Nine!

Ranma and cast belong to Rumiko Takahashi.  This is a work of fiction by a
fan for fans.  Don't hurt me please.

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Chapter Nine

	Mousse looked around the restaurant in apprehension.  He and
Shampoo were standing back to back, surrounded by a group of ugly, brawny
looking Neanderthals.  Mousse grimaced at the sight.  He used the term
"Neanderthal" very loosely.  Five or six burly men with jutting lower lips
and sloping foreheads faced him down, each wearing strange armor or
differing varieties.  They held weapons from all over the world.
Scimitars, sabres, falchions, and axes were in their hands.  It wasn't a
very welcome sight.  He couldn't see them, but he knew that Shampoo faced
down at least the same number if not more.
	"C'mon four-eyes," one said with a sneer, "just let us go on our
way with the wench and we'll let you go."
	Mousse couldn't believe his ears.  First, there was the hideous
accented Chinese.  Then there was the gurgle from the saliva in their
mouths, dribbling in copious amounts as they all sat staring at Shampoo's
body.
	"Never saw a lady before?" he hissed.
	"None like that.  We see broads all the time, but this one's
different," one noted with a leer.  Another licked his fingers.
	"This one tastes spicy."
	Mousse grimaced.  He'd jumped into the fight when he burst into
the dining area, seeing Shampoo try to defend herself.  One was able to
rake his nails across her stomach as nine of them tried to wrestle her to
the ground and strip her clothes off.  The minute Mousse inserted a blade
into the shoulder of one of them, they backed off, but only a little ways.
	"Get yourself out of here before I have to rearrange those sad
excuses for faces," Mousse shot at them.
	"All talk and no play," one growled.  It was the one with the
injured shoulder.  Mousse cursed his horrible eyesight.  He was aiming for
the head, but got a shoulder instead.
	Shampoo let out a yelp as one of her opponents made a dive for
her.  Mousse could hear her bonbori crush the offender's skull in.  He
heard Shampoo utter a string of curses under her breath.  A faint smile
played across his lips.
	"Face it, you're useless," someone sneered from behind Mousse.
"As soon as we knock your glasses off your face, we'll take you down in
no-time flat.  It'd take Master Chaos himself to keep all of us hard-asses
off your back."
	Mousse continued brandishing the huge assortment of blades from
his sleeves, despite the threat.
	"What makes you think I'm not good enough?"
	"You as good as an Aspect in battle?  Don't make me laugh!  First
one between the whore's legs wins!" the warrior shouted.  There was a
collective cry as they all surged forth.
	Mousse cursed as his opponents swarmed him trying to crush his
face.  His glasses bounced back and forth.  He cursed his dependence on
them.
	"Two more souls for Master Chaos!" one cried.
	"Only after we have our fun with this one," another said with a
snicker.
	"Hands off!" Shampoo shouted.  There was a sick snapping noise,
followed by a scream of pain.  Mousse watched as one of Shampoo's
attackers flew over him, his arm bent at an unnatural angle.
	"She's a feisty one isn't she?" said someone over the din of the
fighting.
	"I'll be the first between those legs o' hers, you just wait!"
another said with a laugh.
	"The first to come close to my legs is the first to die," Shampoo
growled.  It was becoming futile.
	An unexpected haymaker from outside his peripheral vision knocked
Mousse to the ground.  His glasses skittered to a stop a few feet in front
of him.  There was a loud crunch as they were crushed.
	"Too bad you're already blind.  Looks like we don't get the fun of
taking your eyes and leading you like a slave."
	Mousse fumed, but could do nothing.  Blows from all sides
assaulted him, unseen in the haze that passed for his unaided vision.  He
cursed amidst the pain.  The restaurant became a swirling blur as he
started to lose consciousness, but before he succumbed to the blackness a
scream pierced the haze.
	"I win!" one voice shouted.  Shampoo screamed again.  It pierced
the haze and brought Mousse to his feet.
	"Leave her alone!" he shouted.  Four more blades shot out from his
sleeve.
	"Look at him, boys.  What a pathetic excuse for a fighter, he is,"
one said in a foreign tongue.  The sound of metal being unsheathed filled
Mousse's ears.
	"Pray to your god," another spat in Chinese.  "I'm about to send
you where only the Aspects have seen."
	Mousse's mind snapped to attention.  The Aspects could help him.
Order was willing to give him power if he'd align with the right clan.
	"Order, I wish to join your clan!  Give me the power you
promised!" Mousse yelled.
	"Fat chance, whelp!  Order doesn't just pander to two-bit nobo-"
	The man's words were cut off by a sword to the stomach.  There was
a quiet click and the one blade fanned into three, slicing apart the
impaled warrior's entrails.  The room fell silent.
