I don't own Ranma or Ikki tousen.
It's technically Thursday right?
Ok, now we are getting closer and closer to the end game, and the third harem girl is revealed! If anyone even guessed ad who she is I'll be really surprised, because I have never seen anything like this attempted before. Oh and depending on how you look at it the chapter will end with a bit of a cliffhanger or a natural break point. Sorry guys, I hate them just as much as all of you, but it just happened that way.
Chapter 11 When you look into the beyond, it's not supposed to say hi
Hakufu fell to her knees, gasping for breath. The training her mother (who had followed her into the woods behind their house to drag her back) had been forcing her to do was hard, but she could feel it doing her skills a world of good. Already she was faster than she had been and maybe even a little stronger. When next she fought Ranma the outcome would be different. Ranma was too good for her to really think she had a chance just yet, but she could get there in time. She was certain of it!
It was the thought of Ranma that triggered it, a wave of anger, rage and bloodlust that she had never felt before, not even when Ryomou had tried to wake her inner dragon had she felt something like this. Her eyes went red her hands, clenched into claws and she stumbled to her knees, trying desperately to fight the feeling back but she was swiftly overwhelmed. The image of Ranma seared through her brain as a target, a target that must be killed, killed, killed, killed, ki...
"Hakufu," said a voice behind her, "it's nearly dinner time, Aunt Goei says that you need to wash up before coming to the table."
It was as if a switch had been thrown, the anger suddenly evaporated as if it had never been, and she nearly fell down from the shock of it. She turned to look over her shoulder and saw her cousin standing there looking bewildered and worried. "Are you all right Hakufu?"
Hakufu, get to her feet though she may have been was in that ditzy. "Er I-I think so." She said shakily. For some reason she didn't want to talk about what that might have been, and tried to deflect Kokin's interest. "I'm just a little tired, I just think I need to get away for a few days or something." She didn't say that she needed to get away from her mother, that was a given.
"Maybe you should cut back on the training", Kokin said slowly. For a moment there he could've sworn she had fallen into her berserker dragon shard. Now it looked as if that was just his imagination.
Hakufu stretched explosively, not incidentally causing her cousin to get a nosebleed from the way it threw her breasts out. They jiggled nicely as she stamped her feet "well whatever, you said dinner was ready right. Let's go!" she shouted happily, seemingly back to her normal ditzy self, grabbing his hand and pulling along. The incident was thus forgotten, but it was a sign of things to come.
Dr. Oden had once been one of Dr. Tofu's teachers, though he hadn't kept in contact with him for long. An irascible old gentleman he was tall, thin, almost emaciated in appearance, with a pure white handlebar mustache he kept pristine with two neat twirls at the end and intelligent gray eyes set in a weathered face. He never left his little town in the Kitami range of Hokkaido, where he lived with his daughter and son-in-law and had a small practice that served the town and the surrounding area. Still, if there was one thing that could drag him out of his shell, it was medical curiosities, and boy had Ranma found a medical curiosity. Well that and the sheer amount of money the government had paid him and the luxury of the trip and his accommodations for this job.
Still for now he put aside his curiosity to look over his patient/student/source of amusement. When he spoke his voice was a surprisingly strong tenor for one so physically frail. "Hmm, I didn't teach you to control how you heal yourself via your ki just so you could go around and find even tougher fights." He waved a hand that glowed light green for a moment over Ranma where he sat at the kitchen table, and his front grew. "Whatever did you do to your hands? Though I see why you haven't rooted your ki to them, those ribs and that lung was more of a concern of course."
Ranma shrugged uncomfortably as the foreign ki of the doctor tickled him a little. "Yeah, well if ya want ta party ya got to pay the price y'know."
"An answer from a young man with a young body," the doctor responded drolly. "Is there anyone else here who wants a medical opinion before we get to the reason I am here?"
Kan'u looked at him quizzically. "You can't speed up Ranma's healing somehow?"
"Of course I could, but I won't. I don't heal people just to let them go out and injure themselves again. Let Ranma heal himself as fast as he can under his own power. He should only be bedridden three more days at this point anyway."
Ranma scowled and Koumei smirked, liking the old man already. "Alright, what exactly are you here for then doc? "cause if it's just ta poke fun at me, gotta tell ya, there's who can do that."
"You sent me the description of a rather interesting puzzle. The aura you saw of this Ryofu? That is why I am here; to see if your description was accurate or you have become incompetent in readings auras since I last saw you."
"Oh well, thanks fer the vote of confidence doc." Ranma looked around at the others who were giggling at the way Dr. Oden was twitting him. "Yeah yeah, Kan-chan you said you had taken her to the hospital right, is she still there?"
Kan'u shook her head. "We moved her in hear when we moved you. We didn't want her to be left alone, she was after all a escape risk. Chinkyu has been staying with her, but she hasn't woken up since fainting in our match." Kan'u was more than a little irritated about that frankly. Chinkyu had told her, rather smugly actually, that Ryofu had a debilitating illness of some kind that had been steadily sapping her strength for months now. Which meant Kan'u hadn't really beaten her during their match, that struck her warriors pride rather severely.
Dr. Oden nodded. "Well could I see her?" Kan'u nodded and led the way down the hall, with Ranma following them grimacing as his still burned feet took his weight. Ryofu and Chinkyu had been placed in one of the two guest rooms in the temple, while Ranma joined Kan'u in her room along with Ryomou, who also shared her bed. The fact that the two of them had been having fun with this was a given.
Dr. Oden walked into the room, and didn't even bother introducing himself to the young girl sitting by the bed, moving over and immediately beginning his diagnosis. Chinkyu made to stop the rude old man as his hands began to glow green, but Ranma quickly told her who he was and what he had been doing.
Dr. Oden closed his eyes in an effort to concentrate on what he was feeling, and after a moment shook his head bemusedly. "I've read about this of course, but I've only ever heard of one other case like this, and certainly never when it involved a single body and some kind of possession. "What we have here is a disease based in her aura that has begun to infect her body." He opened his eyes, and continued to analyze his new patient. "Ranma, do you remember telling me about how that erstwhile student of mine acted around, Kasumi, I believe you said her name was?"
From where he was sitting in a chair by the door Ranma nodded. "I remember Doc you said it was some kind of aura incompatibility right, like being around something you're allergic to or something."
"Exactly," the doctor replied not bothering to look away from where he was now studying Ryofu's head through his ki sight. She had some brain damage there, much like someone who had received a concussion, he was quite familiar with it (even before he met Ranma, which allowed him to perfect his technique)and so it was easy to heal. "What we have here is the end result of a lifelong affliction of complete ki incompatibility. I believe what we are seeing is the energy of this one," he indicated Ryofu's body, "is rejecting the energy of the soul in that, that I understand is supposed to merge with her or something," he nodded toward the magatama that Chinkyu was holding. He made no move to send a ki pulse into it, if the soul inside was at all aggressive he was not exactly suited to combat. "Every time she calls on her ki it affects her more."
"So is it killing her on purpose or what?" Chinkyu asked, looking anxious, nervously pawing at her own bead.
"That Ranma will have to be the one to figure out. I'm not about to delve into any of these magatama. What you are doing Ranma when you destroy these beads is actually fighting the spirit behind them. Other than that she does have a genetic malady, but that is easily treated, no it was the energy allergy that was slowly killing her."
"So how do we care for her" Chinkyu asked hopelessly. She had known her friend was sick but dying? Ryofu was always so strong and now she looked so frail lying there it was almost enough to make her cry.
"Well, you'd have to remove the ancient spirit," Dr. Oden mood mused ,"either destroy it or remove its influence."
"I hate to say this" said Ryuubi contemplatively "but we may want to think about trying somehow to control it. Thanks to our contacts with the government and with Herb and the Chinese embassy, I've been looking at the histories of the fight, and this is the first time a descendent of Ryofu was this week. They were never loyal," she said, ignoring the way Chinkyu was glaring at her, "but they were always excellent fighters. In fact, the descendents of Lu Bu are among the few fighters that can take on a Ruler," and she glanced at where Herb and Ranma stood and sat respectively, "which is something we might need even with your help."
Frankly, the idea of the dragon spirit in her waking up again frightened the hell out of her. It had only woken up once and even then only for a few minutes and it had been enough to nearly kill Kan'u. Regardless of whether or not that was because of the surprise of the attack, that feeling of no longer being in control of her own body scared Ryuubi a lot. Anything they could do to even the odds and get yet another strong fighter on their side was something they had to look into. After all there were still powerful fighters around despite the fact that Toutaku and Sousou weren't part of the fight anymore. The assassins sent after Ranma two nights ago was proof of that.
