Ranma 1/2
- The Code of Honor
by TKHM
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and Sakura Taisen are owned by their respective
owners.
The Code of Honor
by TKHM
Contact: http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/pier/878/
tkhm@hotmail.com
Part 4 - Crossing the Line
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Doctor Tofu was enjoying his morning coffee when the phone rang.
He picked it up and talked to the caller in his cheerful tone. After
a moment, however, a frown crossed his face as he listened to the
caller.
Gathering his medical tools and drugs, he put them in a bag and walked
out
of the clinic. His destination was Furinkan High School.
When the doctor arrived at the nurse office, he was somewhat
surprised that Kunou and Ranma were staying in the same room and not
attacking each other. His experiences with the two told him it was
strange.
However, there was no time to waste, and Doctor Tofu quickly turned to
the girl on the bed. Doctor started examining her injuries. Her arms and
legs were bruised, but was otherwise unhurt. Her breathing was unsteady,
and her pulse was almost nonexistent. After taking a moment to unbutton
her blouse, he examined the injuries and was alarmed by the fact two of
her ribs seemed have caved in. One wrong movement and her lung would be
punctured. Doctor Tofu quickly set the bones to the correct place.
"What happened to her?" Doctor Tofu asked while pushing on Shiori's
various pressure points with his index finger. Then he channeled a small
amount of ki through it to help her recover more quickly. He had been
treating injures of the martial artists in the area for countless times
now, and
part of the reason they could always bounce back was because of him. Yet
this girl's injury looked more serious than the other usual fights.
Kunou replied quickly to that question. "The fair maiden has suffered
through the hands of Saotome. This vile being must be punished!" He
pointed
his finger accusingly at the pig-tailed boy, expecting the cur to flee
from Tatewaki Kunou's wrath.
However, Ranma Saotome did not attempt to run away. Instead, he
seemed to explode as he suddenly gave out a yell and charged forward.
Kunou was temporary stunned by this, because the foul sorcerer was
known for his calculating schemes in battle. Ranma Saotome rarely lost
his cool.
Seeing his mortal enemy coming towards him, Kunou made a downward
swing towards the body, followed up by two left swings and three foward
stabs. Saotome ducked all of them, and he had somehow ended up behind
Kunou. Noticing that his back was facing Ranma, Kunou quickly turned
around,
only to find his neck being held by the Ranma.
Ranma brought Kunou up to his face, and glared at him.
"Listen Kunou! I am NOT the one who hurt her!" Ranma cried out in
anger. Kunou, being Kunou, was unfazed and opened his mouth to retort.
"You have inflicted pain on her once. It is only reasonable that you
would do it again!"
Doctor Tofu knew what would happen next. Ranma would hit Kunou on
the head in repetition with his fist, then he would kick him into orbit.
Afterall, Kunou always accused Ranma of being a sorcerer and other
things
that Ranma is not responsible for. It was just part of living in Nerima.
To the doctor's amazement, Ranma did not hurt the older boy, instead
he released his grip on the neck. Ranma had gone through a lot, and he
seldom had this expression on his face, except the time when he thought
he was cursed to be a girl forever and the time when Akane said that she
might like that Shinnosuke boy. His anger seemed to die out, the tension
of the body seemed to deflate, and Ranma slumped down onto the floor.
Defeated. Ranma Saotome looked defeated.
The vigorous pursuits of the his fiances and the vicious attacks of
his rivals failed to dent his confidence and honor, but now a simple
verbal accusation from Kunou, who had the reputation of being stupid,
was able to make Ranma look beaten.
Doctor Tofu looked at Ranma with a worried expression, and asked.
"Ranma, are you okay?"
Ranma did not look up to meet his eyes and was looking at his hands.
The doctor took a look at the hands to see what was so interesting, but
could not find anything that was out of the ordinary.
"I've hurt her." Ranma whispered. Then he looked up at the doctor
and repeated in a stronger tone. "I've hurt her, Doctor Tofu. I have
landed
a couple hundred blows of the Chestnut Fist on her!"
Doctor Tofu was shocked. It was true that Ranma used his Chestnut
Fist quite often, but the pig-tailed boy only used it when he knew his
opponent had the endurance to take the beating. Ryouga, for example,
could
take a couple of the Chestnut Fist before going down for the count.
Ranma,
knowing the potential danger of using his speed attack on people without
the endurance, would always hold back and study the opponent first. If
his
opponent seemed to be strong enough, then he would decide whether he
wanted
to end the battle quickly with a Chestnut Fist or not.
This girl was obviously unable to take the Chestnut Fist, with those
serious injuries. Did Ranma get careless? But even if he was careless he
was known to hate hitting girls, even when facing Shampoo or Kodachi.
So what happened?
Kunou opened his mouth to speak, but the doctor beated him to it.
