn. Which, considering the fact she just *had* to be playing with him, toying with him, possibly wouldn't be quite as long as he'd hoped.
Whatever he was going to do, whatever rabbit he was going to pull from a hat, he had to do it fast.
Thankfully, speed was something Ranma had gotten pretty good at using.
******
Mistress Saturn was still smirking when she realised the Ranma she was looking at was an afterimage. Her brain, operating at speeds faster than that of a normal human, detected his energy signature, moving incredibly fast at her. Her eyes hadn't yet caught up to his movement as she snapped a forearm up to block what would have been a devastating kick, and flipped Ranma back.
His feet smashed into the yard's concrete wall, knees bent under the force, but somehow, rather than smashing through the wall and through the next block of houses, Ranma transferred the kinetic energy he'd been given from the blow into forward movement again, and with fists outstretched in front of him, Ranma blasted his ki forward of himself, creating a wall of sheer willpower about to hit her.
Saturn spun, flicking a leg upwards as she did so, and made to block the energy with a snap-kick as she came around, but Ranma cancelled the wave at the last instant, her kick passing through nothing but air. Mistress Saturn overbalanced, her posture ready to absorb the force of the energy, and she started to fall - helped greatly when Ranma's speeding body smashed into her midriff.
Air rushed from her lungs again, and she swore loudly, swinging a fist through the location Ranma's head had just been in.
Her target no longer there, Saturn's fist continued its wild swing around, unbalancing her further. A knee crunched in the small of her back, and her eyes rolled back as she uttered a pained groan.
Her opponent danced backwards, out of reach. She staggered into an upright position, murder in her eyes. The Silence Glaive swung into her hand, spun around in her fingers as easily as a cheerleader spins a baton. She could hear the minute sounds of air molecules being sliced in half.
Giving Ranma no warning, she leapt at him, slicing the Glaive through where he had been mere microseconds earlier. His feet touched lightly on her head, bobbing it down. As she forced it up to try to unbalance her quarry, Ranma bounced higher. She jabbed the Glaive upwards, and Ranma, with nothing to bounce off to alter his direction, twisted in midair and emitted a burst of ki from his hands that enabled him to dodge just enough for the blade of the weapon to pass harmlessly through his clothing rather than his torso.
Feet padded to the ground behind her, and Saturn turned, bringing the Glaive down low. Ranma ducked lower to have it pass overhead, missing an ear by less than a centimetre. He flipped onto his back, and when Saturn brought the weapon down again, he actually caught the blade in his hands, offered MIstress Saturn a cheeky smile, then pushed off again, taking the Glaive with him.
"Give that back!" Saturn snarled.
"Oh come on," Ranma chidded, "Surely I taught you better than this, Saturn. I mean, weapons? A battle between warriors is fought with the greatest weapons of all! Hands, feet - body parts, y'know?"
"I am stronger than you!"
"Oh, sure, but you're stupid."
"Stupid?!?"
"Yeah," Ranma countered, twirling the Glaive around and testing its weight in his hand, gazing appreciatively at the reflected pattern of light on the blade as it spun. "I mean, ya know, you had me convinced you were some evil bitch now. For a little bit. Like, half a minute. And this Yoshihiro, he's using you. I know that. I guess you're not quite stupid enough to not know that."
Saturn's feet thumped deeper into the ground as she grew ever more angry, and power flowed from her freely, creatinh a visible aura around her body. "I'm his new General," she replied, finally, voice tight.
"Nah... see, that's not true, even," Ranma said, tossing the Glaive back to Saturn. She caught it in one hand, spun it behind her back in a ready-posture Ranma had taught her with bamboo sticks. "He doesn't want another General. Especially not one of your power. 'Cause, he can't trust you. By definition, he *has* to be stronger than his Generals... and you're stronger than him. What if you wanna take over? He can't stop you. And if he could, you could blow up the world."
"Why does this mean I'm stupid?" An evil glare.
"Oh, no reason, really. Bad guys are always just stupid. It's like a natural law or somethin'."
The smirk did it. Mistress Saturn gave an inarticulate roar of anger, and sped at Ranma. He dodged, easily, and she pummelled through a wall, into the street beyond, and into a house on the other side of that before she checked her charge and turned. Ranma stood in the street, smirking more. It was that arrogant smirk Saturn had seen often as Hotaru, and even as Sailor Saturn, the smirk that Ranma gave an enemy who was defeated and just didn't know it yet.
She wasn't defeated, though. She was still stronger than Ranma, could heal herself faster, could last longer. Ranma couldn't match her endurance. And although he kept hitting places that really hurt, and she was in no mood to try and stop fighting long enough to heal herself from the more serious tags, she could still withstand more physical damage than Ranma could.
She decided to prove that.
******
The blur of motion wasn't as fast as Ranma was capable of moving, but Ranma was tiring a little by now. In the five or so minutes since the fight had started, he'd been moving at as close to top speed as he could, and although he'd recovered a lot of energy in the past month and a half from that youma attack under the university library, he felt as if he wasn't yet at peak fighting capacity. He often felt drained, slow, weak... indeed, it had only really been little more than an hour and a half since he'd last expended a lot of energy fighting Hotaru... Mistress Saturn.
He still had no idea how to bring her back, but he'd succeeded already in the first half of his self-appointed mission: he'd gotten Mistress Saturn angry.
So angry, in fact, it might be hard to contain her aggression.
And Ranma, tiring, couldn't move from her path quickly enough.
It felt like a freight train hit his chest.
Something snapped, and he felt pain. Agony, actually; pain was too simple a word, didn't have within the makeup of the word the associated sensations now playing hell up and down his nervous system.
Yet, that remarkable internal energy that fuelled him had him on his feet again within a second. A hand clamped down around the ribs that had given under the force, the other held up, ready to parry or block Saturn's follow-up attack.
