Dance With the Devil

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved.

"RANMA!" Lilith yelled as she stared in shock at the young boy. "Why?!" Blood ran down her face from a shallow cut on her forehead.

"Heh heh, can't call myself a man if I let you get hurt." Ranma groaned and looked up. "Think those Devil Hunters wil be here soon?"

"Don't talk! Don't talk!" Lilith yelled at him and tried to think. "Listen, you can't, just don't, stop bleeding okay?!"

"I don't heal that fast." Ranma groaned and coughed in pain. "You should..."

"NO!" She screamed and squeezed his hand, tears forming in her eyes. "I know it's not proper and I know that if any of the other Darkstalkers saw me they'd be laughing, but..." She blinked and gave him a determined look. "I'm not letting you die."

A circle formed under them and Lilith bit her lips. "I know you won't forgive me for what I'm doing, I'm being selfish, but I won't let you just die." A black ring formed on her right finger before she took it off. "A Devil's pledge," why it was called that when she was a Demon she had no clue, "with this..." She picked up Ranma's right hand and slid it on his finger.

Black lightning surrounded the two and Lilith let out a painful scream as she felt the energies swirling, mixing and transferring from herself to Ranma.

As the energy faded, Lilith stayed on her knees, but slumped, barely breathing.

"Lilith?" Ranma stared at her and shook her. "Hey! Are you..."

"Yeah, I'm fine." She wasn't, she was drained pretty badly. Looking up at him tiredly, she smiled softly. "Good, it worked."

"What worked?"

"I gave up half my life to save you, Master." She slumped forward.

"Master?! What? Lilith?!" He grabbed her as she flopped onto him. "Come on, what do you mean?"

"You're my Master, I'm your servant." She yawned. "Don't worry, it's not bad, I'll explain more when I wake up, Imma nap in your shadow now." Her body turned black before slipping through Ranma's hands and disappearing into his shadow.

"What the heck?" It wasn't the first time she had done that, but what did she do?

(-)

Lilith cracked an eye open and blinked. "Huh, haven't thought of that in awhile." She yawned and looked around before getting up and stretching. "Morning, Master!" She smiled at Ranma, who looked at her from the open door and waved. "Sun's not up yet?"

"Not for another ten minutes." He shrugged at her. "So what was that dream you were having?"

"Oh you know, the day you became my Master."

"Oh, you mean when you..."

She clapped her hands and blushed hard. "And I'm sorry about that, Master! If you weren't dying I wouldn't have done that. But hey, at least you don't wear out when we have sex, that's always good, right?"

Ranma had to admit, it was nice, but the fact was that by using the Devil's Pledge to become his servant and heal him, Lilith had accidentally flooded him with so much Youki that Devil Hunters and Magical Girls thought he was a Demon even though he was still human. "Maybe, but you gave up..."

"Oh hush!" Lilith sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling at him. "I'd do it again in a heart-beat, besides, I have over a century before I'll die of old age even now. Who knows what will happen? Besides, I'd rather be bound to you than with the other half of my soul."

"Are you.." Ranma was stopped as Lilith kissed him on the lips, it wasn't passionate, just a simple chaste kiss. "Lilith?"

"I've told you a thousand times before, yes." It was easy to forget that despite looking like she was only thirteen or fourteen the girl in front of him wasn't a normal girl. "Master, no matter what happens, even if I die from old age way too soon for my race, I don't have any regrets."

"That's good."

"Wanna get a bath?" Ranma gave her an amused look. "We both know that you put up bounded fields to clean up the mess after we leave and shut out the noise so long as the doors are closed, but that won't work on us."

"I'm more concerned that we'll need to change the water in the furo when we're done."

"Don't worry, I'll control myself! I won't have sex in the furo with you."

"Good, because others need to use it too."

(-)

A few hours later...

Kasumi hummed to herself, preparing the food for the morning's meals, when...

"PERVERTS!"

She blinked at that. Had they been...

"You're the one who ignored the sign and came into the furo!" Ranma yelled.

"Do you always do that?" Lilith stated, her voice seeming to carry throughout the entire how, despite her normal tone. "Were you hoping to see someone else naked? Sister? Father?"

