Disclaimer: I now own Ranma ½, Birdy the Mighty, Tenchi Muyo, and Dirty Pair Flash! Ahahahahhahaha! Oh hello doctor…time for my medicine now?
Author's Notes: New chapter ready to go where many fics have gone before…and where many don't dare to tread. The last time we left it off Revi awakened and Kikuko left a huge mess behind her. What a way to start a test, ne? With that in mind I bring to you:
Kikuko the Mighty
Chapter 10
Dr. Tofu's clinic was open when she arrived and for that she was eternally grateful. The pink-haired girl went to dart inside when a chain stuck in the ground in front of her. She knew who it was without even looking and she also knew what Uncle Mousse was there for. It was time for serious evasive maneuvers. More chains rocketed down, but the girl quickly danced around them. She could feel him growing more and more frustrated as the misses just kept on coming. Kikuko took a gamble and dived through the door, quickly getting her feet under her to avoid jarring the severely injured girl. Kasumi appeared to be the receptionist, much to Kikuko's shock, but that didn't last long as the Chinese boy appeared in the doorway.
"Who are you to protect Saotome?" he demanded.
"My name's Ki-uh…Madison Avenue and I won't let you hurt him." She proclaimed.
"Oh my…another fiancée for Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked worriedly.
"Nope. Just a concerned citizen. Now excuse me cuz I need to teach this guy some manners. Alright Peking Duck, let's rumble!" Kikuko exclaimed as she dropped into a Sambo ready stance, weaving her hands menacingly. Mousse threw his chains right at her, but she waved her hands fluidly, one trailing up and the other trailing down before a ball of yellowish ki fired out. The ki ball drew the chains to it before smashing into the startled martial artist and throwing him out into the street.
"What was that…?" he asked in confusion as he blearily got to his feet.
"That is what I call Serpent Ball." She weaved her hands again and fired another one, but this time the myopic boy leapt over it as he released a veritable storm of metal projectiles. Kikuko squeaked in alarm as she recognized the pattern. She quickly dived in and out of the attack before Mousse released his Wide Fire ki attack. Wide Fire was a blast of white-hot ki that would strike an area while the shuriken pinned the target in place, but the inevitable conclusion never came, instead a swan-shaped training potty flew down and smacked her in the head. The Displaced Girl grabbed her head in shock. It didn't hurt but it did surprise her. Mousse quickly took the chance to ensnare her in chains so that he could dispose of his rival better, but the girl wasn't following the script. She quickly set to spinning, force waves erupting from her body, and deflecting the chains. With a fierce "Kiyah!" a cyclone of fire chi burst forth from her body. Mousse, in a panic, threw several bombs at her, but could only stare in shock as the girl absorbed the blasts. She finished the spin with a powerful upward swing, fire lancing from her fist into Mousse's chest before hurling him away with explosive results.
"Why didn't you use the Wide Fire?" she asked in confusion.
"Wide Fire? What…is that…?" Mousse asked groggily. With a start, she realized that she was making assumptions based on her own time. Before she could say to forget it, he passed out. There was too great a chance that she would slip up again so it was with that thought that she quickly ran home.
-Avenue Residence-
Kikuko silently slipped through the door as quiet as smoke and took her shoes off. Her senses were telling her that someone was here and she didn't want to alert them to her presence. A small noise was heard behind her and spun around in alarm to see a cat staring up at her. It was a cute little thing with tiger stripes and red fur. She scooped up the little creature and scratched her behind the ears after a quick look told her that it was female. Kikuko purred right along with the cat in her arms. So preoccupied with what she was doing that she failed to notice when the person crept up behind her.
"Madison sweetheart. Why aren't you wearing your uniform?" a pleasant voice asked from behind her. Kikuko spun around quickly, the cat clinging to her out of surprise, and gaped at the woman in front of her. She was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and jade eyes. Her outfit consisted of a sweatshirt and jeans, with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. The woman appeared much too young to have a daughter her age.
"Well I…that is…it was so late that I…simply…forgot…" Kikuko stammered out as if she was telling this to her own mother. The girl's "mother" suddenly looked less than pleasant.
"What a stupid child! I told you to set your damn alarm and you can't even follow that simple instruction? Go to your room and get ready for dinner. I expect it to be on the table by six o'clock." She said before wandering into the dining room. The clink of glass could be heard and fluid sloshing. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on, but the body's natural instinct was to run away to her room for a brief reprieve.
"Wh-what's going on? I-I've never been this afraid of someone…" Kikuko found herself beginning to cry as her heart ached. She wanted to go home, but she had to do this or she couldn't go back. Her cat licked her face, probably to get at the taste of the salt her tears left behind, but it was comforting nonetheless. The pink-haired girl removed her jacket and her hat. She checked the clock and groaned. Apparently her business with Mousse had taken longer than she thought because the clock was saying that it was just after five. To avoid having that woman harangue her she would need to do everything she said. After all, if she did everything right, she couldn't complain.
