Spirits of the World: Dual Reality

by Dingo T. Wilds

Her curse was locked, she was disowned by her parents, betrayed by her friends. Ranma wandered the streets, merely existing until an opportunity appeared. When she took the job, she took one step closer to her revenge.

3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Deal and the Mind

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Disclaimer I do not own Ranma ½ or Yu Yu Hakusho.

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Hiei scoffed as he watched Yusuke laugh about getting The Orb of Baast and The Mirror of Forlorn Hope. He and his little assistant, the blue-haired reaper girl, had no right to be as giddy as they were.

"Gouki died because he was to over-confident, Kurama is weighed down with human baggage," Hiei muttered, standing on top of a telephone pole before turning his Jagan eye to the abandoned building complex where Ranma lived, "Ranma has kept to herself, she's barely even looked at the Journal."

"Because I've been watching and waiting, like I said I would. You should make your move soon." Ranma said as she walked under him, sure he could hear her, "While you keep Ghost-boy busy, I'll make my first move, preventing Spirit World from interfering while everyone is focused on you."

"Fine, but I'm going to retrieve the other two treasures, and take Urameshi's life with the Shadow Sword!"

Ranma continued to walk away as Hiei disappeared. Today she would use the Journal, she had to get ready.

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Hiei felt Ranma watching him as he battled with the Spirit Detective. She wouldn't interfere, her honor wouldn't allow interference into someone's fight.

'Since he is able to withstand the hypnotic gaze of my Jagan eye, and he's also increased his speed when his assistant and girlfriend were put in danger, let's see how he stands up to this.'

"You know, you should be honored that I have to use this form for a human opponent, it's my most powerful form." Hiei said as he removed his cloak, skin turning green, "In fact, only three others have seen this form before, and you killed one of them!"

Eyes began to open across his body, his hair stood on end trying to escape the Jagan's gaze. Ranma smirked as she watched from her vantage point as blood dripped down her palm, she whispered, "It's time."

'Hmm, my Jaganshi form doesn't seem to be affecting the girl's demonic growth, I wonder if this is part of Ranma's doing.' Hiei thought as he flared his power, before charging Yusuke with a right cross to the side of the human's face, "You have no time to be gawking, Detective!"

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'This demonic energy, Hiei must of been hard pressed to take on this form,' Kurama thought as he came up to the warehouse where Hiei had been hiding, before noticing Ranma nearby, furiously writing in the Journal, with her own blood, 'What is she doing!'

Ranma gave him a half crazed grin before vanishing, her hand still dripping with blood.

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Hiei laughed as he held Yusuke aloft, "How do you like my Jagan's Binding Curse?"

"Green ones would match much better!"

"A joker to the end then, I like that," Hiei laughed as he telekinetically swung Yusuke around the room, crashing him into several crates around the warehouse, before slamming his body into the concrete floor, "Now let's see Detective, I could kill you now or turn you into a demon with this sword. What, you want me to choose? All right then!"

As Hiei stabbed the sword forward, Yusuke closed his eyes. As the sound of metal slicing through flesh was heard, but not the feeling of pain, Yusuke opened his eyes. Kurama stood in front of him, sword protruding out of his back.

"Kurama!"

The red-haired boy said nothing as he splashed the Jagan on Hiei's forehead before doubling over and removing the sword from his stomach, "The Jagan eyes on Hiei's body are merely amplification points for his energy, remove the main Jagan on his forehead, and they have no power."

Yusuke watched Hiei furiously rub at the blood in his eye, "Kurama, you didn't have to do that."

"I couldn't help but to feel indebted to you, so I decided to help. Besides, it's only a minor hole in my stomach," Kurama said, even though he was thinking, "When we tested the sword before, it didn't affect me at all. What is this sensation I feel from the wound? It seems to have the same feeling as the human girl over there.'

As Yusuke and Hiei continued their fight, Kurama stumbled over to the shinigami girl, "What happened?"

"I was trying to keep Keiko from turning into a demon, she had been cut by Hiei before we got here. Suddenly the eye that was opening from the cut sealed itself away and a familiar voice told me that she had rewritten the rules of the sword, it now activates the potential that lies within their blood and soul!"