Ranma shook his head. "No, if she needs help then I'm honor bound to give it to her. From what I understand Ryofu may be really violent, but she was never sadistic or evil. Hell even Sousou didn't strike me as that bad, a lot arrogant and a little violent, but not that bad. The beads ain't supposed ta harm their wearer, though what they do varies from magatama to magatama." Kan'u's hadn't influenced her that much at all, but the beads of the crazy bastard from Nanyo and the other B-Ranked beads he had investigated had given them a lot of their skills. What they did with that skill was still up to them, though the most of the magatama did seem to go to people who were cut from the same cloth as their ancestor. That and the fact none of them really questioned what they were doing was a big reason why the 'destiny' had continued to exist for so long. Ryofu sighed but nodded, inwardly glad she had been overturned. Koumei scowled a little, but went on with it for now. She still hadn't come to terms with the nature of the cruse really, and had consciously taken a step back from her former position as strategist.
Kan'u nodded, though she was more than a little worried about how this would affect Ryofu's crush on her boyfriend. "Ranma's right, if we can help her we need to do it, though not," she glared at him a little, "until you are 100% percent. If you really do need to fight the spirit every time you analyze a magatama you'll need your ki back up to its normal level." Ranma nodded reluctant agreement, and with that the meeting broke up. Dr Oden left and the others all went to their own rooms to prepare for bed.
Chinkyu was left alone with her friend. After the sound of footsteps receded, she leaned over and chastely pressed her lips against her friend's cheek. "We'll get through this Ryofu-sama, I promise. Just don't leave me please I couldn't go on if you left me." She shook for a little as she tried to hold back her tears then leaned back sighing before standing up to get ready to head to bed.
The next morning Koumei still hadn't forgiven Ranma for his anime fan remark, and spent half the meal glaring across the table at him. Ranma of course took this in stride in his own fashion, asking her where Ryo-ohki was, and if he could have a ride on the spaceship when it came to get her, or why wasn't she the one doing the cooking. With every comment Koumei's normal cool façade cracked further until she was ready to reach across the table and stab him with a chopstick.
In fact, she would have done so had Kan'u not taken the time to remove all the utensils from around her after she started shaking in her seat. "Ranma" she said slowly, is there a reason that you're bothering my young friend here?"
Ranma shrugged. "She's an easy target, besides it she's the one that called me an uncouth barbarian when I came out of the bathroom this morning."
"Take it as a compliment then," Kan'u said simply. "All societies need barbarians at the gates. They help protect the society from the barbarians outside said gates."
Ranma grinned at her and she chuckled. "I take it you're not going to try to go to school today?"
"Nah, I still can't walk too well, though my feet are better than they were last night. I think most of my injuries are done healing except for the burns, they take a lto of time and energy to heal. The doc was right, I should be back to normal in three days or so."
Kan'u nodded, then gave him a deep kiss (causing Koumei to pretend to puke behind her, she really didn't like Ranma) before leaving to get her things for school.
Before leaving for school Chou'un decided to bit the bullet and went to talk to Ranma. She knocked on his door and when he said to come in, she walked in and took a seat by the bed, where Ranma was once again laying down, rather unhappy at how little energy he had. "Ranma," she said slowly. "I'd like to talk to you about, about our relationship."
Ranma looked at her for a second then smirked. "I've kind of seen the this coming Chou'un" he said "though, I think you could find someone better than Herb, I gotta admit he's a good guy, well if you take away his anger issues." Ranma knew he of all people couldn't call anyone else out about their ego, so he left that part of Herb's personality alone.
Chou'un breathed out with relief, happy knowing that he wasn't going to be taking their breaking up hard. She hadn't thought he would, not with Kan'u there and Ryomou in the wings, but still. "So you're okay with us breaking up?" she asked.
Ranma shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "I gotta say I," he then paused for a second, "I don't know if I'd ever really gave you as much of a chance as I did Kan'u. It just seemed ta me as if there was, you know as if there was this wall between us. I mean one second we'd be having a serious conversation, and then the next we'd be making out. I just sort of seemed as if, you know, you wanted me for my body."
Chou'un giggled at that. "That's a common complaint among women you know," she said archly. "But you're right, there was a bit of that in our relationship, though I don't open up emotionally as quickly as you in time you. You wear your emotions on your sleeves Ranma and that's fine for you but that's not how I was raised or trained. And did you have any objection t using you for your body?" she said, smirking wickedly.
Ranma blushed a little. "Well, I wouldn't have gone nearly as fast as we did I think, anyway, but other than that no. You are gorgeous Chou'un, and any guy in his right mind who was with you for any reason should thank his lucky stars. And maybe make try an' make a few more." He looked at her seriously for a moment. "You do know that if Herb hurts you in any way I'm going to hurt him right?"
Chou'un shrugged. "He and I aren't even really together just yet, oh the interest is there, and I'll be seeing what I can do to foster it, but we'll be taking things much slower than you and I took things. As you said part of why I was pushing the physical aspect was that it was basically all I was interested in with you, sorry but that's just the way it is. You're a great listener too, but we really don't have much in common other than martial arts." Ranma shrugged again having guessed that much, as she smirked. "Of course that might make it difficult for me in some ways, but a bit of five finger action always helps." She watched as the joke went straight over Ranma's head and sighed, getting up. "Anyway that's all I wanted to say to you."
Ranma nodded "How goes the search for that strategist that pulled out of Wei, Shibai right? The one you said might continue to cause trouble? What about the search for that fucktard Saji?"
"Not well. Chou'un replied sadly. "Even with the police helping, we've only been able to round up about ten more fighters or so in the past day. That leaves roughly a quarter of the fighters from Wei and about half the numbers for Rakuyo still unaccounted for, plus Shibai, Saji and Hakufu. Hakufu at least is still around, her mother and cousin seemed to know where she is, so that's good. We didn't actually talk to her about getting her help in finishing the curse, but Ryomou says she'll probably go along with it. Ukitzu has been a great help, though I've heard a rumor that says she has a new boyfriend that looks like you." Ranma twitched at that, wondering if it was copycat Ken or Ryu Kumon. Ryu looked a little like him, though only superficially, but he was a good enough fighter to interest someone as skilled as Ukitzu was supposed to be, though he hadn't met her yet. Copycat Ken could impersonate him pretty well, but he doubted that he could fool a Fighter of B-Rank or above. "She knew where a lot of the hideouts were, and we'll be raiding them in the next few days, but you won't be able to take part." She smirked at his crestfallen expression. Of all the men she had known only Ranma would look so irritated about being waited on hand and foot by his girlfriend(s) when he could be fighting. Realizing the time, she stood up. "I have to get to school, I'll see you later." She said and left.
Not an hour after Chou'un left Herb made an appearance in Ranma's room. Not even deigning to knock you simply strode in and stood by the bed. "So," he said "three or four more days until you're up and about?"
Ranma looked up from where he had been making origami out of his homework sheet, and nodded smirking a little. "That's what the doc says, and I'm not about to argue with him. He says I'll be able to at least start destroying low rank beads as soon as tomorrow though." Ranma had in fact spent an hour that morning badgering Dr. Oden via phone about that, and the old man had finally given in. "But that's not really what you're in here to say are you. If It's about Chou'un, she was already in here and we officially broke up so you're clear to go in that area." Ranma's eyes hardened noticeably. "But if you hurt her I'm going to make me a new dragon-skin belt wakarimas?
Herb nearly rose to the challenge but decided to respond verbally instead. "Would that be for your girl form or for your male form? Because if it's for your girl form shouldn't it be a bra rather than a belt?"
Ranma laughed "Heh, good one."
Herb went on seriously, "there is nothing really between Chou'un and I just yet, but it is good to know that there is nothing impeding the creation of such. I have two other reasons I wanted to talk to you. First, I'm going to go over to the seal master tomorrow, do you have any questions, you want to ask him?"
Ranma thought for a moment then shook his head. "Don't think so, I might want him on hand for when I start destroying magatama, I want to see what his spiritual sense can tell him rather than our ki sense, but other than that nothing."
Herb nodded. "The other part is to pass on a message from China's government. They have told me to tell you that they are formally barring you from reentering the country. They want to keep that low key, but they have declared you persona-non grata, they don't want any more of their mountains destroyed. The video of your fight with Sousou was enough to make them realize the stories of your fight with Saffron were true. I understand a few other countries are considering following the same policy."
Ranma looked at him suspiciously. "Was that a joke or are you actually serious, 'cause you know, it wasn't all me, either in the video or with the mountain thing. And if we're talkin' about mountains you had a hand in destroyin' one too k'know."
"Ah, but I wasn't so foolish as to be seen doing it, there were no witnesses to our fight."
Ranma looked a little nonplussed and Herb smirked at him then turned away. "Hey, come back here, were ya serious or not? Herb, come on man. Herb?"