-Later-
Kikuko was proud of herself. She knew she would never be as good a cook as Grandma, Kasumi, or her own mother, but this was probably the best she had ever done. Apparently this house ran on Western style food and that was where she excelled. She made chicken-fried steak with homemade mashed potatoes, plenty of butter and made with cream, homemade gravy, and lemon pepper green beans. The desert was going to be a fudge pie with whipped cream. She guessed that it was just her and the woman so the amount she made should cover the two of them, with a third helping's worth made in case they were a little more hungry or someone else showed up. A classic Kasumi idea.
"You have five minutes to get dinner out here!" the angry one cried out. With dexterity born of long hours of training, she managed to balance all the dishes and get them out to the table without dropping a single plate. "Mother" sat watching as she arranged everything on the table artistically.
"I-I hope you enjoy it." Kikuko said meekly. She wanted to hurl and the servile tone to her voice, but she was curious about why she was acting like this. The woman uncovered the dish with the chicken-fried steak and stared at it blankly. It resembled the few moments before a natural disaster struck. Her face turned blotchy and reddened noticeably. Something told the girl that this would be a bad one. Her eyes were screwed up tight.
"I wanted beef tonight. Not chicken. Beef! Are you that stupid that you can't even remember that much? You know, sometimes I wonder why I let you live and didn't just drown you when I had the chance! It would have made my life so much easier!" she ranted. Kikuko tried to explain, but nothing came out. Her mouth was dry and she couldn't seem to find the air to speak. She was geared up for an apology, but grabbed hold of the reins of her brain and said what was on her mind.
"That is beef. It's a dish called chicken-fried steak so I don't see why you're getting so worked up…about…it…" she trailed off lamely as her mother glared at her, but speared on of the steaks and set it on her plate. The woman cut into it and stared at it for a good minute before finally relenting.
"Fine. You didn't totally screw up." She admitted grudgingly and served herself. After a long moment, Kikuko sat down and served herself as well. Dinner passed in silence with neither party speaking nor giving ground. It was a somber affair that thankfully ended without a hitch. The pink-haired girl was grateful that it had gone as well as it had and hurried to clear the table. She had reached the door to the kitchen before she was stopped.
"Bring me a beer and do your homework." The woman ordered. Grateful for the reprieve, she set the dishes in the sink and cleaned them at Amaguriken speed before snagging a beer from the fridge and taking it out to her mother. The woman sneered at her as she yanked the bottle from her hand. When Kikuko turned to leave, the woman slapped her on the ass before laughing like the cruel idiot she was. The humiliated girl ran upstairs and flung herself on the bed. She sobbed into the pillow at the injustice of it all.
"Why can't I fight her? Why?" she knew that wasn't simply a matter of a martial artist's duty not to harm the weak, but something deeper and more psychological. The fury welled up inside her chest and threatened to break out in a storm of sharp blades, but it was ruthlessly crushed back down to where it belonged. Anger could be a powerful tool, but this kind of anger could get someone killed. In between one thought and the next, the emotionally exhausted girl fell asleep.
-2:35 am-
A martial artist's instincts are finely honed from a young age to be their most powerful weapon. A good punch was nothing without the instincts to use it and Kikuko was the best of her generation. She felt more than heard her door open. The stumbling steps accompanied by the open door signified an intoxicated person. Her gut clenched for reasons she couldn't quite place before she felt someone settle on her bed. A slurred voice giggled a little as a hand gently stroked her back. She felt herself beginning to tremble as if from some long standing fear and realized with a start that it was the same feeling her dad had just before the Neko-ken.
"My pretty little baby…" the woman cooed softly as she lay down on top of her. Kikuko squirmed but a sharp rap to the back of the head silenced her. Rough hands seized her and rolled her over, pinning her wrists with a leer. The smell of alcohol could clearly be smelled on her breath. It was overpowering. The weight, the terror, the stench of alcohol, and the feeling of powerlessness. With a terrified scream, she hurled her assailant off of her and slammed her into the wall. Kikuko was crying as she surveyed the damage. All she had were the clothes on her back, but she knew she couldn't stay there. The woman was already moving to get off the floor. Due to inebriation she wouldn't be able to understand the danger she was in. She tried to get the window open, but the latch kept slipping through panicked fingers. With an animalistic moan she blew the window out with force wave many times stronger than it needed to be and leapt to the next rooftop over. The terrified girl had no idea where she was going or of anything that was going on. Her instincts screamed at her to run and she obeyed. A small figure launched itself at her and grabbed hold of her bosom eliciting a terrified shriek and another round of sobs.
