I don't own the Fighters or the martial artist.
And here is the next installment of Destiny vs Chaos. Look at the title to see what the chapter is mostly about. There is a lemon at the endof the chapter which is marked, but it will be the last fully described lime for a while, there will be a slight lime in the next chapter then that will be it for three or four chapters. The characters are teenagers and have entered their relationships like gun busters, but they want it to last and sometimes they go too fast so they will be slowing down.
Realize this is fanfiction and I will not only be changing the Ikki tousen timeline but the actual history of the sacred bead around quite a bit. I hope everyone likes where I'm taking this story.
Want to give a shout out once again to the anime Adventure thread Fate of the Sacred Bead and it's author Iridium Heart and the other anime adventure thread Ikkitousen 1/2 started by Iridium Heart and continued by foesjoe for a while for giving me the inspiration for this story.
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Chapter 7 Questions answered do not always indicate a solution found
Saturday afternoon found Ranma, Ryomou, Kan'u and Chou'un together at the park to train. Ryomou had been looking forward to this, as it was going to be her first time training with Ranma. The others were looking forward to another full day of training as well, even Ranma because he had thought up ways to reproduce Kan'u's explosive palm as well as thinking of ways to do the same attack with his feet.
Ryuubi and Chouhi had come along as well, Ryuubi to be with her friends (and protected by her bodyguards) and Chouhi to join in on some of the exercises. Ranma set her up with a few speed exercises and a few beginner-level katas from the Anything Goes School.
He started Ryomou off with the same, but she swiftly showed aptitude for the land based aspect of the school and within an hour he moved her on to the more advanced katas of that skill, the ones that heightened strength, speed and precision, as well as being the most adaptable to other styles, such as her own submission and grappling based techniques. As he moved on to talk with Chou'un and Kan'u who were sparring against one another, Ryomou stopped him. "Are we going to spar after I get done this? I think I learn more from sparring than merely doing katas." And of course it gave her a change to get close to Ranma's body with her grappling arts…
Ranma nodded, not able to hear her thoughts and said "Sure, if ya do kata all day today we can spar tomorrow." Ryomou scowled at the idea of waiting but nodded agreement and he moved away to watch Kan'u and Chou'un spar.
The two had become better in several perceptible ways. They were both able to use more ki sight now, and were able to predict one another's movement as they sparred. They were both a little stronger both in body and in their ki. Chou'un had learned her school's ki attacks, though had not yet used them in a spar, and Kan'u was now able to build up her explosive palm attack far more quickly than she had when she fought Ranma.
Lastly, they were both faster than they had been. Chou'un was now faster than his male form and Kan'u had in a week mastered the Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken without needing to use fire or chestnuts. She couldn't use it for very long, but she surprised Chou'un with it as he watched, her Seryuutou blurring as she stabbed with it seven hundred times in the space of a minutes. Chou'un's back hit a tree and she watched slitted eyes wide as Kan'u's Guan Dao chipped away at the wood around her body, making a distinct online of her form.
Ranma clapped his hands ending the match and walking over to hug Kan'u fiercely. "Wow Kan-chan that was great."
Chou'un nodded as she got up off the ground. "Indeed Kan'u-san, that was very good. But you realize of course that I will get you back." She smirked. "I have a few ki attacks I am just dying to try."
Kan'u nodded, gasping a little from the physical exertion of the speed enhancement, but her pool of ki hadn't been diminished by the expenditure from the technique, and she was still ready to go. "Certainly, I'm ready whenever you are however I believe that I get to fight Ranma first." That was the way they had decided to make their rotation. If someone lost, they sat out the next fight, and the winner went on to fight the one who had just rested.
However Kan'u and Ranma were interrupted by a bellow from behind them near the park's entrance.
"Saotome!" shouted a voice, causing Ranma to twitch. But when he looked instead of seeing someone from Nerima he saw someone else standing there, wearing a long hooded cloak that obscured its features.
Chou'un and Kan'u, thinking this was someone from Nerima, raised their weapons angrily, and Ryomou and the other prepared themselves as well. Ranma however thought he recognized the voice and waved down his friends as he answered. "Yo. I didn't expect you to come in person."
The figure seemed to snort and then gestured to a nearby rooftop. "We must talk alone," and with that he jumped away.
Ranma shrugged and moved to follow, but Kan'u stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Ranma who is that and what is he doing here?"
Ranma touched her hand and grinned. "I'll introduce you all to him later if he stays in the area; he's one of the people I contacted about the visions and the magatama. I gotta go and see what he has to say, but I promise I'll share what I learn with ya later."
Chou'un nodded, looking up in at the sky as she noticed that it was beginning to cloud over. "All right Ranma, how about we all meet your apartment later tonight. It looks like it's going to rain, anyway."
Ranma looked up, pouted at the clouds (adorably so to Kan'u and the others) and nodded. "Okay, sure, I'll meet you there. See ya later." He kissed Kan'u on the check touched Chou'un on the shoulder and then jumped away following the figure in the robe.
Ranma followed the hooded figure over several rooftops until they came on one that had an awning on it. The two ducked under the awning and the cloaked figure stopped. Ranma paused a few feet away as the cloaked figure turned. After a second a wiry hand twitched up, pulling back his hood to reveal the newcomers features.
A hard aquiline face was revealed dominated by slitted golden hued eyes framed by white hair around the edges deepening to blue as it moved back from his face. He had lost the long light pink ponytail and blue bangs that he had the last time they had seen eachother and seemed more in control of himself as well, possibly due to not being stuck in his cursed body. "You're looking good lizard-boy." Ranma smirked.
Prince Herb, descendent of transformed dragons and son of the emperor of the Musk dynasty, looked back at his old foe and took a moment deciding how to reply. Ranma looked… different in many ways. Rather than being dominated in equal parts by ego, blind self-confidence and an underlying anger, his aura was calm, confident without much arrogance, he was in control of his emotions. The ki control was still there as well, more developed but not quite enough to hide the strength of his core from Herb's eyes, but it was the strength of that core that surprised him. The last time they had met Ranma's aura had been decent sized for a human, yet now it was monstrous. Possibly as an aftereffect of fighting the reborn demi-god Saffron, the prince mused. But it was his eyes that had changed the most. They were calm, deep, and watchful, with a hint of sadness that had not been there before. The marital artist has become a warrior. Despite his own skills and near bottomless ki Herb decided he would not like to fight this new Ranma that had replaced the skilled yet somehow tortured boy that he had fought before.
