Insert Usual Disclaimer Crapola
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Ranma 1/2: Cast No Shadow
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Night blanketed the suburb of Nerima, the shadows covering all that
lie in their path as the sun vanished from the skies for another day.
WIndows and streetlamps flickered to life as the encroaching darkness swept
over Nerima, their attempts to banish the night foolhardy at best. Man had,
in some form or another, always feared the darkness and what may be lurking
within. Few ever stopped to consider that, sometimes, the light could be a
more dangerous place than the shadows...
Ukyo Kuonji sat at the foot of her bed, her chef's outfit folded
over a chair off in one corner of the small apartment in which she lived,
regrettably, alone. Clad in only a pair of panties, one of the few articles
of feminie attire she owned, she removed the bandage which bound the most
obvious signs of her womanhood.
No one had ever bothered to ask why she still bound her breasts the
way she did, which suited Ukyo just fine. Truth be told, if anyone did ask,
she wouldn't be able to answer for she didn't know herself. On some deep
level, Ukyo wondered if maybe she was still ashamed of her womanhood, that
her father's shame still lingered in her.
Ukyo's breasts finally burst out, unristricted by the white cloth
that kept them at bay. She almost sighed with relief as they instantly
regained their true proportions, keeping them tied all day was getting more
and more painful. Perhaps she should finally stop, just get a bra or
something and actually try to look like a woman. It was a thought...
//Oh, man, my dogs are barkin'!\\ she thought as she turned her
attention to her feet. Dinner had been brutal that night, the volume of
customers nearly overrunning her as she slung the okonomiyaki with a
vengeance. The Ucchan had turned a rather nice sales sheet for the day, and
every customer left satisfied, but such work still took its toll. After
massaging her aching feet for a moment, she rose to get a box of epsom salts
from the bathroom medicine chest. A good soak would make life a lot better
right then. As she moved toward the door leading to the washroom, the image
of Ranma came unbidden to her mind, rubbing her poor feet after a hard day's
work. A dreamy smile crossed her lips as she reached the door. That was one
of her favorite fantasies......
//HUH?\\ Ukyo's hand froze on the doorknob, the fine hairs on the
back of her neck standing at attention as a cold feeling washed over her.
Every sense went on full alert, adrenaline pouring into her blood as fear
and anticipation warred for dominance in her mind. Slowly, Ukyo released the
doorknob and grabbed her enormous spatula from its resting place on the
wall. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was not alone.
"Alright, whoever you are!" she exclaimed to the empty room, "If
this is some kinda sick joke, it ain't funny!" It's probably Happosai,
insisted a small voice inside her, just that old pervert looking for some
panties and a show. But then, why hadn't the old goat glomped her yet?
Mostly nude as she was, he wouldn't be able to resist.
"I'm warnin' you!" she shouted, her voice tense, "you're gonna
regret this!" There was no reply, the silence almost unbearable as Ukyo
stood there. Her eyes scanned every surface of the room, searching
desperately for any sign of the intruder and finding nothing. Ukyo's heart
began to triphammer as she slowly stepped forward, Happosai was going too
far this time!
Her eyes caught a flicker of movement off to the left, her hand
reaching back to pull out the small throwing spat she always kept in the
waistline of her panties at the small of her back. The razor-keen projectile
streaked across the bedroom, embedding itself in the wall without hitting a
thing. She almost screamed from the terror welling up inside, when she
finally saw it.
A shadow, without a single source, raced across the wall toward her
own. Before she could even question what was happening, a searing pain
exploded in her chest. Ice cold fingers gripped her heart, squeezing like a
vice as the liquid fire spread throughout her chest. Ukyo's eyes grew wide
from agony and fear, the large spatula clattering to the floor as her hands
clutched themselves to her breast.
She tried to scream, the only sound escaping her lips a tortured
gurgle as blood welled up in her throat to trickle out of her mouth. Ukyo
gasped desperately for air, her lungs burning with the rest of her as the
pain grew by an order of magnitude. She fell to her knees, the world growing
dim just as the fire in her chest exploded again. As the numbing cold set
in, Ukyo was vaguely aware that her heart was no longer beating and that she
was dying. She should have been afraid, but nothing came. She was
just...so... tired.......