The kick swung at his chest again, Saturn obviously hoping to capitalise on the injury she'd just caused. Ranma's free hand intercepted it, but the force drove him backwards, feet digging deep furrows in the surface of the road. The pain lessened as the ribs started knitting under his hands, and Ranma brought up his second arm to assist the first in parrying and blocking. Give it a few more of Saturn's swings, he thought, and he might be able to go on the offensive again.
He didn't give any untoward attention to the fact he was healing a lot faster than normal, but then, his attention was focussed elsewhere rather intimately.
Saturn's fist slammed into his braced forearms, the impact stinging. A bone gave in his left arm, but he shook the bone back into place and gave it no further thought. A pair of quick blows came in towards his head, and rather than parry of block them, Ranma bent over backwards at the hips, hands grabbing the ground, Saturn's fists passing through the space where his head had been.
With Mistress Saturn already overbalanced and committed to her move, Ranma flicked his body upwards, wrapping his legs around Saturn's midriff on the way, brought her up and over his body, and slammed her headfirst into the ground.
But this still wasn't helping cure her. Was only helping hurt her. Hurt her more than she'd already been hurt. Ranma was starting to find he didn't want to be doing this, that if there was no breakthrough in the next few minutes, if she didn't come to her senses, he might have to leave her to live out her new life. He didn't know what to do. At an impasse mentally, he missed Saturn's next attack: a punch that threw him back through the exterior wall back into the Tendo's yard.
His jaw severely bruised, Ranma rubbed around his mouth with one hand while his other tracked Saturn. She'd just healed herself again while he stood there, and smirked at him. She was still angry, but obviously once more feeling in control, superior to her ex-boyfriend.
"So, Ranma, no cocky comments now, eh?" she asked, teasingly. "Tell you what: give it up now. I'll make you like me... we can do things together."
"Whad kund uf dings?" Ranma asked, trying to get some feeling back into his jaw.
"You know, kinky games involving game show hosts, frogs, candles and intimate apparel, walks along the beach under the light of a burning city, eating the livers of hardworking manga artists... I can think of lots, lots more fun things for us to do." The smile in her voice disturbed Ranma. Yet, there was almost something underneath it that appealed to him. Not in the attractive way, but something calling for help. There wasn't the casual disregarding of their previous relationship apparent at the moment; no, she was suggesting it could continue.
*IF* Ranma joined her. Or if she joined Ranma...? She wanted him. But why? Moderating influence? No. Likely support in a move against Yoshihiro. But wouldn't he have forseen something like that happening? Surely, since he'd manipulated Natsumi in the way he had into making such a challenge a few weeks earlier by making sure she had the power to support her attacks on his primary General, he'd have known what Saturn would do once she had Ranma on her side, supporting her? Ranma hadn't actually thought he was right earlier, about bad people being inherently stupid - if he was right, there couldn't have been so much unsolved crime in the world - but if he hadn't known what would happen if Ranma lost this fight, or joined Mistress Saturn, then he had to be some kind of extremely special idiot.
But perhaps it was something else. While he had a moment to think, he wondered...
******
Nemesis had watched the fight with worried interest. She'd watched her sensei take hits that should have turned him into jelly. She'd watched him deliver blows that could have demolished buildings. She'd watched the arrogant smirk on his face that had been making Mistress Saturn even more angry than before.
Saturn obviously wasn't having fun right now. She seemed to be tortured. In two minds. That was something Nemesis had great experience with... if one added in a lot of other numbers to that low amount of personalities. She had guessed Ranma was trying to find some method of bringing Hotaru back to the surface. Bringing back the runt would make certain things more difficult, as Nemesis had already worked out, but it could make things even worse. Her feelings for Ranma, stretching back as far as they did, had some of her more obsessive personalities in an uproar over the fact he had a girlfriend that wasn't her. If she ever forgot to take her pills one morning, or thought once again she was cured, or could handle the voices pulling her into that deep sea of molasses again, she might end up doing some things she'd later regret.
Like kill someone.
Most likely Hotaru. Although her track record with men wasn't too good, either. She'd hate to kill Ranma.
But... loving someone meant being hurt. Because, Nemesis had found out long ago, loving someone as much as one could didn't mean that their feelings back would be that great... or even a noticeable fraction of that amount. Yet, all one could do was love that person, and do whatever one could to help that person when in time of need.
And Ranma was in time of great need.
For all his strength and newfound maturity and his street smarts, Ranma didn't know much about people's minds that wasn't related to combat. His emotive maturity that had recently started showing through, that side of him that now amde him stop and consider what he was about to say before he opened his mouth, his intelligence, none of that helped when dealing with matters of personality. And Nemesis knew lots about that aspect of life.
She thought, and thought hard, while the two combatants faced off silently. Ranma's jaw seemed to be clenching and unclenching, Saturn's fists bunched and unbunched while she waited for a response. For all the fact she was dressed now as a tart of some kind, with the smart-assed, hatefilled personality to match, she seemed to be really worried about Ranma's decision. Like she was wanting him to help her take over the Dark Kingdom's forces or something.
Help...
Something clicked in her head. She turned to Mars. "You made a psychic connection with Mistress Saturn, right?"
Mars ndoded. "Yeah. Back at the dorm. She sounded scared."
"Needing, right? Wanting to be saved?"
"Yeah. By Ranma."
Click. "She sounded like... herself, right?"
Mars nodded again, curious as to where this was going.
Nemesis whipped around to face Ranma. "She's still in there!" she yelled. "Wanting you to help her!"
"I guessed that," Ranma shot back. His voice sounded normal again, which was good. "This whole 'join me and together we can rule the universe' thing kinda gave it away."
"No!" Nemesis tried again. "I mean, Hotaru's wanting you to help her! She's in there, scared and alone while someone else has control of her!"