Prince Herb decided to ignore Ranma's weak jibe for now and responded with his own statement. "You really irritated the Amazons immensely, you know," he said. "When Shampoo and Cologne came back half the council wanted to send a war party to after you and bring back your head. The other half of course shot that idea out of the water. The fact that Matriarch Cologne wanted nothing to do with you anymore was a real turning point despite Shampoo's demands that she at least be sent back after you. Her injuries however, seemed to imply that going after you again would be bad for her health and possibly the health of their tribe. So it was vetoed."
Ranma stared back surprised. "I didn't think that yer people could follow what happened in Amazon territory like that." To solve his problems with Shampoo and the Amazons he had first made peace with Cologne, who had learned to respect him after his battle to the death with Saffron. After the wedding fiasco they had found a loophole in the laws of their tribe and Ranma in his female body challenged Shampoo for the hand of his male body. Despite being severely over-matched Shampoo refused to give up and Ranma was forced to nearly cripple her before she yielded. That was one of the hardest things Ranma had ever done, he hadn't loved shampoo but she had been a friend, yet she refused to give up and he desperately wanted to be free of everything tying him down in Nerima. After the battle Cologne declared the kisses of Death and Marriage null and void. Not even waiting for Shampoo to heal the three Amazons left Japan quickly.
"We don't normally, but we do have spies and after word reached us that a stranger from the land of the rising sun killed Saffron, we decided to activate most of them. Imagine our surprise when we realize that the Amazons are in decline. Shampoo is the best of our generation among them, and she is barely equal to one of our warriors and none of her peers are any real threat. We won't push it for now," he grinned suddenly "but after Cologne dies we might well be able to conquer the entire region, both Amazons and Phoenix people. That would be glorious!"
Ranma snorted, "well whatever, I don't care one way or the other for the Amazons or the Phoenix tribe. If ya want ta make war on them go to town, I don't care. I wouldn't say the same if they were all like Cologne of course put she seems to be in a minority. All the other Amazons that showed up from time to time were much more like Shampoo than her, controlling bitches that think their laws are all that matters and everyone else're worthless. I didn't think that most of the time but the more time Shampoo was around the more how she saw was obvious."
"Indeed," said Herb and then abruptly changed the subject. "Your letter to me threw the court of the Musk dynasty into an uproar like I've never seen before, even when I came home with my curse." The last was said a little bitterly, but not much, he had after all learned why the news was so incredible before be sent back to Japan. "You see, this isn't the first time we've heard of this so-called Destiny of the Sacred Bead. We had thought it died down or was destroyed millennia ago. My father sent me to discuss with you what we know of it, and what your plans dealing with it are."
Ranma shrugged, "my plans goin' forward are to end it" he said bluntly. "I've destroyed something like forty low ranked beads, and I've got four mid-level beads I need to study and destroy. What I need ta know is what the hell those dragon auras that are that some of them, the leaders of the 'factions' and some of the others have inside of them, how they tie into everything else and how ta get rid of them. My idea so far is just to wait until I destroy all the other beads, then figer out a way ta drag the dragon out of them and beat the living shit out of it."
Herb barked a laugh. "That is one way to do it, I suppose. All right Ranma I'm here to give you as much information about this as I can, but I need two things in return."
A year and a half ago, Ranma would've agreed to whatever this was before even hearing about what the other person wanted, but Ranma was much more cautious nowadays. Instead of agreeing immediately, he asked "and what do you need?"
Herb paused momentarily, and then sat down on a radiator set into the roof before answering. "Do you remember that I'd gone to the cursed springs to familiarize myself with the female form because I was going to be married?" Ranma nodded and Herb went on. "Since then I'm afraid the girl I was supposed to marry has pulled out of the engagement. But I am a prince, and I need to be married soon to secure the line of succession. That means I need a wife before I turn 21 in two months, or else my cousin who is already married and with a child on the way will be named my father's heir."
Ranma growled, hands tightening into fists. "If you're thinking of asking me …"
Herb shook his head quickly. "No, that would just be wrong. After all," he said with a smirk on his face "in that relationship exactly which one of us would be wearing the pants?"
Ranma gawked at him for a moment and then burst out into laughter. The other aqua-transsexual looked at him and burst into laughter himself. To anyone else the joke wouldn't have been that funny but given their curse, it took on a whole new meaning. After the two recovered from their fit of laughter, he went on "what I do need your help with is finding a wife. I remember some of the formidable females that were after you in Nerima and I thought that perhaps you could help."
Ranma tugged at his ponytail thoughtfully. "Well 'round here you'll find a lot of girls that are pretty and strong at least, but what exactly are ya looking for?"
Herb blinked in surprise. He had never actually been asked that question before. What was he looking for in a potential mate? After all, he thought sardonically the female form doesn't exactly hold any mysteries to me anymore so beauty is not the lone requirement. "Well" he said slowly, "she should be intelligent and well read, she should be quick on her mental feet, strong in the martial arts, and if she had an interest in economics, farming or something useful like that it would be a plus. Beauty too would be necessary. After all, you cannot have an ugly queen."
` Ranma continued to scratch his ponytail thoughtfully. "Well, that actually does narrow it down some, though how much help I can be I don't know. But okay, I guess I can help ya figure something out. Maybe set ya up on some dates or something. Heh.." He grinned suddenly. "Maybe ya should go back to Nerima and talk ta Nbaiki Tendo, the middle Tendo girl."
"NO." Herb said flatly. "When I met with Matriarch Cologne in my search for the ladle she warned me of that female's abilities and her tendencies. No, there are some things a businesswoman or man can do that a king cannot. She would make an excellent spy master if you could trust her, but not a queen."
"Huh." Ranma said looking at the other man in surprise. "You have thought about this whole ruling thing a bit haven't you? So what was the second thing you wanted?"
