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Chapter Thirteen: The War, Round Four--Brutality, Courage, and Honor
Shinnosuke ran the course of the southern wing of the complex, his beloved Kaori at his side. His side...it hurt like hell from his earlier injuries, but he kept pushing himself. After all, he had a mission to accomplish...if he could only remember what it was.
{{Oh yeah--Ranma. We're here to save Ranma. I can't believe I forgot that again. One of these days, I'm going to have to take one of those mnemoni-whatever that word is.}}
He turned his head slightly to look at Kaori. Her beautiful face was lined with concern, but for what, Shinnosuke had no idea. Perhaps she was just having early battle jitters, he supposed. After all, he was, too. These people were *way* above his class, and the more he took them on the chances of his coming home alive were being significantly reduced. Yet he still fought on, just as Ranma, Akane, and that one other guy did (and what was his name, anyway?) so long ago. That was his impetus: when friends are in need, honor dictates that you must assist them. Duty requires that necessity. So, there was no choice. And, despite the fact that he was relatively barely hanging on, there were no regrets, either.
At least none that he could remember, anyway.
Kaori, on the other hand, was wishing that she could be a little more relaxed than she currently was. She was honestly concerned about Shinnosuke's condition at the moment. This was a situation where even the strongest people, such as the ninjas and those Chinese Amazons could be killed; what so people with minimal talents, like Shinnosuke, or that one Tendo girl, Nabiki? They could potentially become easy meat for the grinder. That was something that the young chef/martial artist was absolutely terrified about--losing the one person that meant the most to her. As to Tendo Nabiki, well, she was okay, but that was Saotome Akane's problem.
At the moment, she had more pressing concerns...like dealing with the insane martial artist that were threatening the way she looked at the very concept of survival. Her goal here was to make sure that she and Shinnosuke made it out of here alive and well, not to mention the obvious part that she'd like to see Ranma again. She still stung with the fact that Akane and her red-headed friend had double-teamed her to take Ranma away from her. And Ranma was such a prize--he was definitely a looker, and it was clear that he didn't want that Tendo girl. {{He's probably being forced to marry her against his will or something.}}
Unfortunately, the only thing that she could do about that was to help him out by rescuing him and then beating the living pulp out of his fianc�e, wife, whatever. Maybe that would allow him to move on to someone more deserving of him...and although she sadly noted that it wouldn't be her, she loved Shinnosuke enough that she'd never leave him; Ranma probably was the type that had girls beating at his door, anyway.
Still, there was some attraction there in regards to him--knowing him only one day or not, she still felt a tingle when she first had set eyes on him....
They were soon lost within the cavernous depths of the complex. The took a left, then a right, and somehow ended up in a lush tropical botanical garden, resplendent with exotic flowers and birds of paradise. Combined with its Crystal walls, the jungle scene had a look to it that was indescribably beautiful.
Both of them stopped to take a breather; Shinnosuke leaned against his staff while Kaori hunched over, hands on her knees. They were both beginning to feel the effects of the constant workout, and it could hamper their skills greatly. Once they took a breather, they would be fine.
So as the couple stopped, Kaori took the time to check Shinnosuke's wounds. She looked at it, then looked at him with a nasty glare. The wound was deeper than she had noticed earlier. Perhaps the damage had been expanded by the effects of the long-term effects that the Water of Life had on him--his grandfather had told her the whole affair one night, along with a concern of his: that the Moss of the Orochi was a one-time cure, and that the next major injury he received...like this one here...could be grave, and something that neither the Water nor even another dose of the Moss could remedy. She began to hope that this was not the case.
"Love," he beseeched, "don't worry about me. I'm fine. We've got more urgent matters at hand."
"Don't give me that!" she snapped at her lover, sounding a bit harsher than she intended to. Then, in a soft voice, she added, "I'm only worried about you. I love you too much to see you injured in a situation like this."
He bent his head down and kissed her gently. "I'm truly blessed to know that you love me as much as I love you, Kaori-chan. But I'll be fine."
"Awwww...how sweet," a voice mocked, coming from a new direction. The pair spun around to see another woman--if she could be called that--stared at the two from the other entryway of the garden. She was dressed in police style cammies, and looked like Grace Jones had gone psychopathic. Her hatred of any- and everything was far darker than what could be contributed to the average servant of Nguyen, and there was a malice in her soul that burned to destroy everything in the world. She was entropy and chaos unbridled. She had every plan to kill the two.
Immediately, Kaori recognized this as the woman that Hibiki described, the one that they pledged to fight. With no words said, the pair looked at each other, nodded, then Shinnosuke and Kaori dropped into combat stances, ready to strike at a moments notice. The pair stared at their opponent, an unreadable emotion embedded in their eyes. They would have to do whatever it took to stop this woman, to defeat her in the name of justice.
"You kiddies can't beat me!" she smirked. "I guess I'll just have to spank you, won't I?"
"You can try," Shinnosuke said, bringing his bo staff to bear. "But you will ultimately fail."
"We'll beat you, just you wait and see," Kaori snarled as she brought her ramen whip out to the forefront.
Rain shrugged her shoulders in a near comical pose. "Kids. You will have to learn the hard way that the Rain of death falls on you this day." She then leapt in the air, and drove her hands forward, barking, "Comet Cannon!" A white blur of energy leapt from her hands, gunning its way towards the two fighters. They in turn rolled free of the blast radius, which buckled the ground, spraying dirt and loam to the four winds.
Kaori was the first to charge in, swinging her ramen whip like the experienced master that she was. She shot her wrist forward, and the noodle weapon snaked towards its target, snapping her right between the eyes. The kinetic energy from the impact stung her enough for Shinnosuke to come in and trip her with a well-placed uppercut to the head courtesy of his bo staff. She flew back, staggering into a tree. Not willing to let this ki thrower have the advantage, the pair rushed forward.
As the two began their charge, Rain recovered and punched into the ground, screaming, "Earthspike!" A pair of geysers of dirt exploded underneath the feet of Kaori and Shinnosuke, tossing them head over heels in an attempt to disrupt the forces attacking her. Although there were no rocks in the ground, the sheer amount of dirt that launched the two made it difficult to breathe, and the force of the explosion caused dizziness and disorientation for the pair, then jarred them as they landed with minimal grace and comfort.
As the pair shuffled back to their feet, Kaori looked up just quick enough to see Rain's foot coming straight for her in a very painful kick. She leapt back, but unfortunately not entirely out of the way; she took the hit square in the gut and went sprawling back. Shinnosuke then spun around Rain and nailed her solidly in the side of the head with his fist before she could counter it. She was thrown off-balance, unable to recover, and landed ungracefully on her back. However, as Shinnosuke brought his stave down to take her out, she sprang back to her feet, and swung forward, catching his pole. She tugged forward, pulling him into range, then threw a fist into his face, propelling him to the side, and allowing him to release his grip on the bo. With one hand on it, she superheated the item with enough ki to have it catch on fire; the other was used to launch a Comet Cannon shot that blasted him in the shoulder, tossing him end over end.
Kaori saw what had occurred, and threw the ramen whip once more, coiling it around Rain's midsection. As it began to bind her arms, the young woman expelled her Fishcake Blizzard attack, and a spray of the little sausage slices blasted forward at a high speed, creating bruises as they impacted upon the woman's body. Kaori then raced forward, ready to deliver her Kakuto Demae Yakitori Gaeshi, her fist glowing with amber energy as she intended to ram her fist down the woman's throat. For starters. However, Rain side-stepped, and as she did, she dropped down and swept the Japanese girl and as she fell, Rain rammed her into the side of a tree, knocking her unconscious.
Meanwhile, Shinnosuke had broken a branch off of a tree. It wouldn't work as a staff, but a club was a club, so.... He charged the mercenary, his temper high and his anger raging. His side was ripped open again, and a new gout of blood began to flow, but the pain was a minor one compared to what that woman had just did to his fianc�e.
He swung the club as though he were a mighty knight from the age of chivalry. The branch impacted on the merc's chest, doubling her over and allowing Shinnosuke to slap her on the back with a crescent kick. He moved in again, only to be hit in the face by a thrust kick that was theoretically, unnaturally hard for her to do, since her hands were bound, preventing any leverage.
Rain snapped the ramen whip's bonds and punched at her foe, but her was able to block. A second attack likewise was parried, and the pair traded various blows for a few minutes. During this time, Shinnosuke noticed two things: one, it seemed that she was toying with them. She was landing blows that were extremely painful, and she was staggering under theirs, but somehow it seemed like a predator playing with its food. Second, *she hadn't broken a sweat.* She then launched a point-blank Comet Cannon shot that would have cored him if he hadn't ducked under it. Even as he came up, and using the leverage of the club, delivered a bone-jarring uppercut that lifted her easily off her feet, he couldn't help but think that this wasn't over yet.
Kaori came to, trying to shake the ringing sensation that permeated her braincells. She slowly got to her feet, trying to straighten out the blurry vision, and the two fuzzy figures going at each other in high speed combat. Additionally, the world was spinning into a whirlpool of colors, dropping into the deepest corners of her mind. She tried to moved towards the conflict, but found that her feet had abandoned her, and she found herself on the ground.
Leaning against the tree for temporary support, she took a few more seconds to clear her mind. She could see a tiny bit clearer; in fact she noticed that Shinnosuke had taken a second to look at her. He then traded a few words with the woman as they fought, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Then the dizziness began to clear away from her head.
She recovered completely just in time to see the woman stop the swing her lover's makeshift club with nothing more than her hand, then she crushed the thing with that same hand until it shattered. She heard the woman roar, "See? Playtime is over, little boy!" and kneed him in the groin, and as Shinnosuke collapsed, she began to stomp the back of his head into the ground.
{{Shin-kun!}} her mind screamed. In her mind, she had already assessed the blame, and who would pay for every one of his injuries. {{She's gonna kill him! Damn you, Saotome, this is all your fault! I knew I shouldn't have let him come here. Just because you don't have the strength to save your love, you drag mine to his slow death. Once he and I are free of this mess, you and I will be squaring off, I swear it.}}
This, however, did not mean that the person inflicting the damage was going to get off easily. {{Well, I always knew I was going to have to use them sooner or later. I only wish I had them to use on Saotome and her red-headed friend. Perhaps someday, but in the meanwhile....}} Kaori's skill at throwing chopsticks darts and her excellent knowledge of human pressure points led to the creation of this not too-fair item she pulled out of the inner pocket of her gi. It was a slim wooden case, the length and dimensions of a pencil box, the lacquered finish of the box highly polished to the point that it could've become a potential target of Azusa's affection. When Kaori opened it, it revealed her secret weapon...
