Hunters
Ryouga Yagami
Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi
A man, dressed in a black cloak, opened a closet revealing lots of weapons. He examined his knives carefully. "I think this one will do the service well", he said and got a silver knife. He swung it on the air to get accustomed to the weapon. "Before the weekend, Ryoga Hibiki will be history", he put the silver knife on a table and looked outside to his prey, still attached to the cross.
PROMISES
Yusan, morning
After escaping from the soldiers, Ranma and Hakeda stopped by a river.
"I think I never ran so much in my life like lately", Hakeda said panting.
Ranma ignored his companion and thought about Ryoga. He was trying to make a plan to get him out of that cross. He didn't know why, but he felt sympathy for the guy.
"Hey, you are thinking about Ryoga, right?", Hakeda said breaking the silence. Ranma just nodded, "Man, let me...", then Hakeda stopped.
Ranma looked at him, "What?"
"I was thinking of a way to convince you that helping Ryoga is very dangerous. But I think you will not listen, so...", he paused to get some air, "I'll help you in what I can"
Ranma grinned, "Thanks"
---
In Kodachi's fort
Lady Kodachi watched by the window, her soldiers training in the patio. She got her ribbon and spun it just to relax. She took another look at the patio and saw the cross where Ryoga was, looking at the space, 'Probably waiting for his death', she thought, 'Why can't he confess he has sweet feelings for me? He is so shy...'. Suddenly, a knock on the door caught her attention, "Come in"
"Lady Kodachi, did you call?", the man kneeled and bowed his head.
"You can stand, Keita", as he stood she continued, "Do you know my orders?"
"Yes, lady. Ryoga Hibiki will be killed until the end of the day"
"Killed? Don't you think this is such a strong word"
Keita blinked, "What do you prefer, lady?"
"I say that he will... stop to breath... HHHOHOHOHOHOHOH", she put a hand in front of her mouth and continued to laugh.
'Great, crazy as always', Keita thought, "Sure... he will... stop to breath"
"That is better. Do you have any plan on how are you going to do it?", she asked.
'She is really crazy. The guy is already on that cross, what kind of plan does she want?', he thought and put a hand under his chin, pretending he was thinking on his plan, "Yes, lady, I'll use my best weapons to do the service"
Kodachi smiled, "That is great. We will do it at afternoon, after the soldiers' training. Now you can go"
"Excuse me, lady", Keita left.
---
Ryoga had his eyes closed. He could feel the heat of the sun on his body and the fatigue over his bones. 'Maybe I won't survive', he thought. Then, he felt anger for thinking about losing, 'I can't... lose... I'm not... allowed to lose...' and remembered some words of his father when in training.
'The real battle begins when you lose all your energies… and when you forget your wife's birthday, that's a real battle too'
Ryoga believed in it. After all, if his father said it, then it is true.
"Now I'm on the real battle", he murmured.
The patio was desert. Just four soldiers were watching the man on the cross. "You know", one said, "I think I'm bored"
"Yeah, me too. Let's do something fun"
Unfortunately, none knew of something fun to do. Since they became Kodachi's soldiers, their life could be resumed in training, training and more training. Of course that this could turn any normal human nuts and these four were no different. Kodachi's soldiers have the habit of being very cruel to their enemies. It was a way to release all the anger they have accumulated in training. Of course, this is not an excuse for what they decided to do.
Ryoga didn't scream as he was being punished. The soldiers were whipping him.
"C'mon, ask us to stop!", one said and attacked Ryoga who was in total silence.
"Maybe he is dead", other soldier said.
"I'm not", Ryoga answered. There was something in his voice that scared the soldiers.
It was hatred.
"So, why don't you scream, wimp!", a soldier attacked Ryoga again.
"I bet you wouldn't... do this if I were not here, you bastard", Ryoga said. Of course the soldier didn't take this well.
"Shut up!", the soldier prepared to attack again. But an arrow got him right on the neck.
