Forcibly United
Yubitsume Fugitives: Chapter 3
oOo
Ryouga had approximately a second to consider Nabiki's threat before a powerful force ripped him directly through the Tendou's home, dragging him across rooftops in an entirely uncontrolled bouncing across the rooftops, prompted by an immense dragging force on his wrist. Aside from his own hand dragging him, the first thing that touched the next three rooftops were his chin, biting into the rooftop tiles and leaving the wandering youth in a state of utter confusion.
As the fourth rooftop approached his face, Ryouga got his free hand in front, turning the crash into a roll which took him to his feet as he began to sprint after the force dragging him. He jumped moments after Ranma did, putting more force into his legs and timing his arc so he'd draw even with Ranma at the peak of their jumps.
"Ranma, what the hell?" The bandana-clad youth demanded, his anger rapidly fading when his rival didn't even register his voice, as the directionless boy took in the look on the blue-eyed youth's face.
This wasn't normal Ranma. This wasn't his jovial rival, happy to throw outrageous insults while fighting just well enough to keep ahead of his foe. Ryouga knew exactly what it meant when the insults dried up and his rival stopped his constant trash-talk and just focused on doing something as quickly as possible.
This was serious Ranma.
When Ranma wasn't sparing the time to insult you, his entire thought process was on how to kick your ass, no matter what it cost him.
This was Horaizen Ranma. Jusendo Ranma. This was a Ranma who was going into a fight seriously, with no thoughts of holding back on his mind whatsoever. This was Ranma when he'd first realized the true horror of the Bakusai Tenketsu training. When Ryouga had first showed up with the Shi Shi Hokodan, but at the same time...
This was more desperate. More personal.
"How badly did they screw up, Ranma?" Ryouga asked, smiling a bit. It wasn't quite fond, but as he kept pace with the boy, he recognized that someone who'd pushed Ranma to the extent they really should have stopped a long, long time ago.
They'd gone most of a block, and Ryouga was about to ask again, when his pigtailed rival finally spoke.
"They might be goin' after my mom," the pigtailed boy said tersely, still focusing on the path ahead of him.
Ryouga snorted once.
"They're suicidal, aren't they?" He asked with a smirk, shaking his head once. As his feet touched a housetop and he leaped once more, spiraling through the air, he drew even with his rival at the peak of another jump. He extended one closed fist as the boys sailed through the air. "Normally I'd let your troubles bite you in the ass, but I'm not going to just sit by for this. I'm in."
Ranma's knuckles touched Ryouga's lightly.
"Thanks, Ryouga," the Saotome heir replied with a wistful grin, as both boys hit the next rooftop and continued their mostly-airborne journey. He shook his head and chuckled a bit. "You've had my back for a while now, man. Glad you're still in for helping me fix the panda's screw-ups."
They continued in silence for a moment.
"I don't get along with you or anything. I just won't let anyone but myself be the one who finally kicks your ass and leaves with it still kicked," Ryouga informed the other boy, a grin on his face.
"Whatever you say, Pork-butt," Ranma replied with a smirk which matched.
oOo
When the pair arrived at the Saotome home, it was vacant except for a trio of Yakuza thugs, who were completely startled when the boys crashed into the center of the courtyard with a thunderous crash. They had just enough time to begin to go for their pistols before two of them were bent over a fist each from Ranma and Ryouga, the remaining man grunting in fear as his gun was slapped out of his hand in a move he didn't even see.
As two of the three collapsed, Ranma already was holding the third up by his neck, eyes roiling in anger as he slammed him into the sliding doors which made up the exterior of the Saotome home.
"Where. Is. She?" Ranma snarled, finally releasing the man's throat enough to allow him to speak. His eyes narrowed as the man began to chuckle.
"You don't know who you're fucking with, do you? We're Yakuza, you little sh-AAAUGH!" The scream which punctuated the man's sentence came when Ryouga grabbed the man's right hand, casually bending the pinkie finger back until it snapped.