"Ranma, she is the only one that could do something like that. I barely know anything other than her name, yet it seems that this is within her nature." Kurama felt the strange energy finish integrating into his own energy, and the wound sealed itself up.

Yusuke had ran, Hiei chasing him. Stopping and turning, Yusuke charged his attack.

"Spirit Gun!"

Hiei saw this and dodged, and Yusuke freaked, 'Where'd the mirror go?!'

Hiei laughed, "That's some hidden ace Detective, with quite some power to. Too bad you went and wasted it on bad aim... Argh!"

Hiei was hit in the back with what looked like the Spirit Gun, but three times larger.

"Yusuke got him!" Botan exclaimed.

"No, that wasn't Spirit Energy... It's Ranma." Kurama gasped as the girl appeared with the three Treasures circled around her in the air. She stood in the center of the room, all four of the awake occupants staring at her as she began to speak.

"The Orb of Baast, It could once take the souls of any living being, but it will only receive the souls of the wicked and corrupt." Ranma said in a low voice, holding the Orb in the air as it flashed with power, "Be glad that none of you qualify to have your soul removed, while evil is necessary, corruption is not."

Hiei snorted angered that he had been betrayed not once, but twice, and then insulted in such a manner. If he had been able to move, he would have retrieved the Sword and removed her head.

"The Mirror of Forlorn Hope. I have not changed it as the drawback is already severe, and the consciousness with in the mirror itself decides whether someone lives or dies." Ranma said as she grasped the mirror in her other hand. Both objects suddenly vanished as she continued.

'She can create a null space to hold and store items!' Kurama thought, remembering how his old partner could do so as well, and it had been very handy to have, 'Humans are amazing creatures if they can learn such a wide variety of abilities in such short lifespans.'

"The Shadow Sword is no longer a proper name for this blade," Ranma gripped the demonic looking handle, "I believe that The Sword of Awakening would be a better name."

Ranma suddenly dashed forward, with Hiei giving a startled yell as she slashed his right arm open from wrist to shoulder. Yusuke tried to dive behind a crate as Ranma turned on him, only for her to slash his back from left shoulder to right hip.

"The wounds will heal soon enough. All I did was awaken your potential. Kurama is a Yoko fox, and has developed his powers as such, but he has neglected his human abilities. The girl's potential is that of an average person, to become more than average. She had already started to use that potential, the sword's new abilities have sped things up a bit." Ranma grinned menacingly at Hiei, causing his blood to run cold when he realized she had changed his very person with the sword, "Hiei, Hiei, Hiei, trying to ignore your mother's blood by only using your fire powers, how sad."

Hiei bristled, before yelling, "My mother's people are all women! How am I, a male, supposed to use their powers?!"

"Your body will adapt. I believe it will change to fit the powers you are using at the time, kinda like I use to." Ranma laughed, enjoying the slight look of panic across the normally stoic fire apparition's face. Ranma suddenly leaned to the side as Yusuke tried to cave the back of her head in, "Nice try, but I don't need thirty eyes to see my enemies behind me."

Ranma grabbed Yusuke's outstretched arm and threw him across the warehouse, with him hitting the wall next to Kurama and Botan, "Ghost-boy, tell your boss that I want to speak with his father. I'll return the Artifacts then and there when Enma and I have our 'talk'. Also tell him to have his father meet me at the rubble of Horai Mountain. He should know where it is. After all, he watched me blow it up."

As Ranma turned to leave she called over her shoulder, "Oh, and Ghost-boy. If I were you I would try to find your friend the idiot that loves cats. I'm going after him next. And who knows what sort of potential could awaken in him."

Ranma laughed as she slowly faded from existence in front of them. As Botan stood up to contact Koenma, a thought struck her, "She never told us what sort of potential she unlocked in Yusuke."