The soldiers were very astonished by what happened and before they could do something, someone kicked the back of another soldier. This one fell on the ground unconscious.
"So, whipping a guy in a cross... I'll show you something", the guy said. The two soldiers turned to attack their enemy.
Ranma Saotome.
---
Outside the patio, few minutes before
"So, here we are", Hakeda said from behind the wall of the fort, "I can see Ryoga. There are just four guys, maybe you can do it easily"
Ranma, who was brushing dust off his black pants, just nodded. After sometime he joined Hakeda and looked at the patio, "Ok, I'm ready", then he looked at Hakeda, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure", Hakeda said.
"Why do you have this bow and arrows? Don't tell me you can use this"
Hakeda put his gloves and looked at the soldiers again, "I practiced when I was a child, but I left my training because I wanted to be an explorer". Ranma wanted to ask him where did he found the bow and arrows when Hakeda told him his complex plan.
"I'll get one guy and you go with everything on another, any questions?"
"Yeah, where did you find this bow and arrows?"
"It's my revenge on Captain Gambarou. Actually I was very regretful of stealing it until we discovered that he didn't pay us. These are the arrows he gained from a woman he loved very much"
---
In Captain's Gambarou ship
"WHERE ARE THE BOW AND THE ARROWS MY MOTHER GAVE ME?", an angry Captain Gambarou shouted.
---
"Or something like that"
"Well, I hope you know how to use it", Ranma said. Just when he was about to go to the patio, he saw the four soldiers whipping Ryouga, 'Those bastards!'. He looked at Hakeda who had a not very friendly expression on his face. 'I think he will be a great help', Ranma thought and tried to control his anger.
"Hakeda"
"What?", his tone was serious.
"Wait until I give you the sign. Then you shot"
"Right"
"Just one thing. Don't miss"
Hakeda prepared and chose an arrow, "Don't worry about me"
Ranma jumped to the patio. He hid behind a barrel and waited the right moment. Then he did a sign and Hakeda shot an arrow right on one soldier's neck. While they were astonished, Ranma kicked another guy on the back.
A soldier got his sword and tried to cut Ranma. He didn't get his target as Ranma jumped back. Ranma ran to his direction and jumped again. The soldier looked up to see him, but the sun light behind Ranma hid the hunter and Ranma kicked the soldier's head. Ranma landed and was ready to take the other guy, but he was already out of combat because of an arrow right on his chest.
Ranma looked at Hakeda and gave him an ok sign.
"What are you doing here?", Ryoga asked, amazed by the whole scene.
"We came here to save you. And then you will answer my questions", Ranma said.
Ryoga growled, "Who said I will help you? After the days that left for me to stay here I'll get my umbrella back and go find the stupid demon"
Silence.
Ranma turned his back to him, "It's already decided. You are going with me"
"Who said you could decide something?"
Ranma ignored Ryoga and turned to Hakeda, "Man, take this guy out of here. I'll get his umbrella back"
Hakeda that jumped to the patio had a surprised expression, "What are you saying? It's you against lots of soldiers"
"Hey, man, you change when you are not using that", Ranma said referring to the bow and arrow.
Hakeda put a hand behind his head and looked at his weapon, "Er... yeah, I think..."
Ranma rolled eyes, "Well, I'm going", he said and left.
"Ranma!", Hakeda yelled and put his hand on his mouth for doing that, 'I could have alerted everybody that we are here', sometime of silence came after he thought this.
Hakeda released a sigh of relief.
"THERE'S SOMEONE ON THE FORT! LOOK FOR EVERY PLACE!"
Hakeda sighed, "We can't do it without exploding one or two places, can we?"
'I'm full of idiots around me', Ryoga thought, "C'mon, man, take me out of here!"
---
The fort
Ranma heard the alarm and ran to the main building of the fort. There was a pond nearby where the soldiers drank some water after their exercises. Some soldiers came out of the fort to attack the invaders. Just to find one.
Ranma punched several guys that were on his way. But, even if he was a great fighter and hunter, he was a human. So many guys were letting him without space. Behind him there was just the pond.