"WHAT!? NO!"

"Oh no!" cried Lilith. "SHE WANTED GENMA!"

"DIE, SAOTOME!" Soun cried from the dining area, tossing the shogi board aside as he launched himself at the man who he now saw as trying to seduce his baby!

"YOU WERE DOING PERVERTED THINGS!"

"Out of the furo and we were even being quiet and no one was awake when we went in." Lilith huffed, it wasn't THAT perverted, she wasn't using her wings or anything for crying out loud!

"Please no naughty things in the furo, others need to use it as well." Kasumi pouted, if she had to clean up the furo, why, she would be a bit upset.

"We didn't!" Lilith protested. "I swear! We sat in there for like thirty minutes before I got out! I was hungry!"

"SO YOU WERE DOING THAT?!" Akane screeched, causing Lilith to sigh.

"Succubus, girlie, what do you think we eat? Food is tasty but doesn't work that well for feeding my kind." It was a lie, she could get by without sex, but it required finding something entertaining to do otherwise she'd die in three days.

Nabiki walked down, disheveled and grumbling about the sun being too bright and glaring at everyone. "Okay, some of us like to sleep until noon if we can help it, so you early birds need to keep it down."

"Now, now, it's almost time for breakfast." Kasumi smiled at her younger sister. "Nabiki, go get washed up."

"Don't worry, the furo's clean." Ranma mentioned to her, we cleaned up before we left.

"Fine, but if I find anything sticky in weird places I'm chopping your balls off." Nabiki grumbled and walked to the furo to get cleaned up before school.

"...I like her." Lilith muttered, getting a look from Ranma. "What? I do."

"I'm not making a harem."

"Not yet." Lilith muttered, getting a glare from Ranma, who was the only one who heard that.

"Hmph! At least the pervert has one redeeming value." Akane grumbled as she sat at the table. She couldn't believe it, who did stuff like that?! It was so... "BLAH!"

"Are you okay, Akane?"

"I'll be fine." Akane grumbled as Ranma and Lilith sat on the other side of the table and started talking about things she didn't understand.

It was nearly twenty minutes later as Nabiki, freshly showered and changed, was walking down the stairs. "Ah, that was good, smells nice in here, Kasumi."

"Almost done with breakfast."

"So where's Genma?" Lilith asked, looking around and not seeing him. "I meant what I said as a joke."

"I don't think daddy took it as one."

(-)

"GET BACK HERE AND DIE!"

"I TOLD YOU! IT'S A MISTAKE!"

"ONE I CAN EASILY FIX!"

Spectators wondered why that nice Mr. Tendo person was chasing a portly man across the rooftops so early in the morning before shrugging and going about their business.

(-)

"Oh, Ranma, your father told me to tell you that you were already registered to Furinkan High School and that you and Lilith would have to go."

"Fine." Ranma huffed, not seeing the purpose of school, but unless his father was here there was no point in arguing.

"Considering that the perverted hussy looks like she's fourteen, maybe she should go to the middle school?" Akane suggested, not wanting to deal with the flat-chested floozy.

"I already graduated from middle school." Lilith stuck her tongue out, giggling at Akane's expression.

"Figures." Akane muttered as they ate their breakfast in relative peace.

"Hmm? Ah shoot, I gotta get going." Nabiki muttered as she took a look at the time. "Thanks for the food, Kasumi."

"Aren't you going to leave with us?" Ranma asked, getting a shake from Nabiki.

"No, I gotta go do some stuff early in the morning at school."

"I'll come with you!" Akane stood up, only for Nabiki to shake her head. "But..."

"Someone's got to show them to the school."

Twenty minutes later, Akane, Ranma and Lilith were making their way to the high school, and other than an incident with an old lady who splashed Ranma with cold water, it had been mostly peaceful, even if Akane thought it was stupid for the two to be walking on the fence, and where did Lilith get a Furinkan uniform from anyway?

"I just copied what you and Nabiki were wearing." Lilith said as if it answered everything. "So you were saying something about this doctor?"

"Ah!" Akane said as they turned the corner and came across a Chiropractor clinic. "Right here, lemme just run inside and get you some hot water."

