RYOUGA'S STORY:
An ATVS/Kyuuketsuki No Satsujinhan'nin: Akane Side Story
A Leaping Gnome Productions Jam, produced in association with Wild Yahoo Enterprises
DISCLAIMER: Certain characters and situations copyright their
respective owners, including, but not limited to, Rumiko Takahashi, Joss Whedon and Miyao Gaku. The rest is ours. This story can not be used to make money in any way whatsoever.
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CHAPTER ONE: Leaving Nihon
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The tattered-looking young man stopped in front of the
fence that surrounded the small suburban house. He stared hard
at the address, then down at a crumpled piece of yellow legal
paper clutched in his hand.
"Finally! After searching for so very long..." Tears
trickled down his cheeks. "Akane! I'm here to protect you at
last!!"
He'd arrived at the Tendou Dojo a little over a month ago to find the venerable edifice in ruins, his beloved Akane and her family gone. Queries around the neighborhood has been met with only a stony silence, as though the residents of the district had no interest in discussing what force or forces had leveled the Tendou home. When he'd checked the usual hangouts of the loosely affiliated band of martial artists known to the locals as the Nerima Wrecking Crew, he'd found the Nekohanten deserted. Akane's favorite Kissaten had been likewise been free of martial artists. There hadn't been any sign of the gang at Furinkan, either. Finally, he'd found his way to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki, where a grim Ukyou had informed him that the Tendous had moved away, but she'd be happy to give him directions to where they were staying. It was a long trip to Juuban, at least it had been for him...
Haphazardly, he brushed the dust of the road from his
worn clothes and backpack, determined to look every inch the
returning hero for his beloved. Striding forward with a
confidence he barely felt, he rushed up the front walk and
pushed the doorbell. A second later, a vase full of cool water and red roses spilled down over his head. Female voices echoed from above.
"Azusa! Watch where you're going! You knocked over the
flowers Osamu-kun sent!"
"Sorry, Yohko-sempai, but maybe you shouldn't have put them on
the window sill... Auntie Madoka warned you about that... Did
you hear the doorbell?"
"Don't worry. Saotome-san'll get it."
On the stoop below, a small black pig bemoaned the quirk
of fate that made his head an irresistible magnet for spilled
water. A moment later, the door swung open, revealing the
familiar black and white form of a giant panda bearing a
wooden sign. Scrawled hastily on the board were the words "May
I help you?"
The pig let out a frustrated squeal. The panda
sweatdropped, flipping the sign around to reveal the legend
"Oh, it's you... Well, come in..."
The piglet trotted inside, stopping to shake himself dry
in the foyer before preceding the panda into the living room.
With a grunt, the panda hefted the pig's soggy clothing,
backpack and umbrella under one forepaw and followed.
The pig glanced around the room in expectation, but no
beautiful, black-haired, brown-eyed goddess appeared to scoop
him up in loving arms. He turned to the panda.
"Hroink?" He said, questioningly.
The panda merely shrugged, producing a well-worn sign
that read "Don't ask me, I'm just an ordinary panda." The pig
sighed a piggy sigh in frustration.
Just then, his perspective shifted as he was lifted up by
his kercheif. His squeal of bliss became an oink of
disappointment as he was turned to face a pair of cynical,
cold dark eyes framed by an elegant bob of chocolate-brown
hair. This wasn't his sweet Akane!
"Tsk. Ryouga." Nabiki said, her tone cooler than usual.
"What a kawaii little piglet!" A high, bubbly voice
chirped from across the room.
"Hroink?"
Two teenaged girls dashed down the stairs, their eyes
wide with pleased surprise. The taller of the two, a brunette
with hair done up in an odd odango-style trailing two long
ponytails, looked to be around nineteen, the same age as
Nabiki. The shorter of the two was around eighteen, perhaps a
bit younger, and wore her midnight black hair in a shoulder-
length style parted in the center, her bangs kept out of her
shining blue eyes with a white bandanna.
They rushed over, oohing and ahhing over him.
"Nabiki, where did you find him? He's adorable! Can I
hold him?" The shorter girl said eagerly.
"Whatever..." Nabiki tossed Ryouga's startled form over
to the younger girl with an offhanded gesture. "His name's P-
Chan, he used to belong to my sister. Knock yourselves out."
She wandered into the kitchen. The girl hugged P-Chan tightly
to her chest, causing the small black pig to squeak as the air
was forced from his tiny lungs.
"Ooooh, Akane is just so-o lucky..." The elder girl said
enviously. "First that hunky fiancee and now this kawaii lil'
guy..." She tickled P-Chan under his chin. "Who's a cutie?