"There is more to being a king than simply being born in the right family Saotome, at least if you want to be a good one. As for my second requirement…" Now Herb looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I, you change into a female as well, and you must know some things about that form. I-I, recently, when I change into my female form, which I haven't ever done willingly, I'm, my, I start to bleed down there" he flushed.
Ranma looked at him with dawning horror. "Aren't there any girls that you can ask about this?"
"You mean it's something normal?!" The other aqua-transsexual gasped, "I thought it was something wrong with me! What the hell?!"
Ranma groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Look I'll try to explain that tonight okay, I'll show you where I live and you can stop by. I'll agree to help you with that too." Unless one of the girl's agrees to do it instead for the sake 'o my sanity, Ranma thought hopefully. I'm not above begging, not fer somethin' like this. "Now give me the information I want damn it!"
Herb nodded relieved and went on much more seriously. "All right, here is the information we have. What these people call the Destiny of the Sacred Bead we call the Curse of the Fell Dragon. It has nothing to do with destiny. It has nothing to do with anything. The histories they call the romance of the three kingdoms is correct as far as the outcome goes. What they don't remember is that their three-way civil war was interrupted by a ravening dragon, which came close to torching the entire lowland kingdom. All three armies had to come together to help defeat it but in the last second that dragon cursed the armies and their leaders. Their bloodlines were cursed to keep fighting forever, fighting each other in a never ending bloodlust of slaughter. Not 'until' anything, not 'if' anything just never ending blood, the same battles, the same mistakes, the same deaths over and over. The dragon put its own soul into it and that is where the dragon aspects that you have seen come from. Each of those aspects represents part of the originals. I should say they will closely match up each to an aspect of the dragon's personality."
"I can show you the records of what occurred, though it's an ancient Chinese. The ancestors of these people didn't think anything of it at the time after all it didn't have any impact there and then, but the curse has held true ever since. We thought it ended 500 years ago, when the last time of the cycle occurred in China, we never thought it had migrated to Japan."
"What're the aspects of a dragon's personality? Ranma asked. "Other than the obvious of course. Ya know, aggression, avarice, and arrogance" Ranma grinned as the other boy growled at him.
"Enough of that. But you do have a point, one of them will obviously be aggression or bloodlust, the other one may be laziness, or similar, dragons are habitually lazy. And as much as it pains me one will probably be ego. In terms of their powers, I would suspect they will all be based to a greater or lesser extent around fire and air, the two elements dragons are most closely attuned with."
"What about the other dragon splinters, Chou'un, one of my friends said that you can somehow be infected by a dragon shard if you're near an awakened dragon soul long enough?"
"She's quite correct. Make no mistake, these Dragon aspects do not have will or the ability to think. They simply react, they only have instincts and a hatred for all mankind because that is what the dragon felt on his death. It was slain by humans, a race that it viewed as we would think of cockroaches. Imagine the hate it must feel. The dragon souls are indeed like an infection. A splinter of an awakened soul will become embedded in anyone close enough to the bearer friend or foe."
"Well shit. So if I called them out or fight an awakened dragon and kick its ass, which I know is gonna to be harder than I make it sound," Ranma said before Herb could interrupt, "will that do anything, or will it just force the dragon back inside the boy/girl/whatever?"
Herb cocked his head amusedly. "Only you would use the phrase 'girl/boy/whatever' and actually mean it. I'm not even going to ask what would fall under the 'whatever' category. But while you would weaken the dragon inside of them, making the person's hold over their bodies much more solid, it would not solve the problem. You need something to contain the shard, to suck out the dragon soul once it has been beaten and is too exhausted to resist. I have a spell scroll that can do the job." Where his father got the scroll from was a question but, the older man had looked so grim when he gave the scroll to Herb that he hadn't even thought of asking. "But we'll need to find a mystic who can actually empower it for us. None of the shamans of my people could create it as it requires quite a lot of power."
"Well great, could I do it if I followed your directions or something?"
"No," Herb said bluntly. "Mystical power is different from ki or I could do it myself. We will need to find someone who can create for us. I have a few names that my father gave me, but whether or not these people are still alive and will help us is up in the air."
"Well okay" Ranma said slowly, then stopped "wait, what do you mean 'we'?"
"My father ordered me to stay and help. You see Ranma the dragon that caused this nightmare was a relative of the dragon that began the Musk dynasty. And we always clean up after family." Herb's grim visage matched his face, and Ranma could tell he meant it.
"One last question," Ranma said as he they left the cover of the roof's awning, only to find it still raining. Both aqua-transsexuals growled irritably but Ranma-chan went on uninterrupted, "the dragon shards in other people, what about them?"
"Those are much simpler to deal with. They will not renew themselves, and can be overwhelmed by the aura and will of the individual. Or if defeated while in control of the person they are a part of they may disperse entirely. Or you could simply kill the person. Dragon shards that are not part of the original three are not renewed, and will not carry over into the next generation. If the shard stays, then the next generation will have a greater chance of being infected again, but that is all."
Ranma nodded thoughtfully as the two now female marital artists continued to hop from roof to roof in the rain. Huh, I wonder if that's why Ryomou has one?
Unfortunately because they were both in female form when they arrived at his apartment Herb refused to be put off and demanded an explanation for her bleeding. Thus Ranma was unable to put it off until his girlfriends showed up. The shrieks of rage that followed this explanation went on for some time.
As they had agreed that night the Seito quartet and Ryomou, Ranma and Herb met at his apartment. Once they arrived Ranma introduced Herb and gave a bit of background to the Musk dynasty before letting Herb tell them what he had already told Ranma.
The news Herb shared with the other women was shocking to say the least. They'd been taught all their lives that their destiny meant something more, that they were destined for more, and that the winner of each cycle of combat would go on to great things. To learn that instead it just meant that they were locked in endless warfare without any real goal or recourse shook them to the core.
Ryomou was the first to recover. "We should probably get some kind of confirmation. Not that I'm denying the prince's word, but another source of information would be good." Herb simply nodded. In their position he would have wanted another source of intelligence as well.