...several pairs of chopstick darts, coated with a fast-acting paralysis drug. Using them to her advantage, she could stop that mercenary woman before she did critical damage to the man she loved.
Daikoku Kaori raced back into the battle, vowing that before the battle was done, someone would be paying the ultimate price for this situation.
Shinnosuke took a quick second to peek at Kaori. She didn't look at all well. In fact, from that minor glance, she looked like she went the distance with a tournament's worth of Sumo masters...as the floormat. He hadn't noticed a significant difference between the times that both of them had been hit, but he did know one thing: Kaori was the far better martial artist than he; she was stronger than he was and could take quite a bit more punishment than he could...several close-call animal stampedes in Ryugenzawa had proven this.
But there she was, desperately trying to come back to clarity. And here he was, matching this woman stride for stride, though he was a hurting unit. Which meant either he was getting lucky, and she'd had a bad turn of events; or, the more realistic case...
{{Oh shit....}}
Shinnosuke then realized that the dark woman that he fought was smiling gleefully, as though the mouse had realized the cat would kill it. This was confirmed by her own words. "Ah, I see you've figured out why you're still standing, and your girlfriend isn't. Well, let me tell you something, you little shit. You hit like a sissy, while she at least has *some* power behind her punches. She's the bigger threat, which is why she's out on the ground, like a light. It gives me the chance to toy with you until you weaken, then I can beat you to a pulp, so you can be the stain on the ground that you're worth."
Shinnosuke grew enraged at Rain's mocking words. *"So I'm weak, huh? THEN TRY BLOCKING THIS!!!!!!!"* He sliced the very air with the total momentum that he placed behind the force of his club strike, but to little avail. She caught the club in her bare hand, and with the concern that one would have for squashing a bothersome fly or mosquito, she yawned and shattered the hard branch, leaving Shinnosuke with a useless stump that he couldn't possibly use.
She smiled wickedly, bellowing, *"See? Playtime is over, little boy!"* With that, she brought up her knee at a lighting pace.
Pain exploded throughout Shinnosuke's body as his midsection caved in. This was no ordinary hit to a man's nether regions; he felt his pelvic bone shatter into a million pieces. As his legs fell to nothingness, and dropped to the floor under a mass of pain and gravity, he could feel the back of his head caving in as it got smashed further and further into the ground. At this point, he felt his nose implode as his skull began to slowly compact under the blows of someone's foot.
The world was growing to be a hazy red, and one though began to permeate his mind:
{{Maybe this wasn't a good idea, after all.}}
Kaori screamed out, *"Bitch! Suffer!"* and threw every one of her drugged chopsticks at Rain, loosing her entire arsenal at the mercenary in a desperate attempt to save her fianc�. {{If the chopsticks don't do the trick,}} she realized, {{the world will become a much darker place for me. Okay, Kaori, never mind that. Strike hard and strike true, girl!}}
She completed loosing every last one in her inventory. There could be no way that the mercenary could block even one of them, must less *all* of them! Once the woman was paralyzed, she would grab Shinnosuke and get the hell out of there; Saotome or not, Shinnosuke was being critically injured, and she had to get him out before it was too late. Admittedly, he would be annoyed at her at first, but he'd realize soon enough that it was better to be alive and cross with your girlfriend than to be dead and not have any feeling at all. In any event, if Shinnosuke died today, there would be two creatures whose days on Earth would be numbered: the woman who was trying to kill the man she loved...
...and the woman who sentenced him to death, Saotome Akane.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the swarm of needle-like objects coming her way. {{So the little girl has decided to join her boy in death, huh?}} *"Little slut, I'll take care of you soon enough!"* she roared in glee, hoping the girl would realize the futility of her useless attack.
Moments prior to the projectiles impacting, she called out, "Mirror of the Soul!" She felt the familiar mist-like aura rise to protect her backside, and went back to the task of slowly beating the wimp-boy to an early grave. She would be ready for his playmate soon enough. She lifted her chew toy up and stared at what was left of his face.
Nice job, but he was still (barely) alive. {{Time to rid the word of this fuckin' insect once and for all,}} she decided. She began to cock her fist back, infusing it with as much green ki as she could, ready to land the final blow....
The missiles impacted against the flowing, rippling field of energy, then reversed course towards their owner, who was far too shocked to comprehend exactly what had transpired. The lacquered finish of the sticks shone in the daytime light of the sun, followed by the feeling of being bitten by the legendary million angels that dance on the head of a pin. The initial stinging pain was replaced by an overwhelming numbness that filtered throughout her body within seconds. Her arms became stock still, her legs turned to stone. Her eyes became still, and she felt her eyes water as she desperately tried to blink eyeballs that were slowly beginning to dry. Even her mouth was fixed open, unable to scream as she saw the monster in human form lift her lovers' limp, dying form up, ready to extinguish the life force from his body.
Shinnosuke was brought face to face with the woman, who he now knew would be his murderer. He tried to stare at her with the angriest face he could, but it was difficult with one eye swollen, mouth with teeth missing and nose completely pulped. He couldn't find words to say...even if he had the ability to speak, he wasn't sure he could do anything anymore but bleed.
There was one thing that he could do though: despite unbearable pain, he turned his head slowly and jerkily and looked at her. She was injured herself, the mercenary having turned her own weapons against her; now she looked completely paralyzed, but whether by fear or other means he didn't have the capacity to comprehend. It didn't matter, anyway, as what he had to say was far more important than anything he'd ever expressed before.
Focusing every last feeling of love that he had for his fianc�e into one thought that she would never hear, he hoped she would see it in his eyes and understand its depths. {{Kaori-chan. I love you, and will wait for you in the great beyond. I'll be there for you.}}
Shinnosuke painfully turned his head back to the dark-skinned butcher and focused the only other strength he had in his body: that of hate. Hatred of being beaten to literal death. Hatred of the years that Kaori would suffer for his death. Hatred for the ordeal that Ranma, Akane, and their families had gone through. And hatred that he didn't get a chance to say farewell to his grandfather.
{{Well, what do you know? In the end, I did remember him after all.}}
The last thing that Shinnosuke saw was a fist enveloped in green flame coming straight at his face. Then there was nothing but red. A feeling of pressure came, followed by a feeling of release...
...and nothing more.
What she saw that day locked into her soul forever. What she saw that day was something far worse than what Kuonji Ukyo was experiencing. Ukyo had the comfort of seeing her lover die in once piece, and in her arms. Kaori didn't even have that.
What she got to see was her lover turning to her, facing her with what remained of his face. The eyeballs were staring at her through a countenance that was so twisted and injured, only the eyeballs were capable of rendering any remnant of human emotion. Those eyeballs told her everything, how much he loved her, how much he wished that they could have had a life together, all those things they would now miss. She only wished that she had the strength to be able to at least focus all her willpower into her mouth and use it to tell him how much he meant to her.
But that moment was gone forever, as he slowly turned his head to face his killer, his fate--her failure. She, by not protecting him, killed him. The woman, by snapping his neck, would kill him. Saotome Akane, by dragging her so-called "childhood friend" into a fray he couldn't survive, killed him. And all three killers would pay with their lives: two by death, once Kaori got her hands on them; one by having to live with his death for the rest of her days.
She prayed that the beast holding him would give him a clean, easy, honorable death. But that wasn't the case. She pulled her fist back and began to energize it with ki powerful enough to destroy a building. Then, in an instant that would haunt her nightmares forever, the woman punched forward.
The red sparkled with the light as it flew in various directions. The mercenary, however, continued to pound and pound the body, pulverizing it, sending sprays of lifeblood into the air, and turning what was hard flesh into so much pulp.
Still, Kaori could not move. Inside, however, she was screaming as the terror and horror of what had just occurred burned into her soul. She tried to run, to fight, to escape, to move; she found that she could do none of these things. She sat there, awaiting a death that had begun its march to her.
Dropping the sack of flesh that had once been the man that she would have called husband, Kaori saw the face of doom coming towards her, stomping and giggling insanely. The thing was in full blood lust now, and would be even harder on her than it had been on her beloved Shinnosuke. It advanced on her, slowly, deliberately, torturing the hell out of her mentally by simply taking its time to get to where it wanted to go.
The beast that looked human gazed at her with crazed eyes and a wicked expression that implied her death was on the call. Finally, it spoke a taunting, evil note that would completely drive her berserk. "Are you ready to scream for your life, girl?"
Kaori found that she finally had the strength to move her lips and emit that terrified, keening wail of fear and loss.
So she did.
* * *
Ryoga, Shiva, and Kurumi were now racing through the halls at the fastest pace they could, hoping to find any of their friends and notify them of the impending danger before it was too late. Presently led the way, with Kurumi in the middle, and Ryoga once again leashed to her via her ribbon. The three encountered no resistance whatsoever as they ran the course of the great complex.
Within Shiva's mind, she was having conflicting thoughts: {{I know that trying to warn all of oniisama's friends is important, but did I have to leave them? Couldn't I have given them directions? I shouldn't have left the side of my brother and sister. They'll be so cross! But then again, if they knew I was trying to save Akane, then maybe they won't be so mad at me. They do love me, after all....}}
From his position at the back, Ryoga couldn't see the concern etched on the girl's face, but he knew, just from the tension he could practically feel radiating from her. The young girl was brave--far braver than he and Ranma had been when they were squabbling about bread at her age. She also realized that as he watched her more, he realized more and more that the young girl loved him, truly and honestly; not in the way that he had seen the other girls did, but in the same way that the Tendo sisters did--as a member of their family. The more he got to know Shiva, the more he wished that could've met someone like her...a younger sibling could've done wonders for his childhood.
Meanwhile, different, yet related thoughts were coming from the mind of Tendo Kurumi. She was closer to the girl, and could see the emotions that were playing havoc within the mind of the young girl. {{She's worried about something...no, some*one*...could I have been wrong about her? Could Ranma have taken this girl under her wing? I'd like so much to believe her, but can I afford to? Or if I do, will that be the death of us all?}} Kurumi decided to play her hand as is; there was no sense in taking a chance that could lead them into a danger zone. She turned around and glanced at Ryoga, whose face showed rare thought for the lost boy. If he was thinking, then there indeed was something to ponder.
