Hey, Hey, Hey! I'm back with a new, fresh form the oven chapter! And as so, the usual. Review replies!
Kaze: Really? Thank you. And welcome to this fic!
Bloodbager: I don´t know. Good ideas.
L33t N1nja Bor1s: 1 c4n 5p34I L33t! 533? Anyway, you´ll be somewhat disappointed if you wanted a "Dance of Death". And ´kinda short´? Almost every chapter is 2k word long! One last thing: 574y L337 y0u 7oo.
Ss4-link: Er...What´s not fair? And another thing, what are you smoking?
Hiryo: First of all, lots of ideas, I like that. Now, the replies to them. Rae furious for it? Nah, I only did that so I could take Kodachi out of the story forever. Just like I did with Mousse at the beggining of it. The second...well, I don´t know. I have big plans for Bambou, so no Rae/Bambou pairing. (Evil grin) What´s that about an episode of Shampoo? I don´t understand that. Please deep that. And the fight between Rae and Ranma...Well, maybe just a spar but it will be at the end of the story or around that.
Phew. Now that´s whatI call reviews! So, here´s next chapter. And the title REALLY marks the story. Keep the title in mind, though.
Chapter 24: Twisting
The wind blew making their hair wave peacefully in contrast of what was to come. Their clothes struck their bodies, as the wind suddenly got stronger. Both just stared at each other.
"You think you can beat me?" He smirked at her. She frowned deeply.
"Bambou not think! -"
"I know that you don't think…" He mocked. His grin went bigger and she attacked with a battle cry. Bad idea to attack an over-confident Ranma. Real bad idea.
Just in the middle of the race, she jumped and landed with a furious strike that Ranma blocked with some difficulty at the power the blow was delivered. With the help of a kick, he made her go back several meters before sprinting to her.
Bambou had barely enough time to block the strike aimed to slice her in half. They were going all out now. Both swords remained in contact as their wielders gritted their teeth.
"I can already see that you are losing your touch…" Ranma pointed and raised a brow. She screamed and pushed back making him go airborne. She jumped to meet him in the air, another bad idea. She saw a small flash of his face, a confident smirk as he was flipping in the air.
She was perplexed at that feeling of uneasiness. Even so, she continued the attack with a lunge just to be reflected by a slash. Her sword slipped out of her hand and she left her guard down in surprise.
"An opening!" Ranma shouted and kicked her full-force on her back. She fell and crashed with a sickening 'thud' before hopping once and finally remaining there, unconscious.
"Ranma! Why did you do that!" Shampoo shouted glaring furiously. He felt small suddenly.
"She asked for it!" He exclaimed and then looked at the beaten opponent "But maybe I should held back…" He whispered.
"If you held back, she would never had forgiven you. It's a common Amazon spirit." Cologne pointed appearing by the side of the young Amazon. She tapped a pressure point near the base of her neck and her eyes opened slowly.
"Mh? What happen? Bambou won?" She mumbled but the faces around her showed another thing. Her spirit fell. I…lost? Damn…Wonder if Shampoo will forgive me for this… She thought as she got up slowly. She turned to Ranma and his eyes opened wide.
Uh oh…Not again! He thought and backed away at a slow pace. Maybe to slow. Bambou followed his trace much faster than he was getting away form her.
"What's going on?" Shampoo asked for a brief moment out of consideration.
"Child, you simply forgot everything about the Amazons? I understand that you left, but it is no reason for you to forget our customs!" Cologne was exasperated.
"Ahhh!" A scream in almost agony made the two look at the other pair. Shampoo went berserker as Bambou was kissing a completely blue in fear Ranma. She approached the couple and grabbed Bambou by the collar of her clothes before pulling back. "Thanks!" Ranma exclaimed before jumping over the fence. "AAAHHHH! AGAIN!" They heard him shout and leave running.
"Why the hell did you do that?" Shampoo shouted when she turned Bambou to see her face.