Ranma looked at Kan'u with his head on one side and she looked back at him for a moment before reaching up to one year and taking off her sacred bead. It glimmered golden in her light bronze hand as she held it out. As the others looked at her she said "Ranma's been telling me about these visions he gets when he looks into a bead, and the fact that he's been reluctant to look at the higher level beads he's collected. Perhaps if he analyzes a bead that is from someone more honorable, or at least belongs to a more honorable person he'll be able to find out something more."
Herb looked interested. Ranma had told him about his ability to analyze the beads on their way to his apartment but while Herb had a huge reservoir, larger even then Ryuubi's, his control was nowhere close to being able to let him do something like that.
Chou'un cocked her head on one side, pulling her eyes from Herb whose angular features and slitted eyes intrigued her, nodded thoughtfully. Ryuubi, who of all of them was the most shocked by the knowledge of where she got her dragon shard from, looked on interestedly.
Ranma started to play with his pigtail embarrassed but said stoutly. "That's not what I told ya Kan-chan." He looked at the others. "I said I was scared" he said bluntly. "These things influence people in ways I don't understand. The less powerful ones, they influence people by giving them visions of what they want and skills and abilities to get it."
"What if the more powerful ones offer the same kind of visions, only way more powerfully? And look at who I got them from. I don't want anything from those people in my head, the low rankers were bad enough! But I need to be able to analyze them before I'm able to destroy them. I tried to destroy a bead without analyzing it first, the one I got from that crazy bastard I saved Ryomou from but it didn't work. You actually have to break the spell or whatever on the bead before destroying it."
"Which," Kan'u said calmly, taking one of Ranma's hands and putting her bead onto his palm. "is yet another reason why you should see what a friendlier bead is able to tell you. I will say that I don't think that my clan's bead has ever truly tried to influence me. It's made my connection to my weapon easier, but I don't think it's ever influenced my actions other than perhaps searching for Ryuubi. I certainly have never desired anything of the sort that the other beads in your collection have."
"And" Ryuubi said thoughtfully, "If the images are clearer from the beads of more powerful fighters, they can give us an idea of how the curse does what it does. Or at least a way to convince the other holders of the sacred destiny that there is a chance can be broken, or that the outcome is something we don't want to happen." Ryuubi had been trying all week to open communications with the other faction in an attempt to sound them out about letting Ranma try to end the cycle of conflict, but all they had heard was that he was there because the government wanted him to try and control them.
The still independent school Gogun high had responded that they would listen after the tournament, which was the only positive response her missives received.
Sousou of Kyosho Academy and Toutaku of Rakuyo had both reacted with scorn and rage to the very idea, though neither wanted to push things with the tournament right around the corner. . Nanyo Academy had no firm leader any longer, and thus no one she could communicate with. She had tried to send a message to the last of the Big Four, but was not willing to send a person there for fear that that person would be ambushed. Nanyo Academy after all, was on the other side of the region, with the emperors other territories between Seito and it. And while his hold on Nanyo had weakened, Toutaku still controlled the other schools with an iron grip. Indeed Ryofu Hosen had recently put down Youshu Academy's insurrection by brutally defeating its new leader and nearly every other fighter it had.
As everyone was in agreement that this was a good idea, Ranma nodded reluctantly and put the bead onto the table in front of him. After a moment's gathering his energy he reached out, touched the bead with a finger and-
He was suddenly somewhere else. Startled he looked around, and found himself in an elegant pagoda. What was surprising was the fact that the entire image was sharp, almost lifelike in detail, not distant misty or disjointed at all like the visions he had seen with the weaker beads. Its sides were etched with lions and tigers into the dark lacquered woodwork, and the garden he could see surrounding it seemed to embody the essence of Feng Shui.
A voice speaking archaic Chinese from the other end of the pagoda brought his attention back from where it had been on the garden. "Welcome Hun Luan. It has been long indeed since I've seen another human. Won't you have some tea?"
The man in front of Ranma was a Chinese gentleman of indeterminate age. He could've been old, he could have been young, with his weather beaten face it was impossible to tell. Calloused, strong looking hands rested around a simple porcelain cup on top of a small circular table set into the pagoda's floor. He had wide shoulders and a long fu-man-chu mustache and a long magnificent beard neatly trimmed in the Chinese fashion drooping down below the tabletop. His clothing was elegant, with the motif of stormy clouds on green silk with silver trim.
All in all the man gave off a feeling of elegance, control and power. It was obvious he had been a warrior at one time, but whether or not he still was, was up in the air. Ranma himself was not going to comment. After all, he knew little old garden gnomes who could fight harder than most normal people.
He moved forward cautiously and the gentleman indicated a chair on the other side of the table. "Won't you have a seat?" Ranma, still tensed as a spring sat down across from him.
The man fell silent as he poured another cup of tea and handed it to Ranma. Ranma cautiously took a sip, and found it to be very good jasmine tea. He took another sip and looked across at the man marshaling his thoughts.
"I got to say" he said finally, "that this is not what I expected to see."
"My gardens? Well, I cannot comment on that, after all I needed something to do during my … incarceration here." the man said. "But I have not introduced myself yet, I apologize. My name is Guan Yu, a general in the service of Liu Bei of Shu Han. I welcome you Hun Luan, for you are the first person I have seen in nearly a 1000 years."
"Does that mean you can't see the descendents that wear your bead? And why are you calling me that?" Ranma asked, having finally translated that odd phrase. "Not that chaos doesn't fit me or anything."
"Alas, no, it does not work that way. I am able to influence them a bit, but not communicate. I can instill a flair with certain attacks, a certain amount of knowledge regarding tactics and strategy though any true leader knows there is always more to learn, and the ability to quickly befriend the descendents of my leader and sworn brothers Zhao Yun and Ziang Fei but that is all. The power of my descendents is all from their own hard work. I imagine it will vary greatly from person to person, but as I was one of the ones closest to the dragon, my control of our connection is less than would otherwise be the case, though in return I was not hit with the other negative effects the dragon put in its spell."
