Spirit Hunter

Chapter Five

Information Isn't For Free.

Revised 22nd July 2006

Revised 9th September 2006 by Hiryo

Pre-read by Hiryo.

Author Note:

Finally, you will find out what Ranma has been getting up to while Ger and Nabiki were out and about.

Please review and tell me if you have an idea or don't like something. Thank you for spending five seconds reviewing

For some reason during this fight, I had Eels-Soul Jacker in my head.

Disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi; I am only using it for my own sick twisted enjoyment.

Enjoy!

A sharp wind was blowing through the park as a couple walked along its graveled path. They held each other close and the dark haired man clutched an arm tight around the shorter blonde women's shoulders.

The trees made a sighing sound and small, foot high, lights illuminated the path.

The couple was enjoying each other's company, when a sharp cracking noise sounded from the bushes to their left. Pulling the woman in tighter to his side, the man stopped and peered into the dark trees. After a short time no other noises sounded.

"It must have just been a dog, or something." The man explained away to his girlfriend.

Now people, can we pause for a minute here, in any situation where you are alone with your partner in a park, abandoned fairground, camping site, or mansion, you do not say, 'it must have been a cat,' that's like asking for the big crazy guy to jump out at you with the knife, machete, or chainsaw. Luckily, for this couple the noise to their left had been a dog. The noise to their right, which they could not hear over the breeze was however not a cat.

A vast form burst out of the bushes on the right of the couple stunning them into flight.

A shout from the right of the fleeing couple spurned them to run faster.

"Morons run!" From out of the shadows Nos appeared his grey coat spread out behind him, his threatening image only slightly marred by the white pressure bandage wrapped around his ribs.

Clutching his two short swords tightly in his hands Nos leapt forward not giving the Oni any time to think.

"You know you would think by now that natural selection would have led you to stop picking such obvious targets. All I needed to do was follow some couple by themselves in a park and within ten minutes, you show up. I swear they're like sugar water to negative spirits."

Springing off the ground, Nos, evaded the sloppy swings of the Oni's massive arms, slipping one sword in a shallow cut under the Oni's ribs. Flipping over the horns of the creature, Nos brought his other short sword down on the Oni's back landing behind him.

Sliding one of the swords into the sheath that lay on his back under his grey duster Nos pulled a handful of small throwing daggers.

The Oni stood with one hand holding the places Nos had cut him. Screaming it swung around to face the Spirit Hunter and quickly thrust an arm forward.

Nos jumped backwards, his throw affected, the dagger slammed only into the creatures meaty nose splitting it in half instead of killing it instantly. "Look I have had a crappy week; some snot nosed kid was able to beat me. Then this hard-nosed piece of work, made me pay her 20000 yen to untie me. You wouldn't know it but killing monsters isn't the best paying job in the world."

Pulling on of the stakes keeping the small trees, which lined the path; safe the Oni threw it like a javelin slamming Nos in the ribs fortunately barely breaking skin.

"Stuff tradition, do you know anything about any murders happening a couple of districts over?"

Stumbling backwards the Oni, ran to the tree line, only to be stopped by a throwing knife cutting his right Achilles tendon. Collapsing, the Oni began to stutter in fear for its life. "I might know s . . so . .something, just promise all right, th . . tha . .that you w . .wo. .won't hurt me."

Nos sighed, placed the remaining throwing daggers away, and slid the short sword into its sheath, first making sure to wipe it clean of Oni 'stuff'. "Sure I solemnly swear not to hurt you if you talk. Now spill your guts."

The Oni whimpered and tryed to crawl off.

"Not literally." Nos added. Placing his hands loosely at his sides, Nos stated slowly. "So what do you know about the attacks."

"Someone's been hiring all the freelance spirits, the Oni, and Tengu, even a few ghosts. They've all been looking for something. You know this bloody hurts."

Nos gave him a pointed look.

"A friend of mine this Yuki Onna, Carol, that works over at the meat packing plant she heard that the killings are all being organized by the same guy that's hiring us spirits. I don't know if that's true, it is a rumor. Someone is looking for something."

Nos started to pull the little finger on his right hand in and out of joint, making a clicking noise. "Have you heard anything about the Nerima district?"

The Oni laughed. "Yeah, stay the hell out of there. Those stupid kids will kill you if you go there."

Nos smiled. "Thank you for the information." Before the Oni could blink, Nos slid one of his blades down and through his large eye socket. Killing it instantly, "That didn't hurt, did it?"

sxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsx

The Cat cafe was booming with business as Ranma turned up after school. A steady stream of customers were entering and leaving.

Ranma looked up at the large sign over the front of the store and licked his lips. 'Hmm, I could get information and maybe some eats from the old ghoul for her favorite son-in-law.'

Walking through the busy entrance Ranma sidled up to the counter avoiding the distracted attentions of the lone waitress Shampoo.