	Mousse could feel the power surging through his body.  It gave him
energy and power he could only imagine.  I wonder if this is how Ranma
feels when he powers his ki, he wondered idly.  Mousse, felt his eyes
sting and he blinked.  The minute he opened his eyes, the room was clear.
His vision was clear.  Mousse gave a silent prayer of thanks, as he felt a
newfound confidence flowed through him.
	"Hands off Shampoo, or I'll take your hands off.  Your arms, that
is," Mousse said with a confident smile.
	Three of the warriors charged him.  With his clear eyesight and
his newfound confidence, he made easy work of the three.  A sidestep here,
the quick in and out of his blades and two bodies fell to the ground
without more than a quiet gagging noise and the sound of flesh being
pierced by steel.  Mousse danced around the third, his knives flashing in
the light of the restaurant.  The third stopped dead in his tracks and
fell over.  Blood seeped from cuts all over his arms and body.  Mousse
planted a foot on the dead man's head.  There was a confident sneer on his
face.
	"So who wants to be with Shampoo first?"
	One particularly burly individual stepped forward.
	"I'm the best of this group.  You want someone to take down?  Try
me, short-stuff."
	Mousse snorted derisively.
	"Grandiose armor and fancy weapons?  I could take you down with my
bare hands," Mousse said nonchalantly.  With a chuckle and a flourish, he
tossed back the tails of his bloodstained robes.
	"And what, pray tell, is your name?" the warrior asked.
	"Mousse.  It's the last name you'll ever hear."
	"Bah, enough talk.  Show me what you've got, ya lousy chink."
	Mousse stood with a smirk, making the motion a mother would to her
wayward son.  The warrior growled and lunged at Mousse.  Shampoo stood
shocked as Mousse sidestepped and lunged down and forwards out of the way
of a swinging sword.  Mousse delivered a single punch to the ribs.  A sick
cracking noise was heard and the warrior went flying backwards.  Before he
could touch the ground, Mousse was upon him again.  A left to the stomach
doubled the man over.  A whirling backfist sent the man sprawling.  A
crescent kick on the man's neck planted his face on the ground.  Mousse
stood over the body without even the slightest hint he was sweating.
Shampoo stared wide-eyed.  Was this the same Mousse that constantly
showered her with flowers and pathetic poems of love?
	The warrior slowly, shakily got to his feet.  Mousse watched him
stagger a bit before mustering all of his energy for a ki blast.  Shampoo
watched, and the silence right before the storm filled her ears, only to
be shattered a split second later by an enormous ki blast that drove the
man through the front of the Nekohanten, taking the door and one window
with him.
	"Fancy armor and weapons don't make a warrior.  Get some real
martial arts skills," he said with a smirk.

	"I don't know how I did it," Ukyou said plaintively.
	"But there must be a reason for Ken's body to do that.  It wasn't
Ken, that much I know, so it must have been Doom controlling him.  It's
all too convoluted, since Doom needs Ken's soul as an anchor, and Ken's
soul in a chaotic state.  You must have done something to temporarily give
Doom the power to animate Ken's body," Faith reasoned out loud.
	"Now, Ukyou, please tell me everything you can think of that might
do this.  Was there anything special that Ken gave you?" Nodoka asked
gently.
	Ukyou instantly thought back to the pearl.
	"I told you everything," Ukyou said in a whisper.  "I can't think
of anything," she lied.
	"Ken didn't give you anything?" Angela asked.
	"No," Ukyou lied.  "We held hands for a brief time before he died.
It was like he wanted to give me something, but he didn't."
	"But you do have Long-Tzu," Angela added.
	Ukyou mutely nodded.
	"Well, I don't think we're going to learn anything from her,"
Angela growled.
	Ukyou turned towards the now open hole in the wall.
	"What do we do now?  That strange woman's out there somewhere,"
she said with concern.
	Everyone sat staring out at the wall, when a rustling noise could
be heard outside.  Ranma was instantly at attention, preparing himself for
another conflict.  Wood boards could be heard being pushed away, being
cleared to make a path to the dojo.  The instant a head popped into the
dojo, Ranma lunged at the newcomer.
	"Jesus lord!" a voice cried in surprise.
	Ranma was stopped dead in his tracks by a bright flash and then a
shower of lights that danced in different colors repeatedly in patterns
that made him nauseous.  He tried to look past the lights and saw what
appeared to be a hundred people outside the hole.  He backed away
frantically, surprised by his sudden nausea and the prospect of fighting
what may have been a rather unfair fight.