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Ranma stood on top of the highest point in Nerima. From here she could view everything of importance through aura scans, even though she couldn't see them properly. Furinkan High school was nearly destroyed, looking like a building that had survived a bomb blast. It wasn't at the epicenter of the destruction, but it was close. The entirety of the Nerima Ward had fallen into disarray without her here to prevent the fights from going even more out of control than they usually did. A lot of the buildings and homes were abandoned, the local hospital had a newly constructed reinforced concrete wall surrounding it, and the police seemed to be patrolling even more heavily than before.

Ranma turned and left the district as fast as possible. It was not the time to take her vengeance, even if she had gotten a hold of the Three Artifacts of Darkness and the Journal. She still needed to be stronger than them, better than them. Ranma hoped her own soul could withstand what she would have to do, as well as those that would be forced to assist her.

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"Well, Kuwabara's fine. I just talked to him and he's keeping his guard up just in case Ranma goes after him." Botan said as she sat down in Yusuke's living room with the Spirit Detective and Kurama. Hiei had been taken to Spirit world when she went to tell Koenma about Ranma's demands, and the Fire Apparition was now sitting in a specialized cell waiting for his punishment.

"So what's going on with the big guy in charge?" Yusuke asked, wondering what was going on between the Lord of the Afterlife and the red-haired girl that had single handedly thrashed him and Hiei.

"Lord Enma surprisingly understood the situation, even to the point of forgetting Koenma's punishment entirely. Apparently Ranma killed someone in the lower echelons of Divinity, and with the Artifacts she could easily fight and possibly kill those of his own power and lower in the chain of command when it comes to the deities that govern the world."

"Then what is she?" Kurama asked, wonder just what he had fought, believing that if she could do that he was lucky to be alive.

"She's a rare breed of human known as 'God-slayer'."

Everyone turned to the TV, where Koenma had appeared on the screen. Yusuke, Kurama, Botan, and even Atsuko, who had walked in with some refreshments, all stared at the multi-centennial toddler.

"Yusuke, do you know the brat that just took over our TV?" Atsuko asked as she carefully placed the drinks down before sitting down on the couch, trying real hard to keep from fainting.

"I'm the younger brother of Yusuke's new boss. I tend to play delivery boy because I'm really good with electronics. In fact, the only reason this even works is because of the camera that now sits on top of your television." Koenma said pointing up. Everyone sweated at the site of the very noticeable camera that they had somehow overlooked.

"Anyways, we here at headquarters were able to dig up some more information about Ranma. The story goes like this..."

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Ranma landed on the ruins of the once great Mount Horai. The fissure that had been created by Herb's attack had filled itself in with the mountain. Ranma shuddered, trying to push the memories of that day down. She was here for a reason, and she needed to focus.

"Greetings, God-slayer." A man, taller and larger than her former father greeted her, having walked out of a portal. He wouldn't look out of place in America or Europe, being so tall and large. Here it was uncommon, and he might garter a few looks.

"Enma." Ranma nodded before gazing up at the raising moon, "I only need the Sword of Awakening. You can have the rest."

"Oh? Just giving everything up so easily? You've definitely learned since your time in Nerima."

"The Mirror and Orb are useless to me. Everything I wrote in the Journal was written in my blood. I have everything I need, except a way to awaken others potentials faster than years of training." Ranma looked straight at the large man, "Don't think that I don't know about those bodyguards in the shadows."

Enma sighed as he stared up into the sky, "I take no chances with someone who has a good chance of killing me."

"And what's a good chance?"

"Any chance whatsoever of killing me."

"Paranoid."

"Cautious."

"So, I've put my offer on the table. You get the three items back and I keep the sword. What's your offer?"

"I was under the impression that you would make me bend to your demands. Let me see the Journal." Lord Enma carefully slit his index finger, and under Ranma's messy and bloody scrawl that covered several pages of the Journal, He made his own entry with rather elegant writing given the means of transcription. Handing the journal back to Ranma, he waited for her reaction.

"Interesting. I agree to your terms." Ranma said, signing under his entry with her own blood.

"Now, I believe your previous entry needs to happen." Enma said as he gathered up the Three Artifacts he was taking back. Ranma would keep the blade as long as she adhered to the contract. She had changed all four of the Artifacts, ever so slightly for the Journal and Forlorn Hope, and used a fifth entry to ensure the creation of an object that would be given to his son after its use.