Mars stared at her. "You want to try giving her your pills?" she asked, incredulously.
Nemesis shook her head. She went to yell something more, but Ranma had gotten the idea. Before Mistress Saturn could react, Ranma had sprung into action, grabbing her and leaping up into the air, disappearing across rooftops at blurred speed. Saturn's Silence Glaive dropped to the ground, bounced once at each end, then settled at rest on the grass.
******
Saturn hadn't been ready for the manoeuvre. Ranma had leapt at her, dodged around to behind her, then wrapped his arms up around her shoulders from under her arms, locking her into position with a knee in the small of her back. She twisted, struggled to get free, but she felt the kick of ki being expelled from Ranma's feet in great quantities and they took to the air. With her arms trapped, trying to break free caused her to drop her Glaive. But she knew Ranma couldn't keep this up forever. He was likely just taking her to somewhere people couldn't get hurt in the crossfire.
Not that Saturn cared. Not really. People were just sheep, Yoshihiro said. Sheep, following one another in their insignificant lives. How much better would they be, forced into some kind of order? What kind of cities could they build, what sized monuments to their rulers could be erected with a properly harnessed workforce?
Strange... Mistress Saturn had a flash of crystal spires, massed gardens, city layouts based around transmission of natural energies... but then it was gone.
Ranma touched down in a park devoid of people. Animals scampered into hiding, and Saturn prepared herself to fight again, preparing to whirl around once Ranma released her to spring back for his own preparatory movements for his next set of attacks.
But his arms didn't move. They stayed locked around her, firmly. Saturn struggled, pulled, but Ranma stuck to her like glue, didn't let her break free. He was silent behind her.
She tried to elbow him in the stomach, and succeeded, but apart from the quick rush of air from Ranma's mouth, he didn't make a sound, nor did he let go of his captive. She was still trapped.
And she felt trapped. Nervous now, she tried to pull away again, tried smashing Ranma backwards through a tree, dropped to the ground and rolled on him. Yet still he held on. She got up, saw a cemented rock wall. She turned her back to it, and charged it, feeling Ranma sink into the wall with a light burst of ki at the last moment to stop from doing any serious damage to himself.
Finally, knowing he wouldn't and couldn't be thrown so easily, she asked, quietly, "Why won't you get off? Don't you want to fight me anymore?" She heard to start of a whine in her voice, hated herself for it.
"No," Ranma said from behind her ear, equally quiet, almost breathing in her ear as he spoke. The feel of his breath tingled along her earlobe as it was, exciting her, also calming her from the rage she'd been enraptured in. "I didn't want to fight you at all, Hotaru. And I finally realised I was doing this all wrong."
"Wrong?" She struggled again, fruitlessly trying to rid herself of what was suspiciously starting to feel like a conscience.
"Yeah, wrong. You see, Hotaru, I think I was trying to give you a chance to fight this... possession yourself. Trying to get whatever is in your mind preoccupied enough so you could take control again. But... that didn't work. Because what was in your mind... is you. Your darker impulses given form, set free and given control of you. Nemesis just gave me the rest of the story."
"What story?" Saturn had slowed her struggling now. Still angry, but curious. She told herself she was merely waiting until Ranma loosened his grip, and *then* she'd attack.
"That you were wanting help. I wasn't giving you that help." She felt Ranma shrug behind her. "I was being me. Everything's something to beat up, that's the solution to every problem."
"It is!"
"Nah... mostly, it is. But not always. And this is one case where me hitting something isn't going to do much good. So, I'm going to hold you."
Hold her? He thought he could do this for any length of time?
Ranma continued. "You're not liking this. You hate this. Hate what's being done to you. What's being done in your name. And me, I'm being a bad boyfriend. I guess I have a thing about girls hitting me now... Akane did it for so long, and so did shampoo and Ukyou even...! I... I didn't like being hit again, by you especially. And so I fought. I didn't stop to think that there was another way of looking at this."
"What way?" Saturn was caught up now, despite herself. She gave a struggle, more for image than anything. Ranma's grip was still too tight.
"That I was being stupid. Trying to get you angry, distracted... it's my fault, Hotaru. I should have paid more attention to you. I know that now. I didn't notice you being manipulated... well, not as much as I should have. I was too busy feeling jealous, thinking of myself rather than thinking of you."
He let Saturn go then, and she didn't move, for a moment startled by the move into inaction. Besides, Ranma's body, alternating between soft and hard behind her, was kind of nice...
But then, reason kicked in. And she jumped from him. Turned around to face him. His face was full of compassion for her.
No, not for her, for what she had been.
She felt tears come to her eyes. Felt her fingers bunch up into fists.
"I'll always be here for you, Hotaru," he said, simply.
She punched him. Hard. She felt the bone give under the force of her impact. Then she punched him again, with her other fist. Not quite so hard. Ranma was knocked about, but always turned back to face her, compassionate, somehow seeming as something much superior to what she was. It was the smile. That one that said, "I know what you're going through, and I know how much you're hating yourself right now, but I'm here for you in any way you need, and if that's beating me up, well, then, go to it."
And she did. She punched, punched, hit Ranma as she could manage it. It wasn't a particularly fast pace - in fact, Ranma seemed to be healing almost as fast as she was injuring him. And still that look.
Then his face changed, blurred somehow. Saturn blinked back the tears, swelling hotly in the corners of her eyes. She continued to hit Ranma.
"Damn you! Fuck you! I HATE you!" she howled. "I fucking hate you! You did this to me, you didn't care, you played with HER!" Another punch. More tears.
Then the punches grew lighter, the screams of anger transformed into sobs of despair and self-pity. She couldn't get any force into her arms to smack Ranma around anymore, and Ranma took her into his arms.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered to her as she sobbed. "I'm just so sorry."