"And I call you Hun Luan because that is what you are. Chaos can mean change both good or ill opportunity and danger mixed. You have been to the cursed springs, I can see it in your aura, which gives those who go there both the opportunity to become something they never would otherwise, and feel the danger in it. And you have instigated change, something that has never happened before in the cycle. Chaos and change, you're very being here means both those things. Now tell me, why are you here?"
Ranma shrugged, sipping his tea and began to describe what he had been doing since entering the Kanto region.
The old man took his explanation calmly beyond a sharp glance of interest when he mentioned wanting to end the cycle of violence, looking at him through extremely intelligent, sharp black eyes that seemed to stare right through Ranma soaking everything about him in. "I see. That answers some questions about something I have noticed recently, though of course time here is complete conjecture. But besides this mission from your government" here he gave Ranma a look of stern approval, after all he was a staunch Legalist when alive, "you have fallen for my descendent as well."
Ranma blushed heavily and Guan Yu chuckled. "From what little I can sense through our connection she has fallen for you as well, despite her own tendencies towards both genders." He coughed delicately. "Such a thing was not unknown in my time though it would certainly not have ever been talked about openly. Still, you came here for answers. And I am fortunately able to provide them. It is a long tale so you may as well make yourself comfortable."
Ranma nodded and leaned back in his chair sipping the tea absentmindedly.
"My tale begins right on the eve of the campaign against the northern warlord Cao Cao. We were preparing our supply line, fall back forts and naval bastions along the route our army would take heading north. As this was going on, reports came to us about a dragon ravaging the western countryside. This was not a normal dragon you understand, not one of the beautiful lords of the sky, the descendents of TianLong known for their wisdom, or the children of Yinglong, givers of rain. This was a monster from the mountains of the northwest, and he was deadly. Entire towns were wiped out, their cattle eaten, men, women and children eviscerated or burned alive."
"By the time a responding army could arrive in the area it was gone. With no clues as to where to find it we gave up the chase and turned our attentions back to our human enemies. A month later as we started our march north to meet Cao Cao's army news reached us that his own territory had been hit as well, and then a week later the Imperial capital was nearly burned to the ground. Two days after that the Tiger of the West was attacked, his army nearly destroyed in its tents."
"We all realized then that we were all in peril from this dragon, an enemy that did not care for conquest, politics or nations, only destruction. Emissaries went out and it was agreed between the three warlords that they would join forces. The strongest of us, would lead our armies against this foe."
"It took us weeks to track it down and even longer to figure out a way to keep it from simply flying away. That problem was solved by a large group of Tao priests who could construct a large magical web that the dragon could not break out of.
"Finally we were at last able to track the dragon to its lair, and there our armies marched against it." Guan Yu sighed sadly, eyes losing focus for a moment as his mind dwelled on the remembered horror. "It became a slaughter the likes of which I have never seen before or since. Our armies thousands strong, against a single Dragon, we should have won handily. As the day went on it was clear that our numbers were merely annoying it. The dragon could not fly away but it could fly inside the net and did so, using our own numbers against us so that our stronger fighters could never come close to it. We lost thousands in a few hours of combat."
"Finally, our generals decided to pull our main armies back and send forth small elite groups led by our generals themselves, and this worked much better much to our own later regret. We faced the dragon with fifty strong, mostly elite scouts to find it, and some generals with elite shock troops to kill it. The other generals sent similarly sized forces. Thus we were able to at last end the beast. A few of us died, but I feel they were the lucky ones, for they were not around to be caught in the curse that dragon placed upon us all."
The man snorted with panache, his beard bristling momentarily. "Imagine my surprise when the dragons enraged death curse was real rather than the bravado of a dying enemy. I died and woke up in a void with the dragon's harsh laughter ringing in my head. It took me many years to understand that I was able to control the area around me, thus this place."
"And what was the curse?" said Ranma leaning forward excitedly.
"The dragon cursed the lines of all of us who were there cursed our descendents to fight and die in an endless cycle of our own lifetimes, of our Civil War. It took me many years to learn that there was more to the curse than that. It is both subtle and powerful. For one it pushes our descendents to act as we would in many ways, yet not our minds. Do you honestly believe we were so egotistic to want to relieve our wars beginning to end, including our mistakes, our failures and defeats? No, the curse magnifies our worst aspects, the darkness in each of our souls. I have no idea what kind of influence the other beads give but I know that no descendent has successfully changed or even questioned their destiny. The cruse effects how they think by itself, not just through the magatama. It just seems if one person has enough will to challenge it the others are strengthened to overcome him or her and the cycle continues. But that is only part of what I have discovered, I wanted to know if there was any point to the curse other than revenge on the dragons killers. After I built this place I found out."
He stood and moved out into the garden, motioning Ranma to follow him. Ranma did so, the story and information having disarmed his initial reserve. The two stood looking toward one of the walls of the garden, then with a wave of his hand Guan Yu made the wall disappear. Ranma looked and blanched in horror.
Beyond the garden was an expanse of mist, chaotic miasma. Yet Ranma could see a huge ball of violent red and black roiling energies, and even from this far away Ranma could feel the… the evil radiating from it, Ranma couldn't think of another word to describe it, the feeling was like having your soul dipped in acid while your skin was flayed and cockroaches danced over your insides. Ranma clenched his fists automatically, but a gentle yet immovable grip on his shoulder stopped him from doing anything.
"It took me many more years to pierce the veil to see that, of course it was much weaker back then" Guan Yu said in an almost conversational tone of voice. "That is the soul of the dragon which it poured into the spell it cast, and it has gotten stronger with every cycle that has passed. It will continue until the blood and power feed it enough to remake the dragon's soul entirely. You see with every lifetime the shards in our generals become stronger, the carriers of its soul becoming stronger, and then one day a child will be born that has the blood line of all three shards and the dragon's soul and mind will be remade. A berserk god will walk the earth, and I don't know if anything in your day and age, with science rather than magic, will be able to stop it."
Ranma stared at him horrified as Guan Yu went on inexorably, in a voice of iron, his hand now gripping Ranma's shoulders as he stared into the younger man's eyes face implacable. "You have changed this Hun Luan. I have noticed a slight loss in its power recently. You are changing thins, and you must finish the job, you must stop the cycle before that occurs. I charge you personally with this."