The two shrugged and waited around. "So, Master, what do you, EEEK!" Lilith jumped up so high that she landed on top of a power line as she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw it was bones.

"Ha ha ha, sorry, I was just using Betty to introduce myself." A man wearing a black Gi who had to be in his twenties laughed softly before adjusting the glasses on his face. "I'm Doctor Tofu Ono, and this is my skeleton Betty. It's not often that a Demon and a Hanyou stop by."

The two stared in shock and Lilith quickly climbed down the pole. "Master, how does..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you a Devil instead? I'm not as well versed in the differences between a Devil and a Demon as Hunters are."

"...How do you know I'm a Demon?!" Lilith hissed, looking around to make sure that there wasn't any others in the area that would jump in and make the situation messy.

Doctor Tofu held his hands up to try and calm the two down. "Please calm down, I'm a Doctor, not a Hunter, I treat all manner of people, from humans to the supernatural, so long as you're at my clinic, you're safe."

Ranma relaxed a little bit. "What do you mean?"

"My clinic is officially recognized as a neutral ground for all supernatural beings and humans." He smiled and waved his hand. "So a Demon and a Hanyou, and the Hanyou is the Master? I'm surprised, most Demons wouldn't dare let a half-breed be their Master."

"I'm human."

"Oh?" Tofu tilted his head in confusion. "But the young lady is radiating Youki similar to other Hanyou's I've met in my life." He said, gesturing towards Ranma.

"Master's human though!" Lilith insisted, sure Ranma's Ki was replaced by Youki, but he was still human!

Ranma shrugged. "Youki's easier to get."

"By contract?"

"Nah, more primal so easier to draw on," Ranma replied. "I'm still a bit away from drawing out reiki."

Tofu slowly nodded. The fact the teen was still trying to even reach higher domains of energy to use... "But won't that affect her?" he asked, pointing to Lilith.

"Nah, probably kinky though," the succubus offered. There had to be a reason so many realms put angels and devils sleeping together in a bad light.

Tofu shrugged, it wasn't important. "Well, if you say so, oh, Akane." He smiled as the youngest Tendo daughter came out of the clinic. "What are you here so early for? Did you hurt yourself again?"

"No!" Akane blushed and smiled. "Just getting some hot water for Ranma."

"Oh?" He blinked as the redhead took the water and splashed herself, becoming male in an instant. "What DID you run into?"

"Ever hear of Jusenkyo?" Ranma asked, half sarcastically.

"Ah, that old place. Heard of it, but I've never seen anyone who visited it before." This could be interesting, even if the two weren't here long, he still needed to know more about them, both for their sake and for the sake of the people in this district. "I know that you three have school soon, so, if you two could, I'd like you both to show up some time when you don't have school to talk."

"Doctor Tofu?" Akane asked, confused. Why would he want to talk to these two deviant perverts?

"It's okay, Akane, I know a bit about occult stuff, I'd like to update information about Jusenkyo for my colleagues who study this stuff more thoroughly is all."

Akane nodded while Lilith and Ranma looked at each other and then back at Tofu, who was smiling pleasantly. Neither of them thought he wanted to talk about Jusenkyo.

"Sure, maybe after school or something, we'll let you know." Ranma nodded and looked at Akane. "Shouldn't we get to school?"

"AHH! We'll be late!"

Tofu chuckled as he watched the three run off. "Well, this should be interesting at least."

(-)

"Listen, could you two perverts not act like you know me at school?"

The two shrugged, they didn't have a problem with that. "Sure, I guess, Akane?" Lilith blinked as Akane started muttering that she hated boys. "...She's going to be thirty, single and have a couple of cats." The Succubus muttered softly.

Ranma just watched as Akane ran off screaming about hating boys. "I wonder if we're not the first people she's walked in on before." The two shared a laugh as they turned the corner and watched in bemusement as a large crowd of people in various sports outfits charged Akane yelling out... "...This is the weirdest dating ritual I've ever seen."