Saturn was happy he was sorry. Happy, viciously happy, and hoping that he felt at least as bad as she did right now. She couldn't hold onto her transformed form any longer, and Ranma's arms tightened around her that much more, drawing her in closer to him, resting her head on his chest. "Why didn't you notice?" she whispered.
For that, for the moment, Ranma had no words.
Then, Hotaru stopped her sobbing, was quiet for a scant moment as she Remembered. "Ooooohhh..." she got out before bursting into some serious tears. Ranma guessed what she'd remembered - the damage done, the people injured, those she'd tried to kill for fun - and stayed silent, holding her, stroking her hair, wondering - now that the threat was over - just how he'd manage to pick up the pieces.
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Sorry. She says sorry. So do I. First things first, excuses. Those who remember that our dog died a few months back might be happy to know we've got two puppies recently. We bought them a month ago, two little brothers, toy poodles again, gorgeous as sin. But for the first two weeks, I had to look after them constantly, had almost no computer time, thus got no writing done. Following the period where I needed to be around them 100% of the time, I got an upgrade to the 3d software I do what I laughably occasionally call art with, and I spent another 2 weeks bringing myself up to speed with the new features. So, it's been a month before either of my current series have been updated.
Did start this chapter, and chapter 3 of X-Com, about a week ago, but this one's had me stumped until tonight. And the ending of this chapter nearly had me put it off for another few days, until I could figure out another decent ending (since I suddenly realised when I got to it that my original plans just wouldn't hold any kind of water).
Now, because I wanted to get some sleep, and to have this chapter posted tonight before I disconnected from the net, there's some stuff missing from the end of this chapter. But... in all honesty, it doesn't belong here, but in the next chapter or two... people dealing with Hotaru. Hopefully will have the next chapter up in a fortnight... hoping to settle into a routine of doing a chapter of this one week, one of X-Com the next, but may speed up occasionally, or slow down as needed due to RL or writer's block. But am trying to keep to it at the moment.
Okay, thanks for hanging in there until I got this chapter finished, thanks to the guys in #void for putting up with me saying, "Okay, gonna write tonight... *yawn* damn, too tired, heading to bed" an awful lot more often than I'd have liked.
Next time: The dealing. The pain. The agony. Are things back the way they were? Will Ranma tell Hotaru just where he swallowed that dictionary? Who knows? Not me, I just write the damned thing...
WARNING: There is some bad language used in this chapter. Note if you don't like four-letter words, or aren't allowed to read them, skip this chapter.
LOVE
By
Raymond Cooper
Chapter 9
** Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough **
Saturn went to say something. Ranma knew what he had to do now. He'd worked out the script in his head.
Well, the start of it. Basically, get his girlfriend... if that was what she was, still... angry enough to make mistakes. Then to get her down on the ground, make sure she was anchored safely to the ground, and try to bring her around once more. He knew this woman. Knew her as well as someone could without being her. Her ki had told him everything she hadn't, and she'd known. He knew when she was sad, when she was angry, when she was happy... when she was shy. The small nuances in her gestures and speech, he'd known from them, too. This Yoshihiro, who'd twisted her mind and body, hadn't gotten to know her like that.
He'd had to have rammed his way in with his influence, pushed what made her interesting and unique to one side, stolen her mind and used what little bit of her that interested him: her power.
That, and her attachment to Ranma himself. Ranma was beginning to feel that Yoshihiro was making this a personal vendetta between the two of them. Why, Ranma didn't know. At the moment, he didn't really care, either. His girlfriend stood before him, ready to speak, anxious to spout forth with whatever malicious bile she could generate to injure Ranma before he could make a move.
That made him so really not interested in knowing why Yoshihiro was interested in him.
So he pointed his finger, filling it with all the rage and pain he felt, willing his bones back into position, forcing his bruises to fade. He pointed at Mistress Saturn. He opened his mouth. Sucked in a breath.
"I am Ranma Saotome. And I am going to kick your ass."
Saturn stopped, momentarily stunned. Obviously, either she or Yoshihiro hadn't expected this. Most likely, Saturn had expected Ranma to plead once more for the return of his Hotaru-chan, innocent child that she was, and fall to his knees and beg that she be allowed to go free.
But hey, Ranma encouraged anyone to have an active fantasy life. After all, that's the only way people like Kuno got dates, wasn't it?
A foot stamped into the ground, and Ranma's blast of ki sank it into the hard dirt of the Tendo's, sending chunks of the stuff upwards as the energies pouring from Ranma's body momentarily altered the force of gravity around him. His other foot pushed backwards into the ground
and then he was moving forward, a full-body amagurriken smashing into Saturn's unprepared defences. Ranma's full bodymass, smashing into her unprepared body at near supersonic speeds, created a huge force that not even a senshi could halt in its path. She pulled a fist down, to smash into his back
but Ranma was gone again, and she barely stopped from thumping herself in the gut. Saturn growled, looked skywards to where Ranma floated, taunting her with a face. She pushed off from the ground herself, tucked her body up around her, twirling her Silence Glaive in her left hand while her right made to pull back for a punch.
In the tenth of a second this had happened in, Ranma had dodged back to the ground, spinning around on his way and sending a heel into her stomach. She stopped her forward motion suddenly, eyes opened wide as she fought for breath. It wasn't long in coming, and she blinked from the sight of the Tendos watching again.
There was a smash at one end of the yard as part of the wall was demolished, then a scant heartbeat later, the wall at the other end of the yard exploded. Soun raised a hand to ward off the projectiles spreading outwards from that explosion, before noting that he had half-a-dozen young women in sailor outfits around him again.
"We've got to deflect these chunks from hitting anyone!" Sailor Moon yelled.
Nemesis prepared to leave the Inner senshi to their work and join Ranma, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, and saw the hand was connected to Kasumi Tendo.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Kasumi smiled. "Ranma knows what he's doing."
"So do I," Nemesis countered.