Guan Yu stepped back, letting his hands fall. "Now I believe our time together is over young one. When you see my descendent of her that I love her and that she has made me proud to be her ancestor, and that I approve of you. Farewell Hun Luan and may your power be enough."
Suddenly Ranma was back in his apartment again, staring around at the worried faces of his friends and allies.
"You've been out for more than an hour "said Ryuubi looking very concerned. "Are you all right?"
Ranma gulped down a proffered glass of water from Chou'un and looked at Kan'u grinning, who was holding his hand looking worried. "Your ancestor approves of us, is that better or worse than getting' yer dad's approval?" he asked jokingly.
Over the next 20 minutes Ranma explained what had occurred during his vision, as well as how Guan Yu viewed the problem differently from what Herb had been able to tell them, which surprised and worried the dragon prince considerably. Still, the story only differed in the details, not how to actually solve the problem. This meant that the idea of trying to find some kind of container for the dragon soul pieces was still a necessity.
"I will search out the mystic's that may be able to help us do this." Said Herb, "As I said my family thinks of this as a family affair and I need to be involved in solving it."
Chou'un thought for a moment then spoke. "My family may have some connections that can help us find the mystics we need" she said, looking pensive. "I'll leave to search them out tomorrow, but remember we do have the tournament coming up soon. I realize we've already all stepped up our training, but the other holders of the dragon soul splinters will almost certainly be among the contenders, as well as one or two who have false shards in them. So we should probably have this ready to go before then. That only gives us a week to prepare."
Ryuubi nodded as well. "I'll try to use my computer skills to see if I can find anything about these mystics, but I don't hold out much hope. Unless they're in the Federal Department of Paranormal Activity I won't know where to look."
"Maybe you could try the Yellow Pages," Ranma said jokingly. "They're always good for a laugh if nothing else."
For some reason despite the severity of the problem Guan Yu related to him he was in a very good mood. Having the ancient spirit of her ancestors say that he and Kan'u were good for one another had really bolstered his spirits for some reason. It was odd because if someone in the real world had told him that they made a good couple he'd become defensive, as had often happened with his ex-fiancée Akane. But this way it was good to have that confirmation. Then too knowing that Kan'u's personality was entirely her own and not that of her ancestor or in any way manipulated by her ancestor was fantastic.
Kan'u at the others chuckled. As it was getting late the others decided to leave for the night. Seeing the look on Kan'u's face, Chou'un volunteered to show Prince Herb around the area before walking him back to the hotel he was staying at.
Then too she was feeling a little interested in the prince. She could admit to herself at this point that her initial attraction to Ranma was caused by the strange effect he had on Kan'u. She also knew that in that relationship she had been sort of stuck playing second fiddle. Not that Ranma didn't show her attention or didn't go out of his way to make her feel special, but he and Kan'u became so close so quickly that it left her behind the curve.
With Prince Herb on the other hand she got some of the same things that attracted her to Ranma i.e. intelligence, strength in the martial arts and a person who had both male and female bodies and was attractive in said. She was also able to get her feet under the table so to speak and stake her claim. And if they found themselves compatible, perhaps something more than just a year-long relationship, which was what her relationship with Ranma was almost certainly going to be when she thought about it, could come from it.
Herb himself was similarly interested in Chou'un, her obvious intelligence, self-control, dry humor and beauty attracted him. Her draconic eyes were also extremely... interesting. Thinking this an excellent time to see if what he felt was actually attraction he agreed.
Ryomou volunteered to go with Ryuubi and the younger girl back to the temple, adding both a new guard to Ryuubi and someone who could cook them dinner. From their perspective it was a win-win.
Limeish lemon starts here:
As soon as the door closed behind the last of his guests, Ranma felt his back slam into the wall as Kan'u lunged at him, kissing him hungrily. He responded just as fervently hands going straight to her rear and lifting her up so that her legs left the floor and wrapped around his midriff. Tongues dueled as their bodies moved against one another. Kan'u lifted his shirt over his head and threw it to the ground to join her already discarded blouse before reaching back to undo her bra clasp and letting it drop as Ranma nibbled and sucked at her neck.
Kan'u reluctantly moved away from Ranma grabbing his hand and pulling him further into his apartment straight to his bed, where he was pushed down and found Kan'u in his lap. Somehow between the entrance to his apartment and his room, she had managed to shuck off her panties and stood now only clad in her stockings.
Ranma gulped, gazing up at the beauty in front of him. Kan'u's dark purple hair cascaded freely down her back, her light blue eyes glimmering with desire. Her tan skin shone with life and seemed to glimmer in the light of his bedside lamp. Her large d cup breasts, toned and taut like the rest of her were perfectly formed and perky, topped with small dark nipples standing out on the lighter tan of her breasts, proving once again that was her natural color and not caused by the sun.
In some way this moment was different from yesterday, more deliberate rather than a spur of the moment decision, and the importance of it somehow touched Ranma profoundly. He raised his hands but stopped, looking into Kan'u's eyes until she nodded, smiling gently at the adoration and appreciation in his eyes, which did more for her ego than a thousand victories.
Trembling he reached out and took both of her breasts in his hands kneading them gently as his mouth found her nipple. Kan'u moaned lustily as Ranma once again used his ki sight to figure out just how to touch her to get the most out of it. He stopped after a moment as he began to regain some of his lost self-control and looked at her. "Are you certain that we're going slow enough, I mean, I ain't, this is so new to me and…"
Kan'u nodded hastily. "Yes I am. Hearing that you and I were not part of the so-called destiny, that we are together because we want to be just sort of took away a final issue for me. I want this badly. We're not going to go all the way this time around," she said looking at his worried face. "I want to wait on that for something special down the road, but I think we can go a little further than we did and have been doing since the Park."
She leaned down kissing him slowly on the lips and then moving to his ear, whispering, "I want to feel you cum again" she moaned huskily, "I want to see it again and I want you to see me, all of me as I do the same."