For the sixth day in a row Sousou woke up and was able to think clearly beyond the immediate needs of his position, something he yet again rejoiced in. No more did he have feelings of anger inside of him feelings of desire to possess or control other people. No longer did he feel as if he wanted to sleep all the time, nor did he have any desire to rule or lead. For him the decision to no longer follow the curse (he had been informed of the curse when he contacted Ryuubi after waking up) of the bead was a simple one, as without the power of the dragon shard and his magatama now physically removed from his presence, it's hold on him was almost completely gone. He no longer knew precisely what he wanted to do going forward, but he also knew he had time to decide. His friends too, were dealing with having their eyes open to the future and its possibilities for the first time.
The so-called three Pillared Gods were all right about it, their defeat at the hands of Seito, including those that historically speaking they should have won against, helped them fight off the curses influence. All three of them had also lost their beads in the fight, without them and without his own inner dragon shard around to boost the power of the cruse they were having a much easier time of thinking beyond their set destinies. Indeed,, both of the men decided if they got out of this whole destiny/curse thing to actually enter become Buddhist monks, Rather than simply where the clothes of them.
Bunken wasn't nearly so certain what she wanted to do, though she did know that being a nun or something similar was not in the cards. Perhaps she could be a policewoman, she remembered wanting to be one when she was younger, before her family had passed on her magatama to her and suddenly everything became so clear and focused.
Kakoton had the easiest time of it of them all. He had always been able to think beyond their so called destiny, and had long ago decided he wanted to be an architect. It was why he was known to fix up places after fights he was involved in. Indeed, he had hardly been convalescing for more than a day before he went out to help repair the area damaged in their fight against Seito.
Banchou wasn't having so easy a time of it, and Sousou looked over at her as she bustled around the room. While he had woken up before Ranma, he was actually far more battered than the other fighter, and had none of his healing ability, so he was still bedridden. It would be at least a month before he was fit to move around again, mostly due to his internal injuries and a cracked femur. Banchou however had been happy to take him and the others in when Kakoton and Shugai had appeared at her door.
Banchou was a friend of his, and had been one nearly as long as Kakoton. They had shared a lot over the years, but for some reason he had never really looked at her as a… well a girl really. That was almost to contemplate now, as she was bent over picking up the tray of food by Komei's bed, her pert rear sticking out towards where Sousou lay. Sousou almost blushed at the view, which was something he would never have found himself doing as little as a week ago. He had never thought of Banchou as female, because he hadn't had to secure her loyalty by thinking about her in terms like that, she was already loyal to him. She still was, but it turned out that her loyalty was a personal one to him as a friend rather than the Ruler of Wei, her magatama had only given her some of her skills, and her loyalty to him came totally from her.
Myosai was another one whose loyalty was to Sousou rather than given to him as the descendent of Cao-Cao. While she may be the descendant of Xiahou Yuan it was because Sousou had saved her life that she was loyal not because of the destiny. Her bead had never influenced her much, save possibly in some of her skills. She was having ab it of a harder time of it now, wanting to strike back against Shubai for using her and betraying Sousou, but he had told her to stay put for now. He had also noticed the looks she was giving him, and wondered how he could have missed her infatuation with him before.
Still, now was the time t think and watch, maybe plan a little. With his injuries Sousou knew he was well out of the fight for now. All he could do was make certain those loyal to him were kept out of it as well.
This was a scene being played out all around the Kanto, as the fighters who hadn't yet been rounded up by the police found themselves in one of two camps. One camp was still fully under the control of the curse of the Dragon, feeling its irrational anger and violent bursts, forcing them to fight on. For others, especially those who had been close to Sousou or the other medium-sized anchors like Toutaku when they went down the fight was much easier, many of them were wondering what the hell they had been doing all this time, and not a few of them were wondering if they had somehow been mind controlled. These few were much closer to the truth than they realized, but would still be astonished when the whole truth came out, which it would soon.
Shibai looked over angrily at Saji from her makeshift desk in an old abandoned warehouse "Is this all the troops you were able to bring?" She had been hoping for more fighters from what had been the numerically largest faction.
Saji shrugged helplessly. "The police moved in on Rakuyo immediately after the final match of the tournament. I got out the troops that I could, well, those that I could convince to come with me. After all, it wasn't like they didn't know that I was Toutaku's enemy. The others put up a fight when the police came for them, but were pretty well overwhelmed." The police had used standard riot tactics against the Fighters, making liberal use of knockout and tear gas, tazers and four water cannon bearing APCs. They took some casualties, and would probably hear it in the media for police brutality, but the end result was that with this and Toutaku's demise Rakuyo and its subordinate schools were a non-factor going forward.
"I was able to call in a few from Nanyo, as well, but we never had that many fighters to begin with, and over half of the ones I contacted declined to join me. Gakushu is already reaching out to the government apparently." That rankled Saji a lot, as the very thought of seeking outside assistance to the destiny was beyond his understanding, after all if the destiny was forced to end how could anyone win the prize? And before Ranma showed up the idea that the government could respond like this to the Fighters was laughable. Now it seemed they would have to fight the government as well as Seito if they wanted to win.
Shibai rubbed her forehead. At present, they had a little under 100 fighters of C or D rank, four fighters of B rank including Kakuha and Temi, Saji an A-rank fighter and herself. The fact that Myosai hadn't returned had been a major blow, as she would have given them another A-rank fighter. While on paper it was a decent force, against the police, Seito, Gogun and the remnants of Nanyo, she didn't think it was going to be enough. A burst of irrational anger struck her suddenly as she thought about their situation. She shouldn't have to sulk around like this, she had plans Damnit! She could've ruled the Wei ruling faction from behind the scenes for a long time, if only not for this outsider!
The anger however was so unlike her normal cool analytical mindset that she was easily able to throw it off. She looked over at where Kakuha and his girlfriend Kaku snuggling together, talking quietly. "Well, I see that at least is turning out as well as it could be," she muttered. How Kakuha could still care about Kaku after all she did with Toutaku was beyond her.
Saji grinned impishly at her. "Aw is someone jealous, you know I'm here for you if you're having urges in that direction."
Shibai glared at him. "No it isn't that, and I wouldn't let you touch me with a ten foot pole you man-whore!" she said. "It's just that she doesn't really add anything to our forces, and if Ryofu decides to be neutral in this after her defeat and capture having Kaku among our forces may make her re-evaluate that neutrality."
Saji shrugged. "I don't know, I think that the punishment Ranma gave her more than sufficed." He personally was terrified of not being able to orgasm, after all if you couldn't fully enjoy sex what was the point of anything really? Once Kaku quite angrily confirmed that particular rumor Saji had vowed to never come within twenty yards of Ranma ever again.
"You are not Ryofu Housen," she said tartly. Her voice then took on a sly edge, "By the way whatever happened there, I thought you had some plans to turn her against the Emperor using your charms. How did that turn out?" Just because they were allies against a common foe didn't mean they had to be nice to one another.
Saji scowled. That was a very tough spot for him, not only had he failed to convince Ryofu to attack the Emperor, but she had decided to try for Ranma instead of being with him. She had just summarily dismissed their connection (a rather weak connection admittedly mostly to do with how they had dated once and how he might or might not have raped her, but at the moment he wasn't rational enough to see this) to go for the powerful new fighter on the block. What is it about that guy that attracts the ladies so much, he thought half whimsically and half jealously. A flash of anger went through them at the remembrance of Ranma's fight against Sousou, but he quickly tempted down. For some reason he was having difficulty with his emotions lately, far more than usual, but he could still retain some control. He smirked back at Shibai "Oh, noot nearly as well as your plans for your faction did. So how's being the power behind the throne working these days?"
Shibai scowled at him, angry that he had turned the tables on her, but she shook off the anger again. "In any event, do you have anything we can use? If we can get one of the Dragon shards on our side, maybe we can figure out something, without them we're pretty much screwed."
"It just so happens, he said slyly, "that I know where one is. It seems that Hakufu likes to go into the mountains behind her home at times to train."
"And," Shibai said to herself "with what I know of sealing I might be able to pull her dragon out and put it into a more suitable host." Neither she nor Saji questioned where that knowledge had come from, though it had not been her in her head as little as a moment ago.
Ryuubi sighed leaning back from her desk. Thanks to the near total cessation of hostilities between the factions her position as leader of her faction was pretty much unimportant at this point. This, of course, was the way she liked it, but pretty much wasn't the same thing is totally, and any position of authority had to deal with paperwork.
Because they were operating with the police their fighters were not among those that had been rounded up, nor had Ranma taken the beads of the lower tier fighters. However, ever since the second round of the tournament ended Seito's lower level fighters had been much rowdier than usual. There was much more infighting among him than had previously been seen, and at a much higher level of violence than before.
She had talked it over with Kan'u and Koumei and decided to start rounding up the beads from their fighters, and telling them that the destiny was a lie. That was what she had just been working on, both the order and an explanation written out for every fighter to see that would be posted online and on bulletin boards in the school.