Shiva was about to lead them in a gallop past the northern terrace garden when they heard the bloodcurdling scream. Hitting the brakes, they changed course, and without a moment's hesitation, bounded onto the scene, ready for just about anything.
At first, there were only minimal signs that something was wrong. Although the tropical garden was still mostly intact, there were whole sections were flora had been charred to a crisp, and torched away to nothingness. The remains of some of the fauna as well, were strewn around the whole of the locale. Pieces of crystal were everywhere, indicating that sections of the wall had been blown away; the ground had been excavated in certain areas due to explosions. All in all, it was obvious that limited-scale combat had occurred here, and that the garden had suffered the most.
Another blood-curdling scream led them to the scene of the actual problem. There, just on the other side of the garden, were the remnants of the previous battle. It was here that ruin had been most accomplished. The landscape had been mostly scorched away, and there was just about nothing left living. The three stood in silence, trying to comprehend just what the hell had exactly happened here.
A third scream broke out, and they simultaneously turned to their left, to see, on a lower ridge, the actual, still continuing conflict. Towards the center were the remains of something that had once been human. Now, it was nothing but a collection of torn, bloody rags and flesh, having only the barest hint of hominid form. Whatever had done this had to have been a jackhammer...
...or a mercenary woman. Shiva saw her greatest foe, advancing on an innocent woman. The woman screamed again, apparently so panic-stricken that she was completely unable to move.
Wasting no time, Ryoga powered up, his aqua battle aura coming into full force. Someone had died unnecessarily, and not an innocent was being bullied. Whoever that woman was, she was going to...
{{...waitaminit, that's that woman I faced earlier! The one that Shinnosuke and his girlfriend were going to fight! That would mean that....}} He then looked at the bloody stain on the ground, staring at the rags. The rags, although nearly covered with ground-in mud and body fluids, still had a slight violet shade to them. It looked like a shirt...no, a yukata. He would bet that if he dared to try to peer further at that hapless soul he would see a familiar white crest on the back of the tattered yukata.
He knew that pile of flesh and bones for what it had been once; he'd fought alongside it when it had been a living, breathing person that he had known and respected. {{Shinnosuke. This was way out of your league, yet you came to help Akane save Ranma; this has been your reward. I'm sorry I wasn't here to help.}} Rage began to fill Ryoga; the first time in ages that he'd felt that old familiar stirrings of anger and depression. This...*thing,* this beast had killed Shinnosuke, and now had designs on Shinnosuke's grieving, horrified, iinazuke. That was not going to happen while he was around. He was ready to charge in, when an arm clamped him on the shoulder, forcing him to stop.
He turned around, expecting to see an equally infuriated Kurumi. What he instead saw was Shiva, abject rage in her emerald eyes and her battle aura kicking into endoplasmic radiance. She hissed a simple sentence to him, explaining it all: *"Rain is MINE to deal with."* The voice she used was cold, detached, emotionless; something that he was well familiar with since he'd used it several times...but never in his life could he have ever imagined that it would come from a child years his junior, or that he'd ever get to hear it uttered from another's lips.
He nodded, numbly; Shiva's demeanor having taken something out of him. "Okay. I don't know what--"
"You *don't* want to, Ryoga-san," she commented.
"I understand. But I want to get her for Shinnosuke's sake, and we have to rescue his girlfriend."
Kurumi came up to the whispering pair, asking, "What's going on?" A second later, she saw Shinnosuke's remains and turned to throw up. She'd never been exposed to this sort of carnage before; even an hour ago in the battle outside, she hadn't seen anyone maimed and butchered this savagely.
"Stay here, Kurumi," Ryoga said, patting her on the back in a gesture he hoped would be comforting. "We'll handle this." He turned to Shiva. "Ready?"
Shiva flexed her growing muscles. "What do you think?"
"I can't believe I just asked a Saotome if she's ready to fight." Ryoga's sardonic comment provided him with just the briefest of welcome distraction. "Next thing you know, I'll be talking out loud."
Her next group of assailants unbeknownst to her, Rain continued her psychological torture. She moved slower and slower, inch by inch, to the terrified Kaori. The girl had become so panic stricken, that she'd stopped screaming, looking only with inhuman fear at the mercenary. She'd voided her bowels in the terror, and was coming close to the first stages of insanity. Which was perfect for Rain, who would then slowly torture the girl of a matter of days; doubtless the rest of Nguyen's army was destroying her allies at the moment.
Just within one inch of Kaori, Rain thought she could smell the bloodlust; the air was so thick with fear that she could almost taste it. Looking down at the scared rabbit, who was now totally incoherent, she said one simple sentence that she expected no clear answer to. "Are you ready to join your boyfriend in the great beyond?" she sneered, absolutely enjoying this moment. "Is there something you want said before I snap your body in two?"
*"Yes, there is!"* a male voice bellowed out from behind her. *"Those words are Hibiki Ryu no Karate Super Art! SHI SHI HOKODAN ULTIMA!"* Rain snapped a turn to blow away her opponent with one of her projectiles, only to be nailed with the force of an oncoming semi. The blast, a long bioenergy beam roughly the diameter of a bus, slammed into her, propelling her over the helpless Kaori, into and *through* the tree, and a couple of meters back before she stopped. The beam continued on, undaunted, to rip though at least another 25 or so meters into the interior of the Temple destroying many a crystal wall, pillar, stanchion, and structure in its destructive path. As Rain was still dazed from the blast, Ryoga leapt over to Kaori's side, scooped her up in his muscular arms, and then bounded back to where he and Kurumi could take care of the girl. Turning his head as he leapt away, he cried out, "She's all yours, Shiva-san! Take care of her, and make your brother proud!"
"Don't worry!" If Ryoga could've seen the girl's face, he would've seen a visage of anger at what had occurred, military bearing, and supreme confidence in herself. "She's as good as gotten."
Rain got back on her feet then snapped around, screaming, *"Whoever hit me, I'm still here, muthafucker! C'mon out and play wit' me--"* She stared at the person standing before her.
Shiva stood there, battle aura ready and willing, in a fighting stance that few had seen before. There wasn't any easy way to describe it, except it looked like a cross between the crane and the preying mantis stances. She looked at Rain with contempt, saying, "I'm not afraid of you anymore. I don't need to be afraid of you anymore. I have family now, people who love me. So I don't have to be afraid of you anymore, and you shouldn't expect me to be."
Rain stood there, a look of amusement on her face. "Hah! Now I get to finish ya off, ya little shit! *I've been waitin' for a long time for this, you little punk!"* With that, she charged the young girl, fist once more loaded with verdant ki, expecting to see her run, cringe or beg for mercy. Instead, she just stood there as the mercenary advanced on her, feet thundering a beat that sounded like a stampede of the damned. Rain had every intention of destroying the younger woman.
So it was surprising that Shiva did none of those choices, instead, continuing to stand there, as though she was ready to die. Rain was slightly confused, even as she charged. Shiva wasn't acting as usual. What was going on, here? "Don't you realize that you're gonna die?" she scoffed.
"No, I don't think I'll die. I have no intention to," Shiva replied, nonchalantly.
"Too freakin' bad!" Rain roared as she came within fist range. She shot her fist towards the girl, expecting to detonate the girl's head in one blow.
Too bad for Rain that it didn't happen that way. In reality, Shiva dived under her legs, and coming up, leapt into an aerial roundhouse kick that tagged the base of Rain's spine. As Rain went down, Shiva wasted no time. She leapt back, avoiding a sweep, and charged up her Wheel of Fire attack.
Rain shot back to her feet once more, and charged up her fireball. Loosing the deadly missile, it streaked forward, ready to burn its point to a crisp. The mercenary grinned. The girl had scored a lucky hit. She would not be able to counter this one. Rain's eyes followed the path of her Comet Cannon shot, gleefully awaiting its zapping rapport that it had burned a fatal hole through the body of the young girl.
Again, things didn't work out quite as planned. Shiva, expecting this, improvised. Calling out "Hino no Marui!" and launching all of her projectiles in a tight spread, she bounded skyward as the two groups of hurled bodies met, arcing over the resulting explosion, charging up her fist to a powerful golden glow, then coming down, shouting, "Nakadaka no Yumigata Gaeshi!" Her fist connected with the nose of the surprised mercenary, cleanly breaking it.
As she landed on the floor, she went into phase two of her plan. While Rain had brought her hands up to her gushing nose in a case of surprise and shock, Shiva had begun to orchestrate her plan to deal with Rain once and for all. As her adversary finally recovered enough to take a swipe at her via a wildly aimed Comet Cannon shot, Shiva swept the woman off her feet, rushed forward and grabbed her, tossing her to add momentum to her pain.
From their vantage point overlooking the two combatants, Ryoga watched as the young girl began to take the older, more dangerous woman with an air that could both be described as cocky and calculating. She moved like an AGMA ballerina, dodging and weaving around the other woman's attacks, while landing strikes in a school that Ryoga had not ever seen previously...and for someone who had traveled many places, he'd seen quite a lot.
{{This girl has Ranma's attitude towards fighting, no doubt about it. She relishes the challenge, and doesn't take it seriously until the chips are down. She hasn't gone in the overboard department yet, so I guess that she doesn't feel afraid of this woman. Really weird; I *do.*}}
He averted his glance to look at Kurumi. She was tending Shinnosuke's girlfriend, who was in the deepest stages of hell that he'd ever witnessed. She was in the stages that he'd never imagined ever going in; the places he'd cursed Ranma to go to many a time. Seeing the look in her eyes, Ryoga now regretted every comment he'd ever directed towards that mindset. He then addressed Kurumi. "How's she doing?"
She returned his gaze with a wan and weary one of her own. "On the outside, she looks okay, other than the fact that she was nailed with several of her own chopstick darts. As for her mind, well, I can't answer that." Kurumi said nothing further, unable to quite say something that words could never really equate to.
Kurumi began to shudder with a motion that looked reminiscent of someone freezing from a chill of the weather. This however was far worse; the young woman was suffering from a chill of the heart that no one could quite describe in any coherent way, that neither of the two present could comfort her. Daikoku Kaori had been set adrift on the sea of loss, just as her nemeses Tendo Akane and Lao Shan Fu had been quite recently, but there would be no way to save this lost soul. She would be damned to relive her horror for the rest of her days.
