I do not own the hotties or Ranma. I'm going to cry. Dedicated to the devian who as I mentioned in my reposted chapters pointed out that my scene breaks weren't being copied into ff for some reason. You have to upload then go back in and put the single lines in manually. This chapter will mark the beginning of my major changes to the plot of the Anime Adventure thread I got the idea from. As we see the more people who interact with Ranma the more the story changes from what the people thought was their destiny. More on that in other chapters.
One reviewer stated he wanted Ryofu Hosen to get with Ranma, and I have to say I don't see it happening from Ranma's perspective or the story line. Ryofu is a little too… yeah. Now if she was like the way she's portrayed in Koihime Musou, then I would have leapt on the idea. Her, Aisha and Renfa (sonken) ….. I might just have to write a crossover for that series now, though not with Ranma. A more strategically minded male protagonist would be better.
I will also warn you that this story will be more explicitly raunchy than my others in keeping with the nature of the Ikkitousen world.
Thanks to Vandenbz for reviewing and typos. I'm always willing ot go back and correct things like that
Chapter 4 Let the chaos commence!
Ranma was exiting his last class for the day, classic literature (he still had to go until the teacher accepted his paper and gave him a final grade) looking forward to his spar with Kan'u when he heard a shout from his left. "You!"
The tone of voice sparked memories of Akane and Nerima so strongly Ranma was strangely happy to see only Chouhi standing a few feet away, looking at him with a hostile glare. Ranma looked at her, head cocked to one side in inquiry.
"The training hall! Now!" she commanded belligerently.
Ranma sighed. He'd been expecting something like this to happen. Chouhi had radiated irritation and anger at him in equal measure throughout the meeting at lunch, and she had none of the control that Kan'u and Chou'un had. The problem was she was a B level fighter at best and not in his league. To add to the problem Ranma was having more and more flashbacks to Akane and their interactions the more time Chouhi was around him, and he didn't know how to handle it. "Er, look, I've already got a trainin' session set up with Kan'u, can't this wait?"
"I want a match with you right now to see if you're really all that" Chouhi aggressively growled. "The training hall right now, unless you're all talk that is."
Ranma's blue eyes grew flinty. "Alright Chibi you're on. Just don't complain to me later when I beat yer butt."
A mere two minutes into their match found Chouhi screaming as she was launched across the training hall and slammed face first into the far wall. Her body bounced off the wall and piled in a heap at the bottom of it as she woozily tried to recall what the hell just happened. One minute her opponent was standing in front of her, dodging and weaving like a piece of ribbon on the wind through her attacks, then he was behind her and she was flying away.
Fighting to ignore the pain she was in, she struggled to her hands and knees, panting heavily and charged in again. Two minutes later she was in the same position against another wall. Again she woozily got to her feat and charged, this time using more kicks and spins to try and keep him off balance.
It didn't work, and Ranma sent her flying once again into a third wall.
Chouhi tried again, and yet for the fourth time became acquainted with a new wall. The most maddening thing was Ranma had yet to actually hit her. He was simply tossing her around and using her own momentum against her in a weird variant of aikido she had never seen before.
Wiping a trickle of blood from her lip with the back of her hand, she looked over at where Ranma was standing in the middle of the dojo, a place he hadn't moved from since the fight began. Ranma ran a hand through his hair. "Look, let's stop here okay, it's pretty obvious yer outclassed here."
Chouhi gritted her teeth angrily, forgetting all about her reason for fighting him, she just wanted to land one damn punch on the overconfident ass. She pushed herself up, standing unsteadily on her shaking knees, her vision blurring from the collisions to her head as she faced her opponent. "I am...Chouhi...Ekitoku...and I...will never...surrender!" she cried, charging him again.
Ranma sighed again, but once more reminded of Akane and her anger about not being taken seriously, decided to take the fight a little more seriously. Chouhi's eyes widened as he casually caught the kick she had launched at him and then screamed in pain as he stabbed a nerve cluster in her right side with a rigid finger.
She tried to counter with a punch, but with her leg still caught he was just out of reach and he nailed her with a palm strike to the diaphragm which tore the air from her lungs and sent her skidding across the dojo to once more smash into a wall, though thankfully it was her back that hit this time, not her head.
Chouhi laid on her back trying to gasp for air as her right side felt like it had been dipped in molten metal. Her eyes were clinched shut as tears of pain squeezed out from them to trail down her cheeks. Suddenly, the pain in her side vanished and she could breathe again. Gratefully she took huge gasping breaths and opened her eyes.
"Hey, chibi, this ain't a death match, ya know," Ranma said from where he squatted next to her. "Ya called me out to see if I had the skill to back my words up, and ya found out I do. So let's end it here okay?" He smiled and offered her a hand up.
Chouhi looked from Ranma's hand to his smiling face. She had to admit when he smiled like that she could see why Kan'u-neesama might be interested in him. He also lived up to his word as he was definitely a master of the art. Chouhi was a lot better than her own B-ranking would suggest, but he still handled her easily.
Nodding, she reached up and grasped his wrist. Ranma stood up and pulled Chouhi to her feet. As soon as she had her feet under her, she tried to launch one final attack, a straight punch at his face with her free hand while holding onto his wrist with her other hand.
A meaty, flesh-on-flesh smack echoed around the dojo and Chouhi's eyes widened. He'd caught her brutal punch seemingly without effort and was now chuckling at her while waving a finger—and her fist—at her in admonishment. "Nice try, Chibi" Ranma grinned. "Unfortunately for you, my old man was the master of cheap shots...including that knee to the groin you're about to try. Try it and I won't hold back anymore."
Chouhi smiled weakly and sagged. "Um...just kidding?" she offered, shrugging apologetically under his stare.
"Uh huh," Ranma smirked knowingly. "Are ya really done now?"