Who's a cutie? P-Chan is... Yes, that's right, coochie-
coochie..." She giggled, then stopped, staring oddly at the
piglet. "Azusa?"
"What, Yohko-sempai? You'll get your turn..."
"No, it's just... D'you think he's supposed to turn blue
like that?"
"Oh!" She loosened her grip, and P-Chan's panting face
slowly returned to its usual color. "I'm sorry, lil' P-Chan!
I'll kiss it better..."
With that, she leaned forward, and gave him a gentle peck
on the nose. His reaction startled her, to say the least, as
the piglet's snout suddenly fountained blood and the animal
went limp in her arms.
"Oh no! You've killed him!" Yohko shrieked. Azusa joined
her, shaking the poor piglet in a desperate attempt to wake
him, to no avail.
"Relax, ladies..." said Nabiki, walking back in from the
kitchen and holding a kettle of hot water. "He does this all
the time. Set him down on the futon, will you?" They complied,
worried.
Nonchalantly, Nabiki doused the comatose pig in a stream
of scaldingly hot water. With a shout, a pink-skinned Ryouga
jumped up, his hands covering strategic parts of his anatomy.
"AAAAAAA! HotHotHot!!!!"
"EEep!" Yohko squeaked.
"Neat!" Azusa said.
"That'll be 500 yen, Ryouga."
Nabiki said this last with an unemotional tone that Ryouga found disturbing. He didn't know the middle Tendou sister all that well, but she usually took some amusement in others' discomfort, especially if she was making a profit from it. Come to think of it, since when did she know about his curse?
Come to think of it, why was he sitting here naked with these strange girls staring at him?
His brain hit the panic button, and shut down. Ryouga fainted.
He came to on the couch, someone having dressed him in his slightly damp clothes. As his eyes focused, he took in his surroundings from his prone perspective. The two strange girls and the panda were looking at him with varying looks of concern, while Nabiki was going through his wallet.
"Hey!! Put that down!!"
Nabiki glanced over unconcerned as she replaced the battered leather billfold on the coffee table with a shrug.
"Fine. Pay me when you can." She stood and walked up the stairs, oblivious to Ryouga's scowl. The two new girls watched her go, and an odd look of sympathy passed between them before they returned their attention to the strange (and fairly handsome, in a rumpled sort of way) boy who'd appeared in their living room.
Ryouga blushed akwardly, and sat up.
"Uhhh, gomen, folks... " Both girls smiled understandingly.
"That's okay," said the odango-girl with a smile. "You've just got one of those Jusenkyo curses like Saotome-san, right?"
"H-hunh? Uh, yeah, that's right... You're not mad, or upset?"
"Why should we be mad? I should really apologize to YOU for knocking that vase out the window and on to your head." The shorter of the two girls said, with a winning smile that made Ryouga's ears turn pink. "I'm Kanzaki Azusa, Apprentice Devil Hunter, and this is my sempai, Manou Yohko, the 109th Devil Hunter. What's your name, sir?"
"Uhh, Hibiki Ryouga. D-did you say that you're a Devil Hunter? What's that mean?"
"I'll tell you what it means!!" A voice said from the doorway. The trio turned to see a girl about Yohko's age taking off her sneakers and stepping into a pair of slippers. "It means that she's fully capable of meeting all your exorcism and monster-slaying needs! For a reasonable fee, of course..." She had chestnut hair worn loose to her shoulders and sported a pair of stylish eyeglasses over her sky blue eyes. She was dressed fashionably in the latest style of jogging gear. Yohko greeted her cheerfully.
"Hiya Chi! You're here early!"
"Well, I needed to talk to Nab-chan about our latest promotional campaign before we went out shopping. Now, Mr. Wet-Stranger, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ogawa Chikako, Devil Hunter Manager extraordinaire and all-around financial genius. Are you in need of my client's expertise? Oni in the bathtub? Youma in your garden? What seems to be the trouble?" She strode over confidently, sitting down across from Ryouga and looking him over speculatively.
"Uh.. No, no... I'm just looking for a-a f-friend, I guess... Is Tendou Akane here? A mutual friend told me she was staying here."
The three girls exchanged a worried glance. Azusa finally took pity on the handsome scruffy boy and filled him in.
"I'm very sorry, Hibiki-san, but Tendou-san left almost a month ago for America with my cousin Ranma and Tofu-Sensei."
The whine of a cicada echoed in the silence. The wind-chime in the window tinkled once in the faint breeze.
"L-left? For America?! She's g-gone?!!"
"I'm afraid so," Azusa said sympathetically.
"With... Ranma?"
Azusa nodded.
"Why?"