Seeing that event, Kurumi's heart reached out to the girl even as her eyes grew heavy with sorrow. "She'll never be the same again, Ryoga," she said, finishing her thoughts. "That woman has destroyed her." Risking a peek at the younger girl fighting down below with the aforementioned demoness, she asked, "How is she doing?"
The tone was flat and neutral, but Ryoga knew Kurumi well enough. "You still don't trust her, do you?" It wasn't a question.
"No, I don't. Not totally, at any rate. I think that we're being led into a trap of some kind."
"You don't trust that to be Ranma's writing?"
"Yes I do, but I'll have to admit that he's not the quickest on his mental feet at times. He's really smart and all, but like Ukyo's said many times, he's so used to taking on the obvious attacks, he still doesn't see the subtle ones. That little girl's smarter than she appears. And how do we know that she's a 'little' girl? She could be in her mid-twenties, for all we know!"
Ryoga sighed and nodded his chin towards the ongoing conflict. "Kurumi, I think that anyone insane enough to take on a person more powerful than they--as she's doing--and helping out complete strangers--like she's done for us--deserves a bit of a break."
"But Ryoga! She fought against us in Tokyo two weeks ago! She's the enemy, I tell ya!"
Ryoga frowned. "And how many times did Ranma and I go at it? Are he and I still enemies? How about Akane and Shampoo? Or Mousse and Ranma? Even the tons of times that Ranma and Akane fought? The list is endless. You're letting past situations cloud your judgement, Kurumi--take it from someone who's been there enough times, it could lead you into a world of trouble. Give the kid a break. Ranma did, an' that's more than enough for me."
Kurumi, not wishing to continue the troubling conversation, returned to her ministrations. Ryoga, in the interim, continued to watch the girl who continued to fight on, despite unbelievable odds. Ryoga began to charge up his battle aura once more, readying to do what had to be done in the event that Shiva's life was endangered.
He would launch one of his final attacks, a killing blow, a move he perfected alone in the mountains of Hokkaido, a move that he was absolutely sure that virtually nothing could survive it: the Kimagureno Chiho Yudachi--Freak Terrain Shower. Now, he only hoped that he would not have to use it, because if he did...
...there was a chance that Shiva, the girl who proudly called herself the sister of Saotome Ranma, the girl whose life he would be attempting to save...
...would be killed within the confines of the attack's huge blast radius.
*"You little shit! Your minute's worth of life are coming to an end, DO YOU HEAR ME!!!!!"* Rain roared as she took another ki-charged attack at Shiva and missed, hitting the ground. Rocks and dirt flew everywhere, similar to the Bakusai Tenketsu, but with less control and damaging force.
Shiva took the time to use it to her advantage; she deftly noted the trajectory of one of the few sizable rocks sprayed up in the gout of earth. Angling a kick, she swatted it in the direction of Rain's face. As Rain saw it coming, Shiva charged up and fired off a quick three-shot wheel of fire attack. The three balls belted her in the chest and stomach areas, knocking her off-balance enough for the young girl to dash in and strike with a lightning-quick series of punches and kicks. Now having the clear advantage, Shiva was wont to lose this chance to not only avenge herself, but to make restitution for all the pain she'd caused. By dishing it out. On a person who'd done more to further the causes of grief and suffering than she. On purpose.
Rain was going to be in for some serious injuries. Shiva spun and wove her way around the older woman, angling for another clear shot. She had begun to choreograph in her head exactly what she had planned, and it would not be in any way, shape or form easy on the older woman.
Finally, Rain turned to punch once more. Shiva sidestepped and backhanded her in the face. Rain moved fast enough to catch her arm, but that's what Shiva had hoped for. As Rain pulled her in for a point-blank facial punch, the young girl simply caught the woman's hand, deflecting the blow, and then swung her legs up, channeling as much ki as possible into that strike.
The burst of light and energy that result threw back both combatants. Shiva landed nimbly on her feet, still working the formulae out in her head; she'd never even thought about trying this before, but she'd do it if she had to.
Rain, on the other hand, arrived on the ground in a less dignified manner, her head recoiling off the dirt as she collapsed into the much abused tree, finally toppling under all the extreme damage that it had received during the course of the extended conflict. When she came to, there was a new expression on the face of the mercenary, in regards to her former abuse-toy, one word that could describe it all:
Indignation.
{{This ain't happenin'. This ain't happenin'! *No way* this is happening!}} In Rain's cluttered mind, a new maelstrom of emotions had surfaced. Like cold, hard reality, for example. The little girl that she'd made a hobby out of terrorizing wasn't terrorized anymore. No, she was *not* terrorized; in fact, it looked like with that impetus gone, she was ready to do some terrorizing of her own--directed at the woman in the high-and-tight.
Her crushed nose was an indicator of that, as well as the multiple bruises and heat-scoring that she'd received as well. Add that to the fact that all her attacks against the younger girl were coming nowhere near her, and that equaled one serious problem with the way that things were in this situation. The girl was simply not the person that Rain had thought her to be; she was now more confident, and thus now a true adversary.
Rain leapt back, then dashed forward in a crescent kick that pounded Shiva into the ground. She then laid a kick to the girl's chest, sending a spear of pain into the smaller girl.
{{So the girl wants to play like a woman, huh? Don't matter; I'll still beat the hell out of her for messing with her betters. She wants to live like a woman, she can die like a bitch.}}
With that, Rain scooped the girl off the ground and threw another fist into the girl's abdomen, over and over, machine gun style. She then continued her sudden advantage by throttling Shiva as though she were a rag doll, all the while hysterically cheering, *"How's that feel now, you little brat? Huh? Wanna be the big girl? Well, you're gonna die like the little shit that you are! You're nothing to me, y' hear? Nothing!"* To prove her point she began to allow Shiva just enough air before she began the choking process once more, prolonging her torture, even as she continued to punch the girl with her other fist.
Shiva's skin began to tinge with the faintest shades of bruises, even as her face began to pale and her vision began to tunnel. She had to find a way out of this soon, if she was going to live. Living meant home, happiness, and everything. She would choose life, but at great challenge.
{{Life means home and a family. There's no other choice; I gotta beat Rain. Now, how to figure out how to do it....}}
The young girl began to formulate her plan of plans. If she could get free, she'd have to go all out, holding nothing back, because at that point, there'd be nothing to lose, anyway.
Ryoga began to charge up his ki to the needed level to perform his final attack. As he did so, he looked at the young girl, who was slowly dying at the hand of the woman who laughed like an insane banshee. A banshee who, less than an hour before, had not only taken the life of Shinnosuke, but had defiled him in such a way that it destroyed Kaori. Ryoga, despite the danger involved to Shiva, couldn't let a madwoman like that free without paying the final price that she deserved.
He then looked down at Kurumi and her charge. Kurumi had also taken the time to look at the sight, a look of concern etched on her face, but to what depths or reason that it showed, he couldn't tell. She had, however, taken the time to shield the other girl from seeing the sight once more; she was blocking Kaori's view purposely, ensuring that she wouldn't see. It would do little to her anyway; from what it appeared, Kaori had went into a catatonic stage, the world shut out to her.
Finally, Kurumi turned to him and spoke in slow, deliberate terms, as if everything she was feeling was precisely balanced on the edge of each syllable in the words. "She's...she's dying, Ryoga. What are you going to do?"
"I have to--" a pause, "--stop that woman before she takes out the rest of us. I'm going to throw my final attack." His voice came out as a monotonous, dry rasp. It didn't sound like it had come from his mouth, even though he knew it had.
"What about...?" There was concern in her voice. A note that had not been there before. Was it sympathy for someone possibly suffering the same plight as Shinnosuke, or had Kurumi changed her mind about the young girl? There was no way to tell, so he decided to put the thought aside and do what he had to do.
He never had the chance.
*"Well? Arentcha gonna fight your way outta this one, Shiva? Where's your red-headed shitwhore to save you now, huh?"* As if pleased by her own witticism, Rain began to laugh, an explosive exhalation of breath just as violent as the woman who uttered it. After a second, she stopped. A second later, her eyes grew as wide as dinner plates, consumed by an all-encompassing level of amazement and fear.
*"WHAT DID YOU CALL MY ONNESAMA?!?!?!?!?!"* The young girl roared in a voice that sounded absolutely inhuman. It was not the voice of anything inhuman; rather the tones were that of something that had suddenly slipped beyond the bounds of what one would consider a member of Homo sapiens.
Shiva's battle aura began to glow with a fierce radiance, accompanied by a piercing heat that intense enough to equal that of the heart of any volcano. Eventually after a few seconds, the torridity of the young girl became to hot to hold, and Rain released her, more out of surprise than out of pain. That was a critical mistake, because it allowed Shiva the time to charge up and attack.
The young girl immediately leapt back about a meter and a half, then dashed forward. About a third of a meter before her opponent, she roared into the air, *"No one insults my family like that! Take this, you...you...AARRRRGGHHH!!!!! Shiva Super Art! Shungokukitsu!"* Coming from an axe kick position, she threw a series of blows in a rapid, high speed attack that moved fast enough, her body became a blur of gold. She performed a quadruple axe kick, spun and backhanded Rain, then moved into a series of punches that rocked the older woman back. As she was successively stunned more and more by each blow, Shiva then moved into the final phase of her Super: a completely vertical arcing aerial spin kick infused with high amounts of ki energy. The pair was raised several meters into the air by the spiraling, pulsating column of ki-flame, until an explosive crescendo was reach that detonated pure bioenergy across the scope of the garden.
Shiva alighted on her feet, bruised and battered, but beaming with a pride that could only be described as Saotome-like. Rain, on the other hand, landed in a crumpled heap on the ground, completely beaten and utterly defeated.
Shiva wasted no time. Before Rain *could* get back on her feet (assuming that Rain could get back on her feet), Shiva went up and grabbed the woman by the throat. Speaking in a cool yet fiery voice, she explained the words that finally freed her from her past: "I am Saotome Shiva, now and forever. You hold no domain over me now, none of you. Come after me, my family and friends will put you in a pine box. Harm innocents again, and *I'll* put you in a *matchbox.* Get out of here. I'm no longer afraid of you; you have no power over me."