"Yeah I guess," Chouhi replied. "I've found out what I wanted to know." She now knew his victory over Kan'u-neesama had been no fluke, and that all that stuff he said during lunch was the truth. Not only did he handle her with kid gloves for most of their fight, he hadn't even used their fight as an excuse to grope her, something that nearly every male fighter she had ever fought tried to do. After all she was quite busty despite her short stature, and had quite a few admirers among the male fighters of all ranks.
His lack of a magatama still bothered her as did his long term goals. She would have much preferred if he gave Ryuubi his unconditional loyalty, but instead it was almost the other way around, something that didn't sit well with her, though she knew that both Kan'u and Ryuubi herself did not see it that way.
"Well, if we're done, do you need any help getting to the nurse's office?" Ranma asked.
"No, I'm fine," Chouhi grimaced. She was still in some degree of pain from all the walls she had been thrown into. "Nothing a nice, hot soak in the furo won't fix anyway."
"Suit yerself," Ranma nodded. "but I wonder where Kan'u-san is? I expected her ta show up during our bout?"
As Chouhi made her way back to the changing room Ranma stepped out of the dojo with the intent of going to find his friend only to see Chou'un leaning against the wall next to the door. "Chou'un-san," Ranma greeted her.
"Ranma-san," Chou'un nodded back. "You were a little rough with her at the end there, ne?"
Ranma scratched the base of his braid and chuckled. "Maybe a little," Ranma agreed. "She was giving me attitude and insultin' me during our meeting, and she kinda reminded me about someone I'd as soon forget. I guess near the end I wanted to make certain I took her seriously enough so that she knew I wasn't makin' fun of her skills or something. I didn't want ta make the same mistake twice y'know."
Chou'un cocked her head, filing that information for later when she had a chance to look through the file Ryuubi-sama had managed to get on their new ally in greater depth. "In truth, I find your restraint admirable. Not many fighters would have held back that much in the face of Chouhi-san's treatment of you. I was just wondering about the change of tactics at the end."
"So you were watching? Ready to step in if it got too out of hand, I suppose" Ranma smirked, causing Chou'un to blush in mild embarrassment at being so easily read.
"Yes, I was observing. I confess I was curious as to both your abilities and how you would handle Chouhi-san's challenge. I am happy to see Kan'u-san's respect for you is not at all unwarranted."
"Glad ya approve, again" Ranma deadpanned.
"And again I do approve, very much so," Chou'un remarked, her enigmatic smile talking on a decidedly sly and sensual overtone. "Enjoy your weekend, Ranma-san." With a polite bow, Chou'un walked away as Ranma shook his head while trying not to admire the sensual sway of Chou'un's hips as she moved away.
"Shiryuu-san," Kan'u greeted as Chou'un walked by her, heading in the opposite direction.
"Unchou-san," Chou'un nodded, pausing.
The air practically vibrated with tension as the two girls stood there silently. "Ranma is quite a catch, isn't he?" Kan'u observed after a few moments and breaking the silence.
"Indeed. Whoever ends up with him will be very fortunate," Chou'un replied calmly—thus informing Kan'u that she was no longer the only one interested in Ranma.
Kan'u winced internally. Still it wasn't like I didn't see it coming, she thought. But I'll have to be careful about how open our competition becomes, I don't want to scare Ranma off by reminding him of those whores in Nerima. Out loud she said "Game on," acknowledging the competition as she started moving again.
"May the best woman win," Chou'un smiled serenely as she too continued on her way. It was her day to guard Ryuubi-sama on the way home and she wasn't about to neglect her duties, even for the sake of this competition.
Kan'u walked on sighing deeply. I've heard of animal magnetism but this is ridiculous. Just what is it about Ranma that makes him so desirable to women? First all those bitches in Nerima and now Chou'un and me. At least Chouhi-chan and Ryuubi-sama aren't interested in him. She looked up and saw Ranma walking toward her, a small book bag over one shoulder and a wide smile appeared on his face as he saw her, prompting a return smile from her.
"Hey Kan-chan, I was gettin' worried about ya. I expected ya to show up when I was sparring with the kid." Ranma said, halting in front of her.
Kan'u smiled a little wider at the idea of someone worrying about her, the Super-A ranked Kan'u Unchou champion of Seito high school. "I'm sorry I'm late Ma-chan, but I'm afraid I have to cancel. Because of our fight yesterday I have schoolwork I have to make up and I am stuck in study hall until six tonight."
Ranma slumped. He'd been looking forward to sparring with Kan'u again all day. She was the first person he had met in a long time that could give him a good fight and not take it personally if she lost, plus it was obvious they had a lot they could teach each other. "I guess that's okay, school's important and all I guess. We can spar some other time."
He took off his book-bag and reached inside, taking out three scrolls. "These are the first techniques I wanted ta teach ya. The first one" he tapped the top scroll "gives ya some idea on how to build yer weapon space. The second is a scroll I made on how to create long distance ki attacks, and the third was a gift from a school I helped hunt down some demons a few months ago, it's a list of meditations to enlarge yer ki reservoir." He scratched at his pigtail sheepishly. "Sorry if ya can't read the handwritin' on the second one. I know my handwritin' sucks."
Kan'u looked at him standing there having given her ways to become stronger, ways to protect her friends better and apologizing for them not being perfect. She giggled, her worries about why she was so attracted to this man going away with the realization that she had never met a sweeter, stronger or more handsome man in her life. She reached out and took the scrolls from him, then kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you Ranma."
Ranma grinned sheepishly then put her arms around her as she did the same to him. For a moment the two stood there, realizing that for whatever reason they simply clicked and were able to comfort each other in a way neither had ever known before, had never even known they were missing before. The moment ended and Kan'u pulled away reluctantly leaving another kiss on Ranma's cheek. "If you give me your phone number I can call you tomorrow to set up a time we can meet to spar over the weekend."
Ranma nodded and pulled out the cell phone he had been given by the police commissioner and handed it over to Kan'u. "I know how to answer the thing but that's it so ya better try to get out the number yerself. I'd probably end up breakin' the thing."