	"Don't worry, Ranma," Haruko said with a laugh.  "He's not a bad
person.  Just be sure to look before you leap into the fray."
	Ranma blinked and staggered backwards as the lights stopped and he
regained his balance and a secure grip on his stomach.
	"What was that?" he asked.
	Haruko laughed.  
	"Why don't you wait a while and I'll be able to answer all your
questions."
	Ranma watched tensely as a man wearing a grey shirt and black
pants crawled through the hole.  A black vest, with a set of small
sunglasses in the breast pocket, was worn over the shirt.
	"How was your trip, dear?" Haruko asked in English.
	"Horrible," Darian replied with a roguish grin.  "When I was
passing through the common gateway, it felt like someone was trying to
seal it shut.  I reopened it and told the gatekeeper to keep an eye over
it."
	"It's easy to shut the gates, dear, but just as easy to open it
again.  Don't worry about it.  If it ever closes, it will just be a short
delay of a minute or two."
	"Right, but I just hate thinking of the thing like a stupid
airplane with all the delays and such."
	Angela snickered.
	"So what's that you have in your hands?" Angela asked in English.
	"It's what Haruko wanted," Darian replied.  "I've got the lost
soul here," he said holding up a small, dark green glass sphere the size
of a baseball.  He held up another in his other hand, but red in color.
	"You know, I just found this one outside.  Cold barely see the
bugger, but I tripped on it.  I could have sworn someone else was out
there too," Darian finished.
	Faith tensed slightly.
	"Was there?" she asked.
	"No, I ran a surface scan and didn't find anyone within three
hundred yards.  You're right though, when you said this place was a war
zone.  It's appalling out there," Darian replied.
	"What's going on?" Ranma asked Haruko in Japanese.
	Haruko smiled.
	"That person there, Ranma - the one you tried to attack," Haruko
said, pointing at Darian, "is my husband.  Darian is the Avatar of my
clan."
	Ranma slowly turned to look at Darian, who waved in a friendly
manner.  Ranma smiled sheepishly.
	"Does he understand what we're saying?" Ranma asked.
	"He doesn't have a clue," Haruko said with a laugh.  "Darian
doesn't speak a word of Japanese, only English."
	"But I can understand what's going on with one of these things,"
Darian said in English.  He tugged on a small gold clip on the pocket of
his vest.  "I love translating machines.  They're absolutely priceless."
	"Ranma," Haruko said gently, "Darian's here to try to help Akane."
	Ranma's eye's lit up instantly.
	"What's he going to do?" he asked.
	"Well, I'm not sure what's he's done yet, but I do know he's been
up to something," she replied.  Haruko turned to her husband and looked at
him expectantly.
	"Well," Darian replied, "I've taken a look at this girl's soul and
it seems there was a little bit of a mix-up.  Someone marked it as being
unclaimed somehow.  It came down to the usual reception area for lost
souls, but it was showing signs of instability."
	"We tried to resurrect the girl here," Faith replied.
	Darian smiled.
	"That'd do it.  It wanted to go back, but wasn't supposed to.  The
usual pining away for the body business I suspect.  Anyway, I gave her a
temporary body, but she seemed to reject it.  I stabilized her for the
time being and then got your message to bring her here.  In the meantime,
I got here and found this," he said, and presented the red orb with a
small flourish.
	"What's that?" Ukyou asked.
	Haruko looked at Ranma and smiled.
	"I think you just got lucky, Ranma," Haruko said with a smile.
	Ranma looked at Haruko stupefied.
	"Is it?" he asked eagerly.
	Haruko simply nodded with a laugh.
	Ranma watched in frantic anticipation as Darian walked over to
Akane's prone form on a bench.  He pulled two small tripods from one
pocket, and a small digital keypad with another.  He set the orbs on the
tripods, wires snaking out from tripods to attach to the keypad with a
life of their own.  Paul pulled a small length of wire and an electrode
from a vest pocket.  He attached the electrode on Akane's forehead with a
small adhesive patch, and attached the wire to the keypad.  With a
flourish he began typing commands into the keypad.
	"It's awfully convenient I found this one here," Darian said with
a nod to the red orb.  "I was going to use one of the souls I'd gathered
temporarily until a substitue was found, but you use what you get, right?"
	Haruko smiled and kissed her husband on the cheek.
	"Hurry up dear.  We wouldn't want to keep poor Ranma from his
fiance, would we?"
	Darian snickered.
	"Just remind the boy this little lady's body needs time to
synchronize with her soul again.  Nothing physically strenuous for half a
day, and no - well," Darian said with an impish grin and mimed out the
rest of the sentence with his hands.
	"You dirty cad!" Haruko admonished with a grin.