Rain stared at the girl with a mixed look of hatred and fear. But she said nothing, did nothing. She was broken and defeated; there was no more that could be done.
With that, Shiva let the woman go and turned away from her past once and for all.
"Did you see that?" Ryoga commented to Kurumi, impression clear in his voice. The girl, hardly in the throes of puberty, was just as powerful as *he!* "If I didn't see it with my own eyes...." He then looked at her.
He wasn't the only one who was surprised by the white-haired girl's power. Her eyes played records of incredulity, her mouth hung limp and slack jawed. She only knew of a blessed few who had that potential to do that much ki projection and channeling at her age, and she wasn't sure that even Ranma was able to do that.
"Kurumi." Ryoga spoke again, a whisper of a smirk on his face. {{Shiva's definitely qualified to be a Saotome,}} he thought with amusement and understanding. She, like her prospective brother, wormed her way into the heart of her nemesis.
She turned to look at him, her facial expression unchanged. After a second, she realized what she'd done, then shook her head, trying to wipe the emotions from her face. A second later, she'd recomposed herself, and commented in her most gruff tone, "It wasn't too bad...for a kid."
Ryoga grinned at that one, not bothering to reply; he knew exactly what Kurumi was *really* thinking. He decided to join Shiva where she was. Leaping back down to the battlefield, he ran up to her, congratulating her. "That was cool, Shiva-san! Where'd ya learn that?"
The girl smiled, but said in a neutral tone, "I...I don't know, Ryoga-san. All I knew was that Rain here--" she hooked a thumb back towards the defeated opponent, "--was making fun of my family, and I had to do something. I just don't know how I did it--the freestyling just came naturally to me."
"Anything Goes Martial Arts," he said with a grin. He left her and turned to deal with Rain. "Now as for you...."
Shiva held an arm out to block him. "No. Let her be, Ryoga-san." She was serious, though he could tell by the look in her eyes that this had not been an easy decision to come by.
He paused, allowing for surprise to wash over his face. "Why? She killed Shinnosuke. She'd kill us just as well." Why was Shiva sparing the life of this woman that she claimed to hate? It made no sense to the Lost Boy.
Shiva's answer was firm and resolute. "I'm not going to sink to her level ever again. I understand what Ranma-nisama meant when he told me about compassion for others. He taught me that, and I don't intend to let my oniisama down." She grabbed his arm, like a kid eager to leave the scene. "C'mon. Let's go bury this poor final victim of hers." She looked at the mangled corpse, a sad reminder of what Rain was capable of doing if she continued to live. But she made a decision for life; she wouldn't shirk on it.
Ryoga, in the meanwhile, was making other difficult decision as well. "No, we'll carry him back. Shinnosuke deserves to rest in peace in the forest that he loved so much."
"You knew him?" Shiva asked.
With a heavy heart, and a faint sigh, he continued. "Yes. I knew him. More so, he was a childhood friend of Akane's, and a friend of Ranma's, as well. I think I can say that I have honestly never met anyone nobler than he was. He knew what we were up against, knew that he, most likely, wasn't going to survive. He knew that there was a chance that none of us were going to make it. Yet he came.
"He came because of a promise that he'd made to Akane, his oldest, truest friend. He came because Ranma and Akane's happiness would be crucial in his mind. He came to repay a debt he felt he owed them, and he paid with his life.
"Ryugenzawano Shinnosuke was a true hero, Shiva. He deserves better than he got." He turned away, hoping that no one would see the moisture welling in his eyes. He didn't know Shinnosuke as well, but he was a brother-in-arms in this deadly struggle...a master of one of the hardest arts ever to master: compassion for one's fellow man.
Shiva looked at Kurumi and the girl on the embankment. Shiva's heart went out to that girl, who had although seen less carnage in her life than she had, also had a lower threshold...and Shiva felt shame to admit that she'd built up such a threshold. Maybe she wasn't worthy of redemption or forgiveness, but two people in this world felt she was, and were willing to give her the chance. She chose to do so for Rain. Turning to Ryoga, she whispered, "C'mon. We're not too far from a medical room. We can pick up a body bag from there."
"A body bag?" Ryoga said, uncomfortable with the thought.
Shiva merely nodded, then began to take a step to--
*"Ryoga! Shiva! LOOK OUT!!!!!"* Kurumi's voice was fearful and panicked.
Rain stood up, charged up her ki and placed her arms together, then began to pull them apart. *"Time for you to die, you useless, weak, spineless, fucks!!!! ULTIMATE KILLING BLOW! INFERN--"*
Ryoga, not expecting her to have reacted so quickly, had no time to react himself. He stood there, completely helpless, like a baby seal about to be clubbed.
Shiva, on the other hand, *had* expected this. Focusing her entire strength into one single charge, she forced her fist into the air screaming, *"Rain, you had your chance, now PAY! HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!!!!!"* A vortex of intense wind surrounded Ryoga and Shiva as the remorseless Rain was swept up and carried along the current of the twister. Being thrown into the center, she was cored through and blasted away by the rising golden dragon of energy that rushed away from Shiva's fist. The energy dragon carried Rain's corpse skyward, smashing through the ceiling above and through several floors above that, to a final destination that no one knew or cared. The dark and sinister Rain was washed away, never to return again.
She brought down her fist as her energy hue dissipated. She looked up to see the damage that she'd wrought. She tried her best to follow her brother's advice, and let Rain go; instead, it had backfired and nearly cost her life. However, she knew she nor his advice was to fault; it had instead been the criminations of Rain that in the end resulted in her own demise.
She turned and looked at the remains of Shinnosuke. Speaking in the most solemn voice she could muster, she whispered, "On behalf of my brother, you are now free. Rest in the great beyond, and know that you have been avenged."
With no further ado, she began to walk away from the garden. Facing no one, but with her head lowered, she said, "I'm going to get the bag. I'll be right back."
As she walked away, Ryoga and Kurumi watched her, completely dumbfounded. As far as they knew, there were only three, possibly four people in the world that could throw the Ascending Dragon Strike--Ranma, Cologne, Herb and maybe Happosai. Now, on the spur of the moment, and with no prior training nor possible power, a young girl just threw the most powerful attack in Ranma's arsenal, save his Super and Final attacks. The realization crashed upon them, along with a scant assurance that this girl had proven to be firmly on their side.
They were so wrapped up in their revelations, they failed to notice the slight smile of satisfaction that lit upon the face of Daikoku Kaori before she resumed her entranced, half-life state.
Ryoga leapt back up to the ledge, looking at Kurumi. He explained what Shiva had went off to do, and what she'd told him in regards to not killing Rain until she was left with no other option. He finally finished his speech with a definite commentary of "You owe her an apology, Kurumi."
"Yes, yes I do," the girl admitted, sheepishly. "She risked her life to save you, me and Kaori. Plus, she tried to be just and fair, before doing what she had to do. I guess I wasn't thinking, and should've cut her a break."
Ryoga put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed in friendship, commenting, "I understand. I lived my life like that for many a year. Believe me, I understand."
Kurumi really didn't hear him. She rested her head against his chest, glad that the whole ordeal was over. She did, however realize two things: one, Shiva was very much telling the truth; she was Ranma's charge, and had every right to be a Saotome, if not only for the martial arts skill, then at least for the person that she'd turned out to be. Second, they couldn't go on--Shiva required first aid, as did Kaori; they also had to figure out what to do with Shinnosuke's body.
As Shiva returned, a thin, black square of plastic in her hand, Kurumi left Ryoga to tend to Kaori as she offered to help Shiva despite her obvious nausea and sorrow at what had become of her sister's oldest friend. But she owed it to Shiva to give the young teen a chance.
Besides, she would have to get to know her future sister-in-law a little better, anyway.
* * *
Things, as usual, got a little out of hand when Natsumi was involved.
For starters, she had all that opposition when she and her sisters and their friends stormed the entryway. Then there were the two dozen guards that attacked her on the first flight of stairs, followed by the trio of shinobi that pounced on her a second after. Then another team by the banister immediately following that incident, compounded by a team of snipers standing on an overhanging balcony.
All of them were gone now, put to permanent rest by a combination of her katana, shuriken, and ki attacks. As for her, well, she did take a couple minor hits, but she could easily live with them. Or at least *she* kept telling herself that as she currently bound another gash to her arm, delivered via a downed enemy's well-placed bear claw strike.
This was her life, she sighed. Completely and utterly unfair. Kasumi was married and happy, in her own home. Nabiki was enjoying college life and currently flirting with Kuno. Kurumi had an endless supply of boyfriends and suitors to choose from, Ms. "Most-Popular" at Furinkan High. Akane, she was wrapping up her high school years, and well, she had Ranma.
As for Natsumi? She had nothing. Zero, zilch, nada, zip, nunca, nanimono mo nai. What she did have was Kasumi's role as the homemaker, and her duties as a Ghost Wolf. She had nothing in the way of happiness or joy; she only had honor, dignity, and responsibility; the Tendo family martyr.
There was once a time when she could have had personal happiness, but that had been dashed. Sure, having a family now meant the world to her, as did being a Ghost Wolf, but that was a basic human need, not the joy of having something that she could cherish as her own. Without that need she was lonely and sad, despite anything her sisters would do to try to cheer her up.
Ranma. She loved him. She hated to admit that fact to anyone; in fact, she never had, although she now knew that Mist knew...how she did, only the kami knew for sure. She never cared to play in the multiple battles that the others did; she knew that Akane was going to win--she learned during the period that they fought over the dojo inheritance. Of course, only Natsumi knew that she didn't really want the dojo; that was a ruse. The *real* reason was the guy with the Chinese styling and those expressive, warm, baby-blue eyes.
That day, she learned that despite their constant bickering, there was an inseparable love there. A year later, when she returned to the dojo, she saw that even the bickering had disappeared, replaced by a hesitance and a chance at real happiness. So, Natsumi assumed Kasumi's role, allowing her older sister to follow her dreams and marry Tofu. All this, and she had to maintain her schooling and other activities.
No time for fun, no time to rest. No time to just be Tendo Natsumi, average Japanese girl. {{And that looks to be my lot in life,}} she thought bittersweetly. {{More than thrilled that my sister and Ranma are happy together. But what about me? When do I get a break? When do I get someone like Ranma? The problem is, I want Ranma, and he's kinda sorta taken. But that's just another day in my life. Always a ninja, never a shinobi.}}
When she got home, she decided she would have to take better assessment of her life--all fun and no play made Natsumi absolutely postal.