Kan'u laughed again and found the cell phone's personal information and pulled it out, copying it into her own phone number, as well as copying her own number into his. "Well then I will most definitely see you tomorrow Ranma. I am eager to see what we can show one another." She smiled at him and he gulped blushing a bright red. She giggled and walked away. Ranma watched mesmerized as she walked away and then sighed and left the school.
Leaving school Ranma decided to walk home rather than roof-hop as he wanted to take some time to think. He was becoming worried about both the problem the government was paying him to solve and the personal issues he was running into. The problem he had been asked to solve was much more complex than he had first thought.
I thought it would just be exorcising possessed items and kicking ass, but that dragon ki inside of that Hakufu girl and Ryuubi tells me something else altogether. There's something tying them all together, the beads and that weird ass ki, making some of 'em act out their parts over and over. I have to figure out how to break the cycle. Just beatin' on the reincarnated leaders isn't enough if that weird ass ki and the destiny just jumps to a new group. I have to exorcise 'em somehow, but how? And there's something wrong with the story Ryuubi told me. Dragons don't bestow blessings like that, not that I've ever read in any real legends or histories from China anyway. I think I need to contact someone else about this; I need more information before I do anything about them and about the A-ranked fighters as well. My plans fer the low ranked fighters and their beads are good enough and should solve most of the problems that the cops are having by takin' out the majority of the fighters. But there's no way someone as strong willed as Kan'u, Ryuubi, Chou'un or even Chouhi are being influenced by their beads that much.
Which rather naturally brought him to his second dilemma: Kan'u and to a far lesser extent Chou'un. Kan'u impacted him on a level he had never run into before. If not for his 'special defender' he would have been sporting a visible hard on the entire time he was carrying her home, let alone during that kiss, which was again the first time a girl made him respond like that.
This was no small thing. His control was so good he hadn't even reacted to Shampoo when she jumped into the bath naked with him. He had still been pounded by Akane of course, but at least he hadn't shown visible encouragement to Shampoo's advances.
Kan'u however broke that self control within a few hours of their meeting. If Ranma was honest with himself he began to be turned on by her during their fight, and it only got worse during their walk home. In fact, if not for the need to study the sacred bead he would have been tempted to take the matter into 'hand' himself.
But his loss of control was caused by more than simple physical attraction. After all, nearly every girl who he had been around in Nerima had been attractive. Kan'u was more than a gorgeous body. She was bright, funny, strong, and serious about the Art as well as a good listener, everything he had ever imagined in his perfect girlfriend (those few times he had thought about it).
The fact that Chou'un, who was also intelligent, beautiful, funny in an understated way, and serious about the Art also seemed interested in him bothered him though. Not that she was unattractive, but… I really don't want the problems in Nerima to start up again. And I still have no idea how to tell someone I ain't interested in 'em without hurtin' their feelin's and still make sure they get the message.
It was at this point that his musing was interrupted as he suddenly found himself surrounded by several guys all wearing magatama and all radiating hostile intent.
Ranma smirked, thankful for the distraction, and cracked his knuckles expectantly, eyes lighting up with eagerness as he waited for their leader, a large scarred man with the build of a wrestler to speak.
So you're that new fighter" the thug with an ugly scar running over his right eye remarked, "the one that defeated Taishiji Shigi?"
"Yeah, who wants to know?" Ranma challenged.
"I am Ganryo from Yoshuu Academy," the scarred thug declared. "We've received an Imperial Order to execute you so we will be your executioners."
"Oh really," Ranma's smirk widened "Only ten of you? I think it's more likely that this tokkie guy sent ya 'cause ya were expendable."
"Feh, the others are just here to keep you from running away like a coward," Ganryo snorted. "Bunshu and I are more than enough to kill you."
Ranma was still smirking but his eyes hardened at the repeated mention of killing, knowing this was going to be the time to put his second type of punishment into play. "Stop yappin' and make your move Scarface."
Ganryo growled, losing his temper in the face of Ranma's cool insouciance. "If you're in such a big hurry then...DIE!" leaping into the air with a fist aimed at Ranma's head far faster than most people who only saw his size would imagine he could.
Ranma stood motionless, hands still in his pockets. Ganryo was nearly on top of him before he unleashed a perfect snap kick that caught Ganryo in the gut and instantly arrested his flight.
Ganryo curled up around Ranma's foot, his eyes bugging out as he grunted from the impact, a few ribs giving way under the blow. The watching thugs looked on in shock as he flew back the way he came to crash into the alley wall hard enough to crack the bricks he hit.
However, Ranma didn't waste time seeing if Ganryo was going to get up as his danger senses screamed an alarm at him. He leapt straight up into the air as several kunai passed through the space he had been standing in. Twisting in the air, Ranma spotted his attacker, a girl with short, gray-green hair and a red, cross-shaped mark below her left eye. As he descended, the girl threw several more kunai at him.
Ranma slapped two of them out of the air and caught two more while still in the air. He spun around and sent the two he caught back at her at high speed. The girl screamed in shock and fear as the two kunai, moving faster than she could track buried themselves deeply into the metal of the dumpster that she had backed into. They stuck there a mere centimeter from either side of her head.
Before Ranma could follow up on his advantage he was grabbed from behind by Ganryo in a choke hold as a couple more guys, despite what the scar-faced warrior had said, moved in raining punches and kicks on his body. Ignoring the blows like so many flies (which they were, not one of the fighters had the strength necessary to hurt him), Ranma brought his foot down on the big guy's right in-step with a satisfying crunch.
Bunshu bit back a scream of pain as Ranma followed this up by driving his elbows back hard into Bunshu's ribs, cracking them audibly. He then drove his other foot into the larger man's left knee, shattering the joint and this time tearing a scream from Bunshu's lungs. As his knee collapsed bending in the wrong direction the pain loosened Bunshu's hold and allowed Ranma to break free just in time to dodge a baseball bat to the gut.