The air in the room chilled slightly as Kasumi frowned. "He has already paid off his debt to this family for abandoning my sister," she said quietly. "You won't be good for him."
"I'm going to help my sensei," Nemesis said again, and made to shake off the elder Tendo sister's hand, but Kasumi wasn't shaken off that easily.
"I said, you can't help him."
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Nemesis said, trying not to get angry, trying to ignore the voices coming through now. Most of them were tugging her outside, to the fight with Ranma, at any cost. At least one, though, was suggesting equally strongly that she remain here as Ranma was possibly in trouble from other sources as well. This other character people had reported at the school was troubling, and conspicuously absent. Would he turn up to threaten her... her sensei?
That voice won out in the end. There may be threats other than Hotaru. And yet, in not helping Ranma fight Hotaru, that placed Mitsuki in a slightly worse position in the romantic stakes. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. She decided to watch the fight and hate herselves.
******
A fist traded places with a foot traded places with a forehead traded places with a knee with a fist with a fist fist foot elbow double-fist at speeds faster than normal eyes could follow. Ranma didn't let up on Saturn, knowing if she got a punch in, he'd be that much slower. Two punches, he could be nursing broken ribs again. More than that, and he would be in serious danger.
He was in his female form at the moment, and thus wasn't quite as strong as he would have liked. But there was no time to go looking for hot water to change back to his male form, and it wasn't like Ranma could just stop the fight and heat some up. No way was Saturn going to sit with him and drink lemonade while he waiting for a kettle to boil.
Five minutes into the fight, and Ranma's concentration was still strong. His body was worsening slightly, though, as even Saturn's near-misses were bringing with them walls of wind strong enough to raise bruises. His punches and kicks, though, were beinging delivered faster than Saturn could move. For every near miss of hers, he connected more than two dozen times.
Moving too fast for the eye to follow once more, Ranma brought a leg up in a very unladylike manoeuvre, and brought Saturn to her knees, a shocked look on her face.
"Hey, works on girls, too," Ranma complimented himself. He noted to himself that the NEXT time he was set upon by a super-strong invulnerable woman, he'd knee them in the groin first up and save himself the injuries.
A quick spin-kick brought his right heel in behind Saturn's head, and smashed into the base of her skull. She groaned, and thumped to the ground.
******
Over. It was over.
Ranma had breathing space.
Caught his breath. Stood upright, sucked in another deep breath as bruises caught up with him. He picked a few chunks of stone from his hair, rubbed the small amounts of blood seeping from microcuts along his jaw from his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
And heard the stone chink behind him.
"Oh, is that ALL?" saturn asked, pulling herself to her feet. She was bleeding in several places, bruised, fuku ripped and torn around the edges where near-misses and actual impacts at supersonic velocities had pulled the superstrong material in different directions faster than it was capable of withstanding. Her arms held just out from her body, she brought them upwards in semi-circles, passing each other over her stomach, and as they travelled, her injuries healed. Damn.
Ranma couldn't do that. He couldn't match that healing ability of Hotaru's. He'd only been hoping somewhere in the most primal parts of his brain that believed in elements taken from religions he'd been exposed to throughout the years that she wouldn't have access to that power.
Yet, he knew it was a weak hope. She had access to all of Saturn's other powers, presumably even the power to destroy the world.
But Ranma was banking on the fact that Yoshihiro most likely had other needs for Earth, and he wouldn't allow the planet to be damaged.
Well, much.
Ranma, on the other hand, was only going to be safe so long as he provided some entertainment for Mistress Saturn. Which, considering the fact she just *had* to be playing with him, toying with him, possibly wouldn't be quite as long as he'd hoped.
Whatever he was going to do, whatever rabbit he was going to pull from a hat, he had to do it fast.
Thankfully, speed was something Ranma had gotten pretty good at using.
******
Mistress Saturn was still smirking when she realised the Ranma she was looking at was an afterimage. Her brain, operating at speeds faster than that of a normal human, detected his energy signature, moving incredibly fast at her. Her eyes hadn't yet caught up to his movement as she snapped a forearm up to block what would have been a devastating kick, and flipped Ranma back.
His feet smashed into the yard's concrete wall, knees bent under the force, but somehow, rather than smashing through the wall and through the next block of houses, Ranma transferred the kinetic energy he'd been given from the blow into forward movement again, and with fists outstretched in front of him, Ranma blasted his ki forward of himself, creating a wall of sheer willpower about to hit her.
Saturn spun, flicking a leg upwards as she did so, and made to block the energy with a snap-kick as she came around, but Ranma cancelled the wave at the last instant, her kick passing through nothing but air. Mistress Saturn overbalanced, her posture ready to absorb the force of the energy, and she started to fall - helped greatly when Ranma's speeding body smashed into her midriff.
Air rushed from her lungs again, and she swore loudly, swinging a fist through the location Ranma's head had just been in.
Her target no longer there, Saturn's fist continued its wild swing around, unbalancing her further. A knee crunched in the small of her back, and her eyes rolled back as she uttered a pained groan.
Her opponent danced backwards, out of reach. She staggered into an upright position, murder in her eyes. The Silence Glaive swung into her hand, spun around in her fingers as easily as a cheerleader spins a baton. She could hear the minute sounds of air molecules being sliced in half.
Giving Ranma no warning, she leapt at him, slicing the Glaive through where he had been mere microseconds earlier. His feet touched lightly on her head, bobbing it down. As she forced it up to try to unbalance her quarry, Ranma bounced higher. She jabbed the Glaive upwards, and Ranma, with nothing to bounce off to alter his direction, twisted in midair and emitted a burst of ki from his hands that enabled him to dodge just enough for the blade of the weapon to pass harmlessly through his clothing rather than his torso.