Ranma paused again staring into Kan'u's eyes making certain this was really what she wanted before hugging her tightly and pulling her down to lay next to him, their lips meeting and tongues snaking around one another in her mouth. His hands went back to her breasts touching, pinching and groping until she pulled back from their kiss with a long low moan and pulled his head down to her chest. Obediently Ranma licked and nipped at one of her nipples before taking it into his mouth.
Kan'u leaned back and simply reveled in his gentle attentions for several minutes. There was no rush this time, no desire to end quickly despite how heated they had begun, and she intended to take her time.
Fifteen minutes later, after Ranma had switched nipples a few times he began to work his way down her body, kissing and licking at her magnificent abs. "My Kan-chan, so hot, so tasty," he licked at her belly button, then around at her abs "so strong."
Kan'u moaned even harder. Ranma's hand reached her pubes, and he began to run his fingers over the soft purple hairs. Kan'u's back arched at the gentle touch and Ranma took the chance to fondle her rear at the same time as his tongue made its final descent. Kan'u didn't take long to cum after that, but this orgasm was somehow softer, less sharp but just as fulfilling as the ones he had given her previously.
After a few minutes spent gasping and recovering she pushed Ranma off her and to the side before dragging him up into another lip lock. She gently maneuvered him onto his back and took a position over him. Kan'u pulled back from the kiss and Ranma gazed up at her, her long hair falling all around her face encircling his own head with its color, shadowing his face in purple.
Kan'u took a moment to meet his eyes, and he smiled up at her. "I love you Kan'u." He spoke the words without any hesitation this time, knowing the emotions within him for what they were at long last, knowing that she was her own person and he found her totally desirable in body and spirit.
Kan'u smiled, knowing the same thing and leaned down again this time moving to kiss and nip at his neck. "I love you too Ranma." She paused at the juncture of his neck and shoulder for a moment, biting and sucking hard there, leaving a mark that everyone else would see, marking him as hers.
She moved down his body, pushing him back down every time he tried to move and smacking his hands away whenever they tried to change her trajectory. Kan'u kissed and nipped at his hard chest, moving her tongue over his rock hard abs, luxuriating as they twitched and rippled as he reacted to her touch. Her hands moved further south, pushing his boxers down to reveal his hard shaft. She moaned low in her throat seeing it already standing at attention, the tip already coated with a bit of pre-cum. Kan'u leaned down, mouth open, but as this was the first blowjob she had ever given, she could only get a few inches of his large member into her mouth.
Judging by Ranma's groans he thoroughly enjoyed it though. She had to again smack his hands away from her rear and back as she began, Ranma wanting to move her into a 69 position so that he could return the favor. Unfortunately she was feeling far too sensitive after her own orgasm a few minutes ago to let him. She sat up, still licking at his shaft but moving her body to the side so that she was kneeling next to his body and her body was out of his reach.
Ranma tried to sit up and get at her, but Kan'u smacked him on the chest, shaking her head and mumbling around his cockhead for a moment. Ranma fell back with a gasp, the vibrations from her mouth around him sapping his strength. After a moment she pulled her head away with a pop, licking her lips. He tastes so good! "Ranma I'm feeling a little too sensitive to want you touching me right now. Just sit back and enjoy my love."
Ranma nodded weakly and she dove back down, licking and stroking with her hands and he moaned, groaning and raising his hips to get more of her attention. After a minute or two she smiled as she felt Ranma's hands in her hair, massaging her scalp and tangling his fingers in her long tresses. After another five minutes or so those hands became a little more insistent. "Kan-chan, I'm gonna, I-I!"
Kan'u slurped at the side of his dick like it was a popsicle, moving up and down the sides. "Cum for me Ranma I want it, I want to taste it!" And with that her mouth engulfed his cockhead again, mumbling words around it that Ranma couldn't make out, but which were "Cum love, Cum!" Even without hearing it Ranma followed her demand and came, his hips rising off the bed as he shot off.
Kan'u gasped in shock as the first shot hit the back of her throat before filling her mouth entirely. She was barely able to swallow before the next shot came, then another in quick succession as through her hands she felt the skin of his cock pull back and shoot upward with each shot, reminding her once more of an artillery cannon. She finally had to pull her mouth off his head to avoid drowning and the last three shots hit her face, neck and hair with enough force to almost sting her skin. When it was over her face was completely covered in gobs of cum.
She tried to clear it away from her eyes but Ranma didn't let this continue and was gone from the bed and back with a wet cloth before she could even notice, which he used to gently clear off the rest of the cum. As it was cleared from her eyes she began to help him by licking her shoulders and using her fingers to bring more gobs of cum to her mouth. "You taste sooo good Ranma," she moaned. "All the girls say guys taste horrible, but not you. I wonder why?"
"Clean living I guess Kan-chan" Ranma smirked, ignoring his still hard shaft as it bounced around while he cleaned her off with the cloth. He finished clearing her neck and chest and chased a random trail that streaked down her side. As soon as the cloth touched her side though, Kan'u shied away with a strange little gurgle.
Ranma stopped and smiled mischievously at her. "Are you ticklish Kan-chan?" She shook her head, long hair flying as she tried to deny this accusation to no avail. The cloth dropped to the bed and Ranma dove on her fingers twitching for her sides and a wide smile on his face.
Kan'u moved away shrieking but tried to counterattack. The cleanup fell by the way side as the two marital artists engaged in a no holds barred tickle war. Giggles and chuckles abounded as hands flew at near Amaguriken speeds for supposed weak spots.
The battle continued until Kan'u fell back, one of Ranma's hands pinning both her wrists above her head with him pinning her down by sitting on her hips. She tried to wriggle out of it but failed and then tried to throw Ranma off with her legs but only succeeded in bumping his body up to sit on her stomach. Abruptly she realized what kind of position she was in and looked down between her breasts to see Ranma's still hard cock resting on her abs just below her breasts. She looked up, wiping her mussed sweaty strands of hair out of eyes with her upper arm as she looked up at Ranma's flushed, blushing face as he too realized what position he was in.