He jumped up, standing on the bat for a moment and unleashing several hard punches and kicks to the surrounding fighters before they could even realize what he was doing. Another thug tried to swing a crowbar at his head but he leaned casually to the side and lashed out with a spin kick that caught that thug in the jaw. Ranma hadn't pulled his punches much, just enough to not kill the idiots attacking him and they flew away, jaws, ribs, shoulders and legs broken or shattered.
Danger sense once more tingling Ranma spun to the side and connected with a spinning back kick to the back of his next attacker's head, putting down the last of the cannon fodder as a stiletto skidded out of the punk's hand.
This however bought enough time for Ganyro, the first enemy Ranma had taken out to rejoin the fight. He charged in once more hoping to take Ranma by surprise. Ranma ended this attempt by taking to the sky once more, leaping over his attempt spinning in midair with his hands on his opponent's shoulders and bringing his leg around in a vicious spin kick that sent the scarred man flying away in a tight spiral minus a few teeth and with a broken jaw.
Ranma landed and was again forced to dodge as several kunai sped toward him from the girl he had scared at the beginning of the fight. Rolling underneath them he came up in a jump that took her to where she was standing. A quick chop to the neck and the girl was out like a light.
He turned as the sound of unintelligible screaming penetrated only to snarl in irritation as he saw the girl's kunai had both caught Ganryo where he had landed, one kunai buried in the back of his thigh and another in his lower back. Bunshu was still on the floor rolling around in agony while clutching his shattered knee.
Sighing he went over and administered two knockout pressure points to keep them from hurting themselves further and than began to perform what first aid he could. Once he was certain of their survival he glanced at the others on the ground. None of the common thugs had injuries as severe as these two, and all of them were out of it.
Before starting on his punishment for the scum he sent out a ki pulse to make sure that no one else was in the area. He was not surprised to get a return back almost immediately. On the roof above where he stood was another aura, one that was a little more powerful than Kan'u's but much wilder, almost uncontrolled with some odd variations to it that he hadn't seen before. "Yo, you want a piece of me too, or are ya gonna stand up there and watch?"
Ryofu Hosen, renowned as the most powerful fighter in the seven schools, had observed the fight from a nearby rooftop wanting to see if this new fighter was as good as rumor said, and rather than being disappointed had been a little shocked by how good he was. Granted Ganryo and Bunshu were not on the same level as the truly elite fighters but they were still highly ranked, and they had the advantages of limiting his maneuverability and numbers.
This Ranma Saotome had beaten them like a drum, possibly taking out both Ganryo and Bunshu permanently depending on how badly Bunshu's knee was damaged. Ganryo had taken a kunai to his spine; if he wasn't crippled for life it would be a miracle.
Then he surprised her further by noticing her presence and rather than being worried had brazenly called her out. Her Fighter's blood boiled with the urge to jump down and engage this man, but she knew too little about him to risk it right now and she had no orders to do so. "I think not right now. Perhaps another time we can dance together you and me. For now I must depart. Until we meet again…" And she jumped away, leaving her Totaku's men behind.
This does not bode well. Seito is already formidable with Kan'u and Chou'un there, and will be an even more formidable force with this new fighter joining their ranks. It's all beginning to come undone for Totaku. Already there was talk of an alliance between Youshuu High and Nanyo Academy after Taishiji's successful coup against Ryuyu, Totaku's pawn at Youshuu. If Seito joins them it is only a matter of time before Totaku is overthrown, regardless of his machinations. He has the numbers on his side, but not the skill. Although there is of course my own participation, but I am not so egotistical to think my skills great enough to take on such odds. Kan'u and Chou'un alone would almost be a match for me, throw in the others and this new fighter and Totaku is overmatched in every way. No, she decided, Totaku's days were numbered. It only remained to be seen whether his rule would pass peacefully in the tournament in two weeks or violently before or after. I just have to figure out how best to use this situation to my advantage….
As the unknown ki aura moved off at speed Ranma turned back to the unconscious fighters all around him. While he didn't know what these assholes had done in the past, all of them had come into this fight with the intent to kill, and that was enough. Reaching his hand into one of his pockets, he brought out a hundred yen coin, beginning to heat it with his ki. His lopsided smile appeared as he moved to the first thug.
Ten minutes later he was finished, and called an ambulance for the thugs using a cell phone he had found on one of the cannon fodder's body.
Ranma's day however was not yet done. As it was only four in the afternoon he had several hours to kill, and he wanted to finish mapping out where in the district the 'dragon' ki holders lived just in case.
First he went to Nanyo Academy and searched around nearby for the ki of the girl he had saved, the Shou Haou or whatever her name was.
Ranma chose this target very deliberately. From what he had sensed when they met, her dragon was much closer to the surface than Ryuubi's and much more dangerous and dark too. If something happened it was likely to involve her.
He found her house just as the sun was going down but did not stick around. The sounds of the mother chasing after her daughter threatening to smack her ass a hundred times for some infraction or other scared him off. He had enough chaos in his life without inviting more.
It was as he was heading towards the next target on his list that he saw a medium-sized gang of fighters being led by someone who, judging from the fact that he was licking his knives and giggling to himself, was bat shit crazy.
Ranma would not have normally worried about it even with the crazy guy in the lead but with the attack this past weekend on a police station he was not willing to take the chance that this wasn't something similar. He wasn't about to let something like that happen again, not on his watch. Still wrapped in the Umi-sen-ken, he decided to follow them and see what they were up to. About 5 minutes after he spotted them the group turned onto a road heading towards the district hospital, which according to the police report he had read was the only hospital in the area willing to take fighters any longer. With that realization he knew what their probable target was. They're probably going there to finish someone off he thought angrily. And these people call themselves warriors?!