Feet padded to the ground behind her, and Saturn turned, bringing the Glaive down low. Ranma ducked lower to have it pass overhead, missing an ear by less than a centimetre. He flipped onto his back, and when Saturn brought the weapon down again, he actually caught the blade in his hands, offered MIstress Saturn a cheeky smile, then pushed off again, taking the Glaive with him.
"Give that back!" Saturn snarled.
"Oh come on," Ranma chidded, "Surely I taught you better than this, Saturn. I mean, weapons? A battle between warriors is fought with the greatest weapons of all! Hands, feet - body parts, y'know?"
"I am stronger than you!"
"Oh, sure, but you're stupid."
"Stupid?!?"
"Yeah," Ranma countered, twirling the Glaive around and testing its weight in his hand, gazing appreciatively at the reflected pattern of light on the blade as it spun. "I mean, ya know, you had me convinced you were some evil bitch now. For a little bit. Like, half a minute. And this Yoshihiro, he's using you. I know that. I guess you're not quite stupid enough to not know that."
Saturn's feet thumped deeper into the ground as she grew ever more angry, and power flowed from her freely, creatinh a visible aura around her body. "I'm his new General," she replied, finally, voice tight.
"Nah... see, that's not true, even," Ranma said, tossing the Glaive back to Saturn. She caught it in one hand, spun it behind her back in a ready-posture Ranma had taught her with bamboo sticks. "He doesn't want another General. Especially not one of your power. 'Cause, he can't trust you. By definition, he *has* to be stronger than his Generals... and you're stronger than him. What if you wanna take over? He can't stop you. And if he could, you could blow up the world."
"Why does this mean I'm stupid?" An evil glare.
"Oh, no reason, really. Bad guys are always just stupid. It's like a natural law or somethin'."
The smirk did it. Mistress Saturn gave an inarticulate roar of anger, and sped at Ranma. He dodged, easily, and she pummelled through a wall, into the street beyond, and into a house on the other side of that before she checked her charge and turned. Ranma stood in the street, smirking more. It was that arrogant smirk Saturn had seen often as Hotaru, and even as Sailor Saturn, the smirk that Ranma gave an enemy who was defeated and just didn't know it yet.
She wasn't defeated, though. She was still stronger than Ranma, could heal herself faster, could last longer. Ranma couldn't match her endurance. And although he kept hitting places that really hurt, and she was in no mood to try and stop fighting long enough to heal herself from the more serious tags, she could still withstand more physical damage than Ranma could.
She decided to prove that.
******
The blur of motion wasn't as fast as Ranma was capable of moving, but Ranma was tiring a little by now. In the five or so minutes since the fight had started, he'd been moving at as close to top speed as he could, and although he'd recovered a lot of energy in the past month and a half from that youma attack under the university library, he felt as if he wasn't yet at peak fighting capacity. He often felt drained, slow, weak... indeed, it had only really been little more than an hour and a half since he'd last expended a lot of energy fighting Hotaru... Mistress Saturn.
He still had no idea how to bring her back, but he'd succeeded already in the first half of his self-appointed mission: he'd gotten Mistress Saturn angry.
So angry, in fact, it might be hard to contain her aggression.
And Ranma, tiring, couldn't move from her path quickly enough.
It felt like a freight train hit his chest.
Something snapped, and he felt pain. Agony, actually; pain was too simple a word, didn't have within the makeup of the word the associated sensations now playing hell up and down his nervous system.
Yet, that remarkable internal energy that fuelled him had him on his feet again within a second. A hand clamped down around the ribs that had given under the force, the other held up, ready to parry or block Saturn's follow-up attack.
The kick swung at his chest again, Saturn obviously hoping to capitalise on the injury she'd just caused. Ranma's free hand intercepted it, but the force drove him backwards, feet digging deep furrows in the surface of the road. The pain lessened as the ribs started knitting under his hands, and Ranma brought up his second arm to assist the first in parrying and blocking. Give it a few more of Saturn's swings, he thought, and he might be able to go on the offensive again.
He didn't give any untoward attention to the fact he was healing a lot faster than normal, but then, his attention was focussed elsewhere rather intimately.
Saturn's fist slammed into his braced forearms, the impact stinging. A bone gave in his left arm, but he shook the bone back into place and gave it no further thought. A pair of quick blows came in towards his head, and rather than parry of block them, Ranma bent over backwards at the hips, hands grabbing the ground, Saturn's fists passing through the space where his head had been.
With Mistress Saturn already overbalanced and committed to her move, Ranma flicked his body upwards, wrapping his legs around Saturn's midriff on the way, brought her up and over his body, and slammed her headfirst into the ground.
But this still wasn't helping cure her. Was only helping hurt her. Hurt her more than she'd already been hurt. Ranma was starting to find he didn't want to be doing this, that if there was no breakthrough in the next few minutes, if she didn't come to her senses, he might have to leave her to live out her new life. He didn't know what to do. At an impasse mentally, he missed Saturn's next attack: a punch that threw him back through the exterior wall back into the Tendo's yard.
His jaw severely bruised, Ranma rubbed around his mouth with one hand while his other tracked Saturn. She'd just healed herself again while he stood there, and smirked at him. She was still angry, but obviously once more feeling in control, superior to her ex-boyfriend.
"So, Ranma, no cocky comments now, eh?" she asked, teasingly. "Tell you what: give it up now. I'll make you like me... we can do things together."
"Whad kund uf dings?" Ranma asked, trying to get some feeling back into his jaw.
"You know, kinky games involving game show hosts, frogs, candles and intimate apparel, walks along the beach under the light of a burning city, eating the livers of hardworking manga artists... I can think of lots, lots more fun things for us to do." The smile in her voice disturbed Ranma. Yet, there was almost something underneath it that appealed to him. Not in the attractive way, but something calling for help. There wasn't the casual disregarding of their previous relationship apparent at the moment; no, she was suggesting it could continue.