"Ranma, why did you hurt this girl if apparently you hate doing it? I
know
you get frustrated and annoyed when people attack you in the morning
before
school," Doctor Tofu gazed at Kunou, then turned back to Ranma. "but
putting
this girl into this situation is still...." Ranma cut him off before he
could finish his sentence.
"I am not the one hitting her this morning."
"But you said..."
"I have hurt her a couple days ago, but not this morning. You see,
I was just trying to apologize to her and I was trying to be nice to her
to
make up. I really did..." Ranma looked at the Doctor Tofu as if asking
him
to believe his story. Then his face turned sour and he continued.
"..then
things got messed up. Akane.....she blamed me for something that I did
not
do...again, and she blew up on us. She...she was the one who had beaten
the girl onto the ground."
Kunou rose up in anger when he heard that. "Foul Saotome! It is
dishonorable enough for you to hurt the fair maiden when she was still
recovering from your last assault, but to blame sweet Akane of the
horrible
deed is simply unforgivable! Defend yourself!" He raised his bokken over
his head and charged.
Seeing that Ranma was not lifting a finger to defend himself, the
doctor quickly stepped into Kunou's path and jabbed a few pressure
points
on Kunou with his index finger. The young man froze, then fell onto the
floor face first. The pressure points had locked his muscles and he
would
be unable to move for a while.
"You should have let him hit me, doctor. I deserve it." Ranma said in
a depressed voice. "I have hit her for no good reason. She was not
hurting
anyone, she was not kidnapping Akane. She was not threatening my
manhood.
She was just visiting the Tendo Dojo because of another engagement Pops
made. And I have hurt her." He paused before continuing in a more
strained
voice. "I could feel her ribs cracking when I was punching her. And for
a
moment I could swear I felt good. I was encouraged to inflict more pain
on
her, and I did not stop even though she was coughing out blood onto my
fists. And I was ready to do something more. I was ready to k...kill
her.
And it felt good to have the power to control a person's fate, to be the
one who tips on the scale of life and death. If Nabiki had not stopped
me,
I would have killed her." Ranma was still looking at his hands. Unknown
to
the doctor, he was seeing blood over his hands again.
"I didn't even have the chance to apologize to her this morning."
Doctor Tofu wanted to console the young man sitting on the ground in
front of him, but he failed to find the right words.
***
Akane was finding it difficult to concentrate on the lecture Ms.
Hinako was giving to the class. She was tapping her pencil on the desk
impatiently and would look at Ranma's empty seat from time to time.
Where is that jerk? He should be able to drag himself back to class by
now. What is keeping him so long?
*If he is seeing that girl, I will kill him.* Akane thought while
gritting her teeth. Then her expression softened as she remembered the
beating she gave to the girl. Akane had to admit, she was a bit too
hasty when she attacked the girl, even though Ranma was flirting with
her.
The girl did not challenge her openly like Shampoo and Kodachi, and
Akane
felt a little uneasy for attacking her, now that her anger had
diminished.
Yet Akane could not forget the girl's comment on her behavior in
the Tendo Dojo and the way she humiliated her with her family sword.
Akane
was a martial artist, and it did not suit her well that she was probably
the weakest in Nerima. She would not be beaten by the new girl, Never!
"We have a new student today, her name is Shiori Oogami. Please wel..
...She is late for class! How can she be late on her first day at
school?"
Ms. Hinako exclaimed.
Akane looked around the classroom, and saw no sign of the new girl.
She did not hurt the girl too badly, did she? The girl should be in
class
by now.
"Hey Akane." a whisper caught her attention. It was Yuka. Her friend
looked a little worried for some reason.
"Hmm?"
"Do you know where the new girl is?"
"Why are you asking?" Akane frowned. She did not like the direction
the conversation was going.
"It's just that..." Yuka was interrupted before she could finish her
sentence. After a brief lecture from Miss Hinako for interrupting the
class, the two girls were sent out carrying buckets in the hallway.
"What are you trying to say?" Akane asked again when they were out
in the hallway.
"I am just wondering if she is okay after the..um..fight." Yuka
paused to look at Akane's face. Akane twisted her eyebrows into a frown
and Yuka cringed a little at the expression.
Yuka's reaction had an effect on Akane. Akane's frown turned to a
puzzled expression. *Why is she afraid of me?*
Yuka, meanwhile, was trying hard not to stare at Akane's hands.
She knew she was being paranoid, Akane was not going to attack her. Her
friend had always been a gentle and caring girl most of the time, the
only exception was when Ranma was involving. Yuka herself had been
positive that Akane would not intentionally injure anyone, but now,
after
the beating, she was not so sure anymore.