Lilith felt like laughing, these boys were barely trained and they felt they had to face off against someone who actually had a little bit of skill to prove themselves? "Man, they should be thankful my other half isn't here." Morrigan would trounce the whole lot in three seconds, get disappointed, then drain all of them dry for being such a bore.

While it was amusing to watch Akane trounce such boring opponents, the two quickly got bored.

"Honestly! Every day!" Akane huffed as she finished the last of the opponents off. She threw her hand up and grabbed a red rose as it fell at her. "Kuno-sempai."

"Ah, the Firey Tigress, how you shine with such beauty while defeating those who hope to date you. Yes none of them are worthy of you, only I," a tall boy with shaggy brown hair in a deep royal blue Dogi shirt with black pleated hakama pants. Interestingly enough, the shirt remained closed even in the absence of the obi belt; likely due to being tucked in but still... made one wonder if the man wasn't just a serial flasher in disguise. "Takewaki Kuno am worthy of dating you. Have at thee!"

While the new boy had a level of skill far beyond the other boys, like them, he didn't last long before being punched into the outer wall of the school and knocked out.

"That was... Really sad, huh?" Lilith asked as the two walked over the fallen bodies.

"Almost as sad as you were in junior high school." Ranma quipped, getting a pout from Lilith.

"I swear, if I had more control I could have been a boy and slipped into your school with you."

"How DID you graduate anyway?" Ranma had been meaning to ask, but had forgotten until today.

"A girl's gotta have some secrets, Master." Lilith giggled as they walked inside.

"Lovely..." The wall painting formerly known as Tatewaki Kuno muttered as he saw Lilith walk past him. "Truly..." He groaned as he peeled himself off of the wall. "Is she an angel?"

He would need to find out more about her and if there was one person who knew, it would have to be...

(-)

"Nabiki Tendo!"

Said Tendo gave the taller boy an annoyed look. "You know you don't need to yell." She always hated the mornings, it was worse when someone was yelling. "What do you want anyway?"

"Today, as I was recovering from the love and affection your sister showed me, I saw the most beautiful Angel walk into the school, a lass with purple hair and red eyes! Surely you must have some information on her."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. Sure, Lilith was interesting, but she was the farthest thing to an Angel that she knew. "I wouldn't call her an Angel, you'll anger actual Angels you know." Seeing Kuno's annoyed look, she grinned and held out her hand. "Come on, you know the drill, if you want information, I need money."

"I hate you."

"I'm so glad." Nabiki smirked as he handed over the cash. "Her name is Lilith Aensland, she's staying over at my house for awhile."

"Ah, the Gods have blessed me, to be able to court such a lovely Angel and the Fierce Tigress from the same house, truly this can only be described as bliss!"

Nabiki twitched as he spoke, "I can almost guarantee that no one from Heaven would bless our house," she muttered before clearing her throat. "Be that as it may, Kuno-baby, there's a small problem."

"What?" He looked at her in seriousness. "For my Angel, nothing is too severe to overcome!"

"Yeah, see, she's got someone else to herself." He blinked in confusion. "Kind of complicated, but she's bound to a Ranma Saotome and it would kind of get in the way of you trying to court her." Sure, Lilith might not mind, but Ranma was the Master in their relationship and who knew how he would feel about it.

"I see, I see. And who is this Ranma Saotome?"

"He's staying with us as well and..."

"WHAT?! In the same house as the Angel of my Dreams and the Fierce Tigress Akane Tendo?! I, Tatewaki Kuno, shall not allow this!"

As he ran out of the room, Nabiki sighed, she had tried to warn Kuno, oh well, now maybe her headache could subside a bit more.

(-)

Just after introducing themselves to the class and sitting down, the door burst open and Tatewaki Kuno burst in. "Ranma Saotome!"

"Yo!" Ranma raised a hand lazily. "What can I do for you?"

"I shall not allow it! To live under the same roof as the Fierce Tigress Akane Tendo and the Angel of my dreams!"

"...Who?"

"I believe her name is Lilith Aensland!"

Ranma twitched and stood up. "First of all, even if her element is light, don't call her an Angel, you'll make actual Angels mad, secondly, Lilith follows me and lastly," the next thing any of them knew a burst of wind filled the room and Ranma's elbow was in Kuno's gut, causing him to gasp in pain and his eyes to bug out, "you're bothering my class. I got no love for school but others want to learn. You want to fight, I'll fight you after school, not a moment sooner, got it?"