As she walked into another room, the Ghost Wolf noticed a dramatic change in the appearance of the environs. The previous room had been composed of cold, sterile crystal and stone. This current locale had...*wood.* Wood, and metal, and cloth. There was furniture in the baroque style, a plush Persian rug on the floor, gold standing lamps, a grandfather clock. In the background, Vivaldi was playing. It seemed to be something that she would someday design for her own home, if she ever got to leave the dojo.
It looked very natural, as though the designer of the room were raging against the machine. No, raging against all that was emptiness. Despite herself, she relaxed within the confines of the space, soaking in the peaceful bliss that burned clean away the trouble in her soul.
"Natsu-chan."
A voice called her out of her walking dream, into a deeper, more palatable one.
{{A young girl's...I know that voice... How? Where?}}
Natsumi turned towards the direction of the voice, her heart drumming a romantic staccato beat against all hope. Fear, concern, rapture, elation--all were emotions that raced through the girl's mind.
"Who's there?" she screamed, as she immediately pulled out her windmace; unlike her katana, any attack by the mace could easily be stopped before it connected, while the katana was not meant as such.
"You know who it is, Natsu-chan," the voice said, silky and sultry in its tone.
She moved carefully and stealthily, wary of walking into a trap. Nearing a corner, she thrust her mace out, expecting an immediate attack. When it didn't come, she hit the floor, tucked into a tight roll and rounded the corner. When she noticed the coast was clear, she leapt back to her feet. Upon doing so however, she saw something that she never expected to see and it was enough to make her facefault, mouth agape in amazement and wonder.
She--*he*--was here, in his cursed form.
The angelic and innocent smile, the eyes that gleamed with a confident and cheerful demeanor. The knowing, yet childlike expression on her face. The red hair in a pigtail, the color burning a fiery red, contrasted beautifully by the cool sky-blue of her eyes. She was wearing a silken, royal-colored tang and pants with an enchanting gold-and-silver leung design on the shirt. She looked at Natsumi with a facial cast that words could never describe.
Even more breathtaking were the words that uttered from the lush lips of the young woman. "Natsumi, my love...."
As she walked toward her, Natsumi couldn't move, though her instincts in the back of her mind screamed imminent danger. Natsumi consciously shoved it to the abyss of forgotten ideas. {{There's no way I'm in danger,}} she reasoned. {{He's here, and he loves me!}} She blushed like the innocent schoolgirl she was, expecting a kiss from the guy she had a crush on. {{He *loves* me! Loves *me!*}} Saotome Ranma. The one man in the world that she would give everything and anything for. He loved her, he said. She loved him, and wanted so much to be with him.
Ranma stepped closer and pulled Natsumi down to her smaller height, pulled the windmace from her hand, then took that hand and kissed it, taking it into her own. Whispering gently into her ear, she cooed, "Na-tsu-chan...." Natsumi felt a rush of excitement as she realized what Ranma wanted from her. "Natsu-chaaan...."
Again, that impending sense of caution. Again, it was dismissed. Voice barely able to whisper, she breathed, "Ranma, what are you doing here?"
The girl kissed Natsumi's neck. "Waiting for you, Natsu-chan." She turned to face her, blue eyes meeting brown. "I was also looking for some hot water, but couldn't find any. You'll just have to love me as is, I'm afraid," the redhead said impishly.
"Ranma...." It was getting harder for Natsumi to concentrate on anything other than the red-haired symbol of love standing before her. "You're a girl, right now...."
Ranma mock-pouted. "I thought you loved me, Natsu-chan...."
Natsumi mouthed softly, "I do, Ran-chan. I do."
"Then it shouldn't matter," Ranma said, as she began to nibble on Natsumi's ear. "Later, I can change back to a guy, and we can do this again. And it will be better than this time, love."
Natsumi's last resolve of will dissipated in that statement by the redhead. She still couldn't move away--she no longer wanted to move away. As Ranma threw her arms around the ninja, Natsumi gazed lovingly into her eyes and saw deep attraction. Once more, the back of her mind screamed bloody murder, yet Natsumi no longer cared. She wanted Ranma. Ranma wanted her--it was all that mattered in the world.
Their lips met in a soft rush of breath, tingles of electric feeling racing up and down the length of Natsumi's heart. Ranma, her one and true lover. Hers. Desire, stronger than anything she'd ever known before, coruscated throughout every pore of the girl's body. She wanted Ranma, male or female--it was him, regardless. She wanted to touch him, to caress him, to make love to him. The feeling was overwhelming, and getting stronger still, minute by minute, second by second.
Ranma broke the kiss just long enough to declare her feelings. "Natsumi, my only love. How I've waited for this moment..."
{{Stop this and get the two of you out of here!}} Natsumi's mind screeched. {{If you want him so bad, wait until you get out of danger, *first!*}} This time, the barest hint of Natsumi's consciousness paid attention. She had planned to ask Ranma that, but was halted by the electric touch of Ranma's lips against hers, a warm sensation that made Natsumi swoon with delight. Without being truly conscious, the ninja felt her hands caressing her lover's body. Natsumi let out a little sigh, one that would only have been the vocal embodiment of rapture. That, in turn, made Ranma press her own body closer, as though she was trying to achieve fusion with Natsumi. The kissing became more passionate and frenzied.
Ranma broke off the kiss once more. "Natsu-chan?"
"Yes?"
"Let's make love." She had a look on her face that said this was something in the world that she wanted most of all. Immediately. "I want you, Natsumi. Make love with me."
A flaming heat raged within Natsumi, of desires in the open and immediately wanted. Desires Ranma shared. As Natsumi began to undo the frog clasps on Ranma's shirt, eagerly, wanting that union so much that her body began to ache with passion, the danger in her mind came to the absolute forefront, against all odds, against everything:
{{Desire?
{{Ranma wants you?
{{Something is wrong, here, Natsumi. Terribly, horribly wrong.
{{Ranma's not like this, not like this at all--he'd never do this. You've always loved him for his innocence, his kindness...his loyalty. He's loyal to Akane; he *loves* Akane. He would *never, not in a million years,* do this; not to her, not to *anyone.* Think about how many times Shampoo's gotten to him in the furo, and how he's ignored or run from her. He loves Akane and her alone--the rest are nothing but friends and relatives...and you're in that latter category.
{{Moreover, he's celibate. And shy. Love is something he has a hard time admitting to. Romance is a word hard to come across in his dictionary. Eroticism is something *completely* out of his lexicon.
{{He's sweet and loving...but innocent. Something this person you're holding *ain't.*
{{Welcome to Reality Check, Natsumi. This *isn't* Ranma. Whoever it is, is trying to trick you. Worse, it's happening, because your love for him is your blindness, your weakness, just like Mist said.
{{Break free; become a shinobi. Break free, and overcome your weakness.
{{Now, are you going to let this two-bit redheaded hussy make a fool out of you, Natsumi?
{{No.
{{*No.*
{{*NO!*}}
Natsumi, realization filling into her mind like a torrent bursting through a dam, pushed "Ranma" away, startled.
The redhead's eyes flashed the anxiety of a lover spurned. "Natsumi! What are you doing? Why won't--"
Natsumi executed a harder shove that rocked the imitation onna no osaga back, then dropped and swept her. As the girl hit the floor, Natsumi then whipped out her katana. *"You're not him!"* The words the Ghost Wolf spoke were far sharper than the razor edge that her sword held. *"You're not my Ranma, you bitch! Who are you?!?"*
The girl stood up, saw Natsumi's blade unsheathed and ready for combat. The pseudo-Ranma crumbled to the ground, weighed down more from failure than the physical blow that Natsumi threw. Natsumi could see the look of pained disappointment on its face, the sadness of rejection. The words it spoke then were not of Ranma's own. "Why can't you just accept your desires and take me?" In her eyes was disappointment. Disappointment, sadness...a feeling of something lost, more precious to her than just sex. "I was willing to give you your most intimate desire, your deepest wish come true. You wanted it, it was clear! Why couldn't you just give in?"
"Because I love Ranma for who he is...not what you make him out to be," she said. Her heart felt like it was about to shatter like a window pane, but she held firm, held fast to the notion that she had to do whatever was needed.
With no further words, the girl began to cry uncontrollably, as though it was her final chance to have had love in her life. "I just wanted to.... Wanted to...." she sobbed, still looking very much like a warped version of Ranma. "You just don't understand what you've done to me!"
"What have I done?" the ninja asked, sensing a trap.
*"You've sealed your and her doom, ninjette!"* a booming voice uttered from behind her, followed by, "Corona Wave!" Natsumi knew the sound of that voice; the time had come to fight her reviled opponent. As the sound of the floor being ripped apart came, accompanied by the crackle of fire and the small of burning wood, the Ghost Wolf felt the blood in her begin to sing with the chorus of battle. Natsumi felt the heat of the energy blast coming closer to her second by second, relishing the heat of the moment, but for entirely different reasons.
With little time to spare, Natsumi dashed forward and scooped up the bawling girl, then leapt over the energy pulse as it burned away the section of the ground that she'd been standing on. Still holding the smaller girl tucked under one arm, she leapt to the relative safety of the other side of the room.
Depositing the girl back on the floor, she turned to race back towards her attacker, whereupon she was caught by the girl, who had wrapped her arms around Natsumi's legs. "You...you saved me!" she cried gleefully. "You really *do* love me!"
"Would you get off my leg?!?!?" Natsumi snapped, more than a little annoyed. She then heard the sound of another Corona Wave racing towards her and cartwheeled out of the way of the blast, the girl holding onto her leg for dear life, and screaming that they were going to die.
Natsumi, not wanting to go another round with her opponent with the extra weight, finally managed to kick the girl off. Before she could begin any histrionics, Natsumi turned and said, "Wait outside in the corridor. When I'm done here, *then* we'll talk."
The girl raced out the door, calling back, "Be careful, my love! I want you in one piece!"
As Natsumi listened to the doppelganger scamper out of the room, she mentally muttered, {{"My love?" How the hell do I get in these messes?}} Dropping the girl from her mind, she refocused her attention on her opponent, her orange battle aura blazing into action. Screaming out, *"You are under the blood hunt of a Ghost Wolf! Your life's end awaits you on my blade!"* she raced forward to meet her opponent in mortal combat.