	"We should be doing that you know," Darian replied with a laugh.
	Haruko laughed and lightly bopped Darian on the head playfully.
	Ranma watched in awe as a low humming noise came from the two
spheres on the tripods.  The dark green sphere seemed to lower as if it
were a liquid and being drained away into the wire at the bottom of the
tripod.  The red sphere slowly changed color from a dark red to a light
blue.  He heard a noise and quickly turned to see Akane take a short
breath.
	"Well, phase one went well," Darian muttered.
	The Avatar of Death typed a few remaining commands into the
keypad, increasing the speed of the apparent transfer.  In less than a
minute the process was complete.  The dark green sphere was gone, and the
red sphere was now a light blue.  Darian disassembled the contraptions and
pocketed everything.  He picked up the now light blue sphere and handed it
to Haruko who slipped it into her kimono.
	"Am I allowed to know where that went?" Darian whispered to his
wife with a smile.
	"Later, dear," Haruko replied with a quick kiss.
	Ranma slowly sank to his knees next to Akane.  He gently nudged
her body, too anxious for her to be alive, but too scared of hurting her.
He was about to nudge her again when Akane's eyes slowly opened.
	"Where am I?" she whispered.
	"You're home you crazy tomboy," Ranma whispered back with a smile.
	Akane turned her head over to look at him with a feeble grin.
	"I actually hope to hear that again," she said.  Ranma sat with a
smile as Akane weakly reached out to hit him in the forehead.
	"It's going to take a while for you to be able to do that right,
you know."
	Akane rolled over to wrap her arms around Ranma's neck, catching
him by surprise.
	"I'm so glad to be home again," she whispered hoarsely.
	Ranma slowly put his arms around her in return.
	"We're all happy to have you back," he replied quietly.
	Ukyou watched with a sad air about her.  Mixed feelings of joy for
Akane and Ranma filled her thoughts, but a heavy emptiness filled her
heart.  She turned quietly to walk up to Ken's body.
	"When am I going to get lucky?" she whispered to herself.  "When
are you going to come back to me?" she asked quietly, caressing his still
face.

	Ryouga sat next to his campfire.  He was within five miles of
Nerima, or at least that's what the passing motorist had told him.
	"Just keep going straight," the fellow in the car had said,
looking at Ryouga as is he'd asked for directions to the very gate of
hell.
	Ryouga had taken the man' directions to heart simply walking
straight until he reached a forest, and then a small clearing in the
forest.  He'd decided to camp there until daylight.  It would make
traveling easier once he was well rested.
	"Akane," he whispered as he gazed up at the stars.  "I'll be back
with you again, I promise."
	A rustling noise outside the light of the fire caught his
attention.  
	"Who's out there?" he asked, rolling to attention, his hand coming
to rest on his umbrella.
	A nearly half-naked woman walked out into the light of the fire.
The light danced off the scarce clothes she wore, highlighting and
accentuating her curves.  Ryouga felt his nose tickle as he stared
wide-eyed at the horribly outgoing lady before him.
	"Ryouga Hibiki?" she asked.
	Ryouga dumbly nodded.  The lady yawned, taking in a deep breath
and stretching, causing her chest to push out at him.  Ryouga choked.
	"Stop playing with him, Sin," a voice called from the darkness.
	Ryouga snapped out of his reverie.  He recognized the language.
It was one he'd heard while he was in the Americas.
	"Come out where I can see you," Ryouga managed in the little
English he knew.
	A man dressed completely in red armor stepped out into the light.
He removed the helm he wore as he sat across the fire from Ryouga.  The
stranger made it clear he wasn't going to attack by putting his weapons
and most of his armor on the ground.  The man tugged at the tunic he wore
underneath, straightening it out.  Sin simply walked over to Ryouga and
sat next to Ryouga, playfully brushing up against him with a wink.
	"You speak English?"
	"A little," Ryouga said warily.  He shifted to sit away from Sin,
earning a pout and a whine from her.
	"I've been looking for you.  My name is Judas.  I think we have a
few things in common."
	"Like what?"
	"Have you heard of the name, Ken?"
	Ryouga nodded.
	"I only heard it once in passing when I was leaving the clinic in
Nerima.  Isn't he some supernatural warrior?"
	"Yes, he is.  He's also dead at the moment."
	Ryouga stared.
	"He's dead?" he asked.
	Judas nodded.
	"He committed suicide to protect his friends.  I'm here to try to
do him a favor.  You see, Ken's body died, but for reasons I'm not sure
of, he was able to keep from losing his soul.  It's possible to bring him
back to life, but I need to get his body to do that first."
	Ryouga looked at Judas suspiciously.