Kuno nodded and Ranma smiled before pulling his elbow out of Kuno's stomach and allowing him to collapse to the floor, gasping in pain.

As Ranma walked back to his seat, he looked at Lilith, who was looking a little bored. "Well?"

"He doesn't smell good." Lilith wasn't talking about his physical scent, that wasn't too bad, but his sexual scent was something that put her off badly. He may not have been a bad lover for a human girl, but he would be way below her standards. If it was an orgy of some sort, she wouldn't mind, but he didn't excite her at all in that regard.

Ranma nodded and sat down.

It took ten minutes of the teacher droning on for Ranma to promptly fall asleep.

(-)

Ranma stretched as he and Lilith walked out of the school, other than that Kuno person and the people of his class asking about him and how far he had gotten with Akane, which he had shot down several times over, it was pretty peaceful.

"Halt!" Ranma raised an eyebrow as that Kuno person stood in front of the gates. "Ranma Saotome, I heard how you have the Angel of my dreams bound to you by foul magics, you sorcerer!" He pointed a wooden sword at Ranma for emphasis.

"Don't call me a sorcerer, you'll make actual sorcerers upset." Seriously, magic users tended to get pissy if you got what they were wrong.

"Enough talk, I strike!" Kuno launched himself with far greater speed than anyone had ever seen him move as he slashed down at where Ranma was.

"Oww, that would have hurt if I was standing there." Ranma said from behind Kuno, the boy spun around and swung his wooden sword at where Ranma's head was. "Nice try, my turn then." His hands glowed and crackled with blue electricity. Reaching up, he touched Kuno in the chest and sent him flying with lightning crackling all over his body, causing the kendoist to spasm and twitch as a loud crackling sound filled the air.

"WOAH!" Several people yelled in shock as they stared at Ranma, who rolled his eyes at them. "Kuno was right about something!"

"IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

Ranma sweat-dropped heavily. "I never said I couldn't use magic, I'm not a sorcerer though."

"I... Fight... On!" Kuno stood up, spasming and twitching as lightning continued to crackle around him. "F..Fool! The judgement of the Heavens is on my side! The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High shall smite you!"

"You know, I REALLY wouldn't say Heaven's name in vain if I was you, that tends to..." Ranma trailed off as lightning from the skies crashed down on Kuno, causing him to glow like a Christmas Tree before falling over and breathing out smoke. "Yeah, Heaven doesn't like people doing that."

"Master, what are you talking about? That was me. You know only Devils get punished for that, not humans." Lilith whispered to him

Ranma looked at Lilith with a flat expression. "Just once, just ONCE I would like Heaven to smite my enemies for me!" He whispered back to her and walked off, a giggling Lilith following after him.

The courtyard was silent for several minutes as people stared at the charred body of Kuno. Someone finally got the courage to go over to the crater he was in and poked him, causing him to groan and struggle to stand up. His wooden sword was nothing but ashes in his hand. "I... Am... Not... Done."

He groaned as his legs gave out on him and he flopped forward.

"He's okay!" The student who poked Kuno said and the others nodded before leaving.

(-)

It was hours later with the sun getting low in the sky and the color of said sky slowly turning from blue to orange and Ranma and Lilith found themselves on a bridge overlooking a canal with a small river that ran through it, well, Ranma was, Lilith was sitting on the railing with her back to the river. "So..." Lilith began after awhile. "Who do you think finds us first? The magical girls, the Devil Hunters or one of the people after you specifically?"

Ranma tapped his fingers on the railing and grumbled before reaching into a pocket of his and pulling out a small, but thick notebook and flipped through several pages. "Have we seen..."

"A week before we left for China."

"How about..."

"A year ago."

"Then..."

"I can't even remember on that one." She slid off the railing and floated in mid-air to peer over his shoulder. "I'm betting this one."

Ranma blinked and looked at the name. "That cosplayer? Are you sure?"