*IF* Ranma joined her. Or if she joined Ranma...? She wanted him. But why? Moderating influence? No. Likely support in a move against Yoshihiro. But wouldn't he have forseen something like that happening? Surely, since he'd manipulated Natsumi in the way he had into making such a challenge a few weeks earlier by making sure she had the power to support her attacks on his primary General, he'd have known what Saturn would do once she had Ranma on her side, supporting her? Ranma hadn't actually thought he was right earlier, about bad people being inherently stupid - if he was right, there couldn't have been so much unsolved crime in the world - but if he hadn't known what would happen if Ranma lost this fight, or joined Mistress Saturn, then he had to be some kind of extremely special idiot.
But perhaps it was something else. While he had a moment to think, he wondered...
******
Nemesis had watched the fight with worried interest. She'd watched her sensei take hits that should have turned him into jelly. She'd watched him deliver blows that could have demolished buildings. She'd watched the arrogant smirk on his face that had been making Mistress Saturn even more angry than before.
Saturn obviously wasn't having fun right now. She seemed to be tortured. In two minds. That was something Nemesis had great experience with... if one added in a lot of other numbers to that low amount of personalities. She had guessed Ranma was trying to find some method of bringing Hotaru back to the surface. Bringing back the runt would make certain things more difficult, as Nemesis had already worked out, but it could make things even worse. Her feelings for Ranma, stretching back as far as they did, had some of her more obsessive personalities in an uproar over the fact he had a girlfriend that wasn't her. If she ever forgot to take her pills one morning, or thought once again she was cured, or could handle the voices pulling her into that deep sea of molasses again, she might end up doing some things she'd later regret.
Like kill someone.
Most likely Hotaru. Although her track record with men wasn't too good, either. She'd hate to kill Ranma.
But... loving someone meant being hurt. Because, Nemesis had found out long ago, loving someone as much as one could didn't mean that their feelings back would be that great... or even a noticeable fraction of that amount. Yet, all one could do was love that person, and do whatever one could to help that person when in time of need.
And Ranma was in time of great need.
For all his strength and newfound maturity and his street smarts, Ranma didn't know much about people's minds that wasn't related to combat. His emotive maturity that had recently started showing through, that side of him that now amde him stop and consider what he was about to say before he opened his mouth, his intelligence, none of that helped when dealing with matters of personality. And Nemesis knew lots about that aspect of life.
She thought, and thought hard, while the two combatants faced off silently. Ranma's jaw seemed to be clenching and unclenching, Saturn's fists bunched and unbunched while she waited for a response. For all the fact she was dressed now as a tart of some kind, with the smart-assed, hatefilled personality to match, she seemed to be really worried about Ranma's decision. Like she was wanting him to help her take over the Dark Kingdom's forces or something.
Help...
Something clicked in her head. She turned to Mars. "You made a psychic connection with Mistress Saturn, right?"
Mars ndoded. "Yeah. Back at the dorm. She sounded scared."
"Needing, right? Wanting to be saved?"
"Yeah. By Ranma."
Click. "She sounded like... herself, right?"
Mars nodded again, curious as to where this was going.
Nemesis whipped around to face Ranma. "She's still in there!" she yelled. "Wanting you to help her!"
"I guessed that," Ranma shot back. His voice sounded normal again, which was good. "This whole 'join me and together we can rule the universe' thing kinda gave it away."
"No!" Nemesis tried again. "I mean, Hotaru's wanting you to help her! She's in there, scared and alone while someone else has control of her!"
Mars stared at her. "You want to try giving her your pills?" she asked, incredulously.
Nemesis shook her head. She went to yell something more, but Ranma had gotten the idea. Before Mistress Saturn could react, Ranma had sprung into action, grabbing her and leaping up into the air, disappearing across rooftops at blurred speed. Saturn's Silence Glaive dropped to the ground, bounced once at each end, then settled at rest on the grass.
******
Saturn hadn't been ready for the manoeuvre. Ranma had leapt at her, dodged around to behind her, then wrapped his arms up around her shoulders from under her arms, locking her into position with a knee in the small of her back. She twisted, struggled to get free, but she felt the kick of ki being expelled from Ranma's feet in great quantities and they took to the air. With her arms trapped, trying to break free caused her to drop her Glaive. But she knew Ranma couldn't keep this up forever. He was likely just taking her to somewhere people couldn't get hurt in the crossfire.
Not that Saturn cared. Not really. People were just sheep, Yoshihiro said. Sheep, following one another in their insignificant lives. How much better would they be, forced into some kind of order? What kind of cities could they build, what sized monuments to their rulers could be erected with a properly harnessed workforce?
Strange... Mistress Saturn had a flash of crystal spires, massed gardens, city layouts based around transmission of natural energies... but then it was gone.
Ranma touched down in a park devoid of people. Animals scampered into hiding, and Saturn prepared herself to fight again, preparing to whirl around once Ranma released her to spring back for his own preparatory movements for his next set of attacks.
But his arms didn't move. They stayed locked around her, firmly. Saturn struggled, pulled, but Ranma stuck to her like glue, didn't let her break free. He was silent behind her.
She tried to elbow him in the stomach, and succeeded, but apart from the quick rush of air from Ranma's mouth, he didn't make a sound, nor did he let go of his captive. She was still trapped.
And she felt trapped. Nervous now, she tried to pull away again, tried smashing Ranma backwards through a tree, dropped to the ground and rolled on him. Yet still he held on. She got up, saw a cemented rock wall. She turned her back to it, and charged it, feeling Ranma sink into the wall with a light burst of ki at the last moment to stop from doing any serious damage to himself.
Finally, knowing he wouldn't and couldn't be thrown so easily, she asked, quietly, "Why won't you get off? Don't you want to fight me anymore?" She heard to start of a whine in her voice, hated herself for it.