Cologne was behind the counter-serving customers at a phenomenal rate.

Waiting in line Ranma came up to Cologne and leaned forward onto to the counter. "Cologne I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about spirits. It's really important."

Cologne, who had been cutting up some vegetables with one hand, looked up at Ranma. "Why does son-in-law want to ask me about spirits?"

"Well, there's this friend of mine who's worried about these attacks that are happening, I thought you would know about all that old stuff 'cause you're old."

Cologne just sighed, 'Sometimes I wonder no matter how well a fighter the boy is, his foot is permanently attached to his mouth.' "Son-in-Law, I would be happy to help you, if you would just wait for the dinner crowd to end. I will send Shampoo over with your usual."

Ranma smiled, 'This is great I help people and get free food. Could life get any better?'

Later that day the rush had faded and Ranma sat in front of piles of plates and bowls.

Mousse was cleaning tables at the front and had been giving Ranma dirty looks since he had been sent out.

Shampoo had been sent out the back to do some washing up.

Cologne appeared out of the back and pulled up a chair beside the full Ranma. "What do you wish to know about spirits, son-in-law?"

Ranma patted his stomach and lent back in his chair. "Well there have been these weird attacks in a district two over. A friend of mine he thinks that they have something to do with magic. This guy Nos attacked me last night and he said that all the people who had been attacked were magic users or known as Wicca."

Cologne nodded her head. "Yes I have heard of these attacks an acquaintance of mine told me about them. A traveling spirit warder was killed a fortnight ago."

"Do you know much about Japanese spirits?"

Cologne frowned. "I am sorry son-in-law. The spirits of Japan are different from those found in China. I have only a faint idea of the spirits common to this land."

Ranma sighed. 'It looks like I had lucked out with asking Cologne. Nabiki will probably come back from her fact finding with a huge pile of info and rub his nose in it.'

"But, son-in-law, I do know of someone who may be willing to help you if you need to learn about the spirit creatures of Japan and any rumors that are circulating in their world."

Ranma perched up. 'Ha, Nabiki won't beat me.'

"There is a person I know who would be willing to help you, but I warn you now, you must be extremely polite, no back chat. Please take your foot out of your mouth before you say anything. And take the big bag of cucumbers that I will give you to him."

Staring at the plastic bags filled with cucumbers Ranma reread the instructions that were written on the back of a Cat Cafe order form. The instructions led him to a park he had fought Ryoga in a couple of weeks ago he had been blasted into its pond about half way through and had been attacked by Kodachi. Ranma though that he knew every park in his district if only for the fact that seemed to be the place where he was always attacked, that the school and the Tendo's luckily no one attacked him at the movies or when he was on the toilet.

Ranma began to whistle. "Always look on the bright side of life de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum . . . ."

A path led to the pond in the centre of the park and from that, a small stream led off into the trees towards the fresh water spring that fed it.

Late after noon light turned the park a deep golden color, as Ranma followed the instructions from Cologne. Following the stream Ranma quickly found the small spring surrounded in a cobblestone area striding up to the edge of the pool. Ranma stopped whistling and stood still.

In one hand, he held the plastic bag filled with cucumber in front of him. "Hello, I come bearing . . . cucumbers." Feeling a bit of an idiot Ranma shook his head and waited as Cologne had told him too.

Bubbles started to appear on the surface of the water in the spring. In the centre, the water pushed upwards and before Ranma's eyes, a very strange beast appeared. A small green head popped out of the water, with large black eyes and a round face it looked like a weird sort of monkey. Climbing out of the spring it looked from Ranma to the plastic bag filled with cucumbers.

As Ranma got a good look at he began to believe that what was happening wasn't a big joke on him. On the little green guy's back was a turtle shell its hands and fingers were and webbed. Its appearance struck a cord in Ranma's memory it seemed familiar. "Ahhh hi, Cologne says you owe her 100 yen."

The little creature scowled and peered up at Ranma. "What do you want boy?" Stretching out the bag of cucumbers, Ranma spoke. "Cologne said that you might be able to answer some questions I have, for these cucumbers."

The creature reached to grasp the bag, but was stopped when Ranma pulled it out of the short guy's reach. "Umm no not yet, first you answer some questions then the cucumbers."

Sitting on the edge of the pool, the little creature licked his lips sharp, pointed teeth filled its mouth, and suddenly Ranma remembered where he had heard about something that looked like it. It was a Kappa. A second later, another thought hit the Martial Artist that's the spirit that fed via the 'anus.' Carefully sidling over Ranma made sure his back was to the kappa.

"How is the old bag, I haven't seen her since we played a game of monopoly a few months back, I got to be the little car."

Ranma standing very straight and keeping an eye on the kappa replied. "Cologne is well she still looks like an old ghoul. My name is Ranma Saotome heir to the Saotome school of Indiscriminate grappling."