Now that he knew their target Ranma had no intention of letting them continue unchallenged. Still, they're no threat to me. Even the crazy looking guy leadin' 'em is barely on par with Mousse, and the rest're the same kind of cannon fodder that backed up Scarface and Baldy earlier. And since I've had one stand up fight already today, let's see if I can put my stealth to good use and have some fun!
Swiftly he dropped down behind the group. He grabbed the two at the rear, knocking them unconscious with pressure points to keep them quiet and dumping them in a nearby doorway. He waited a moment to see if the rest of the group would react, but none of them even looked behind them. Ranma shook his head at that and took out a permanent marker from his bookbag. He spent a minute doodling on his victim's faces before heading after the others.
As he caught up to them the head of the group, which was still about fifteen strong, had reached the back end of the hospital and snuck inside via the ambulance entrance. Ranma followed them in, picking off one more at the entrance. He watched as he held his latest captive in a submission hold as the others bypassed the first floor receiving area and headed straight to the staircase. His captive beat futilely at his arms, but he might as well have been beating on an iron railing for all the good it did him. A second later, as the last of his fellows entered the staircase he succumbed to the darkness and Ranma dropped him where he was. He swiftly stripped the guy of all but his boxers and used his clothing to tie him up in a pretzel shape before hurrying after his targets.
Ranma took out two more in the stairwell, marveling at how easy it was. None of their fellows had even looked back, concentrating solely on their leader and where they were going and none of them seemed to realize they had lost a fourth of their group in the last few minutes. He waited until he saw which floor the remaining thugs entered before turning back to his captives. For these two Ranma again made use of their clothing, only this time he strung them up by them over the sides of the staircase so they dangled down a level like living piñatas.
As the group stalked through the hallway moving purposefully without once looking around or even checking the registry Ranma took out another two. This time he simply stuffed them in a nearby empty room tied together with their faces touching before hurrying on. He was a little startled by how quickly the group was moving, and the fact that there seemed to be no one else on this floor to get in their way. They seem to know right where they're going, this must not be the first time they've done something like this. Either that or they've got somebody working on the hospital staff that told them where their target is. I wonder why there's nobody around though?
Ranma picked off another pair, this time leaving them tied together head to crotch as the remaining eleven low ranked fighters and the crazy bastard reached their destination.
The crazy one entered first shouting out "Ryomou of Nanyo!" He giggled holding out a phone, showing something to the person inside the room before saying "I'll kill you, Ryomou, kill, kill!"
As the crazy bastard entered the room, Ranma took the opportunity to incapacitate four more of the bastard's followers by the simple expedient of slamming their heads together with concussion-causing force. Two of their fellows heard the noise and at last realized what was going on, but Ranma swiftly silenced their outcries via a pressure point on their throats and then silenced them permanently via chops to their necks. That left only five low ranked fighters inside the room with the crazy bastard and their target.
Ranma entered the room still wrapped in the Umi-sen-ken and saw that, unfortunately for the crazy asshole's plans, the girl he had apparently come to kill wasn't about to give up without a fight. She had a knife in her hand and had backed into a corner, knife held expertly along her forearm and fist cocked back ready to strike. This had caused the cannon fodder to pause while their leader just stood there, licking his knives and giggling. "I always knew you were a bastard Kannei! But if you think you can take me on even now you're dead wrong!"
One look at her though and Ranma knew she was putting up a brave front. Whatever happened to her drained her ki badly, and her physical injuries were pretty bad too. Her otherwise naked torso was wrapped tightly in gauze signifying broken ribs at least, one of her arms was in a cast, and her blue hair was barely visible through the bandages that covered her head.
Her injuries decided Ranma's next move for him. Normally Ranma wouldn't even think of interfering with someone else's fight, but this girl was so obviously not in a condition to fight he decided to step in. I'm beginning to make a habit of this…
He dropped the disguise field and hopped over everyone's head to land in between the girl and her attackers. "Sorry ta crash the party, but yer dance partner looks a little too battered ta waltz right now. Can I step in?"
The girl, whose name according to the crazy bastard was Ryomou, recovered first from the shock of his sudden appearance. "Out of the way" she growled, knife still held at the ready, "I don't need someone else to fight my fights for me."
Ranma smiled back at her, a lopsided grin that caused the girl to blush much like the girls back in Nerima sometimes had. "Sorry can't do that. You're too injured to fight right now, and I doubt these guys would 'a come here in the first place if they were the type ta take rain checks."
He turned back just in time to dodge a knife thrust from Kannei, whose followers were now looking around for their missing compatriots in consternation. Ranma kicked the knife out of his hand almost negligently and followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent Kannei flying back through his troops and out into the hallway.
The remaining fighters got over their shock at their missing friends and came on wielding a variety of knives and short weapons. Ranma jumped to meet them, a high kick sending one reeling away one way and a palm thrust smashing another into the opposite wall.
He forced the other three out into the hall and away from the girl, hands flashing and parrying their weapons with ease but they held his attention just long enough for Kannei to dodge past him back into the room. Unfortunately for him, Ryomou was waiting for him by the doorway.
Ranma's punch thundered in laying the last thug out and he turned to run back into the hospital room, but then he stopped and simply watched, face flushing slowly as he took in the scene before him.
Ryomou had leapt out from behind the door and swiftly caught Kannei in a choke hold, one leg over his shoulder, the other under his opposite arm, and locked together behind his back while using her arms to pull his head down. "It's all over," Ryomou declared. "Doesn't it feel good? This is ecstasy, right? Oooo, feels so good!"
As Kannei folded to his knees, still struggling well past the point where most people, people who still felt pain, would have been knocked out, Ranma coughed, still blushing. Ryomou looked up at her would-be savior over Kannei's head, which was stuck between her bandage covered breasts. "What!?"
"Um, y'know, it sounds kinda, um, y'know, erotic the way ya said that. Er, not that there's anything bad about it, whatever floats yer boat and all, but um…."