Tomorrow Kan'u and the other higher ranked fighters would start rounding up the beads. Koumei wasn't happy with it, wanting to keep their fighters as a reserve just in case something bad happened down the line or they needed more manpower than they could have otherwise, but Ryuubi for once it overruled her.
Koumei had looked as if she was going to argue, but then thought better of it. She had not stepped foot into the same room as her bead since she had learned of the curse, and had forced herself to think of other things whenever she could, but it was still hard going. Somewhere deep inside her, there was this voice telling her that she should be strategizing, planning ahead and trying to outperform her enemies in a war, rather than simply being a young girl who had ancestral issues. Ranma's teasing of her actually helped matters by giving her something else to concentrate on.
The thought of Ranma gave her pause for a moment, and she blushed, remembering some of the dreams she'd had that first night after meeting him. They had been among the most erotic she had ever had, which had surprised her at the time. She wasn't normally one to just look at the appearances of somebody, well other than you know, actors and other celebrities. But other than his looks nothing about Ranma was her type. Then too she he was already with Kan'u and now Ryomou.
For just a moment as she closed her eyes anger suddenly bloomed inside of her, demanding that she move, that she take, that she control, take Ranma for her own and kill their friends, then take control of everything else. She shuddered inwardly as she tried to push the thoughts and feelings aside, by it was getting harder and harder. She knew it was her inner dragon shard, what she didn't know was why it was becoming harder and harder to resist, shouldn't it have become easier with the evil soul losing one of its main anchors?
A knock on her door broke her out of her sudden paralysis and she breathed a sigh of relief as the foreign feelings of anger receded, "come in."
Koumei stood in her doorway clad in pajamas, rather cute pajamas with little pandas on them for someone who wanted to be looked on as an adult, though Ranma had flinched when he sar her in them for some reason. "Er, I was wondering, if you would want to have a sleepover or something? I've been gone for so long after all and…" Koumei trailed off, blushing and stammering.
Ryuubi looked at her for a second then smiled widely and waved her inside. What she needed right now was to be surrounded by other people, the better to take her mind off her own inner turmoil. Friends could always be a help against the dangers in the dark, even if both the dark and the danger was inside of you.
Somewhere that did not fit that description, some-when that had no way of marking the passage of time, an entity would have smiled if it had any physical form to do it with. Despite being reduced, despite the continual attacks on its minor anchors, it now had a plan in place, and tools that were still following its plan. One main anchor was away from nearly all of its others, and without that support, would be much more open to suggestion, and could thus be used to help face this threat. Once it came closer to one of its medium-size anchors, the ones that it had created over time by happenstance or luck, and then the main anchor could be fully awakened or removed, placed inside a more powerful container. The knowledge it had given a few of its puppets would fool them into thinking it was their work, when in actuality it was its own. The dragon had created it's three main anchors out or spite, but it wasn't necessary to keep them in those specific containers. If one container could not or would not serve, than another would. The other main anchor was proving more resilient, but it could be left alone, for now at least. Regardless, this interference with its revenge would soon be put to a halt. No matter who or what this interference was, it would not escape its fate.
Over the next three days as Ranma healed Kan'u and Chou'un collected the magatama from every other fighter and brought them to Ranma, who wasn't quite up to dealing with them just yet. Some of the Fighters responded with horror at the news about the curse, while others were disbelieving. Despite this the fights and violence didn't stop, in fact it got worse throughout the region, though no one quite put it together just yet.
Kan'u stepped out of her history class smiling slightly at the grade she had gotten on her last paper. Not so important in the long or short term, but it still felt nice. Her thoughts were interrupted however by a bellow of anger. Looking up she saw two C-level fighters pounding on one another right in the middle of the hall. Her eyes narrowed and she strode forward. "What is going on here, fights are only allowed to occur on the grounds outside or in the dojo! Take it outside!"
Both fighters turned to her and to Kan'u's surprise, tried to attack her. She grabbed the arms of the first one and swung him toward a window. When the other tried to land a haymaker she dropped to her knees, letting it pass over her head grabbing his outstretched arm and flipping him to slam bodily into the first. "Now boys, when I say take it outside," and before either could untangle themselves she kicked out hard, smashing them into each other again and then into and through the glass which shattered on impact, "I mean take it outside!"
She lowered her feet and looked around her, a small smirk on her face. I seem to have picked up a few of my Ma-chan's ad habits, that was actually rather fun, including the one liner. "Does anyone else want to break the rules?" She paused and most of the students laughed nervously, though a few, other Fighters, either muttered worriedly, or glared silently. Her eyes sought these fighters out and she stared at them until they looked away. "Thought not."
She walked off with her head held high, inwardly chuckling at how fun that was. Her humor evaporated later however when she and Koumei interviewed the two fighters to determine the cause of the fight. It turned out neither could remember why it had started, they'd just pumped into one another coming out of a classroom and for some reason began to fight. Kan'u dismissed them making certain they knew the penalty for any more fighting then shared a look with Koumei. "I wonder what that was about?"
It was not the last incident. By the time Ranma was on his feet Seito alone had ten more incidents of random violence and everyone was beginning to get worried. The other schools were having a similar time, though they responded to it differently. Strangely enough the fighters under Shibai and Saji didn't have so much trouble. They all had anger issues but were able to internalize it for now, the better to use it later.
Gakushu and Kokin looked at each other over the comatose forms of six of their fellow students as Hakufu brought her foot down hard on the lone Fighter that was still on his feet. This was the fifth and largest internal fight they had to break up, and considering they only had twenty Fighters left in the school that was a bad sign. Gakushu shook his head. "What in the world is going on?"
Kokin shrugged, keeping one eye on his cousin. She had almost flashed into berserk mode at the start of the fight, which was really odd as she hadn't been in any danger at all. "I don't know, but I don't like it."
Ukitzu laughed madly as she punched out, catching another of her own schools fighters in the temple, rocketing him backward. She stood triumphantly looking around at the rest of the school. "Next!" Thoughts of why her own fighters were so willing to indulge in violence never occurred to her, she just shut them down hard whenever they did.
Nor was she alone in that thought. Down the hallway by the stairs Ryu smirked as his elbow slammed into the forehead of another Fighter, sending him to the ground senseless. "Anyone else have any comment they want to make about me?"
One of the fighters scowled. "It's just not fucking fair, what the hell did you do to get Ukitsu-sama to notice you, all of us have been trying that for nearly a year!"
Ryu's smirk widened. Ukitzu weren't really a couple just yet, the term fuck-buddies suited them far better, which was what both were really looking for right now. "Well for one thing I can fight better than all of you can put together you bunch of pussies."
This seemed to enrage more than a few of his audience, and they all rushed forward together. Ryu chuckled then ran forward to meet them. His style was basically a cross between Ryoga and Ranma. He stayed on the ground like Ryoga but outmaneuvered his enemies Like Ranma, dodging everything they threw at him and returning punishing power blows much like Ryoga's own blows. He was also far more brutal than Ranma was during his time at Nerima. This was evidenced at the grin that blossomed on his face as he smashed one of the fighter so hard his head was imbedded in a door, while he kicked another so hard he bounced over the railing of the stairs.
A minute later both had finished their fights, giving a fourth abject lesson in as many days why violence in the school or against them personally was a mistake. Ryu grinned as he hugged Ukitzu from behind, rubbing salt into the wounds of every fighter there who didn't want Ukitzu to be with him. Ukitzu smirked too, looking over her shoulder at him. "What do you think is causing all this? It can't just be their jealousy over us being together, they'd only be attacking you if that was the case, not each other and anyone else."
Ryu shrugged still smirking. "Ranma, somehow or other it will have to do with Ranma. Trust me, whatever this is he'll be in the middle of it."
Ukitzu nodded her head. "Well then we'll find out soon. According to Ryuubi-chan," Ukitsu wasn't one for honorifics, and handed out the –chan with abandon, "he should be on his feet tomorrow and we'll set up a meeting soon after."
Ranma was indeed on his feet three days after Dr. Oden made his first visit. His feet were now fully healed, and only his hands weren't completely healed, though they would be after another nights healing. His ki reserve wasn't nearly back to normal, but it was more than enough to start analyzing and destroying the beads again. His decision to first look at Ryofu's bead before looking at the pile of lower tier magatama they had collected sparked a conversation though.
"I think we should destroy the lower ranked beads first," Ryuubi said. "Maybe it will put a stop to some of the fights that have been occurring." The police had even reported that the Fighters they had arrested were rowdy and causing s while in prison, and had to be moved to a separate prison from the regular inmates. Even so they were causing trouble, and the ones that could had been placed in solitary. The problem was, they were running out of solitary confinement cells both in this region and in the surrounding ones. "Besides, her bead is probably going to be one of the more aggressive ones.
Ranma however shook his head regretfully. "Sorry Ryuubi, but if we can help Ryofu, we need to do it as soon as we can."