"Don't hurt me! Please please please please…" she begged as she fell to her knees. The little figure bounced off, eyes widening before a horrible smile lit up his face. Whoever tortured this girl was truly a master of their art and Happosai respected masters. As he approached, another diminutive figure flew through the air and ricocheted off of his head before dropping into a ready stance. Cologne, Matriarch and Elder of the Chinese Amazons was investigating the distorted chi only to find this pervert tormenting the poor child. It was with great pleasure that she prepared to beat him into submission.
"Back off you old mummy! This little honey is mine!" he exclaimed even as he dropped into a ready stance too. The old woman merely glared in utter hatred at him. Something in that gaze told him that he was in for a whole world of hurt, that opinion was only reinforced when Ranma showed up to apparently do battle as well.
"Hey ya old freak! What didja do to her?" the black-haired boy snarled so low that it sounded like a cat's growl. A very big cat's growl. The perverted Grandmaster did not feel like participating in a game of pound the pervert and did the only sensible thing: he ran like a bat out of hell. With that taken care of, Cologne approached the girl huddling on the rooftop. She reached her hand out, but the girl pulled away from her. After what she had gone through it was unexpected that when Ranma walked up to her and kneeled down, the girl latched onto him like he was a life preserver and she was drowning. The boy panicked.
"Hold her Son-in-Law. She needs to be comforted and apparently she wants you to do it." The elder told him. With a determined nod, and a visible steeling of his nerves, he held her. Something nagged at the back of his mind as he held her. Her pink hair was a dead giveaway and with a start he recognized her.
"You're that girl from earlier…What happened to you?" he whispered softly. The girl really had nothing to say. Acting on impulse, and a strange feeling of protectiveness, he picked her up as if she were a baby. The startled matriarch suddenly realized why the aura felt so familiar. The pig-tailed wonder in front of her had that same feeling of power only she seemed to be much stronger.
"Where are you going?" she inquired as she noticed the boy tensed to jump.
"Back to the Tendo's. If anybody comes around looking for her I'll smash them to a pulp." The boy said in a voice that was colder than the Soul of Ice. The old woman shivered at the tone and wisely kept her mouth shut even as she watched the pigtailed enigma that was Ranma leap back towards home.
-The Tendo-ke-
Ranma was glad that he couldn't sleep for once since it led him out into the night in time to find her. The girl was curled up in a futon he had dragged into the dojo. Her eyes followed every move he made, the trust in her eyes painful to look at. If he had anything to compare it to than he would have to say it was like a child and their parents. What had made her so scared? According to Kasumi she had taken on Mousse and beat him senseless. Hiroshi and Daisuke had said that she took out Ryoga and shattered everything with a scream. If she could do all that than how could she be scared? C-c-c-cats not withstanding, he wasn't afraid of anything.
"Ranma! What are you doing in here?" Akane's voice broke the quiet atmosphere with an anger-laced shout. The girl in the futon cried out in alarm at the harsh voice and grabbed his hand.
"Shhhh…It's ok…Nothing's wrong. She's just loud." He soothed. Dormant feelings of kindness and compassion were awakening. She looked so small and helpless that he couldn't help but want to protect her.
"Who's there you baka pervert?" the girl inquired aggressively as she strode into the dojo. Her eyes fell on the girl laying in the futon and the old anger came back. She flexed her fingers aggressively as the mallet appeared in her hand. Before she could get the mallet up, Ranma pierced her with a glare that would have killed a lesser man. In this case, it just severely rattled the violent girl. The mallet vanished as she realized how close she came to being another notch on Ranma's belt. He may not like to hit girls, but that didn't stop him from fighting for a cause.
"Get Kasumi, please." Ranma ordered. It was strangely polite for him, but all she could see were flames. Before she could say something that she would regret later, Akane turned around and walked out of the dojo. He looked back to the traumatized girl and say her eyes brightening.
"We'll help ya as best as we can." He assured her. The girl nodded and began to lightly doze. She drew in a deep breath as Kasumi entered the dojo, and went to sleep. The pigtailed boy breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed she was sleeping peacefully.
"Ranma-kun?" the gentle girl inquired softly. "Akane said you needed to see me." She explained when he turned to look at her.
"I dunno what to do. She helped me out earlier but somethin' is seriously scaring her. Whatever it was I don't think it had anythin' to do with Happosai. No, she seemed freaked out about something other than that." Ranma said. Kasumi bit her lip and nodded. It was agreed that she would stay until they found out what was wrong. Ranma carried the girl up to Kasumi's room as per her suggestion and laid her down on the bed. With that, he left the room, and the girl to Kasumi.
End Chapter
Author's Notes: Short chapter, but I wanted to know what you thought of the way the story was moving. I know it seems that she's a bit out of character based on what you know, but what if she was in another body and that it wasn't just created for her? Hope you enjoy the next chapter! Ja ne!