"Custom. When outsider beat Amazon, Amazon have two choices: beat the outsider and regain honour or-"
"Marry the outsider." Shampoo finished. Her eye twitching almost imperceptibly. Just looking at her made anyone have fear of making her mad at someone in that state. "And why did you have to give him the kiss of marriage?" She hissed. An obvious blue tint crossed Bambou's face.
"Because…because…" She lowered her head and mumbled something unintelligible.
"What was that?" Shampoo kept going. Her hand still grabbing the collar of her shirt.
"I said that I can't beat him!" Bambou suddenly broke out with a yell. A small tear ran down her face.
"Oh. Sorry." Shampoo said releasing her clothes. "I didn't know…But you DID know that I wa…AM interested in him!" She exclaimed frowning.
"(What do you expect me to do?)" She replied fury-induced. A dim red aura surrounded her.
"(Good question…The other question is, what am I going to do?)" She spat. Both lowered their heads in complete annoyance and confusion.
"(Young ones, take it easy. Just think about everything. Calm down.)" Cologne suggested approaching.
"(Calm Down? Calm Down? How do you expect me to calm down when now I'm supposed to marry a guy I'm not even interested!)" Bambou replied even more furious than before. To this, Shampoo's face turned into one of surprise.
She doesn't like him, but even so…she gave him the kiss of marriage… She thought. Her mouth mid-open.
"(Let's go inside for a tea, for now.)" Cologne ordered and suggested. Both younger Amazons complied and the three went in.
"Again! AGAIN!" Ranma shouted as he walked around Nerima. An hour and a half had passed since he left the Nekohanten. He was trying to get out of that.
People all around him suddenly disappeared from around. They didn't want to be around a disturbed powerful martial artist. Or maybe it was the big red aura that surrounded him.
"How the hell I'm supposed to get out of this?" Ranma shouted again to the skies. The streets deserted in a 500 meters radius.
Fifteen minutes later, he was in front of Ucchan's. He entered seething.
"Ran-ch…" She paused when she saw his face. "What's wrong?" She asked worried immediately after. He sat at one of the benches in front of her grill. His hands clutched his head between them. "Ranma, what's wrong?" She repeated.
"I'm in another trouble…" He whispered. Even so, she heard it quite clearly.
"What happened this time?" She pressed. This time, she started whipping a okonomiyaki to cheer him up, at least a bit.
"Bambou…She's nuts…" He replied. Ukyo raised a brow. What did she do now? She thought.
"How nuts?" She smirked. Ranma chuckled.
"Very. This time, we had an argument and we decided to fight over it. A real fight." He explained finally looking at her.
"And how did it go?" Ukyo wondered.
"How do you think it went if I'm telling you that I'm in trouble?" Ranma replied sarcastically. Ukyo frowned.
"You could have said it better!" She looked to a side considering everything. So, she's an Amazon. And if she's an Amazon and is beaten by an outsider… "You have to marry her!" She exclaimed suddenly and he nodded sourly. "Wow. That's some trouble…" She agreed with her eyes wide.
"Really?" Another sarcastic comment. Ukyo glared at him.
"Don't take it on me, Ran-Chan!" She growled, obviously hurt. Thing that Ranma saw clearly.
"I'm sorry. It's just too much stress lately…" He apologized and placed a hand on his temple. She gave in.
"It's ok. I've been too under a lot of stress and tough decisions…" Ukyo explained too. Both sighed in disappointment. Each for their own reasons.
"What's your problems?" Ranma wondered trying to make some talk. He stiffened visibly.
"Work stuff." She replied a bit too hastily. Of course she wasn't going to tell him what her problems were. Not when his seemed much more important. "But what are you going to do?" She asked back handing him the okonomiyaki that was finally done.
"Thanks, Ucchan." He grabbed the food and began nibbling at it slowly. Ukyo just stared.
"My god! You really are worried!" She exclaimed and he lifted a brow. "You aren't eating at the speed you normally eat!" If Ukyo had been a boy he would have hit her. But he had to stay with just looking at her with his lips curled to a side.