Dr Oden looked over at them from standing near to Ryofu's bed. "And we need to do it now," he said grimly. "Hosen-san is fading quickly, healing her body is putting a massive strain on her ki reserves, and that is activating the ki allergy, which further drains her life away." The others looked at him with wide eyes then Ranma turned to Kan'u who picked up Ryofu's bead from nest to the bed. Seal master Harumoto leaned forward, eyes wide and glowing slightly white to see what he could see when Ranma pushed his consciousness into the bead.
"Just be careful Ranma, I have plans for you." She gave him such a little look that despite everything that had occurred between them since they met Ranma blushed to his ear tips. He coughed uncomfortably and made a point of not noticing the giggle and smirks around him as he closed his eyes, concentrating a pushing his ki into the bead in his hand.
Ranma found himself not in a gazebo nor even a battlefield or whorehouse, like he had with Ganryu and Bunshu, but in a forest that as far as he could tell was primordial. There were far more noises around, far more birds in the trees and animal sounds in the distance than any forest that had been seen much of humans for any length of time would ever have here. He looked around quizzically for a moment then shrugged. Every bead seemed to be different and this bead was no exception, though it sure as hell wasn't what he had expected from the magatama of someone with Lu Bu's reputation.
What was really strange however, was that there was no ancient soul here to greet him. Every other time he entered the sacred bead he was almost always greeted either by imagery for the lower levels or actual people for the upper. Here it just seemed as if it was just endless forest. "Or, he mused, "someone's playing silly buggers, and is hiding some place."
Shrugging, he decided to stretch his legs for a bit, after all while this might all be in his mind, he hadn't been out of the house, barely out of bed really for over three days now, and that was way too long for someone like him. He jumped up into a tree and from there began to make his way through the forest.
As he did so he began to discern more and more details of his surroundings. The trees were a mixture of bamboo, fir, and maple, much like a forest in Northern China would have. That made sense, he supposed given that this whole thing started in China. The details on the animals he saw were fantastic. There were lots of birds in the air, he startled a falcon out of its nest as he passed by one tree and on the ground he could see tracks for different animals, most prevalent were wolf and wild dog tracks, but there seemed to be at least one larger animal in the area. This was really surprising, as none of the other souls had anything so alive as this. Bunshu's ancestor may have created a brothel, but he was the only one in there, the creation of other people had been far beyond him (thought the creation of liquor had not, a drunk soul was something that Ranma wouldn't forget quickly. When he shattered that bead he sort of felt it was pretty much a mercy killing).
Even Kan'u's ancestor had a Japanese-style rock garden, with only a few trees rather than a full garden. What this meant in terms of the soul he was looking for he really didn't know, or have any way of figuring out but it was interesting. Actually Ranma realized he was having fun here, exploring this forest was more his idea of fun than a lot of other things civilized people would consider fun. Grinning he sped up hopping around among the tree canopy and waving at the animals he saw.
A few minutes later he paused as suddenly a feeling of being watched came over him. He landed on a large tree limb, and waited there looking around his surroundings trying to find out who was watching him. It took a few minutes but he spotted it, what looked like a wild dog was watching him from the undergrowth a few meters to the right and below him. He noticed it was a chow-chow with a very shaggy coat. Ranma jumped down to the ground, which caused the dog to back away into the undergrowth, but he simply sat there with his palm out, calmly waiting for the dog to either come towards him or run away.
The dog after a moment's hesitation came forward to sniff his hand and Ranma scratched it behind the ears. They really do look a bit like lions don't they? I've only ever seen two of these before. "I don't suppose you know where your owner is?" he asked quizzically. As he said this several other dogs came out of the undergrowth and he stayed put, letting them sniff at him for a few minutes.
Eventually he got tired of this and decided to continue his search. When he went to stand up however his sleeve was caught by one of the dogs who proceeded to tug on it to the left from the direction he had been going. Shrugging and realizing that he really had no idea where he was going in this strange soul area he let the dog leave him off.
About 15 minutes later they came to a clearing in the side of the forest next to a river. The river was flowing down a waterfall, and next to the waterfall was a small, ugly little hut. Though ugly it was sturdy, as whole trees had been uprooted and piled together to create it. A small fire was burning in front of it, and over the fire was cooking several fish stuck on sticks.
What drew Ranma's attention was that the person on the other side of the fire next to the house, rather than being an old man, a middle aged soldier or anything like that, was actually a girl. A teenage girl, maybe his age or a year or so younger, though it wasn't just that she was a girl though that was so striking, it was her appearance. Her hair was maroon, cut in a very messy almost chopped off manner down to her neck in the back and long bangs that fell almost into her eyes. She also was slightly tanned, a little less than Kan'u actually and had purple tattoos on her shoulders and on her sides. She wore a tight top of black and white bisected by a gold line right between her breasts, and the white side had what looked like gold links. She had a two part skirt, one part over the other, long and black kept closed by a large purple belt. The under skirt was white and had creases, and was very short, coming down to barely half her thigh. Her eyes too, were maroon, and by her side was a copy of Ryofu's ji, though maybe it should be the other way around, that Ryofu's was merely a copy of the real Houtengenki, as this one appeared older and of better quality.
The girl looked up as he arrived. She kept her eyes on him as he walked forward slowly, making certain to make no threatening moves. As he came up to the he asked "Can I sit down?"
She continued to look at him for a while, then nodded. Ranma sat near here, not near enough to touch but near enough to have a conversation. The dogs that had led him hear piled around, and the young girl reached out to pet a few of them.
"Err" he asked "you're name wouldn't be Lu Bu by any chance?"
The girl shook her head though her eyes remained on the dogs that had taken Ranma here rather than on Ranma himself. "Huh, well I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me your name than?"
The girl was silent as all of the dogs save the dog that he had first spotted padded away. After a moment she said softly, "Ren."
"Your name is Ren?" Ranma asked, making certain he had it right.
The girls nodded and he smiled. "That's a nice name."
The girl turned away but he could tell she had blushed a little. "Name?"
Ranma blinked, then understood, "My name you mean, I'm Ranma." The girl nodded reached forward and took three of the fish off the fire, giving them to the dog who took them one by one over to the other dogs, who all began to eat. "You've trained your dogs pretty darn well."
The girl shook his head. "Friends."
"Not your dogs but your friends?" The girl nodded. "Huh, well I can understand that. I'm a dog person myself too." The girl plucked a fish from the fire and handed it to Ranma. "Hey thanks." She girl smiled a little then took her own and began to eat. Ranma realized that whatever else she was, this young girl was practically starving for human interaction why else would she trust him so quickly? The two fell into a companionable silence as they ate their fish.
When he finished Ranma looked across at Ren with a smile. "I don't suppose you could tell me why history says your name is Lu Bu? And you don't seem like the type to betray anyone, so I'm going to assume that crud was someone else."
The girl looked at him with her head cocked to the side for a moment as if she was trying to think of the answer. When she spoke it was with what Ranma was coming to understand as her normal mono-syllabic tone, but Ranma was able to follow it surprisingly easily. "Followed general who paid for friends, fought good but he lost. Girl."
Ranma translated this. "Okay, so you were a girl, that…. All the warriors back then were men weren't they. Kind of a, what's the word… ahh screw it they just didn't like women being tough right?" The girl nodded. "heh, frack-em, their loss, strong girls are great as long as they're strong inside and out, which is definitely what ya are, yer still you after who knows how many decades. The girl blushed and scooted a little closer but Ranma didn't notice as he went on, staring into the fire. "And you worked for a single general, but when one died you would go on to another general, whichever one would pay for food for your friends. Am I right?" He looked up and noticed that Ren had come closer, but he thought nothing of it. "Any idea where they came up with the name they gave ya?"
Ren made an interrogative noise that sounded something like "Hrrm?" that Ranma found almost too cute for words, that he guessed meant no.
"Huh, not important really, though it could be part of the whole curse thing." The two were quiet for a moment as Ranma thought about the strength it must have taken a woman to become a real warrior, let alone a commander back then. Ren split her time between looking at Ranma and out over the river. After a moment Ranma decided to move on to the more serious stuff. "So, have you been able to follow what's been happening outside with yer descendants and all?"
Ren nodded and then looked out toward the east, growling slightly. Ranma looked then remembered that was direction the evil miasma, the real soul of the dragon's curse had been in that direction. He reached over and gripped Ren's shoulder. "Easy Ren-chan, we've been doing all we can to get rid of it. So don't worry about it for now ok?" Ren nodded, leaning her head against his hand on her shoulder, sighing happily. Ranma blushed a little and somewhat reluctantly pulled his hand back. "So can you influence your descendant?"
Ren reached over and picked up her ji. "Houtengenki."
"Just their preference for weapons, huh? And…." He paused wondering how to bring it up. "Um, do you like your current descendant?" Ren shook her head quickly, hair flying from side to side. "Um, can ya tell me why?"