"Spit it out damn it!"
"Er, I'm just wonderin' if ya want him to think that too. The way yer kinda cradlin' his head to yer chest like that and the fact yer sayin' that to him as he passes out it's just…"
Ryomou's eyes widened and she looked between Ranma and Kannei for a moment before shrieking and jumping away from Kannei but not before kicking him hard in the temple. She curled up in the corner of the room, arms about her head mumbling "never gonna be clean again, make the bad thoughts stop, never gonna be clean again, make the bad thoughts stop."
Ranma shrugged uncomfortably and turned away, gathering up the few bodies of Kannei's followers that he had left out in the doorway and piling them up in a heap. First he tied them all together using their own clothes then out came his trusty permanent marker.
Ryomou came out of her funk to see him putting the final touches on one last heart. He turned and noticed she was back to normal and smiled. "You alright now?"
Ryomou snarled at him angrily, still trying to get the idea of Kannei thinking about her like that out of her mind. "I didn't need your help! I could've taken them out easily! Who the hell are you, anyway?
Ranma nodded. "My name's Ranma and I know you could. Your ki may be weird, but it's at a way higher level than his was if you were in top form. But you ain't. If you want to fight about it when you're better I wouldn't have a problem with that. But I think right now you have more important things to worry about."
Ranma walked and picked up Kannei's cell phone from where he had dropped it as the girl moved back to her bed still keeping a wary eye on him. "What do you mean more important things to worry about, Kannei's insane, has been for a while. His talk about it being an imperial order is just talk, no way I've been targeted like that."
Ranma shrugged, holding up the cell phone to display some kind of sigil in the background and her name delineated in red. "So yer sayin' this is fake?"
Ryomou stepped closer and looked at it as Ranma blushed, her proximity once more forcing him to realize that she was only wearing bandages around her chest and abs. In fact they were coming undone from her exertions, two pink points becoming visible.
She frowned as she looked at the symbol on the phone's screen, trying to dismiss the evidence in front of her. "It, it might be. Imperial orders have been faked in the past."
Ranma twitched a hand at the pile of thugs against the far wall. "And would all of these idiots follow him? There's seven more spread out along their route up here too."
For the first time the girl looked thoughtful, examining each person's face in turn. Ranma could tell that she was thinking now and she slowly, almost unwillingly, shook her head. "I know at least half of them from my own school; they would follow him, they're sort of the same type as he is." The word came out as an epithet but continued. "But these other four are from different schools; I recognize them from past battles. It would take an Imperial order to get them all to work together."
Ranma took out a coin that he began to heat with his ki as he walked over to Kannei. "So would a fake imperial order trick people from more than one school?"
Ryomou very reluctantly shook her head. "Each school is on its own network, only the ruling school can get onto all of them. But that's impossible, why would, why would Totaku send out an Imperial execution order on me? I was just following orders!" she exclaimed.
Ranma shrugged from where he was by Kannei, pressing the heated coin into the knife wielder's back at a specific point. "I don't know, but I think you should find out. If you need any more help I'm staying at Seito private school. If this Emperor guy is after you, you might not want to go back to your own school. A cute girl like you shouldn't have ta watch yer back all the time ya know."
Turning from his task and palming Kannei's sacred bead Ranma looked at the scantily clad girl, noticing that Ryomou's nipples were now completely uncovered, their pink points hardening in the cool hospital air staring at him before he turned away rapidly. "Er, well, I'll see ya around, I need to get back home, I still have trouble finding my apartment at night. Remember Seito high school if ya need my help." With that he turned, opened a window and jumped out.
The girl gasped in astonishment and rushed to the window, only to see Ranma land lightly on a nearby rooftop and race away over the roofs. She turned back inside still blushing from the compliment and looked over to where her former allies and acquaintances were piled. Then she looked down at the phone in her hand staring at the message. After fiddling with it for a moment, she popped up the last message, the one supposedly from Enjutsu that had sent Kannei and herself after Hakufu a few days ago. Ryomou pulled that one up and looked at it, then the one for her and nodded decisively. "Three strikes and you're out, you flirtatious bastard!"
Kan'u walked up the street outside Ranma's apartment complex looking at her cell phone to make sure that she had the address correct before entering the building. She was about to ascend to the fifth floor where Ranma's apartment was when she saw Chou'un about to get onto the elevator. "Chou'un-san, what are you doing here?"
"Kan'u-san. Probably the same thing you are doing: checking up on Ranma." the silver haired swordswoman replied.
Kan'u nodded and the two went up together surreptitiously glancing at one another from time to time. Deep inside Kan'u knew that she was ahead of her friend in several areas in this competition for Ranma's affections, but she also knew from her discussions with him that any overt sign of competition over him would turn Ranma off and in fact might scare him away entirely. He was so different from any other man she had met. The idea of being fought over by two beautiful women would turn most men on, but not Ranma. He had been at Ground Zero for far too many such fights for too long to see any point to them whatsoever.
Kan'u came to the reluctant conclusion that sharing his attention, if not his affection would probably be the best thing to do for now. At least, she thought, until I know whether or not Chou'un is as serious about them as I. Serious about him, she thought to herself chuckling internally. I've only known the man for two days, and I already think I can make a permanent arrangement out and be very happy. We connect so well it's incredible!
They came to the door of apartment 502, which Ranma had said was his number and Kan'u reached over and grabbed Chou'un's arm. "I don't know how much you read about from his file Ryuubi-sama found, but Ranma will react badly if either of us are too pushy or possessive, and absolutely no fighting."
Chou'un nodded. "I thought the same myself. And just so you know Kan'u-san" she said slyly, "I am not against sharing. That way we can have our cake and eat it too."
Kan'u blushed at the insinuation in her voice but after a moment nodded her head. "Perhaps. It will certainly be a better idea than our competition over him scaring him away. But just so you know Chou'un-san I am not interested in just a roll in the hay as it were."