The gargantuan man elicited a thundering laugh. "You think you can beat the mighty Nova, little one? Surely you are not only deluded, insane, and a sodomite, but you are fatally mistaken, as well!" He rushed forward to meet her as well. "Die!"
The pair clashed exactly where they'd wanted to. Nova fired a fist forward, something that Natsumi expected him to. Upon seeing the fist lance forward, she made her move. Ducking under the blow, she twisted and leapt up in a back-handed flying uppercut, shouting, "Sempuuken!" A vertical tornado of orange hued energy leapt skyward, carrying Nova with it, then dropping back hard upon the floor, once he reached several meters above.
Still pushing her advantage, she slid behind him and leapt up, catching behind the back of his head with a ki-powered crescent kick that she liked to call the Shirokko Suraisu--Scirocco Slice. As he pitched forward, she regained her balance then threw a nasty three-hit downward punch along the trace of his spine.
Unfortunately, he turned around and swung his powerful fist, sending a blast of ki that railed into her body, hurtling her into the nearest wall and cratering it. He then rushed forward, arms swept back like wings, his battle aura streaming around him, roaring, "Solar Thrust!" The blast connected with the wall, shattering it into millions of shards like so many motes of dust swept away by a breeze. The force carried into the next room knocking over pillars and decorations throughout the next living quarter, and hurling the Ranma-lookalike against a nearby pillar.
Nova smiled in satisfaction. There was nothing left of the wall...or that would be ninja that thought so highly of herself. All that stood behind the wall was the frightened girl who looked like Ranma-chan. She took one petrified look at her oppressor, and screamed, "Leave me alone! You're gonna kill me!"
Nova snarled. *"You impudent little girl. Do you think that you can really be killed just like your ninja-wannabe geisha friend?"*
*"I don't want to find out!"* she retorted fearfully, taking one step back like a rabbit getting ready to run for her life. She screamed, *"Someone help me!"*
"You failed me," he hissed, the tone in his voice ambient with disgust and hatred. *"After all I've done for you, this is how you treat me?!?"* He took a step closer to the girl. *"You will PAY, Mai. You...WILL...PAY."*
The girl named Mai screamed in absolute terror. *"Stay away! You don't love me anymore! You only want to hurt and kill me! Leave me ALONE!!!!!!"*
"I don't love you anymore?" Nova laughed a hearty, disdainful chortle. "Mai, I never did. All you are is just a woman, just chattel. You don't even have the skills to fight that would make you marginally redeemable. What little you *are* woth can be explained on how much you please me--and you've become very boring as of late. So, your value to me is gone, anyway.
"There's no one that can save you now, Mai Ling. You're mine, and you failed me. I can do whatever I want to you, and there is nothing to stop me." He motioned for her to come closer, adding, "Girls such as you do not understand that is the way of men that rules the world. Only a few rare women understand this, and they are so few and far between, they matter little as well. It is your destiny to serve me and my whims, Tsui Mai Ling--you said so yourself when you first came to me."
Mai commented, "That's because I didn't know that you didn't love me." She began to sob again. "All I want is to fulfill my fate, and you subverted that for your own pleasures. I did it because I thought you cared. But I won't serve you anymore. Leave me alone. *Let me go!"*
Nova laughed in her face once more. *"I have four words for that, Mai. NO. WAY. IN. HELL."* He ticked each word off his fingers, leering at her as he did so.
*"I have two words for that comment,"* an iron-toned voice rang from above, the sound of a bell tolling for the giant. *"Roga Shuuhaitai!"* From above, Natsumi roared down landing her Wolf-strike attack upon his head, creating pin-point windburns as her fingers struck his body as she fell before him. She hit the deck, handsprung off and flipped, then launched a pinpoint Sempuuken, tossing him back. *"This isn't over yet, you bastard! I am Tendo Natsumi, Shinobi of the Ghost Wolf Clan, and your end is nigh."* She took a quick glance at the girl having heard her confession, although understanding little. She turned back and screamed, *"When I'm done with you, you're going to wish you WEREN'T EVEN BORN, because I'm going to visit every little pain you inflicted upon this girl...a MILLIONFOLD!!!!!!!"*
"You came back for me!" Mai giggled with delight, tears of relief and joy beginning to well in her eyes. "You *do* love me!"
Natsumi, too angered at her nemesis to be annoyed at the girl's comment, said bluntly, "Mai--it is Mai, isn't it? Shut up. We'll talk when I'm done with the Chauvinist Pig here."
"Yes, my love," she crooned.
Natsumi ignored the comment as she raced towards the behemoth that she was fighting. {{That girl has got some *serious* problems.}} Leaping into the air, she flipped over his head, and on the downswing, grabbed it, and using her momentum, flung him across the room and into his own wall crater. "Ha!" she cried. "Let's see you try your attack again!"
Nova roared, then punched his hand into the wall, breaking off a sizable section of the crystal. Picking it up in his hands, he lifted the giant slab as though it were paper and sent it flying towards the Ghost Wolf. The Russian man soon followed it via his Solar Thrust, expecting his own attack to destroy her should she successfully avoid the ballistic crystal.
The missile came closer, expecting to nail Natsumi in the chest and shatter her ribcage, puncturing her heart. Should she dodge, the following Solar Thrust would hit her and flame her to a crisp even as the strength of the body tackle pummeled her into a coma. She was as doomed as doomed as could be...
...if it weren't for the fact that she was a shinobi. She hopped into the air, and curling herself into a ball, she called out, "Beke-Okami Ninjitsu no Futatsu, Kaidan Dai-ichi!" With a flash of fiery orange light accompanied with a vacuum burst of wind, she disappeared. The crystal slammed harmlessly against the floor a distance away from where it was to connect; it burst into a spectacular spray of twinkling motes of light. The Russian soon stopped his attack after, absolutely clueless as to where his opponent went.
{{She couldn't have gone anywhere,}} he mused. {{She's a girl. She has no talent for such things. Few women have any true talent for combat, and they are all here--Mango, Rain, and that Saotome woman that the ninjette was in love with. Now I simply have to find out where she has hidden.}} He moved into the open middle space, hoping to get a clearer view of where his annoyances--both of them--had skulked off to.
Slight miscalculation on his part.
A voice screamed in stereo. *"Beke-Okami Ninjitsu no Futatsu, Kaidan Dai-ni! Kagami ni Utsusu no Kirisaku!"*
On either side of him appeared a pair of shimmering Natsumi simulacra seemingly composed of wind. The pair then charged towards him and delivered a pair of potent strikes to Nova's chest and back. As the punches connected, the simulacra imploded in a vacuum bubble on either side, drawing blood as it shredded his skin, causing the Sambo master to screech a dirge of hot pain and fury. A few meters in front of him, there was a second whiz-bang display of pyrotechnics and Natsumi materialized, stretched back from her fetal position, then dropped to the floor in a tight crouch, katana in hand, staring at him with the look of a shark smelling blood in the water.
"Your time is waning," she said in a cold, emotionless voice. "Have you prepared yourself for death's cool kiss yet?" She smiled briefly, signaling her intent, though it was already more than crystal clear. "Your life is forfeit. Honor demands it. Justice demands it. But even more than those two--" she paused for a second, "--the innocence that you took from that girl demands it. You, sir, are not going to be alive one minute from now."
Her opponent stopped and laughed at her, a dark, insane laugh more than equal to the caliber of Kodachi. He then roared his final decree, words that would seal the fate of the two combatants. *"YOU LITTLE MINX!!!!!!! DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT THE GREAT NOVA YVGENOV? TAKE MY FINAL FORCE AS A SIGN OF YOUR DOOM!!!! YOU OR I OR BOTH WILL DIE, BUT I WILL NOT EVER LOSE TO A WEAK, SPINELESS, PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A EGO-INFLATED GEISHA SUCH AS YOU!!!!!!"* With that he slammed both his fists into the ground and screamed so loud that his voice broke, *"AWESOME FORCE TO BEHOLD!!!!!!! NOVA TERROR TIDAL WAVE!!!!!!"* The floor began to waver as it buckled and bent under the forces of the massive arc of power that burned its way towards Natsumi. Its light was blinding, its heat intense, it would probably kill her long before it impacted and scorched her away her body. The speeding, magma-like crescent of force came closer and closer to her, searing any and everything in its path. She however continued to stand there, awaiting the onrushing death that would swallow her whole.
Once again, as though she lived for the very rush of adrenaline, she vaulted towards the ceiling, barely clearing the ki assault as it continued to blow through two more rooms and disintegrating two more walls before detonating in the third (and ultimately discharging so much force that it caved in a good section of the particular floor of the great palace that they were in). Upon reaching her zenith, she pronounced his fate. *"Now is the moment of your death, and I call your life forfeit! Ghost Wolf Clan Ultimate Art! Katana to Fukinagashi Kokyogaku!"*
Diving towards him, sword readied for a thrust, her battle aura erupted around her as she turned into a shooting star. As the orange comet fell from the sky towards him, she lunged and stabbed it into his gut. Continuing her assault and still glowing with ki, she rushed forward, delivering a high-speed series of kicks, punches and chops that drove the blade deeper. Finally, she punched forward, launching her Sempuuken in horizontal (a little trick she'd learned from Ranma), driving him back into the remnants of a wall they'd obliterated earlier, where he was impaled to the wall like the stuck pig that he was.
Natsumi calmly walked over to him and with a slight twist, removed her sword. He still continued to stand there, looking very much dazed. She began to walk away from him as she sheathed her sword, then snapped her delicate fingers. All at once a geyser of blood erupted from her opponent as he pitched forward, dead.
"Yeah, I can be a minx," she commented, without so much as even looking at the corpse she left behind. "But you'll have to learn in the next life that all minxes can be fatal beauties, as well."
As she walked into the next room, Natsumi called out, "Mai! Mai! You're safe now. He won't hurt you ever again. I promise." Natsumi was trying to be very stoic about her comments and facial expression, slipping into the ways of the hime no kori that she knew so well. The girl was very much traumatized, and she had a coping mechanism that made Azusa and Kodachi look absolutely normal--she didn't want to encourage her. Furthermore, she also wanted to know that the girl was safe and evacuated her from the premises. Although this meant that her search to save Ranma would be ended here and now, she was a Ghost Wolf, and that meant helping the innocent and helpless when- and wherever the job took her.