She wriggled her wrists and Ranma let them go. A part of her wished he hadn't, that he could be a bit more aggressive, but a far larger part was happy being able to control this aspect of their relationship as she did. Maybe later they could experiment, but not now. Now, she reached forward, gently stroking his shaft with her hands where it lay. It twitched and she giggled breathily. "You're still so hard Ranma, so big and hard. Why don't you tell me what you want to do now? You're the one on top after all." She giggled again, jiggling her breasts invitingly.
Ranma twitched, his eyes going from her face, which had a sexy yet teasing smirk on it underneath her sweaty hair, and her breasts, which glistened with sweat and looked wholly inviting. "Um, I want, that is I, y'know…" He ran out of words and just moved his hips a little, thrusting his cock into the bottom of her cleavage a little in lieu of words.
Kan'u smirk widened. "It's called a titty-fuck Ranma. Go on, I want it too." She brought her hands up to the sides of her breasts, pushing them together invitingly, and Ranma moved his body forward with a groan as his cock pushed into her cleavage. Kan'u moaned, leaning forward and licking at his head as it popped out of the top and hit her chin. She ran her tongue over it and into the tiny opening at the center of his head, gurgling with pleasure as more pre-cum came out to reward her efforts.
Ranma groaned, the pressure Kan'u's breasts put on his cock felt incredible. Her licks and kisses to the head was just icing on the cake. Concentrating he was able to lean back and turn his upper body enough to bring his hands down to touch her crotch. Finding her still dripping, the tickling having done nothing to dampen her arousal, he plunged his middle finger directly into her slit, and was rewarded with her bucking underneath him, moaning in encouragement. "Oh gods, Ma-chan, yes gods!"
Ranma pulled himself back a little mentally to activate his ki sight again, and began to touch just the way she wanted to be touched, adding a second finger into her snatch at the precise moment she was going to ask, and then, as she began to buck even more the pleasure peaking he tweaked her clit with the index finger and thumb of his other hand. She gasped and screamed "Raaannnnmmmmaaaa!" as she came all over his hand actually squirting as she peaked.
As she came down from her high she noticed that Ranma's thrusts were becoming more erratic and she squeezed her hands on her breasts even harder making him twitch as he gasped. "Kan'u I'm gonna"
Kan'u practically hissed "Cum for me Ranma, cum!" And again all he could do was helplessly obey. Eight gobs of cum shot out landing in her hair, on her face, breasts and even splattering onto the backstop above her head. She moaned throatily as she scooped up some of his cum and licked it off her fingers. "Gods Ranma, you're addictive!"
Ranma grinned as he brought his own fingers up to his lips. "I told ya the same thing about you yesterday. MMM, best sauce ever!" he joked. He began to turn his body but Kan'u swiftly flipped him off her.
She pushed him flat again so that she was sitting on top of him, her legs to either side of his as she capture his still hard shaft between her thighs. "uh-uh Ranma my turn now."
Ranma though panicked a little, "Um, I th-thought ya said we wouldn't be goin' that far. I-I mean I don't have any uh rubbers or anything."
Kan'u giggled as she started to rock her hips, knowing this was going to be the last peak she would be able to get up to for a bit, she was becoming far too sensitive to continue playing. "Thank you for thinking of that Ranma but don't worry Ranma, this is just a way to let us feel what it may be like a little, we won't be going all the way. But I want our last time tonight to be a little" her voice broke off into a high moan as his cock rubbed right against her clit from top to bottom. "oh, god, that's so good, I want this one to be special."
Ranma grunted, the feeling of her tight thighs and wet slit rubbing against him completely overwhelming him. "Oh gods, that feels so good Kan-chan!" He raised his hands kneading her breasts, and trying to raise his upper body to capture one of her nipples with his lips but Kan'u pushed him back down before grabbing his shoulders to support herself.
"J-just lay there Ma-chan, look at this." Her chin pointed between them where his cock was rising up from between her thighs and to her navel. "Look at how big you are" she moaned "Look at how deep you'll go into me when we make love!"
Ranma did look and moaned in turn, but his eyes were drawn to her face and breasts heaving as she humped against him, tweaking her nipples with his fingers and kneading her breasts avidly. "You're so beautiful Kan-chan, you're like a, like a goddess, I love you!"
Kan'u went faster, her peak coming swiftly after her previous two. Her arms gave out and she fell forward, pressing her upper body against his and Ranma swiftly capitalized capturing her lips with his as she continued to move her hips against him. Not a minute later the two moaned into one another's mouths as they came simultaneously.
end lemon
Kan'u broke off the kiss and buried her face into Ranma's neck, breathing heavily and slowly sliding off him. "That was the most amazing thing I have ever, ever felt Ma-chan, just amazing."
Ranma smiled, as he reached for her only to have her playfully slap his hands away. "None of that, I'm exhausted. You wore me out Ma-chan." Ranma nodded and moved away to get another cloth but Kan'u grabbed his arm, and snuggled in. "Oh no, after sex comes cuddle time Ma-chan. We can clean up later if we want to." Ranma shrugged at that, putting a gentle arm over her shoulders as she went on. "That is, if I can stay here with you tonight?"
"I wouldn't mind if ya stayed all the time." Ranma blurted, then paused, stunned. "Did, did I just say that?"
Kan'u giggled. "Yes you did lover, but no, I don't think we can do that just yet. Not until after this whole destiny mess is solved at least. Until then I'm not willing to let the others protect Ryuubi all the time. In fact I'll be on duty all day tomorrow to make up for this."
Ranma pouted and she giggled, before yawning. "Right now though, I want to take a bit of a nap." She looked across and saw it was only eight, but she felt exhausted. "Or maybe just call it a night."
Ranma looked over too and nodded again. "Okay Kan-chan, but ya have ta let me go if ya want the bed."
"Oh no Ma-chan, you're not going anywhere. I want you right here to cuddle! Besides I trust you not to do anything I don't want you to." She snuggled further into his side, wincing a little as her sensitive nipples slid across the muscles in his side.
Ranma took one look at her stubborn face then shrugged, knowing a losing battle when he saw it. Not moving the arm around her shoulder he reached out with his free arm and turned off the light. "Goodnight Kan-chan. See ya in the morning. I love ya."
Kan'u's voice was a bare whisper next to him as she whispered "I love you too Ranma, goodnight."
end chapter.