"Well, after what happened in Nerima, they had to leave the country. They went to a place called Sunnydale to train with a famous Slayer of Demons, a girl who studies an art very similar to Yohko-sempai's."
"What happened in Nerima? Why won't anyone tell me?!!" Ryouga yelled, frustrated. "What does all this have to do with some American Demon-Fighter?"
"It's not really my place to say, Hibiki-san..." Azusa said, bowing her head.
"Well then whose is it?! Damn it, Akane is the girl I l-l-l... Well, she's a very good friend!! Why can't anyone tell me what happened?!" He looked around the room, frustrated beyond measure. The three girls looked away guiltily. The panda merely played with his beachball.
"RRRRrr, that's it, old man! You're gonna do some talking!" Ryouga strode over and grabbed the panda by the scruff of his neck and dragged the beast into the kitchen, kicking and growfing.
Finding another kettle on the boil, he turned off the gas and dumped the hot water over the panda, triggering a metamorphosis into a middle-aged man wearing glasses, a white gi and a kerchief covering his bald head. He had the look of a once powerful man gone slightly to seed.
"Now now, boy. There's no need to be so rough about it..."
"Shut up! You're gonna tell me what happened in Nerima, and you're gonna tell me now!!!" He raised a fist menacingly, causing Saotome Genma to quail.
"All right, all right, settle down, boy. Let me up, and I'll tell you everything... In the living room."
"Okay, but don't even TRY to get out of this!"
The two men walked back into the living room and sat down. Genma assumed a pensive pose that looked altogether too well-rehearsed for Ryouga's liking. Azusa and Yohko sat patiently nearby, while Chi bowed out to go visit Nabiki upstairs.
"Azusa dear, would you be so kind as to fetch me a cup of tea?"
"Certainly, Ojiisan Saotome." The petite girl hurried into the kitchen, dragging a recalcitrant Yohko by the ponytails behind her.
"Where do I begin?" Genma said pensively. "Hmm. I suppose it all started when Mousse returned from China once more..."
In the kitchen, the two girls eavesdropped discreetly while waiting for the kettle to boil.
"Why'd you drag me in here, Azusa? that boy is so-o cute!"
"Yohko-sempai, could you PLEASE think about something other than boy-chasing for a change? Hibiki-san will no doubt be very upset when he finds out what happened to Itokosan and his iinazuke's family. He seems to be very fond of Akane-chan, don't you think?"
"Awww... Akane-chan has all the luck..."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that on the grounds that it makes you sound like a dingbat, Sempai."
"Nani?!"
"Akane-chan has just gone through a horrible tragedy, and you think she's lucky?! Tsk. Poor Hibiki-san..."
"Hmm? I think YOU'RE the one who's boy-chasing, Azusa. 'Poor Hibiki-san', indeed."
"Well, he seems like a very nice boy, and he doesn't have a chance with Akane-chan... There's just something about him that makes me want to take care of him..."
"Ooh! You ARE sweet on him! Wait'll I tell Chi!"
"Don't you dare!"
"I will, so there!" Yohko pulled a red-eye and laughed.
"RRRrr, Yohko-sempai, you are SO immature!!"
"Nyahh!"
The girls re-entered the living room with two cups of tea as Genma finished telling his tale.
"... So my son and Akane left with Tofu-Sensei to train under this Summers person. Nabiki, my wife and I came to stay here with the Manous while Soun-kun recovers in the hospital. I fear that the loss of poor Kasumi was too much for him. He's never been the same since Kimiko-chan passed away so many years ago, and now this..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Our only consolation is that the Master perished as well. Thank the Kami for small mercies..."
"Excuse me for a minute, will you?" Ryouga said mechanically, walking out the front door and closing it behind him. No one failed to notice the flickering bands of dark energy that were gathering around the Lost Boy's body. The girls exchanged puzzled glances, before wincing as a bright flash went off outside, accompanied by a guttural yell and shockwave that blew out the front windows in a hail of glass.
"SHI... SHI... HOUKOUDAN!!!!!!!!"
KA-SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!"
The occupants of the living room picked themselves up off the floor and were joined by a panicked Chi and a nonplused Nabiki.
"Saotome-san, what happened?! What was that?!" Yohko cried, brushing bits of glass from her fuku. Genma sat, impassive, as a bit of ceiling plaster bounced off his head.
"The boy was just letting off some steam, that's all. He gets upset easily."
Everyone except Genma and Nabiki facevaulted. Chi was the first to recover.
"NANI?! Who's going to pay for the damages?! This is ridiculous!"
Nabiki walked up behind her and draped her arms over Chi's shoulders.