That Shampoo girl and Ukyo had always been attaching themselves to
Ranma, and it was understandable that Akane would be upset. Blaming
Ranma for everything was a bit immature, but she had always believed
that
Akane would get over that and would actually be less guarded around
Ranma
when given the time. Beating the boys in the morning fights before Ranma
arrived had brought death glares from the female population, but Yuka
and
the other friends of Akane understood that, as the boys were indeed
being
jerks. Hitting Kunou violently was actually recommended, as it shut the
arrogant loud-mouth up for the sake of the other students' sanity.
But this morning's fight was a little different.
Yes, it was true that people get beaten up all the time around
Furinkan High. Kunou was getting his blows on the head daily. Akane
was always flattening Ranma with her mallet. And the people beaten
were always looking okay and refreshed after a brief moment, a few hours
at most, then they would come back for more punishment.
But today it was not only Ranma and Kunou that she beated up, she
attacked a girl who was arriving at the school with Kunou. This alone
would be okay, as the girl might have done something really malicious to
Akane before.
It was the way Akane attacked that bothered Yuka. From her angle
at the window, she could clearly see Akane's rage as she started kicking
the girl on the ground. The incident scared Yuka, even though the rest
of
the students disregarded it as one of the usual Nerima conflicts. And
worse
still, the new girl failed to show up in class.
"Yuka, are you all right?" Akane's voice shocked Yuka out of her
thoughts. She looked at Akane's face, and saw only concern. No anger.
Yuka shook her head a little bit. Akane was her friend and would never
hit her.
"Yeah, I am all right." Yuka managed a weak smile at her friend.
Akane still looked concerned, however.
"Do you need to go to the nurse's office? You look a little pale."
Yuka bowed her head in shame for even thinking that Akane could be
that cruel. It was Akane's gentleness that had made them friends, not
the
girl's ability to defeat fifty boys every morning.
"No..no. I am okay. Really." Yuka's smile was more natural now, and
it seemed to lighten up Akane's mood. A voice from the classroom soon
ruined it, however.
"Hey look! Isn't that Doctor Tofu? What is he doing here?"
Akane's mind soon put the two and two together and she did not like
the conclusion at all. The buckets dropped from her hands, spilling
water
everywhere, but she did not care. She turned and ran towards the nurse's
office.
Yuka looked back at the classroom, hesistated for a moment, then
decided to followed her friend.
***
Ranma looked up when the door was pushed open, and immediately
frowned when he saw who was entering the room. Akane was searching
frantically for something with her wide eyes. Her eyes finally
came across a beaten form on a bed. Yuka entered the room at this
moment,
but did not catch Akane's attention.
"Doctor Tofu, will she be all right?" Akane asked in a small voice.
Doctor Tofu turned towards her, and said. "Not really. Her ribs were
trying to heal when this attack refractured them. She might need to stay
in a hospital for a month or two." Doctor Tofu paused, then looked at
Akane
squarely in the eyes. "Did you do this to her, Akane?"
"Y...yes. Doctor Tofu."
Kunou's world started to spin after Akane's confession. Impossible!
Sweet Akane has done this to Shiori? It must be the work of Saotome! He
must have cast a spell on Akane. Yes! He casted a spell on her and
ordered
her to attacked Shiori so he could escape the blame. Very clever,
Saotome,
but it would not do you any good. But wait, is it not also true that
Saotome is also beaten onto the ground? Why would he want to control
Akane
only to have her beating him up?
"Why, Akane?" Doctor Tofu asked.
"I don't know, I think I got too angry."
Kunou chose this moment to speak up. "Sweet Akane, is it true that
the foul Saotome has casted a spell on you, and you have attacked my
companion because you are under the influence of it?"
Doctor Tofu was going to shut Kunou up with a pressure point when
Ranma stood up and stopped him.
"Wait, Doctor Tofu. Kunou needs this."
Akane looked down for a moment, then she shook her head. "I have
made the decision to attack her myself."
Kunou's brain chose this moment to shut down completely. He just
stared at Akane with his mouth open, as if in a trance.
Ranma looked at Kunou's unmoving form and shook his head. He really
hoped the idiot would get it this time. He felt guilty enough already,
and
he did not need Kunou's rants. Lifting his head up, he saw that Akane
was
approaching him slowly. He could see in her eyes that she was not
feeling
the best right now. He instinctively opened his mouth to say something,
to rid her the pain, but stopped himself at the last second. The beating
was too much. He could not just throw it out of the windows.
"Ranma......" Akane whispered.
"Akane......"
"Ranma, I didn't mean to do this." Akane paused. "I am....." She was
cut off in the middle of her sentence.
"Leave me." Ranma said sternly, then walked towards the door. After
Ranma had slammed the door shut, Akane finished her sentence.
".....sorry."
"Akane?" It was Yuka. She hugged the now sobbing girl. "It's time to
go back to class." Then they left too.