"Mai!" she called out again. {{Man, I don't know what's with that girl...or for that matter, me either. Here I am, sounding just a bit like a person calling out to her lover.}} "Mai!" She huffed, then giggled at the ridiculousness of it all. {{Next thing you know, she'll be diving into my arms expecting a kiss. Well, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice....}}
*"NATSU-CHAN!!!!!"* A jubilant voice called out as the petite Mai leapt towards Natsumi, bowling her over and planting upon her the most sensuous, loving kiss that the smaller girl could manage...or the older girl had ever received. However this time, there was no desire involved; Natsumi wasn't falling for the girl's tricks, and apparently, the girl wasn't trying to deceive her, either.
"Get off of me!" Natsumi hissed, trying to wriggle out of the girl's glomp and trying to speak while avoiding Mai's romantic intentions. "Who the hell do you think you are? Shampoo?"
"If Natsumi want Mai be Shampoo, Mai can arrange." In less than a blink of an eye, the girl that was a double for Saotome Ranma morphed into the Chinese Amazon's form--an exact copy, from the amethyst hair and eyes right down to the halted, stilting Japanese. While Mai continued her display of affections, Natsumi leapt up three meters in the air out of sheer fright. Coming back down, Natsumi looked as pale as a sheet. Mai in turn had a worried look in her violet eyes, as she toyed with her hair in concern. "Are okay, my love? Mai hope no do anything to upset wode Natsumi...."
Natsumi's eyes flashed between danger and discomfort. She instead decided to say nothing and count to ten to calm down. A few minutes later, as the number 287 rolled by, she decided she wasn't going to calm down and she'd best continue on with what she had in mind anyway. "Listen, Mai...."
The Shampoo clone sat down, eager and attentive. "Mai sit down, listen to wode Natsumi words."
"Could you stop that?" Natsumi had to practically bite her tongue to prevent adding any extra words that could be said. "Could you...um...change into yourself?"
The girl looked downcast and twiddled her thumbs unhappily. "Mai see. Natsumi no like Shampoo form."
"I'd appreciate it more if I was talking to the *real* you."
The girl brightened up that remark. "Okay!" Another morphing transformation that reminded Natsumi of that old American cartoon character Gumby, and soon after, Tsui Mai Ling stood before her. The true Mai Ling, not her in one of her altered forms ({{And how the hell does she do that?}} Natsumi wondered. {{I'll have to get her to tell me}}) looking just as petite and eyes glittering with absolute adoration for the taller girl. "There. How do I look now?"
Natsumi looked at the girl and smiled. If Natsumi had Nabiki's inclinations--or so the running joke around school went--she'd be in heaven. The girl looked very much like her beloved Ranma in female form, the only difference being the rose-colored hair, gray eyes, and hair left draping over her right shoulder. She was wearing something that Natsumi could only vaguely guess to be local clothing, and had a straw hat hanging on her back. The girl had the old peasant look down pat, but that was odd for a secluded valley that had no civilian residents for hundreds of years. She looked very sweet and kind, and had a relatively caring and gentle demeanor to her.
"Very nice," Natsumi said, noncommittally.
"Great! Then I'll stay this way just for you." She beamed a cheerful sunny smile that Natsumi couldn't help but respond to...which was quickly dashed by Mai's next words: "Let's go home now. The sooner I begin the duties of a faithful and loving wife, the better."
That made Natsumi lose it. *"WIFE?!?!?!?!?!?!"* She slapped her palm to her forehead in resignation. "Shimata...." She paused for breath, then continued. "Listen, Mai. We'll get you out of here and to wherever you want to go, preferably somewhere with nice medical facilities for your little...problem. But let's get this straight: you're a girl, *I'm* a girl--"
"I know that, wode airen," Mai spoke with a cheerful tone.
"--and girls can't marry girls...not in Japan, anyway. You can't call me your husband. Domestic partner, maybe...." Her hand went to her forehead again. {{Zakkenayo! What am I *SAYING?!?!?!*}}
"'Domestic Partner', hmmm? Sounds different. But if that's what they call it where you come from, I guess that will have to do. Do I call you that, or does that apply to both of us? Or am I still just a 'wife'? This is new to me, my loving airen--Domestic Partner."
"Listen. We're not married--"
"You just explained that," Mai pointed out helpfully.
"--But you keep acting as though we are. You say you're completely in love with me, but you've known me for all of half an hour. Would you care to explain to me what's going on?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, my Domestic Par--say, that's too long. Can I just say airen?"
{{I give up.}} "Whatever."
"Anyway, my fate is to love anyone who will love me. You love me because you saved me, and you aren't treating me like dirt." She went to her tiptoes and put her arms around Natsumi's neck, trying to kiss her. Natsumi backed off, hoping the girl would get the clue. Fortunately, Mai misinterpreted this as Natsumi thinking that the explanation was currently more important than any expression of affection, and Mai, always wanting to be the picture-perfect example of the good wife, dutifully complied. Sliding back down to her feet, she continued. "My fate began a while ago, airen. My first husband abandoned me in this place--he felt that the power that this place gave was more important than his dutiful wife. I wandered around here, lost and lonely, until another person came to visit me--she was a nice woman that looked similar to that Ranma woman you were talking about, except her name was Jiu. She said that she would help me, but that there would be a price to this help, although it would work out for me in the end. My fate, she said, was to love and stay with anyone who loved me, until the end of time, or until someone who *really* loved me came along.
"I thought that Nova loved me. He taught me the speech of other lands--like Japanese, Russian, and English. But I should've known that he didn't. He was very rough at pillowing, and he used to thrash me whenever I made a mistake, until I had to hide or please him. He even wanted me to seduce you so he could kill you. There were times I thought that he would kill me, but he didn't because he loved me. I guess I was wrong; he didn't because I was simply a tool to be used.
"But you changed all that. You saved me and showed me you cared. And now, I'm your loving, dutiful wife, for all time. And I know that *you* would never hurt me, because you seem to be so much nicer...even if you don't smile often. You should smile more, by the way, love. You'd be much happier that way."
"Anyway," Natsumi cut the girl off at the next syllable, "So you're saying that I'm doomed to have you haunt me forever?"
"Well, if you insist on using the technical term, yeah."
"Why did I bother getting up this morning?" she said to herself. It was clear to hear the misery in her voice. {{How am I going to explain this to Father? I know what he'll say: "Natsumi, you must honor your obligations at all times. I'm counting on you." Why can't I have a *normal* life?}} She shrugged her shoulders in resignation, then a new idea flashed into her mind. "Waitaminit. How can you change into other forms? How did you know so much about Ranma and Shampoo?"
"Oh that...I've had those talents since I've been in my current state. It's normal for me."
{{Oh, well, I guess I could do with worse...but hey, at least I can have sex with Ranma every night now!}} The thoughts naughtily raced through her mind then were just as quickly extinguished. That wouldn't be fair to Mai; she'd be using her in the same way Nova did--{{Hey! Since when did I accept this?}}
Mai went and hugged her new spouse. "Natsumi-airen, let's go home. I want us to be happy together. I love you always and forever, Natsumi."
Natsumi resigned herself to her fate for now. Insane or not, she had to get this girl out of here; she would attend to this absurd little problem later. She took the girl's hand--and noticed Mai blushing from absolute joy--then proceeded to walk downstairs. Just to strike up idle chatter, she said, "I can't believe that your husband would leave someone as nice as you. What happened?"
"He was seduced by the power of this place. I begged him to leave, but he said he would, and that there was a price if he wanted to leave *and* keep the power that he'd received from this palace. That price was sacrificing me." She sighed wistfully, the bad memory obviously a painful one. "I've been so alone, all these...what did Nova say how long it was...hundreds of years...."
Natsumi stopped dead in her tracks. *"Hundreds of years?!?!? What the--"*
Mai stopped and caressed Natsumi's hand, as though it was the most valuable thing on earth to her; it seemed to soothe her. "I'm glad we'll be together forever, Natsumi. You're certainly nicer than Nova, and you cared more about me than Temujin."
"Temujin? That's an unusual name for a Chinese guy," Natsumi said, not sure why she bothered with this useless conversation.
"Well, they didn't call him that too often. There's a title that they called him--something like Cheng-sze Khan."
Natsumi, pretty good in her history classes at school, mentally raced through the possibilities. {{Could it...no, no way. Not possible.}} "You don't mean *Genghis Khan,* do you?"
"I think that's the translation of the title he took after he killed me and left me here."
Natsumi's voice nearly snapped in two. *"KiLlEd...?"*
"Oh, my love, I'm sorry I forgot to mention that. Please forgive your wife's foolishness." She floated up to match Natsumi's facial height...which required her to get more than a few centimeters off the ground. Kissing her lover with all the feeling in her heart, she said just before their lips met, "Yes, Natsumi. I'm a ghost. But look at it this way: at least one of us can have children, if we can get you pregnant. I've always wanted to be a mother."
Tendo Natsumi, Shinobi of the Ghost Wolf Clan, decided there was one prime way to deal with this situation.
She fainted.
Fortunately, the quick thinking Mai was able to catch her before she collapsed to the ground. This, however, required her to transform into someone taller than her native form. The result was a conscious, healthy Natsumi catching the slightly bruised and unconscious one.
Mai laid her counterpart on the floor and looked her over for injuries, just as Nova had taught her. While she did this, she said in a sorrowful voice, her eyes nearly coming to tears...or as much as a ghost could ever come. "Please forgive me, airen. I hadn't though to check you for injuries, or that you'd be exhausted after your last battle." She kissed the girl tenderly on the forehead, adding, "Natsumi, it is my duty as your wife to take care of you. I swear I won't fail you again." Picking up the girl and carrying the unconscious ninja in her arms, Mai walked through the nearest wall with her most prized possession, heading for the front door.
After hundreds of years, her fate had been resolved. She was free of this place and found someone who she would finally find peace with, a spouse that she could love and would truly love her back.
* * *
The satellite was moving on its continued path, where it would pronounce the safety or doom of the world as its inhabitants knew it. Soon, there would be joy in Washington...or nuclear Armageddon.
Time was running out for Tendo Akane....