"Thank you. I appreciate you, too." Ranma spat sarcastically again.
"Hey! I was just pointing it out! Geez!" She threw her arms to the sky. "Anyway. What do you plan on doing now?" He shook his head but kept biting his food.
"I don't know. I've been in this instance before, but it wasn't me who solved it. It was Shampoo, and she did a hell of a sacrifice!" Ranma replied looking down again.
"Don't worry, honey. You'll be all right, as always." Ukyo said placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her and finally smiled a bit.
"Thanks, Ucchan. You're a friend." She smiled back.
"Now, you simply HAVE to tell me, how are things with your violet?" Ranma raised a brow to that in confusion.
"Violet…Flower?…Colour?" It dawned and he blushed crimson.
"Go-good." He stuttered and flushed even more.
"Good? How good? Friendly good…or another good?" She curled her lips to a side. Her smirk almost knowingly.
"Er…Another good?" He tried and she raised her brows in surprise.
"Oh! So you told her?" She replied. Looks like she never loses the hitch of the things she's interested… Ranma thought and sighed.
"Yes, Ucchan. I told her. But not under normal circumstances. Yesterday was hectic and very exhausting. And the day before too…I'm-We're, with Shampoo, under a lot of pressure now. But at least some of it was taken care of yesterday." He sighed in relief "But now I have to deal with this!" He exclaimed suddenly.
"Calm down, Ran-Chan." He sighed. "Good. Now, tell me what happened in this days."
"Ok. You remember when we left the day of the tidal wave?" She nodded. "Good, it all started minutes before I left…" He proceeded to tell her everything but in Shampoo's style. That means, excluding the part of: his self-promise, the kissing in the Kokuryukai base, the almost kiss before being splashed and the bath for obvious security and self-preservation reasons. "And after that, I started running like nuts. I didn't want to face a furious Shampoo, believe me, it's not a good sight. I began thinking after a while and really got angry. Why did she have to give me that damn Kiss of Marriage?" Again he was exasperated.
"I don't know either…But tell me, how was your mother?" She smiled.
"She was very nice. And the food she cooks…" He smiled in delight. "But I think that was the only good thing that happened in this last days. After all these years…I finally could speak to her. And the worst of all is that I'm afraid to do it!"
"What do you mean?" She frowned in confusion.
"If I turn into a girl in front of her, I'm dead. She doesn't know that I can turn into a girl. And I have seen her before, but as girl-form. She knows my girl-form to be a distant cousin of Akane. Now you can understand what problems it can give to me if she finds out this. Mostly that commitment my father signed us to do will be broken." He shuddered.
"What commitment?" Ukyo asked bending her head to a side.
"He was supposed to turn me into a 'man among men'. But how I'm supposed to be a 'man among men' it I turn into a girl? It's all my old man's fault! And now if my mother finds out about this, I'll have to commit sepukku!(Can't remember how it's called)" He shouted angrily and she gasped.
"Sep…ukku?" She gasped. "That's…so extreme! I know your father is an irresponsible bastard, but this is going over the line!" She replied frowning.
"Just tell me something new…How I wish I could only make him pay…" Ranma said motioning his hands in a clear way of how someone strangles another person.
"You'll fix that later. Now you have something more important to do, right?" She smiled in concern of what was to come for him. He just sighed.
"You're right, as many times…The big problem. You have any ideas of how can I get out of this?" Maybe it was his face of complete surrender that made her really consider everything.
"Mh. Why don't you ask that old ghoul?" She proposed and his eyes lit up.
"Yes! Yes!" He said standing up. "Thank you!" He exclaimed and rushed out of the door in direction to his home.
Hey. Like the twist I made? Hehe…Let's see how our Chaos duo's relationship survives this one… I want to see them pass over this.
Anyway, the second part of this chapterwas a bit dumb, but I had to re-enter Ukyo in the last days events. And even so, I think I made some good hints in her attitude…I won't say hints to what because it would ruin everything. So, see you in next chapter!