Worried about the chance of changing to his girl form, Ranma didn't pay attention to the events in front of him. A soldier attacked Ranma with a sword, but Ranma was able to escape. But the sword ripped his shirt in the chest area. Unfortunately, Ranma decided to jump back and fell on the pond. 'That was idiot', he thought.
The soldiers were waiting Ranma to come to surface. Some were holding spears, ready to throw then on the enemy and come back to lunch. But they could not imagine what was going to happen.
From the pond, came a red haired girl, more like a feminine version of the previous enemy. The soldiers were static. If Ranma-girl was already angry for being changed to his girl side, the sentence someone said as he saw Ranma-girl's breast, by the torn shirt:
"I'm in love..."
Ranma-girl prepared the attack she was practicing for a long time, but didn't have a chance to use. She jumped and still in air she concentrated energy in her hands and disparate a lot of spheres.
"INABUKI ATTACK!"
It was a different version of the original Inabuki attack. While the original was a giant sphere, this one was lot of mini spheres, ideal for multiple enemies.
The soldiers or ran away or were hit by it. Many of you may think that the soldiers that ran are cowards, but they were just following a normal action, something our ancestors left in the masculine souls.
Avoid a woman when she's enraged.
Ranma-girl ran to the main building of the fort and made a good entrance kicking more two guys. She got one guy by the collar, "I need some information, man, and you are going with me"
The guy looked at her breasts and passed out. Ranma-girl threw him on the floor and got another guy, that was trying to escape, "Here, I..."
"I will do everything, just don't hit me anymore!", the guy shouted and put his hands over his head.
'Geez, what stupid guys', Ranma-girl thought, "C'mon, what are you waiting?", the guy stood up and when Ranma saw the place where his eyes were looking he punched the guy again, "And don't look at my chest!"
"Ye... Yes, miss", the soldier said and they went inside the fort.
---
Outside the fort
Hakeda couldn't take Ryoga off the cross. The knots were well done. "Damn it!"
"Hey!", Ryouga said.
"Don't talk, I'm working here", Hakeda said not taking his eyes off the knots.
"Hey!"
"Just a minute"
"Hey, man, listen to me!", Ryoga exasperated.
"Shut up! I'm here helping you and that's how you say thanks? Go to hell, I don't even had to be here, I'm doing this because Ranma convinced me! You know, you don't have a very good reputation around here, mr. Ryoga. My mother didn't raise me to help criminals, and that's what I'm doing now, you punk! So, show some education and...", Hakeda shouted and his face was even red.
"Forget about this, look behind you!", Ryoga yelled and Hakeda turned to take a look.
Soldiers.
Lots of them.
All well armed.
And Hakeda had only a bow and some arrows.
Hakeda turned to Ryoga again, "Er... forget what I said..."
The soldiers were with bows and arrows, ready to attack. A soldier, that seemed to be their leader, yelled, "Prepare!"
Hakeda was in panic. He didn't know what to do. Even if he could get Ryoga out of the cross, the two would not be enough to face all that soldiers.
"Run", Hakeda turned to look at Ryoga.
"What?"
"Run. They will not kill me. There are some days left in my bet with Kodachi. Run"
Hakeda looked at the soldiers, "I can't"
"Why... stop being stubborn! I'm just a criminal hunter and I can take care of myself. I'll survive"
The leader yelled, "Ready!"
"You will not survive because you will be killed before", Ryoga's attention turned to Hakeda. The explorer, feeling Ryoga's eyes over him, said, "Kodachi is going to kill you, one of the soldiers said it in town"
"Attack!", the soldiers ran to kill them.
'No!', Ryoga thought, 'I can't die! I want to see her... even if she doesn't want me anymore... even if she doesn't remember me anymore... I need to see her again!'
---
Liaris, damn, two years ago
Ryoga was lost, but he felt he was on the right track to Liaris. Finally he would see Ukyo and his father again and tell them the things that happened to him this time, 'Sure I'll not tell Ukyo that a girl tried to marry me because I beat her pig', he thought and made a mental note about this situation.