"Only reason we got out of there was because she ran out of bullets, remember? I did a bit of research, once she finds a target she won't give up."

Of course the reason that none of the people in the book had been successful in tracking them down was because Genma kept them on the move constantly. Neither thought it would be that simple this time. "Should we go see the doctor?"

"Wanna try the shadow walking ability?" Lilith grinned as Ranma nodded and the two walked behind a tree before finding themselves in front of Dr. Tofu's clinic. "So useful!"

"Only for you, I can't do it, and how do you do it?"

"The old man who taught you how to harness your magic and Youki taught me how to do that."

Ranma shivered, that old man had called himself a sorcerer and had such power that Ranma never wanted to try and challenge him, even if he lived a thousand years he doubted he could match that guy. "Good thing he found us interesting and decided to help rather than the alternative."

Lilith's eyes widened as she nodded emphatically, she had no doubt that even with her power she would have been crushed with ease, that old man reminded her of Jedah in terms of sheer power.

"Ah! Welcome." Tofu Ono smiled as the Succubus and her Master walked into his clinic. "I'm open for the night, am I to assume you just need to talk?"

The two nodded and Tofu motioned for them to go around back to the room. "Let me just lock up then, we'll need some privacy for this."

After nearly a half an hour, the older man came back with some tea. "I don't have much, but I hope this works."

The two waved him off. "So what did you want to talk about, doc?"

The man smiled as he pulled up a chair. "Oh just general stuff, things like the differences between Devils and Demons and information about Jusenkyo."

The two blinked in surprise and he laughed. "What? Did you think I was lying to Akane when I told her that? No, I really am curious and this will help others like me who treat the supernatural."

"Is there a lot of you?" Ranma asked, curious, getting a shake from Tofu.

"No, sadly in the modern age people think the supernatural is just stories by unenlightened people to explain things they didn't understand." He sighed, wishing that it was a requirement, there were so many doctors that had tremendous skill but were wasting it by limiting themselves to just humans. "Oh, one thing, before I forget, have you told Akane much about what you are?"

Lilith blinked and shook her head. "She knows that I'm a succubus and what I feed on, though..."

"She screams about it." Ranma rolled his eyes.

Tofu nodded in understanding. "She's a good girl, just sheltered. If possible I'd like to keep her out of the loop as much as I can."

"The loop? Oh! You mean you don't want her knowing much about the Moonlit World?" Lilith asked, getting a raised eyebrow from Tofu. "That's the general term to describe anyone with supernatural powers." Funny enough, martial artists that could use high level Ki arts were not considered to be part of the Moonlit World, she wasn't sure why and the old man hadn't bothered to explain it either.

"Hmm, never heard of it like that, but that works, I'll have to get that passed around in the community. But yes, I suspect that her father has some passing knowledge of it and I have no clue about her older sisters, but I know she doesn't know much about it."

Lilith frowned as she thought about it. "I dunno, maybe they know more than you think?"

Tofu nodded, it was possible that the older sisters knew about the Moonlit World in passing. "No offense to Akane, but she has never been able to keep a secret and not letting the fact that there are things that go bump in the night exist allows for a peaceful world. Imagine if someone with malicious intent found out about the Moonlit World and used the information to manipulate politicians around the world even if that person was never elected and pretended to be doing stuff as a humanitarian but he was doing all he could to destroy countries with reckless policies that he used to trick gullible politicians."

The two grimaced, they didn't want to think of something like that.

"Anyway, do try to keep anyone who doesn't know out of the loop, you can get away with doing some of the crazier things in Tokyo, there's too much weirdness to cover it up, but if you leave Tokyo..." He trailed off, causing them to nod. "Okay then, now that we got that out of the way, let's chat." He smiled and pulled out a notebook and pen.

Ranma laughed softly as he picked up a tea cup. "You really do want information, huh?"

"Like I said, people who can heal and know about the Moonlit World are rare, so any information we can pass along to each other is really important."

Ranma nodded, he could understand, after all, serious martial artists were a dying breed in the modern world.

Notes: Kuno was right about something, it *IS* the end of world and we're all going to die now!

As for that opening part? Well, more information will come out later about it.