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//I wonder where Ukyo is,\\ Akane thought as she handed in her trig
test. She walked back to her seat, one of the few students to have finished
so soon, casting a quick glance at Ranma. The pigtailed martial artist was
hunched over his desk, an expression of utter confusion on his face. Akane
merely rolled her eyes at his plight, he knew how much this test counted
for, and he *still* hadn't studied. Oh, well, it wasn't her fault, now was it?
//But Ukyo knew about the test, too,\\ she thought as she took her
seat again. She looked over to Ukyo's empty place, wondering if the chef was
okay. She never missed a test, hardly ever a day of class, despite running a
restaurant. Maybe she had gotten sick?
Akane turned to her history book in preparation for the next class.
Ukyo was a big girl, she could take care of herself. However, the least
Akane could do was take down her homework assignments. She wouldn't want to
fall too far behind.
===============================================
The sun rested high in the clear sky, a few thin clouds drifting in
the endless sea of blue. Ranma stretched out his arms, soaking in the
sunlight as he trod the fencetop. He absolutely loved weather like this. On
such a day, it was hard to think of anything that could go wrong.
"Um, Akane," he said from the top of the fence as Akane walked along
the now-crowded sidewalk, "why're we goin' to Ucchan's?"
"We're just taking her homework to her," Akane said, "she was absent
today, y'know."
"Yeah, I noticed." Ukyo's conspicuous absence hadn't concerned Ranma
all that much, being too wrapped up in flunking his trig test and other
classes. Besides, if Ukyo wanted to take a day off, who was he to argue?
"Hey, why's she all locked up?" Ranma asked as they stood before the
door to the Ucchan. Ranma looked at the top of the door, her shop curtain
absent as well as the small lighted sign she kept outside. The front had not
been swept, either, a few traces of dirt and trash lingering on the concrete
walk.
"Maybe she's sick or something," Akane volunteered, her voice
sounding a little perplexed.
"Maybe. C'mon." Ranma strode around to the narrow alley between the
restaurant and the small grocer's next door. The shadows were deeper in the
alley, the warmth of the sun not quite reaching down into the darkened depths.
He stopped at a small door in the side of the Ucchan's wall, a gray
metal thing in need of a coat of paint. Ranma grasped the knob, surprised to
find that it would not turn.
"Hey, what gives?"
"Maybe she's not home, then?" Akane suggested. Ranma looked about in
mild frustration, finally casting a glance upward. Above his head, he could
barely see a light coming from a window on the second floor, the shadows of
the alley still barely deep enough for the light to be noticed.
"She's home, Akane," Ranma said. "Hey! Ucchan!" he bellowed, hands
cupped to his mouth to focus the sound. No reply came from the lit window,
not even a stirring shadow. Ranma tried again, louder in the hopes that
she'd hear. Still, nothing came in the way of a response.
"Wonder where she is?" Akane asked as Ranma glared at the door.
"I'll bet she's inside," Ranma said, fishing into the waistband of
his pants. He pulled out a small plastic rectangle shortly after, which he
promptly inserted in the doorjamb.
"Ranma, *what* on earth are you doing?" Akane asked with a note of
exasperation.
"Saotome School of Anything-Goes Breaking and Entering," he replied
with a grin. For the first time, he was glad that his pop had taught him how
to properly jimmy a deadbolt.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" Akane nearly shouted, "If
you get caught..."
"We won't if you'll shut up!" Ranma hissed. "If she ain't in, we're
gonna turn around and leave, okay?" The lock clicked in the silence of the
alley, Ranma smiling as he replaced the card. "Open sesame!"
"Ukyo? Ukyo!" Ranma called out her name in the dim interior of the
restaurant, his and Akane's steps echoing like gunshots off the walls. "Hey,
where are ya!"
"See, Ranma," Akane growled, "she's not here, so let's go already!"
"I'm gonna check upstairs," Ranma said. He had a bad feeling about
this...
"Well, I'm leaving!" Akane said in a huff.
"Fine, who needs a tomboy like you anyway!" Ranma easily dodged the
bookbag that Akane had converted into a ballistic missle, bounding up the
stairs without missing a beat. Akane charged after him, the look on her face
saying more than "Ranma, you jerk!" ever could.
The stairs levelled off into a narrow hallway, the single door at
the end hanging slightly open. Light streaked out from the narrow crevasse,
bathing part of the wall and floor in its glow.