He was walking looking at the ground, examining the leaves that fell from the trees. Then, he lifted his head and saw a man clad in a very old yellow gi and had a sword on his back. "Young man"
Ryoga turned his attention to the man. He just looked at him waiting what the man wanted. Ryoga felt danger and jumped to a tree. A ki blast came from the ground and if Ryoga didn't jump, he would be seriously wounded.
"Can see you are very good", the man remarked.
"Who are you?", Ryoga asked.
"I'm here to challenge you. Fight me!", the man got his sword and jumped to attack Ryoga.
Not understanding the meaning of this, all that Ryoga could do was fight. And he won easily, but he was not very secure. Instead of thinking too much, Ryoga walked away.
But the man stood up and laughed. Ryoga turned to see what was happening and saw the man, a hand on his face. Ryoga saw the blood coming from the man's mouth and in an instant, the man changed into a demon with lots of fangs, red skin and a dark sword that emerged from his arm. Ryoga fought the demon again, but this time he had no chance against it, being severely hit by the demon's sword. When the demon was ready to kill him, the first rays of light came and the demon lost part of his energy. And before going to a safer place, the demon cursed Ryoga.
"I, Licia, cursed you, young man. In contact with cold water, you will change to a beast. But you will come back to your human form with hot water. This curse will last until I die", the demon said in a feminine voice and left.
After discovering what kind of beast he was when cursed, Ryoga explained his father what happened. He said that it's a Hibiki duty to fight any demon that challenges them. And that a Hibiki can't lose holding a weapon, this is the most shameful thing that can happen to the family. Ryoga understood what his father said and promised that he would go back alive and without the beast curse. And more than that, he promised that he would not lose to any guy holding a weapon any more.
And then, he left Liaris, without saying goodbye to Ukyo.
---
Back to the outside of the fort
Just when Hakeda thought that everything was over, he felt a weird energy coming from behind him. He looked at Ryoga, out of the cross, who was glowing a green light. He felt depression, like had never felt before and even thought he had a good life. The soldiers came running, not really caring of what was going on. Some spears were flying to kill them when Ryoga released himself and extended his hands, ready to disparate some attack.
"SHISHI HOKODAN!", he shouted and a green beam came out his hands destroying the spears and killing some soldiers on the way. 'Damn it, I'm very weak now', Ryoga thought, 'Better, I'm weaker now. I have to get my umbrella back'
Hakeda had his jaw near his knees, "How... wha... oh, what the...", he mumbled, 'The guy was dying some time before', he thought, 'I felt depression, but this must be a very strong will to live'
"Ok", Ryoga said, "Who are going to come? I'll kill you all", he said and looked at the soldiers, stunned by the power Ryoga showed moments before.
"You go home hide under a blanket, let this guy with me", someone said. Ryoga turned to see who it was. A man dressed in a black cloak walked slowly in his direction. But what Ryoga saw in his hands were the things that got his attention.
Knives. Weapons. He could not lose.
---
Inside the fort
After kicking lots of soldiers, Ranma-girl, with the help of the soldier she got before, reached the weapons room where, the soldier said, was Ryoga's umbrella. She destroyed the door and looked for the umbrella inside, 'Where's the umbrella? Umbrella, Umbrella...', she looked at the very wounded guy, "Hey, where's the umbrella?", she demanded.
The guy looked away and shut his eyes, "I'll not tell, I'll not betray lady Kodachi", Ranma-girl hit him on the head, "What!"
"You are already a traitor, you guided me. Now tell me, or you will suffer"
"No!", the soldier said.
"Oh yeah?", Ranma-girl dropped him on the ground. The guy waited to the worse and when nothing happened, he opened one eye. Ranma-girl was looking in a very seductive way to him, what made him get a nosebleed.
"Don't you want to help a inoffensive little girl?", Ranma-girl asked and did her best seductive voice, "Do you want to make me cry?", she pouted.