Ren looked away, silent for a moment before she looked back at Ranma. "Not fun. Hate actions. Hate choices. Not alike."
Ranma parsed his way through that. "You don't like her because you're not alike, she has done things you hate, both personal and as your descendent?" He looked at Ren and she cocked her head for a moment then nodded. "Er.. do you know that your ki and her ki interacting is slowly killing her?" Ren's eyes widened and she shook her head wildly. "Huh thought not, ya didn't strike me like the type ta do something like that." He paused for a moment. "Um do ya think you are influenced by the dragon's curse? Um, how close were ya by the way?"
Ren thought for a moment, sitting down right next to him, so that their thighs touched. Ranma blushed at the contact but for some reason didn't pull away. There was something about this girl, something like what he saw in Kan'u, that made him want to stay where he was. "Not close. Far. Had thrown spear, sliced wings, lost it."
Once more Ranma had to translate that. "You weren't there for the final battle but were in the area, and you threw your spear, slicing one of the dragon's wings, and you decided to go and find your spear?" Ren nodded, now leaning towards him. "Well, that answers most of my questions, but still doesn't answer my questions about how to help Ryofu, or you." He grinned at her, staring into her eyes from less than a foot away. "Ya seem more a victim of circumstance than any of the others."
Most of the other beads he had analyzed had been from darker souls, or at least had degenerated into that. Only Guan Yu had not given into it, and even he was tired, looking forward to his final dissolution in a quiet way. Ren in contrast was alive, he couldn't think of her as some ancient soul, she was a complete person, an odd person but still a complete person, and if he could figure out a way to save her he would.
She leaned forward suddenly pressing her forehead against Ranma's. "Mate." She said simply. "My mate."
Ranma blinked. "You mean me? I…" He was interrupted as Ren twisted her head to the side slightly and kissed him. Though surprised, Ranma found himself gently returning the kiss, but refused to deepen it.
When Ren tried, he broke away. He stood up slowly, not wanting to appear as if he was rejecting this lonely girl, but uncertain of what Kan'u would think. "I, um I have to go, we need ta figure out how ta get ya out of here, wherever here is, I promise." Ren nodded, looking a little downcast despite his assurance. "And er, about that mate thing, if we do get ya out ya'll have ta talk ta Kan'u, er the descendent of Guan Yu, she and I are together but we're also with Ryomou, er I think she's the descendent of Lu Meng?"
Ren looked at him, smiling more widely than he had yet seen. "Sharing fine! Back soon?"
Ranma grinned at her, giving her two thumbs up. "You bet Ren-chan, I'll be back as soon as I can." Ren nodded and with a final wave Ranma concentrated and…
When Ranma returned from his sojourn into the sacred bead, he was greeted by concerned faces all around. He looked at them all, and said "Well, that was an interesting experience, and we've got a little bit of a problem."
After explaining what he had found out, all the girls were looking shocked. They couldn't imagine the amount of skill and personal strength it would take to have been a warrior back in a time where fighting of any kind was seen as only being for men, and when women were not seen at all outside the house or kitchen. "And you say she is nothing like the legends say Lu Bu is supposed to be?" Ryuubi asked intently.
Ranma shook his head emphatically. "No way, frankly she's a little too… innocent really to betray anyone. I don't think she could even if she wanted to, she could be a savant or something. You know one of those people that are just really, really, really great at one thing, but can't handle much of anything else outside of it?
Kan'u smiled, "Well, I'm certain that with the proper training she can move on from being a mere fighter to something else. After all, it's worked for you." She didn't mention that most of what he was interested in outside of fighting was travelling and well her and Ryomou, she was the same way after all. "But she is a complete personality, with none of the anger or dissipation that you saw in the others?"
"Yep," Ranma said, "as near as I can figure, I think she died a little ways after the dragon died, so she was still young and powerful, so she could overcome the curses influence. She's not old, she's not evil like that knife freaks, or broken like Bunshu or looking forward to death like Guan Yu was in his quiet way, she's just a girl, a strong fighter, but still a girl trapped in there and really lonely."
Kan'u looked at him it smirking a little and he flushed uncomfortably under his girlfriends gaze. "And she's interested in you I take it?"
Ranma coughed a little "Uh, well yeah, but you gotta understand I don't know if it's me or if it's the fact that I'm the first person she's seen in decades."
Kan'u smirked and mouthed 'its you' at him while Ryomou nodded.
Dr. Oden interrupted at this point. He had been examining the bead closely as well as Ryofu and was shaking his head. "Regardless, we must figure out some way to exorcise this Ren girl from Ryofu. And I don't know if just destroying the bead will be enough. If that happens it may just force their ki to finish assimilating, and that could kill her instantly. I need to see the effects of destroying a bead on someone firsthand to determine what actually happens to them."
Ranma looked around at the others and Chinkyu immediately came over and handed her bead over. "Anything to help Ryofu-sama" she said.
Ranma nodded at her and once again forced his consciousness into the bead. This time however the images were much more normal, a few scenes of fighting, a few friendships, nothing bad or outright evil like in the first bead he had looked at. There was a sense of resentment and rage, and much like in Bunshu's case, a desire to be let go from whatever was trapping it. Bunshu, drunk as he had been in his inner world, had known that he was trapped in the bead and that he was trapped in a cycle with his descendents carrying out his role in the War of the Three Kingdoms. He had hated it, but he hadn't been able to break the control of the curse. He had simply been tired of it all, after all, he had had a full life and had actually been looking forward to the afterlife. This bead gave much the same feeling off, though the soul wasn't powerful enough to make its own inner world. Ganryo's bead on the other hand hadn't wanted to die and had reveled in the carnage and ongoing bloodshed it was a part of. This told Ranma that how the beads interacted with the curse varied greatly from person to person.
Once he was done analyzing the bead Ranma brought his ki encased fist down on it, shattering. Once again there was the sense of something unseen passing, but that was all.
Dr. Oden and Harumoto watched intently and both nodded in satisfaction. They looked at one another and Oden bowed his head to his nominal elder. "It would appear as if that was simply a case of letting a soul rest in peace, much like an exorcism on a ghost that has been forced to remain behind because of unfinished business rather than exorcising a demon or evil soul."
Dr. Oden took up the discussion then, "and I was right, what little ki was in the magatama has merged with Ms. Chinkyu's own. If it does that with Ryofu, she'll die almost immediately."
Ryomou shook her head. "I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, but I don't see a certain solution that could save both Ryofu and this Ren girl. Though in turns of Ryofu, would distance from the holder as it is destroyed matter at all, so if we wanted to destroy the soul inside would that help Ryofu?"
Ranma growled at the very idea, for some reason he was feeling very protective of Ren. Even if they had only been around each other for a few hours he had felt a connection there, something in her eyes told him that she might've gone through the same kind of things when she was younger than he did with his father. And he wasn't about to let her die without a fight.
The sealed master shook his head. "In matters pertaining to the spiritual realm, distance matters not at all. If you're connected to something you're connected to it regardless of distance, time or anything else. The moment that magatama is destroyed, the remaining ki of the personality within, which is quite a bit more in the terms of Ryofu's bead then Chinkyu's, will join with the users regardless of how far away the bead is when destroyed."
"So," Herb said slowly "we need to think of some way to extract it. Could we use the same capture extract tags that we used against Sousou and his dragon shard?"
Harumoto shook his head. "That would work certainly, but it would also be a little bit of overkill. Those seals are designed to be used against those of draconic dissent, and this girl, despite her apparent strength according to Ranma and Dr. Oden's ki sight is not a descendent of dragons. We could simply use a simple trap tag to get her out if she wanted to come out. But that wouldn't really solve the issue would it? The stronger the soul, the less effective tags seals are, and even if she isn't a descendent of dragons this Ren person is obviously a strong soul to have remained intact and unsullied by the curse for so long. We would need an entirely new container almost immediately."
Dr. Oden chortled a little. "Sorry, I may be a doctor but I don't keep bodies just lying around without souls in them."
Ranma cocked his head for a second. I had a quick question about ki and souls actually what happens to the ki and souls of those who have been cursed by the accursed Springs? I mean do they remain the same when we change forms or what?"
Harumoto shrugged. "I haven't made a study of them, but I imagine so yes."
Ranma went over to the bedside were a half eaten meal had laying along with a class of water. "Well, Doc, I suggest you start studying."
He poured the wattle water over is head and Harumoto and Dr. Oden both watched intensely. Harumoto gasped a little. "There is actually a moment there where you do not have a soul!"
"Excuse me?" Ranma asked quizzically.
"I imagine it has to do with the amount of pain that changing on the molecular level like that would cause, Dr. Oden said speculatively. He too had seen the same thing. For a moment there, it's almost as if your soul goes away somewhere while you're changing from one form to another, so that you don't actually feel the pain of the molecules changing like that. Then it comes back almost instantaneously. The time is so small I don't think you could even measure it, but it is there.