Chou'un nodded. "I know, I myself do not know yet what I want, but we will see." And the two knocked on the door together.
Inside Ranma heard the doorbell as he was preparing his lunch. He looked up perplexed for a moment then reached out with his ki senses. He felt two people outside his door and they both felt familiar. After a moment he was certain one of them was Kan'u and he smiled. He hurriedly walked over to the door and opened it "Kan-chan hi, and Chou'un-san, how're you? What can I do for the two of you, not that it's not nice to see you or anything? I mean er…"
Kan'u and Chou'un both smiled at his embarrassed but heartfelt greeting. Kan'u asked "May we come in? We heard about the attack on you and wanted to know what happened."
Ranma nodded them inside and went back into the kitchen. Seeing that he was preparing lunch Chou'un volunteered "May I help? What are you making?"
Ranma smiled "Something I learned how to make when I was in America with my old man when I was around ten, it's called chicken Caesar salad, and it's really high on protein and fats, just what you need to restore energy and rejuvenate the healing process. I got myself some new beads to study last night and studying the low ranked ones kept me up most of the night. Destroying them ain't no picnic either, and if you could cut up the chicken that'd be great."
Kan'u spoke up from behind him. "I'll set the table and get out drinks if that's all right. I don't know about Chou'un but I haven't eaten yet either. I'll be happy to leave some money to pay for what we eat."
Ranma waved that away. Turning back to where he was chopping up the salad and mixing it together with Caesar dressing, parmesan cheese, tomatoes and eggs he asked, "So what have you heard about my fights last night? You tell me that I'll just fill in the blanks."
Kan'u spoke up resisting the urge to reach out and grab him by an ear for some reason. "I think we would like to hear the whole story from the horse's mouth if you please," she said rather tartly.
Ranma nodded sheepishly, and went into the story of the attack from the two B ranked fighters and their thugs. Hearing that he had taken them out so easily amused Kan'u and impressed Chou'un. Kan'u asked "and do you think this was a personal attack on you or do they think that you have allied with us and were striking at us through you?"
"Scarface said something about it being because I stopped the assassination attempt on that girl, the Shou whatever. On the plus side though, it gave me a lot of new beads to look at, and a few from B ranked fighters too though I ain't looked at those yet." He trailed off smirking lopsidedly.
Kan'u looked at him quizzically, as did Chou'un who after a moment bumped him with her hip from where she stood next to him at the sink. "You did something to them afterwards. I can tell by the way you're smirking."
Ranma blushed embarrassed at being so easily read and dropped the finished salad onto the table. "Well I did do something else." He said sheepishly. "But it's kind of a secret for now so you can't tell anyone else I can do it."
Kan'u looked at him from across the table where she had sat down after carrying the last of the drinks. "Give Ranma" she demanded reaching over the table to poke him in the forehead.
Ranma grinned at the playfulness of the act and answered readily. "Well, there's a moxibustion point, a kind of pressure point where if you apply heat to it something special happens. It's called the ultimate weakness moxibustion point, and if you hit it the person you use it on loses all their strength and ability to use ki. They become no stronger than a baby, and it's almost impossible to reverse." He sat there taking in their stunned looks and smiled beatifically. "I'm a firm believer in the punishment fitting the crime."
After staring at Ranma wide-eyed for a moment Kan'u and Chou'un both burst out into hysterical laughter. During the meal Ranma was pleased to see that there wasn't any visible tension between his two guests, indeed they seemed to get on well together, even if they still flirted with him on and off.
Ranma wound up his tale of the fight in the alley by telling of the mysterious watcher who had left before going on to describe his saving of Ryomou at the hospital. Kan'u smiled at that, his desire to defend others was one of the things that impressed her most about Ranma. Chou'un however was a little worried about how the other schools would take his butting in, though both laughed at his description of hunting the would-be murderers down piecemeal. After that the three changed the subject to more pleasant things.
Lunch progressed well after that with the three exchanging stories of their childhoods, fun times in their own training, and their dreams for the future both before and after the ladies received their sacred beads. Kan'u had wanted to be a martial artist all her life, she had grown up in a clan of them after all but what she most wanted to do with her abilities was travel the world. She explained as they were moving from the dining table to the sitting area that it was the exploration she craved, seeing something that no one else had seen. Something like going into the Amazon rainforest, finding new places and things to see was what she desired. Ranma agreed with this dream wholeheartedly and said that he was thinking of doing the same thing after he got up enough money to pay for it.
Chou'un too said that she would like to travel before settling down, but it wasn't so much the training or exploration she was interested in, but visiting famous historical sites such as Masada in Israel and the Egyptian pyramids. Both of her companions nodded at this since the idea appealed to them.
"But with the fate of the sacred bead hanging over our heads, as well as all of the myriad demands on our time that we have created since arriving here, such dreams are only for the future, not for the now." Kan'u said sadly, but determinedly. "I won't leave Ryuubi or our other friends behind, not until this destiny thing is settled one way or the other."
Chou'un nodded resolutely as well but Ranma merely shrugged. "Dreams are for the future, but the problem of the present ain't going to be around forever. They give us something to look forward to. Besides which" he grinned. "There's no limit to the people I can use the ultimate weakness moxibustion point on."
The two girls started laughing and Chou'un leaned back from where she was sitting looking over at a box of clothing that Ranma had yet to put away. She cocked her head quizzically for a moment and reached over into it, pulling out what looked strangely like some kind of gun holster, like the type secret agents would wear around their thigh. Only rather than tapering off at one end and being large at the other, It was a long cylinder shape all the way through. "Ranma" she asked quizzically. "What is this?"
Ranma looked up from where he had been cleaning up dinner and gasped, blushing. One moment he was picking up plates from the table the next he disappeared from where he stood only to reappear grabbing the object out of her hand and turning away rapidly. "It's-it's nothing." He stammered, "just a just a thing, nothing interesting going on, nothing to see here."