The soldier, caught in the moment, sweat and said, "No... of course not..."
"Then tell me where the umbrella is and be sure you will be... rewarded...", she looked at her body and the soldier had a violent nosebleed.
"Uh... I...", then he looked at Ranma-girl again. She was doing her best female fatale face, "Ok, it's... it's in that wooden box over there", he pointed the place and Ranma-girl went to look at it. She opened the box and saw a black umbrella. The soldier was going to say that the umbrella was heavy, but as he saw Ranma-girl carrying it as if were nothing, his eyes widened, 'What? We needed a lot of guys to...', then he smiled, 'Now, my prize', "Uh... miss"
"What?", Ranma-girl looked at the guy again.
"My prize?"
Ranma-girl smiled and walked to the soldier, "I'm sure you will never forget this", she said.
"I'm hoping that", the soldier said. Then, Ranma-girl punched his head, kicked his stomach, elbowed his back, spat on his eyes, broke his legs, threw him on the wall...
"Stupid", she said as she finished her attack.
Well, the soldier would never forget her.
---
Outside the fort
"It seems that I'll have to kill you fighting, Ryoga Hibiki", the cloaked man said.
"And who the hell are you?", Ryoga asked trying to keep stand.
"My name... is Keita. I was designed to kill you, but since you are out of the cross, this will be more satisfying", Keita said in a cold tone.
"That Kodachi. She has no honor", Hakeda said and something hit his head.
A ball. That went back to its owner.
"And who are you to talk this way about me?", Everyone turned their attention to see Kodachi, wearing a black leotard, holding a ribbon and the ball.
"Kodachi!", Ryoga exclaimed, "The one that said I would be free if I survived twenty one days. Why didn't you keep your word?", Ryoga asked furious. Kodachi remained calm.
"Simple, my sweet Ryoga. If I let you there or you would die or you would go away. If you died there was no problem, since you would not be nobody else's love", she put a hand on her forehead, "But if you managed to survive, some other girl would get in your life and spoil our pure love..."
"Pure love?", Hakeda asked.
"Forget her, she's nuts", Ryoga said.
"Ok, enough of talk, let's see if you have something to show!", Keita yelled and jumped to attack Ryoga who evaded. Keita threw a knife that almost got Ryoga. Keita jumped again to stab him, but Ryoga was ready jump when he noticed a ribbon holding his leg, 'Damn it!', he thought, 'If I had my umbrella and wasn't so tired', he tried to think in something when an arrow went in Keita's direction. Unfortunately, Hakeda missed the target, 'I can't die!', Ryoga thought and when he was ready to do anything, an umbrella got Keita on the head, throwing him away, 'But that's is my...', Ryoga looked at the place where the umbrella came. There was a girl. 'She looks like... Ranma!'
"Hi, Ryoga. Your umbrella"
"Ran... Ranma!", Ryoga asked in disbelief, "So, that's your..."
"Yeah...", she looked away, uncomfortable, "later we talk, now...", then Ranma-girl felt danger and dodged the ball.
"And who are you to talk this way with my love?", Kodachi asked.
"Love? Ryoga, you lady killer, so you...", Ranma yelled.
"Not that, forget it, she's nuts!", Ryouga said nervously for the second time.
"Ok, chill, man, just asking", Ranma-girl said.
"Ryoga! Behind you!", Hakeda shouted and Ryoga jumped to get the umbrella and escaped from the attack. He got his umbrella and blocked the attacks Keita did.
Keita jumped back and they kept looking at each other, "It seems", Keita put a hand inside his cloak and got another knife, "That this is getting very interesting"
From Ranma-girl's side, things were not easy either. Kodachi was a very good fighter indeed. 'Looks like she's a good opponent', she thought and was in fighting stance.
Kodachi stopped to attack to take a good look on her enemy, 'Ranma, right? This girl will learn not to be on my way. Then Ryoga will be mine. Only mine!'