	"What are you going to do with his body?"
	"I'm going to bring him back to life, of course.  What else would
I do?  Just listen to me for a moment.  I'll try to explain everything."
	Ryouga nodded.
	"If I can resurrect Ken, then everything will be fine.  He can
walk off and do whatever he pleases.  It's of no consequence to me what he
does when he's back.  I only care about getting him away from those three
witch-women that are hounding his body day and night.
	"You see, if those women are able to get their claws into him,
then there'll be big problems in Nerima.  I've already declared a holy war
on the three to try to keep them from spreading their influence.  My
warriors are trying to keep the demons they've unleashed at bay."
	"So why do you need my help?"
	"You've been designated as one who will either make my campaign
successful, or bring me defeat.  I'd prefer victory myself."
	"And?"
	"And what?"
	"How am I supposed to do this?"
	"I'm going to make you one of my chosen warriors."
	"Why?"
	"So you can defeat the one called Ranma."
	Ryouga's eyed opened wide.
	"What?!"
	"I need you to help me defeat someone named Ranma."
	"What's he done to you?"
	"He's in league with the witches.  They've given him powers you
probably have dreamed of."
	"So why should I do this for you?"
	"Because if you don't, then you'll ultimately lose everything.  If
the three women can resurrect Ken, then they'll be sure to use him for
their own devious purposes.  Who knows what they'll do?  If Death brings
him to life, she'll most likely have him commit genocide.  Life can't
resurrect him, but she's trying to help.  Fate will most likely have him
cause havoc for my brother and I."
	"And how does Ranma work in this?"
	"Ranma does the dirty work for Fate.  I was dueling with a
particularly unsavory demon when he attacked me out of the blue.  There
was another girl that appeared too, but I have no idea who she was."
	"A girl?"
	"Yes, why?"
	"Did she have hair down to here?" Ryouga asked anxiously, putting
his hand right underneath his ears.
	"Yes, but-"
	"Was she a little shorter than me?"
	"Yes, but-"
	"Did you hear her name?"
	"I think the name Akane was-"
	"Akane?!"
	"Well, I'm not sure but-"
	"What happened to her?!" Ryouga asked anxiously.
	"Well, she's dead."
	"Nani?!"
	"Excuse me?"
	"Tell me what happened!" Ryouga shouted.
	Judas jumped back in surprise.  Sin scrambled away from Ryouga.
	"I was dueling with a demon.  This Ranma person interfered.  The
girl approached the three of us, shouting something to this Ranma fellow.
There was a scuffle and this girl fell from an attack the demon pointed at
them."
	"And he didn't do anything?!"
	"Who?"
	"Ranma!"
	"Well, no.  He mostly sat there, but I don't think he could-"
	"But he didn't!"
	"Well, no."
	"Did he try?"
	"I couldn't tell.  What's wrong with you?"
	"Everything now!" Ryouga shouted.
	Ryouga stood up, shaking his fists at the heavens.
	"I swear you'll pay for this Saotome!" he screamed at the top of
his lungs.
	"Who's Saotome?" Sin asked in Japanese.
	"Ranma Saotome," Ryouga growled.
	"He wear Chinese clothes?"
	"Yes, why?  You've met him as well?"
	"He stole one of my souls."
	"What?!"
	"Well, I have many of them, but that's beside the point.  The fact
of the matter was he nearly killed me and ripped my soul out for me."
	Ryouga stared at her in disbelief.
	"What?!"
	"You don't believe me?"
	"Of course not!"
	"You will when you meet him."
	"What?"
	"The boy is inhuman.  He's an animal."
	Ryouga turned and looked at Judas.
	"She's telling the truth, you know.  Trust us.  Ranma is a
complete animal now," Judas said in English.
	Ryouga fumed.  Akane was dead.  Ranma didn't protect her.
Ryouga's world was rapidly crumbling around him.  How could he go on now
that the only woman he ever loved was gone?
	"I can't believe she's dead," Ryouga said numbly.
	"I'm sorry, my friend," Judas replied.  "But there is something
you can do about it."
	"What's that?"
	"Well, I can give you the power to get your revenge if that's what
you want."
	Revenge.  Ryouga turned the word over in his mind.  It felt good
somehow, knowing that he could make Ranma pay for his incompetence.
Akane's death would be avenged.  It was the only honorable thing to do, to
find the killer of his now dead love, and seek vengeance.
	"How?" Ryouga asked.  "Tell me how, and I'll do it."


*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Ethan Tsai
1 N. College Street
Northfield, MN 55057

TSAIE@Gridley.ACNS.Carleton.edu
http://public.carleton.edu/~tsaie/ethan.html