"No," Ranma said from behind her ear, equally quiet, almost breathing in her ear as he spoke. The feel of his breath tingled along her earlobe as it was, exciting her, also calming her from the rage she'd been enraptured in. "I didn't want to fight you at all, Hotaru. And I finally realised I was doing this all wrong."
"Wrong?" She struggled again, fruitlessly trying to rid herself of what was suspiciously starting to feel like a conscience.
"Yeah, wrong. You see, Hotaru, I think I was trying to give you a chance to fight this... possession yourself. Trying to get whatever is in your mind preoccupied enough so you could take control again. But... that didn't work. Because what was in your mind... is you. Your darker impulses given form, set free and given control of you. Nemesis just gave me the rest of the story."
"What story?" Saturn had slowed her struggling now. Still angry, but curious. She told herself she was merely waiting until Ranma loosened his grip, and *then* she'd attack.
"That you were wanting help. I wasn't giving you that help." She felt Ranma shrug behind her. "I was being me. Everything's something to beat up, that's the solution to every problem."
"It is!"
"Nah... mostly, it is. But not always. And this is one case where me hitting something isn't going to do much good. So, I'm going to hold you."
Hold her? He thought he could do this for any length of time?
Ranma continued. "You're not liking this. You hate this. Hate what's being done to you. What's being done in your name. And me, I'm being a bad boyfriend. I guess I have a thing about girls hitting me now... Akane did it for so long, and so did shampoo and Ukyou even...! I... I didn't like being hit again, by you especially. And so I fought. I didn't stop to think that there was another way of looking at this."
"What way?" Saturn was caught up now, despite herself. She gave a struggle, more for image than anything. Ranma's grip was still too tight.
"That I was being stupid. Trying to get you angry, distracted... it's my fault, Hotaru. I should have paid more attention to you. I know that now. I didn't notice you being manipulated... well, not as much as I should have. I was too busy feeling jealous, thinking of myself rather than thinking of you."
He let Saturn go then, and she didn't move, for a moment startled by the move into inaction. Besides, Ranma's body, alternating between soft and hard behind her, was kind of nice...
But then, reason kicked in. And she jumped from him. Turned around to face him. His face was full of compassion for her.
No, not for her, for what she had been.
She felt tears come to her eyes. Felt her fingers bunch up into fists.
"I'll always be here for you, Hotaru," he said, simply.
She punched him. Hard. She felt the bone give under the force of her impact. Then she punched him again, with her other fist. Not quite so hard. Ranma was knocked about, but always turned back to face her, compassionate, somehow seeming as something much superior to what she was. It was the smile. That one that said, "I know what you're going through, and I know how much you're hating yourself right now, but I'm here for you in any way you need, and if that's beating me up, well, then, go to it."
And she did. She punched, punched, hit Ranma as she could manage it. It wasn't a particularly fast pace - in fact, Ranma seemed to be healing almost as fast as she was injuring him. And still that look.
Then his face changed, blurred somehow. Saturn blinked back the tears, swelling hotly in the corners of her eyes. She continued to hit Ranma.
"Damn you! Fuck you! I HATE you!" she howled. "I fucking hate you! You did this to me, you didn't care, you played with HER!" Another punch. More tears.
Then the punches grew lighter, the screams of anger transformed into sobs of despair and self-pity. She couldn't get any force into her arms to smack Ranma around anymore, and Ranma took her into his arms.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered to her as she sobbed. "I'm just so sorry."
Saturn was happy he was sorry. Happy, viciously happy, and hoping that he felt at least as bad as she did right now. She couldn't hold onto her transformed form any longer, and Ranma's arms tightened around her that much more, drawing her in closer to him, resting her head on his chest. "Why didn't you notice?" she whispered.
For that, for the moment, Ranma had no words.
Then, Hotaru stopped her sobbing, was quiet for a scant moment as she Remembered. "Ooooohhh..." she got out before bursting into some serious tears. Ranma guessed what she'd remembered - the damage done, the people injured, those she'd tried to kill for fun - and stayed silent, holding her, stroking her hair, wondering - now that the threat was over - just how he'd manage to pick up the pieces.
SAILOR MOON SAYS:
Sorry. She says sorry. So do I. First things first, excuses. Those who remember that our dog died a few months back might be happy to know we've got two puppies recently. We bought them a month ago, two little brothers, toy poodles again, gorgeous as sin. But for the first two weeks, I had to look after them constantly, had almost no computer time, thus got no writing done. Following the period where I needed to be around them 100% of the time, I got an upgrade to the 3d software I do what I laughably occasionally call art with, and I spent another 2 weeks bringing myself up to speed with the new features. So, it's been a month before either of my current series have been updated.
Did start this chapter, and chapter 3 of X-Com, about a week ago, but this one's had me stumped until tonight. And the ending of this chapter nearly had me put it off for another few days, until I could figure out another decent ending (since I suddenly realised when I got to it that my original plans just wouldn't hold any kind of water).
Now, because I wanted to get some sleep, and to have this chapter posted tonight before I disconnected from the net, there's some stuff missing from the end of this chapter. But... in all honesty, it doesn't belong here, but in the next chapter or two... people dealing with Hotaru. Hopefully will have the next chapter up in a fortnight... hoping to settle into a routine of doing a chapter of this one week, one of X-Com the next, but may speed up occasionally, or slow down as needed due to RL or writer's block. But am trying to keep to it at the moment.
Okay, thanks for hanging in there until I got this chapter finished, thanks to the guys in #void for putting up with me saying, "Okay, gonna write tonight... *yawn* damn, too tired, heading to bed" an awful lot more often than I'd have liked.
Next time: The dealing. The pain. The agony. Are things back the way they were? Will Ranma tell Hotaru just where he swallowed that dictionary? Who knows? Not me, I just write the damned thing...