Ranma smirked.
"No. You don't know who you're fucking with," Ranma snarled, drawing the man back to slam him into the sliding door once again, not caring about the man's continued cries of pain. "You clearly don't know what the name Ranma Saotome means. That's a problem, because you need to understand that you've just taken my mother. I'll tear down Tokyo to get her back if I have to!"
As the man continued to sob, Ryouga chimed in.
"He does mean that literally," the bandana-clad youth noted casually, grabbing the man's hand once more and beginning to bend back his ring finger with just the force of his pinky. "I would suggest you take us where you're keeping his mother, otherwise things are going to get very, very bad for you."
"You... Y-Y-You really think I'll go back on m-AAAAUGH!" The man screamed once more, as Ryouga bent his ring finger back with the same ease, the same sickening crack as the first echoing in the Saotome courtyard.
"Yeah, we do. Where's your car?" Ranma demanded, his eyes narrowing. As the man continued to shake in his hands, he smirked. "Man, you better be thinking about agreeing, because otherwise this is going to go very, very bad for you."
"I'm being the good cop," Ryouga chimed in darkly, waving lightly. "I'm not the guy who's missing his mother. At least you can eventually heal from what I'm doing to you."
"...She'll kill me," the man finally whimpered, tears running down his face.
"I'll do worse," Ranma promised, scowling. A lightning-quick hand slapped him, the resounding smack echoing. "Now take me to where you've taken Nodoka Saotome, or prepare yourself for a fate worse than death, because I'm done screwing around. I'll take off your limbs and leave you alive if I have to."
The man whimpered.
oOo
"This is the place," the still terrified man promise the two young men, the car finally rolling to a stop a short distance away from Tokyo's north end. It wasn't a far distance to travel, truth be told, but the distance was enough to allow the owner of the property to build an actual, feudal-Japan castle. Shining white walls with arching roofs stood in front of Ranma and Ryouga, with another, larger castle behind it.
They got out of the car, and Ryouga casually walked to the front of the car before punching directly through the engine block, grabbing the main drive and ripping the entire thing out of the car with a screetching moan. Regarding the metal in his hand, the Lost Boy glanced distastefully at the oil soaking his sleeve before casually flinging the entire thing to the side.
Ranma took one look at a parking lot full of fancy sports cars and otherwise exotic automobiles, before a bright blue corona of energy surrounded him, engulfing him for a moment before it concentrated into a ball in his hands. He hurled the ball into an expensive Porshe, flipping several of the cars beside it as well as it exploded.
"Not bad. But it should be like this, Ranma!" Ryouga grunted, and the pigtailed boy looked up.
A bright-green collection of energy far too large to simply be called a ball hung in the air, before Ryouga twisted his hands with a grunt and the energy fell into the midst of the remaining parked cars.
Millions of dollars of Italian, German, and American supercars died as the orb detonated, throwing flaming vehicles tumbling into the Japanese countryside.
Ranma raised a fist, and Ryouga tapped his against his rival's.
"W-what? What sort of monsters are you?" Their driver finally asked, dropping to his knees as he considered the two young men in front of him.
"Balalaika's enforcers, and the sort of monsters you never should have woken," Ryouga snarled with a smirk, the two heading towards the large doors which marked the first of the two castles.
oOo
The gate crashed through the courtyard, kicking up a fierce dust and bouncing off of the dirt floor and nearly killing several men who dove out of the way. Out of the cloud of sand strode Ranma and Ryouga, the former shaking one hand and blowing on his knuckles as he walked.
Both boys ignored the various clacks and clicks of various firearms being primed as they strode into the center of the courtyard, Ryouga crossing his arms as he allowed Ranma to gaze around at the dozens of men surrounding them.
"You all have once chance right now. Tell me where my mother is waiting for me, unharmed, or the two of us are going to tear down this entire fucking castle!" Ranma snarled to the surrounding men. They laughed at the declaration.