Kan'u and Chou'un both grinned wickedly. They glanced at one another and then simultaneously pounced on Ranma. Ranma was unprepared for such a physical assault and toppled over losing the object over his head. Chou'un went after it as Kan'u sat on his stomach, putting her hands on his chest and leaning back. "Now come on Ranma" she coaxed kneading his chest and making him blush. "Surely it can't be that bad?"
Once more having it in her hand Chou'un looked at it for a moment, holding it up and turning it this way and that. "It almost looks like a gun strap," she mused, "or perhaps an over large knife holster, but not quite, the shape is wrong, as is the angle of the sheath itself. If someone put this on the front of the thigh, the sheath would be on the inside of the thigh aimed up between…" She suddenly blushed hotly and looked back at Ranma who was also a bright cherry color. Kan'u looked up at her friend and her eyes locked on Chou'un's own surprised eyes.
"Ranma" Kan'u said softly, reaching back from where she was sitting on his chest to feel his thigh. She was surprised when her hands struck another object underneath Ranma's clothing, only this one was filled and she gasped jumping up off him, her face so red it resembled an apple, almost matching her combat gloves.
"But, but why?" Chou'un spluttered as she hurriedly dropped the object "Surely that's incredibly painful, if you react to I mean, if you..."
Ranma blushed looking down at his feet from where he still lay on the ground. "Defense mechanism." He mumbled. "Sometimes just can't help reactin', even if you ain't attracted to the girl if she presses against you. And if I ever showed a reaction to any of them, they'd be after me even harder and I'da been pounded even worse. My old man also beat on me every time I had a stiffy when we was travellin', so I made these to help hide it."
Kan'u reached down and stroked his hair soothingly. "Poor Ranma you've been through such hell."
Chou'un nodded as she kneeled down next to his head. "Don't worry, neither of us will respond badly if you, um, react to us. In fact, if you don't react that would make us feel sad. A girl likes to know that she's been appreciated." And with that she leaned down again and kissed him. Slowly, thoroughly, she kissed him, enjoying every minute of it despite his lack of response.
Ranma stiffened and his eyes instantly twitched over to Kan'u only to see her smiling and reaching down to knead his chest again. She nodded and his eyes opened wider for a moment then closed as he started to return the kiss the silver haired girl was giving him. Again he started to use his ki senses to feel out Chou'un's ki and react to pleasure bursts in it to heighten the experience and soon she was moaning and twitching where she sat next to his still laid out body.
As the kiss continued one of Kan'u's hands twitched downward and under Ranma's pants, unbuckling his member from its confinement. Already at half mast it instantly sprang free, tenting his pants. Kan'u's eyes widened in appreciation at its size through his pants and Ranma groaned aloud, whether from ingrained fear, shock or arousal neither girl could tell.
Chou'un reluctantly broke off the kiss as she started to feel lightheaded and leaned back, gasping heavily and chest heaving as she fought to control herself. My god the man can kiss she thought.
As soon as Ranma regained his breath Kan'u swooped in. An open mouth kiss her tongue darting into his mouth for the first time and being met almost instantly by his as Ranma immediately got into the kiss, sea blue eyes glazing over as they stared into her light blue ones. His arms went up around her, pulling her down onto him and she moaned happily as they ground against one another, his now rigid member trapped between them. Hands roamed and hips slid together as the two got more and more into the kiss.
Chou'un smiled at the sight and got up on wobbly legs to go over and finish cleaning up before coming back for another round. By the end of the next two hours both girls had thoroughly convinced Ranma that they were willing to share him for now, as long as he was willing to be shared and treated them equally. Ranma dubiously agreed to this and was thoroughly kissed for his efforts. All in all, it was the best time in his life that he could remember, despite his initial embarrassment and his Nerima programming.
When they left at around five that evening Ranma decided to put off until tomorrow his study of the high ranking beads he had collected the night before. He was too keyed up just now to sit still so he decided instead to go out and finish mapping out the area. This decision of course had nothing to do with his reluctance to analyze Kannei's bead, no sir…
Ranma first homed in on the fighter he had fought two days ago and his school, Taishiji Shiji. It took him an hour to find his aura and another fifteen minutes to travel to the school in question. Once he arrived he found that there were no other stronger auras in the area. There were about twenty of what were called D or C-ranked fighters at the school, but the guy that he had fought was easily the strongest of them being high B low A.
Next Ranma used a map of the area to find the school that his attackers from earlier that night had come from, which took another thirty minutes of roof hopping to get to. Again he found that there were no other fighters there that even came close to matching the 2 B-ranked fighters that had come after him. With them out of the picture, this school's basically a non-entity as far as the ongoing conflict between the schools and my job is concerned. It'll fall in line with any of the stronger schools that bother with it at all, and the police could easily handle the fighters here.
Now that it was dark out, he sought out the person with the weird ki aura he had sensed watching his battle with Scarface and Baldy. After two hours more of periodic searching he found it, not in a school like he expected, but in a rundown apartment complex. Strangely only the façade looked run down, the interior from what he could see was decent, and the greenhouse set into the back yard was well cared for.
From outside he could sense at least three others who he thought were C or B rank judging by their signatures, along with one large aura that was somehow strange and another large one that looked somewhere between Chou'un's and Ryuubi's dragon aura. That's probably that Tokkie guy that Ryuubi mentioned he thought. She said he had a sliver of a dragon aura in him, not the full thing. For a more accurate reading he would have to drop the Umi-sen-ken or get much closer and he was not willing to do either at this point.
For now he made a note of the location and decided to call it a night, he'd come back some other time to get a better read on the place.
That night his dream was a vivid one, full of images of Kan'u and Chou'un the memories of that afternoon, and dreams of it becoming even better. This led to the natural outcome which Ranma, blushing and cursing all the while had to clean off his sheets the next day.
end chapter