"Ucchan!" he called, Akane's thundering footsteps coming up from
behind. If she was asleep, then this would definitely wake her up. "Yo,
Uchan, wake up...."
Akane stormed up the stairs after Ranma's retreating form. The
bookbag lay abandoned on the steps below, a web of fine cracks stretching
out from the dent left in the wall from the impact. If he thought he could
call her a tomboy and get away with it, he was sorely mistaken.
"Yo, Ucchan, wake up.... UCCHAN!!!" Akane nearly stopped cold at
Ranma's exclamation, the shock in his voice hitting her like a sledgehammer.
"UCCHAN!" Akane charged full-tilt up the steps, heart thundering in her ears
as her feet stomped the wooden stairs. Ranma continued to shout Ukyo's
nickname, panic quickly rushing into his voice as Akane crested the stairs
and ran for the door to Ukyo's room. Cold fingers traced her spine as fear
began to set in. What was wrong with Ukyo?
"Ranma, what is it?!" The room appeared to be perfectly in order,
except for Ranma kneeling on the other side of the bed. Fear quickly gave
way to horror when Akane rounded the small bed and saw just what Ranma was
holding.
Ukyo was clad only in a pair of underwear, her skin pale and flaxen.
Her limbs seemed unnaturaly stiff, legs bent behind her and arms sticking
out as if her bones had been replaced by metal rods.
"Oh... my...." Akane moved closer, and saw her face. She recoiled in
shock and revulsion at the expression Ukyo wore. The chef's face was twisted
in a mask of terror and unbearable agony, dead eyes staring at nothing.
Spots of congealed blood rested around her mouth, with more on the floor.
Akane turned away quickly, fighting the urge to vomit. She knew that Ukyo's
face would haunt her dreams for a long time to come.
"I'll call the police," she said weakly, moving to the phone. Ranma
just remained on the floor, cradeling Ukyo's body and muttering her name
over and over.
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The sun began to set beneath the concrete skyline of Tokyo, the
golden light of the waning day quickly giving way to the shadows of night.
Ranma stood outside the gate to the Tendo Dojo, Akane at his side as the two
tried to make sense of what they had just experienced.
The police had taken them for questioning, a grueling four hours in
which they had been asked the same questions over and over again. How do you
know Miss Kuonji, why were you in the restaurant, why did you force your way
in, and so forth, and so on. Ranma had been sorely tempted to just punch the
daylights out of the fat homicide detective who had interrogated him, but
miraculously held himself back. Ukyo was... well... maybe not a friend, but
someone he cared deeply about. Even though she was one of his fiancees, and
explaining that to the detective had been *quite* an experience, she was
still his Ucchan. And now she was gone.
"You okay, Ranma?" Akane asked.
"Yeah."
"Let's go in, now, okay?" Ranma only nodded, letting Akane lead the way.
"Where were you?" Soun asked almost as soon as they were inside.
"You usually aren't so late in coming home!"
"Maybe they were on a date, Tendo!" Genma exclaimed hopefully as the
two fathers leaned in closer to their respective children.
"We weren't on a date," Ranma said softly, straining to keep his
voice under control. Damnit, why did he hurt so much?!
"Hey, Ranma," Nabiki said as she entered the hall, "Did you hear?
The police were at the Ucchan today."
"We know, Nabiki," Akane said. "So were we."
"WHAT?!" Soun cried, nearly shattering the glass in every picture
frame in the room.
"You had best start explaining, boy!" Genma growled.
"Oh, is Ukyo alright?" Kasumi asked as she walked in with a tray of
tea. "I heard the police were there today."
"Ukyo's... she's..." Ranma's throat nearly closed at the thought
that he still hadn't found the strength to voice aloud. He could feel their
expectant stares on him as they awaited an answer.
"Ukyo is.... dead." Akane said. The room fell instantly silent, the
aura of shock almost a physical sensation as everyone tried to assimilate
the revelation.
"Wha..." Nabiki whispered.
"Oh, my...." The tea tray dropped from Kasumi's hands, clattering
loudly to the floor and breaking many of the cups. The sound finally broke
Ranma's resolve. The pigtailed martial artist fell to his knees, the tears
that had been fighting for escape finally emerging victorious.
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Well, it's another one of my spur-of-the-moment ideas. This teaser
is by no means finished, and I would appreciate any comments or criticisms.
Thanks!
Jed