"Is that we if I'm splashed with both hot and cold water I feel such intense pain but don't when I just change from one from to another, my soul can't go away' so I feel the change?"
Both of the older men shuddered while Kan'u put her hand on Ranma's shoulder comfortingly. "Yes," Oden said after a moment. "Yes that's probably why."
"Well," Ranma said slowly "if the soul goes away the body becomes a blank slate, what if you're able to somehow transfer another soul into that moment while your body is transforming.
Dr. Oden shook his head violently. "It wouldn't work, your souls would fight one another, you are talking about two powerful, complete souls inhabiting one body, even if you could co-exist, there no way your body could sustain you both."
Herb said thoughtfully, "Isn't there a spring of drowned twins?"
Ranma nodded, "yeah, yeah there is, why?"
"Well," Herb said, still thinking it through, "what if you are splashed with spring of drowned twins at the same time as you are being splashed with hot and cold water to trigger your previous change and the change back?"
Harumoto put his head in his hands groaning aloud. "Who the hell knows? We need some expert on the Cursed Springs here, I'm certainly not about to give any advice one way or the other."
Dr. Oden frowned thoughtfully. "If we can time it exactly right, we could end up with the soul of the girl inhabiting the new body that is made by the drowned twins water. I imagine if the drowned twins water follows the same pattern as the water of your curses it doesn't change, so there would be a moment before your soul is multiplied and if it doesn't have any place to go. It won't be multiplied. Therefore, leaving the body the curse creates empty of life, and it will also separate your curse form. Really though this is all so much speculation. If it wasn't a matter of life or death I don't think I would recommend even contemplating it, but it is. And as doctor, I am under oath to do everything I can to preserve life. Even giving my okay to do something like this.
Ranma and Herb looked at one another their faces carefully blank. Kan'u coughed delicately and said, "I believe we need to talk to Ranma and Herb alone for a few minutes gentlemen, ladies, could you excuse us?"
The others all filed out, leaving Chou'un, Ryomou, Kan'u, Herb and Ranma alone. Chou'un looked at Herb for a moment then shrugged. "Your personality and intelligence does not change with her body. Though and I am not particularly interested in the female form I am not repulsed by it. This decision, however ultimately has to be yours, I'm not going to pressure you either way." With that she bowed slightly to him, which he returned, and left the room. Herb looked at the others and decided to remove himself from their conversation for a time moving over into one of the corners.
Ranma looked at his girlfriends. "Do you have any opinions one way or the other?"
Kan'u shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't want to pressure you," she said softly, "but you do know that I am, well bisexual. Ryomou is fantastic and I have come to care for her, but I fell for you Ranma. Yet your girl body was a bonus not the entirety. If you want to go through with this I will support you, if you don't want to go through with this I will also support you. Just be very careful! This is all completely untried and sounds so incredibly out there that it's just…" she paused. "I could barely follow what's was said here in the past few minutes, and it really has thrown my ideas of soul, ki and their connection to the body for a loop. But you're still you. Whatever your shape, I will support you."
Ranma looked over at Ryomou who shrugged and replied. "I can't say I find your female form as enticing as your male form, but that's just because I don't like redheads. I'll say basically the same thing as Kan'u said. I fell for you, not your bodies your female body isn't a bonus to me but it isn't a hindrance either. Whatever your decision I'll back it." Ranma nodded and kissed Kan'u and Ryomou softly on the lips. Then he walked over to Herb.
Herb gazed at him and Ranma shrugged. "Let's face it," he said, "one way or the other whoever doesn't do this is gonna second-guess himself for a long time, but I've had longer to acclimatize to my curse, but it does cause me a hell of a lot of problems." Ranma wasn't certain if he was trying to convince himself to go for it or not, but his thoughts were kind of jumbled.
Herb shrugged uncomfortably. "I haven't become so used to my curse, and well," he shrugged uncomfortably not wanting to pressure Ranma.
"We could leave it up to chance." Ranma tried to grin as he made the joke "want ta play some rock paper scissors?" Herb looked at him askance. "Guess not."
"I want this Ranma. My female form has caused me nothing but grief from day one, and among my people..." He actually shuddered. "It is seen as a major weakness. I had to fight every other member of my family that could be in the running for my father's throne to prove it hadn't weakened me."
Ranma nodded and then stared off into the distance. As little as two months ago, this would be a no brainer to him, any chance to get rid of his curse he would've jumped at. But that was before he had found acceptance of the curse from Kan'u and from the others to a lesser extent. Now, now he realized that this wasn't something he needed. Not any longer, he didn't know if he could picture himself without it any longer. Maybe it's a sign that I'm growing up, he thought sardonically. "All right Herb, you take it," he said. "How long will it take you to get some water from the spring of drowned twins to us? Wait, have the springs even gone back to normal?"
Herb shrugged. "I can probably get it to us within a few days or so. My father is rich, and has bought a private plane to take me there and back if need be, and the Chinese government will expedite us through their air space."
"Can a airplane even land in your territory? I wouldn't think there was enough flat ground up there for a runway." Ranma asked quizzically.
"No, but I can fly from the plane down," Herb answered dryly.
Ranma nodded and headed over to call everyone back into the room. "All right, we've decided Herb is going to be the one to do this. He'll get the water we need to try this and then we'll see if it works. I'm going to tell Ren about this if that's okay?"
Kan'u smirked at him happy that he had decided to keep his female body, even if he wasn't completely comfortable with either the decision or the body in question. It was part of him and part of the allure he had for her. "That's fine, but leave a few hours tonight, I want to talk to you before you go to bed." She leaned forward whispering into Ranma's ear "And no flirting or letting her kiss you until I get to meet her okay?" Ranma blushed but nodded and Kan'u handed Ren's magatama over.
Ranma once more found himself in the forest, but this time he knew where he was going. He leaped up into the trees, and then made his way toward the river. Following it he found Ren's home quickly. She was still sitting there, though this time she was playing with a few of her dogs rather than cooking. She looked up, and even though her face wasn't very expressive her eye lit up when she saw her. "Ranma!"
"Hey, Ren," He jumped down from his treetop perch to land next to Ren as the dogs ran off, apparently wanting to leave the two humans alone. As they were figments of Ren's imagination or memory, that was pretty impressive. "I got some good news for ya." As he moved to stand next to her she blushed and made to hug him, but Ranma backed up a little. "Uhuh, none of that, ya gotta meet my two girlfriends before we do anything like that."
Ren nodded immediately and backed off. "Pack. Beta."
Ranma never studied animals that much, so that comment went right over his head. "Well, anyway, I wanted ta tell ya we think we came up with a way ta get ya out of here and give ya a new body. Have you ever heard of Jusenkyou?" Ren looked over into the distance for a moment, then nodded. "Well, ya see we've thought up is…" Ren seemed to listen for a few seconds, but when he started talking about souls it started to go over her head. After a moment Ranma realized this and stopped, shrugging. "It's magic?" Ren nodded her head rapidly and Ranma shrugged. "Well anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to play or something while I'm in here? I'll stop by every day out there for a few hours in here until we get ya out."
Ren blushed a little, then nodded. The two played tag through the woods, and then wrestled around with the doggies. Though her face didn't change much, it was obvious Ren enjoyed the fun, and was sad when Ranma had to leave. He promised to come back every day though, which brought a smile to her face.
That night Ranma moved back to his apartment, and was surprised by Kan'u deciding to come with him. He was also happy with it but was surprised when Kan'u entered the bedroom that night carrying a glass of water. "Er, what's that for Kan-chan?"
Kan'u smirked, though inside she was a little nervous. "I thought we could, that is, I could help show you that keeping your female body wa a good idea for more than just mooching food."
Ranma gulped, but he realized that Kan-u had been very understanding about his problems with his female form despite wanting to push for more. "Um, I-I guess we can, b-but if I start ta get uncomfortable we'll stop right?"
Kan'u sighed in relief then smiled gently. "Ranma, trust me any girl knows that line, and I won't push you further than you want to go." With that said she poured the cold water over Ranma's head. Ranma shivered from the cold water, then she shivered for an entirely different reason as Kan'u gently ran her hands up the now much shorter and female Ranma's side. Kan'u gently pulled the shorter gril closer, and then kissed her just as gently.
Ranma shivered, her entire body felt more responsive for some reason, even kissing Kan'u was different this time Ranma's lips were softer, and he couldn't quite get as much pressure on Kan'u's lips as he had as a guy. When Kan'u ran her hands down to the redhead's rear, she found that part of her body was way more responsive. When Kan'u shifted one hand to her chest Ranma moaned as she fondled her breasts, which not surprisingly were also more sensitive in this form. Ranma followed suit, and soon both girls were moaning and grinding against one another in open mouth kiss, their tongues scraping against each others teeth writhing around one another.