It was not, Ryouga reflected, their smartest move.
"Fine!" Ranma grunted, an aura of blue energy surrounding him as he focused. In the air in front of him he formed what Ryouga recognized as a Mouko Takabisha, but it didn't rocket in any one direction. Instead, Ranma stepped forward and started slapping it.
The result was an unholy combination of machine gun and sniper rifle. While none of the individual globs of chi would have overly harmed Ryouga, Ranma wasn't directing them at him: He was directing them at the surrounding Yakuza, the majority of which were mowed down by the technique within seconds.
"Ryouga!" Ranma snarled, and the Lost Boy responded to Ranma's prompt.
Dark green chi pooled in his hands before striking the face of the castle, blowing a good chunk of it into the air as the whole structure was ripped in half by the force of the strike. Timber rained around the two young men as they advanced towards the gate which led to the second castle.
oOo
Ryouga shattered the second gate with a casual punch, the tall doors creating chaos in the courtyard as the two boys strode through the stone archway. At the top of the stairs leading into the second castle, the black-haired Yakuza princess with the hime-cut hair, wearing a formal kimono, held Ranma's mother, holding a pistol to her head.
The Saotome heir sighed, looking up at the young girl.
"Going a little far for a missed omiai, ain't ya?" Ranma noted, looking around at the various suited thugs which surrounded himself and Ryouga. He sighed. "You know, if I weren't in Roanapur dealing with some important business, I'd have shown up. Hell, I'd have come to another meeting if I needed to. I'm not unreasonable."
"My father is dead because of you," the girl hissed, jamming the pistol into Nodoka's temple. Ranma's mother put on the most stoic face she could, but Ryouga could see the sweat beading on her brow. "Because you showed up when you did, because you interfered when you did, my father was shot in the head. I'm going to do the same to your mother."
Ranma flinched, his face lowering.
"Please... Don't," Ranma begged, and Ryouga was tempted to clean his ears.
Ranma didn't beg.
But then again, Ranma's mother had never been in this much peril. Not even against Ryu Kumon.
"Would you die in her stead, then?" The Yakuza princess demanded, lifting the gun from Nodoka's head. She smirked, gesturing the gun in the pigtailed boy's direction. "Would you let me walk right up to you and put the gun to your head and pull the trigger!?"
"I would! I would..." Ranma admitted quietly, after screaming. Too quiet for anyone else to hear, he whispered, "Ryouga, when it happens... Make sure she's safe."
Then Ranma strode forward, kneeling in the centre of the courtyard as he closed his eyes.
The Yakuza Princess wasted no time, hurling Nodoka at one of her underlings as she strode forward. The man grabbed Ranma's mother, his gun at his side, but ready.
Ryouga froze, unable to move as the young woman who was their adversary strode up to Ranma, cocking the pistol as she leveled it directly at his forehead. He prepared himself to move, to act, but... He couldn't see any way to save both Ranma and Nodoka.
He grunted, closing his eyes for a moment. Ranma was buying Nodoka's life with his own. His toes began to dig into the sand underneath his feet, preparing himself for a direct leap towards Ranma's mothers' captor. The man didn't know it, but with his gun at his side he wasn't fast enough to prevent Ryouga from saving Nodoka.
Whatever happened afterwards... Ryouga would honour his rival's final wish.
Nodoka would live, even if Ranma...
...If Ranma...
"Nice to meet you, Ranma Saotome!" The girl said politely, as her finger tightened.
The gun fired, the bullet striking the pigtailed boy directly between the eyes. He rocked back from the force of the blow before collapsing back into the dirt, the laugh of the Yakuza Princess echoing through the courtyard.
It was time for Ryouga to do what Ranma could no longer do.
oOo
Author's Notes:
I know I said I wouldn't post any chapters for two months, but I figure one more won't hurt. Also, this is a far more evil place to leave things, so... Enjoy that, folks.
-Gaming Ikari