Enma shuddered as he watched Ranma leap off into the wilds. She had planned everything out, all the way to the beginning of the next Dark Tournament. Excluding any missions Koenma would give his new Spirit Detective, Ranma would train her team. She had used the Journal to ensure that hints were dropped in the right places.

Nabiki had gotten an internship with one of the members of the Black Black Club. Mousse and Kuno had been recruited by a demon doctor with an interest in the human spirit. She even had guided the committee to look at a 'possible' Guest team. With six spots still open in the Tournament, Ranma would undoubtedly twist his son's arm into sponsoring her team. Only one of her targets seemed to be unaccounted for even with his intelligence officers. But he would show up, just as he always did.

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In a South American Jungle

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"Stand up boy. I know you're not dead." A large, heavily muscled man with a flat top and a pair of shades said.

"Why should I keep fighting you? You're not the one I want dead," the teenage boy said, spiting a gob of blood off to the side.

"Interesting, most people would consider it an honor to fight me, even at thirty-five percent." The man said, "Yet you're looking past me to another fighter. Tell me, who is this fighter?"

"The one who made my life HELL!" The boy roared, "SHI SHI HOKODAN!"

The green blast of energy streaked towards the man, who threw up both of his hands to block it. When it began to push him back, he grunted, his muscles began expanding rapidly. He was able to dissipate the attack with a shout, before smirking at the boy whose emotions were clear on his face. The teen had become emotionally hollow, so it would have been pointless to redirect the attack back at him as he had become immune to it.

"Yes, such a strange attack you have boy. It's been a long time since a human has forced me past fifty percent." the man smirked as the boy fell forward, completely drained, "Maybe you'll make a fine edition to the team, if you survive. Bui. Karasu. Train him."

A man in heavy armor stepped forward from the foliage, followed by a vampiric looking man as well as a smaller man, who climbed onto the fighter's back.

"Come, little brother," the smaller man said, "We have some work to do. Some people to kill and that Torukane man keeps offering us larger sums of money to come help him with his problem."

"Of course brother."

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Urameshi Apartment

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"Wow. Just how strong is she?" Kurama asked. Killing a demigod was no easy feat, especially Saffron the Phoenix.

"In terms of power that you can understand, she would tear you Hiei to shreds as you currently are. Every time she has become a threat to a god, she was wielding some magical or enchanted artifact that put her on even footing with them. Saffron was a low B-rank deity, Ranma seems to be somewhere between mid to high C-rank."

"It makes sense, she was able to cut through Gouki's skin with nothing more than a flick of her wrist."

"Whoa, wait a minute. You mean the big red guy that pounded me into the pavement right?" Yusuke asked.

"The very same, even I would be hard pressed to beat him if I hadn't already known his weaknesses."

"That's not what I'm worried about though," Atsuko said as she lit a cigarette, "You said she was a Saotome. The only Ranma Saotome I know is my dearly despised sister's kid. Even before I was thrown out of the clan, Nodoka was the perfect child. Being as traditional as she was, I laughed myself sick when I heard she married some fat-ass martial artist that convinced her to be the perfect little house wife. Now unless my nephew had a gender reassignment surgery, how in the world is he a she?"

"Geez mom, maybe they lied?"

"No, I visited them once before, and before Nodoka ran me and your deadbeat father off, her husband Genma had let us in while she was at the market. Ranma was definitely a boy." Atsuko said, rapping her knuckles on her son's head.

"As I have told you, Yusuke fights demons for our agency. Ranma was turned into a girl by the way of Jusenkyo." Koenma said as he read over a piece of paper that had been handed to him.

"Yes, but you never explained Jusenkyo."