The Kappa perked up. "So you're a fighter, interesting." The kappa steepled his hands in front of his face. "My name is . . . Bob."

Ranma kept a straight face and just nodded Cologne had told him to be polite. "Bob, if I may call you that?"

The kappa gave a small nod and Ranma kept a straight face only by a force of will.

"There have been over a period of six months attacks on magic users in the Tokyo area. A friend of mine who is a Rokurokubi has been noticing something isn't right with the attacks and deaths. He's not the only one; a person in the magic community hired a guy to hunt down what ever was attacking the people. Nos, the guy has serious anger management issues. Any way, do you think you know anything about what has been happening?"

"Yes."

After about five minutes Ranma's patience broke. "Well do you think you could tell me?"

"Only if you say the magic word."

Ranma cursed under his breath there was a magic word, Cologne never told him he had to do magic.

The kappa began to chuckle. "Please, you idiot."

Scratching the back of his head Ranma smiled. "Oh, my bad, please could you tell me about anything that will help me and my friends to stop these attacks."

The kappa smiled its sharp little teeth shone from reflected sunlight. "I don't get out as much as I used to. People are much more alarmist then they were in the old days. One drowned body found in my pond and they'll fence the whole thing off. Nevertheless, I still hear things. There have been rumors going through our world that someone is going to do something big. A lot of the low-level spirits those that have found it hardest to survive in the new world are being gathered by someone. Who ever it is has a great deal of power behind them."

Ranma sighed why couldn't the person he faced ever be weak and inefficient, like Snuffles the Evil Piggy.

The kappa continued. "I don't know but the whole thing has the smell of organized crime, maybe some boss has hired the lot for a big putsch. I have heard rumors that a friend of a friend saw a Nue that is if you don't know your history a sort of evil dream spirit. It's horse sized, with the head of a monkey, the body of a tiger, the tail of a serpent, and the wings of a bird. Pretty hard to miss and you can see why they stick to nightmares and not strip clubs. They can appear as a midnight black cloud and you need a blessed weapon to fight it. This guy is said to have been picked up by the mysterious boss."

Ranma swallowed, it sounded like Pantyhose Taro's illegitimate love child with an exotic petting zoo. "Are there any pretty spirits?"

"Oh sure but they usually have a butt ugly form as well. Do you know anything more about the attacks that may help me with what I can tell you?"

"Well, they all happened in a pretty restricted area. The victims never saw what attacked them. They all happened at night." The kappa smiled like a light bulb had gone off in his brain.

"That may be the key; I think I can help you. You say they all happen at night in a small area. Have you heard about Nukekubi?"

Ranma thought Nabiki had talked about one when she had mentioned the Kappa. They were the floating heads. Nodding at the kappa the spirit continued talking.

"The Nukekubi fits the description. The head and body can only be separate at night and will die otherwise. They are undead and hunt during the night. Otherwise, they look practically human the rest of the time. The only markings are small red runes on the back of their necks, but that's easy enough to hide. The time limit would seriously limit how far and how long it could hunt. The Nukekubi may be your attacker."

Picking at the plastic on the bag Ranma thought about this. "Why would it attack magic users?"

"I have no idea boy. You should know that if it has been attacking people it will do so until the target is dead, very dedicated vindictive creatures. My brother dated one once. Do you think I could have those cucumbers now?"

Ranma tried to keep the image out of his mind. "Ahhh, sure have them. If you have any more info I can get you more cucumbers just get a hold of Cologne. Thanks Bob." Thrusting out the bag, the Kappa was too busy to notice Ranma carefully walking backwards making sure to keep his back to the spirit.

sxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsxsx

Walking back home Ranma thought over what had been happening there was definitely something more to this whole thing then just random attacks. Some one was employing spirits maybe organized crime, that didn't sound good. He didn't think it was just equal opportunity hiring at work. Plus, there was some head floating around attacking people. How scary could a bloody head be?

Wait a moment Ranma rewound the conversation with the kappa. "Attacking . . . until the target is dead." Wasn't Nabiki visiting some Wicca a couple of districts over that had been attacked and survived? It was stupid and probably alarmist to think the creature would attack the women on the night Nabiki was with her.

Looking up at the fading daylight Ranma sighed, Murphy's Law said something would happen. He wouldn't put it past fate to have a big screen television directly linked to his life. He hoped she had to pay cable for it. Sighing resignedly Ranma put his hands in his pockets and headed as fast as he could to the train station.

Authors Note:

Revised 22nd July 2006

Thank you so much for reviewing:

Especially thank the people who have given me websites with info about Japanese spirits it's been a great help.

Innortal: Thank you for saying you will pre-read. I have just had problems getting an email to you. It keeps sending it back too me. If you still want or any one else would want to pre-read I would be really grateful please email me at the address on my profile. Hopefully, that will beat Murphy.

Thank you