"Don't worry, Chi-baby. Pig-boy has a fat wallet." She said wryly. "C'mon, let's go back to our little project, hmm?" Chi blushed a deep crimson and tittered nervously as Nabiki led her back upstairs by the hand.
Yohko stared after the duo, noticing that Chi's T-Shirt was on inside out. No way...
Azusa merely smiled benevolently.
"Those two are such good friends!"
Sometime later, after the glaziers had left and Ryouga had received a royal chewing out from Madoka, Yohko's Grandmother and Mentor, (who had returned home from her weekly Mah-Jongg game to find her front lawn and living room a shambles), the Lost Boy sat on the back stoop and watched the sun set.
"Akane... I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you... You must be going through hell." He hung his head. "If only I'd been there, I might have saved your sister... She was always so sweet."
Ryouga turned slowly as he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. Azusa stood there, a bowl of soup in her outstretched hands.
"Here you go, Hibiki-san. I made it for you. It's an old family recipe..." She offered him the bowl with a hopeful smile. Ryouga accepted with a polite bow.
"Itadakimasu, Kanzaki-san." He sipped at the soup. The flavor was salty, but soothing. "This is very good... may I ask what it's called?"
"It's called 'Sopa De Grande Pena'. It's a Spanish name. My mother learned the recipe from her friend Pipo who came from Latin America. It means Heartbreak Soup." She smiled sympathetically. "I thought you could use some."
He looked up at her, a sad smile on his face.
"Arigatou, Kanzaki-san. It's very... soothing." Encouraged, she sat down next to him, delicately arranging the chaste lines of her long skirt.
"You can call me Azusa... that is, if you want to..." She said, a small blush coloring her nose.
"Ah... Sure, Kanza- er, Azusa. I-if you want, you can call me Ryouga..." He blushed a little himself, and sipped at his Heartbreak Soup.
"I'd like that." Azusa replied quietly. They sat in pregnant silence for a while as Ryouga finished his soup.
"Ryouga?" Azusa said when he put down the empty bowl.
"H-hai?"
"You really like Akane-chan, don't you?" Ryouga blushed furiously.
"Hai..."
"Do you... That is, do you want to... Try and find her?"
"Nani? Do you think I should?"
"Well, if you like her so much, you should tell her how you feel... I'm sure she'd appreciate it. She's lost so much, I think she'd like to know that her friends still care about her. My cousin Ranma tries to help, but he's..."
"A thoughtless, womanizing jerk who doesn't appreciate what he's got? A mean-spirited sex-changing cheater who takes advantage of people?"
Azusa was a little taken aback at the heat in Ryouga's words.
"Err... I wouldn't have put it QUITE that way..."
"Gomen, Azusa... I shouldn't say bad things about him in front of you, if he's your cousin and all... It's just, well, he and I have a history..."
"I understand, Ryouga. Ranma-kun IS usually a little full of himself. But you wouldn't recognize him now. He was very upset about what happened at Akane-chan's home. He felt responsible for-"
"Well, he should! If he hadn't been leading on Shampoo, none of this would have happened!! It's all his fault!! He's gotta PAY!!"
Azusa sweatdropped.
"Err, o-kayy... Well, what I was trying to say was that if you want to go to America, I think you should."
"America? Well..." Ryouga looked pensive for a moment, then shook his head. "Azusa, I think you should know something about me... I'm uh, not very good with directions. I can get lost on the home islands for months... America's a pretty big place. How am I gonna find her?"
"I... I could go with you... As a guide, I mean... And I speak pretty good English... <Good day, I am a Strudel Oven. Where is the Refrigerator?>" She blushed.
"You'd come with me?" Ryouga asked, stunned. "B-but, you hardly know me!"
"Well... I always wanted to see America... And I'm not in school, so I don't have to worry about that. Besides, I'd like to train under Summers-Sensei too. As an Apprentice Devil Hunter, I will look on it as special training!!" She sat up straight, smiling. "What do you say?"
Ryouga looked at her, so eager and energetic, her honey-brown eyes sparkling. Despite himself, he smiled.
"All right... Let's go."
"Yaay!" Azusa cried, giving Ryouga a quick hug before collecting herself and returning inside.
"Auntie Madoka! Ojiisan Saotome! I'm going on a Training Mission!"
Ryouga sat, stunned.
"She... hugged me?"
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TO BE CONTINUED
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Story by Dave Menard and Matty Higgins, based on the ATVS/KNSA series by Dave Menard.
Episodes One and Two of Akane The Vampire Slayer are archived below at the official ATVS homepage! Answers to FAQ and others can be found there as well!!
http://matrix.crosswinds.net/~ksna