"Short version is it has hundreds of cursed springs. Fall into a spring and you take the form of whatever drowned in that particular spring. When you get splashed with cold water, you turn into your curse form. Hot water temporarily reverses it until being splashed by cold water again. Ranma fell into Nyannichuan, or Spring of Drowned Girl. Recent events lead to Ranma's cursed form becoming her only form. Even with the powers of the Journal she stole, she would not be able to regain her male form, something she's bound to be pissed about." Koenma looked directly at Yusuke and Atsuko, "Especially since Jusenkyo is the home of the Elder Deity, the Dragon Ju-Sen-Kyo, which the springs are named after. He believes it is his role to correct the faults in the reincarnation process, and gets angered when someone finds a way to cure themselves of his 'blessing'. Elder deities like him are old and primal powers. It would take several demons equal in power of the Demon Kings to injure him enough to annoy him, so we try to keep him happy."

"I would imagine," Kurama said, stunned that there were beings of such power still in the world.

"Yes. Now Yusuke, your case is still open. With Gouki dead, Kurama on parole, and Hiei in custody, you still need to apprehend Ranma herself. My father was able to retrieve three of the four treasures from her, allowing her to keep the former Shadow Sword, but you need to bring her in."

"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't going to be a walk in the park?"

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Yusuke approached the building where Ranma lived, with Botan, Kurama, and his mother. Opening the large front door, he felt like he was entering the lair of a great beast, an apex predator that was stalking them from the shadows. Kurama was on edge just like him, apparently he had never felt this from his 'partner', and Botan was shivering in fear. His mother though took a long drag on her cigarette before sighing.

"Come on out, Ranma." Atsuko called, wanting to see her 'niece' for the first time in a while.

"So you came, with the correct number of helpers to." A voice called out from above them, as Ranma was sitting in the second story window of the lobby they were in. "Though I don't know the voice that just called out."

Ranma leaped down, landing on her hands before shifting her weight to end up sitting on the lobby desk in front of them. Staring straight at Atsuko, she gave a questioning look.

"I'm the idiot's mother. Heard your story and I want you to answer truthfully," Atsuko took another long drag on her cigarette, "Were you once the boy named Ranma Saotome?"

"If I say yes, do I have to marry the doofus or his sister?" Ranma asked, eyes narrowing.

"I would hope not," Atsuko said giving Ranma a good once over, before muttering "Nodoka, you truly are an idiot. She looks just like you and you thought you could control her life?"

"Just who are you?" Ranma asked, ready to show her what was going to happen if the woman tried to take her back to her former parents.

"You don't remember me? I'm hurt." Atsuko sighed dramatically, "It's me! You're dear ol' disowned Aunt 'Suko!"

"If you're Auntie Suko, then where's Uncle Bum?" Atsuko threw her head back and laughed, remembering she had introduced her ex-husband as 'this lazy bum' and Ranma had called him that several times before Nodoka had shown up screaming at her.

"I divorced the deadbeat years ago. He's the worse kind of drunk, and after Yusuke got hurt in one of our fights he packed up and left."

"Good riddance to the bastard to." Yusuke snorted, "Anyways, Koenma said something about you turning yourself in if we pass your test or something about that."

"Yes, the test." Ranma slid off the counter and beckoned them to follow. She wasn't sure if this was truly her aunt and cousin, and at the moment she didn't care. Her family had abandoned her and it would take a lot for them to prove themselves to her. They kept walking towards the end of the hall as it slowly began to shift and churn around them.

"What is this magic?" Kurama asked, wondering why it felt as if he had left his body. Ranma turned and smiled a dark, self-loathing smile. She had to do this, if they were strong enough to survive this, then her plans would follow through. Not even Enma's little contract could hold her back, he had been too loose in his wording. He thought he could trick her to act with honor and follow the measly deal word for word, but she no longer had the same sense of honor she had in Nerima. No one could control her, not for long.

"Welcome to my mind, you four. Survive the horrors that I faced behind these doors, and prove yourselves, and you win. Failure means death of the mind and soul." Ranma said as four doors materialized out of nowhere. Smirking, Ranma faded out of sight, "Begin."

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Author's Note- That's the end for now! It seems as if Ranma is trying to plan out her vengeance, though the Spirit World leader himself tried to step in and interfere. How will Yusuke and the others survive the monsters in Ranma's mind? Why was Toguro fighting the lost boy? And will Ranma be able to carry through with her plans? Also, this was the last rewrite for this story, chapters 4-7, which I have written but not typed, are never before seen content.