When Kan'u pushed one of her legs between Ranma's though the shock of electricity this caused in Ranma made her pull back. "Wa-wait I'm not ready for that." She gasped out, feeling weak and breathless.
Kan'u stepped back a little nodding and regaining control of herself. She reached down and undid the buttons on her school uniforms top, dropping it to the ground. Her bra soon followed it, as she leaned in to kiss Ranma again, who responded eagerly. As their lips locked Kan'u tugged a little at the shorter girls shirt, who nodded a little into the kiss, her own hands playing with Kan'u's breasts and nipples, causing them to harden quickly and pulling a low moan from her girlfriend. Kan'u broke off the kiss to pull Ranma's shirt over her head, then dove back in.
A moment later the two were still making out as they fell onto their bed. Kan'u was on top and Ranma mewled as she licked down her body to latch her mouth around one of Ranma's cherry-red nipples. Ranma bucked up off the bed at the sensation, moaning loudly. Kan'u broke off and moved back up her boy/girlfriends body, kissing her softly before moving back. "Is this good for tonight?" Ranma nodded, eyes glazed in pleasure, and Kan'u moved back down the redhead's body. She delved once more into Ranma's chest. Ranma gasped and her head lolled back, as she felt what had been a trickle down below turn into a flood.
Ranma didn't know what she was feeling, never having felt it from this side of the distaff, but Kan'u recognized the signs and clamped down hard on one of Ranma's nipples, sucking and licking at it sending Ranma over the edge for the first time in this form. She held Ranma as the aqua-transsexual bucked up off the bed, wailing and shuddering as she had her first female orgasm. As Ranma came down from her high, Kan'u smirked slightly. "Now, the female body isn't all that bad is it?"
Ranma nodded then her head rose, and her eyes were glittering. With a heave the shorter girl set Kan'u to the side shouting in surprise. Kan'u pushed up her hair back form her eyes only to see Ranma looming over her, a little smirk on her slightly bruised lips, "My turn." Kan'u gasped then gasped again as Ranma latched onto her neck. She put one hand on the back of Ranma's eyes, smiling internally as she felt the feelings build up in her. This seems to have worked very well indeed! Body shy meets horniness, horniness wins!
Over the next two days Ranma continued to destroy magatama. Almost invariably, the lower-ranked beads had been corrupted, whatever goodness in the original individual completely buried under the evil and bloodlust of the curse.
The higher ranks had many of the same, and Sosou was the worst of all. The soul of Cao-Cao still retained much of its intelligence and honor, but had lost any of its empathy, and its desires had been enlarged dramatically. He tried to convince Ranma to serve him, which obviously did not go over well, and Ranma destroyed the bead with no remorse whatsoever. He was able to destroy nearly every bead they had had, as well as Ryomou and Chou'un's both of whom followed the Guan Yu mode rather than the opposite.
During that time the fighting among the Seito faction died down, as had much of the fighting in the prison cells among the prisoners detained by the police. The lower-ranked fighters had almost to a man got their skills and power from their sacred beads, and without them were just normal hooligans. Some of them appeared quite contrite after their bead were destroyed, breaking out of an almost hypnotic trance, but most of them were simply sad that they had lost their strength and skills. There had been no word from the Fighters that had fled with Shibai from Wei and no sign of Saji or the force he had been able to convince to follow him from Rakuyo and Nanyo, nor would there be for two more days. Ryuubi worked on keeping the communication with the other schools/factions open, but rebuffed Ukitzu's attempts to come and see Ranma, sighting his work on destroying the beads and keeping Ryofu alive, which he was helping with under Dr. Oden's direction by pumping some of his back to normal ki into the comatose Fighter. He also continued to enter the bead to see Ren, who he talked with and played with for at least two hours each day until Herb returned with the water from the spring of drowned twins.
Ranma, Chou'un and Ryomou had set up a room with two large water guns in the corners and another one against the far wall that was empty at the moment. Ranma sat by one, as he knew the trick to heat his ki. Ryomou stood by the other, as Chou'un came in with the others. Ryofu and her bead was placed on the floor and Herb, not even waiting to get over his jet lag, laid down on his back next to her.
Harumoto had spent a day creating and powering the transfer seals, and he placed one under the bead on the floor and was standing ready with the other when/if the twins body appeared. Dr. Oden stood by on the sidelines, mustache bristling with interest as he watched alongside Chinkyu and the others.
Chou'un, wearing rubber gloves very carefully poured the water Herb had handed her into the water gun, being very careful about not letting any of it touch her skin. As soon as the gun was full she left the room and dumped the container into the trash. She came back and took her position by the gun.
Harumoto looked at her, eyes twinkling mischievously. Be careful where that water splashes girl, I don't think the ladies of the world could handle two of me." Behind him Ranma shuddered, remembering what his reaction had been to the sight of the old seal master. There's already two of you around old goat, the other's just named Happosai. Chou'un merely nodded, letting none of her revulsion at the very idea show on her face.
Herb nodded to Ranma and he concentrated, heating the water in his gun After a moment he saw steam appearing on the inside of the tank and he nodded.
The dragon prince let out a long, slow breath, then nodded. "Begin on three, one, two, three!"
Ranma, Ryomou and Chou'un all opened fire at once, and Herb was splashed with the water from all three guns at the same time.
Herb felt the change begin then stop and he gritted his/her teeth to keep from screaming as his molecules fought one another trying to decide what body he should take. To his side, a body began to appear, though it's gender began to fluctuate, until it settled on female. The instant it had Harumoto slapped the second of his tags onto the bodies scroll. He put a finger on the first tag under the bead and shouted "Exchange!" Everyone there who had a bit of ki sight was able to see the ki signature in the bead disappear, and then reappear in the new body.
Ranma and the others stopped firing, and a now male Herb fell back unconscious. Chou'un and Ranma moved forward to check on him and found his pulse steady, he was just insensible form the pain. Ranma left Chou'un to look after him and moved to look at the female body. Dr. Oden and the others had never looked away, struck dumb by what was happening. Herb's female form was rippling, changing as Ren's soul spread out into it and changing it to match her own body. Soon the white and blue hair changed into maroon and her tattoos appeared, even the skin color and bust size changed. The process took a little under half an hour but by the end of it Ren's body lay there.
It took another ten minutes before she stirred, breathing in slowly. As soon as she did, ren's eyes opened and she cocked her head. Then she sat up, looking around and down at her own body. "Hmrhm?" She made that cute inquisitive sound again flexing her hands and touching her body wonderingly.
Kan'u smiled walking forward. "You were right Ranma, she is very cute!"
Ren looked up at her as she neared then her eyes slid to Ranma and back again. She cocked her head to one side and looked at Kan'u inquisitively. "Beta?"
Unlike her boyfriend Kan'u understood the reference and smiled. "Yes you could call me that, though we really don't have that kind of hierarchy." She put her arms around the other girl and Ren didn't reply merely hmming in pleasure. Ryomou and Ranma came over and joined the hug. "Welcome back to the land of the living sister."
Kan'u took the rest of the day to get to know her new sister/lover, and Ranma did the same. Ren still wasn't very communicative, but she was fun to be around, and had some of the cutest reactions to things, such as phones (she destroyed one accidentally) and the TV (she simply stared at it wide eyed for a while) and especially eating (even Koumei was taken in by the cuteness of watching Ren eat). That night Ryomou and Ren joined Kan'u and Ranma in his apartment and in his bed. Herb, who had woken up completely male once again, had moved into the temple, bolstering the defense significantly in case someone tried to get to Ryuubi. They were only there a single night however, when they got a call from Gakushu. This call would be a prelude to the endgame and would put an end to the simple time they had been having for the past few days. "Hakufu's gone!" he said over the phone. "She disappeared last night from her bed!" One of the Rulers was missing, and with her one of the main anchors of the curse.
End chapter.
Bet no one saw that coming, HAH! If you are not familiar with Ren, she is Ryofu Hosen in Koihime Musou, Ren is her real name. An anime that has some amusing lesbian overtones, but is based off an h-game that is actually fun to play even if your remove the h-scenes, a massive rarity among the genre. I just really wanted to have her around to play with, she's a great funny character.
And thus Herb has no more curse, and Ranma and the others have decided to welcome Ren into the group. Sorry but when it came down to it two reviews about Kan'u and Ranma's female form made me unable to choose him to lose his curse. I also stopped referring to female Ranma as Ranma-chan to signify how he was becoming more comfortable whit that form, not completely just yet, but he's getting there.
And if the part about the way they saved Ren sounds farfetched, it's supposed to, what we know about how the cursed springs is literally nothing, because its magic. This is magic twisted to their purposes. We also see the buildup continuing. The final battle will be in either the next chapter or the chapter after that. Also if anyone could look back at chapter 7 and look at my definition of the evil dragon soul. If anyone thinks I should add to it or change it I'll do it.