When the image of Akane fades from his view, Kunou recovered from
his.....meditation. The words of his love were screaming into his ears.
As much as he hated to admit it, he just had to accept that this was not
Saotome's fault. As creative as his mind could be, he could not explain
why
else would Ranma get beaten up by Akane. Unless Saotome like being
beaten
up....Nay, the sorcerer had more interest in inflicting pain upon others
than on himself.
Kunou looked up just in time to see Doctor Tofu talking to someone
on the phone.
"I have a patient that needs to be sent to your hospital..."
"Doctor!" Kunou cried out.
"Not now Kunou." Then the doctor turned back to the phone.
"I feel obliged to provide Shiori's medication and hospitality in
my own mansion, doctor."
"Just a moment, please." The doctor said to whoever that was on the
phone, then he turned to Kunou. "We need the equipments, Kunou, and your
mansion does not have them. Besides, a doctor would be needed to check
on
her recovery."
"I can buy the equipments and hire a family doctor."
"The equipments would cost a fortune! Are you sure you want to do
this?"
"It is my failing of confessing my love to Akane Tendo that pushes
her over the edge. Akane sees Shiori as a rival for my affection, even
though Shiori is only a companion, and attacks her out of jealousy."
Doctor Tofu could not help but stared at Kunou. "Your reasoning
never ceases to amaze me, Kunou."
Kunou ignored that comment. Instead he walked in front of the
battered girl. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to push away
a wave of sadness. She did not deserve being put into this condition
twice in ten days.
The doctor turned back to the phone, and informed the person on the
line that Shiori would be staying in someplace else instead. After
apologizing for making the pointless phonecall, he hung up the phone.
"What can I do for her now?" Kunou asked.
"Well, I guess you can start buying the equipments right now." The
doctor told Kunou, who nodded and walked out of the nurse office.
***
Hours passed, and it was lunchtime for the students of Furinkan
High. Akane was sitting with her friends Yuka and Sayuri, and she caught
many odd stares from the others because Ranma was not with her.
Akane was not eating her lunch, instead, she was casting brief
glances at Ranma, who was surrounded by his friends.
Yuka and Sayuri looked at their friend worriedly, but could not do
anything to lighten up her spirit.
"Akane....your lunch is getting cold. Why don't you eat it?" Yuka
asked.
"I am not hungry."
"It's about the new girl isn't it?" Sayuri said. "Well, Akane, you
have taught her a lesson for trying to steal your fiance."
This negative comment caused her two friends to stare at her. Yuka
was frowning slightly while Akane was giving her a forced smile.
"Uh, did I say something wrong?" To say Sayuri was confused was an
understatement. Akane has won a fight, shouldn't she be happy? It had
been
unusual for Akane to win any fight since the arrival of Ranma, who had
brought along an army of super-skilled martial artists with him. Winning
that fight could prove that Akane was still one of the best fighter in
the
area, instead of a doll that could be kidnapped and rescued for each
passing month.
"Nevermind, Sayuri, let's finish our lunches before they get cold."
Yuka said. Obviously most of the students were unaware of the new girl's
condition. She glanced at Akane, sighed and shook her head slightly.
Akane continued to stare at Ranma's back, ignoring her lunch.
Ranma was not being exactly happy either. Because of his refusal to
sit with his fiance, which is unusual, Hiroshi and Daisuke were raining
questions on him.
"Ranma, why don't you sit with Akane?"
"I don't feel like sitting with her right now."
"Is it because of your new fiance?" Daisuke asked with a knowing
smile, which made him look lecherous and stupid.
"Yeah.....it's related to her." Ranma answered. His two friends, of
course, took it the wrong way and began giving the pig-tailed boy
not-too-
gentle slaps on the back.
"You sly dog, who knows you would dump the most popular girl in our
school for a total stranger?" Hiroshi said.
Ranma groaned and rubbed his forehead. "You guys are giving me an
headache. It's not like that!"
The two friends looked at each other, then gasped simultaneously at
Ranma.
"You mean...."
"Oh no...."
"How can you do this?"
"It's simply wicked!"
"No wonder you are dumping Akane."
"Man, you are in big trouble if the Tendo finds out."
"I know, really BIG trouble."
"You have ruined our chances of ever dating the new girl!"
Ranma was looked at his two friends who was still rambling on. He
was left in the dark of what they were talking about and he did not like
it
one bit. He waved his hands frantically at the two boys and beckoned
them
to stop.
"Hold on a minute, what are you two talking about?"
"Why, Ranma, why? Why did you have to get that new pretty girl
PREGNANT?" Daisuke wailed. Hiroshi himself looked like he was about to
burst into tears.
"I DIDN'T GET HER PREGNANT!!!!" Ranma screamed at the top of his
lungs. The entire school population heard that yell and everyone was now
turning his or her head to Ranma's direction. Then everyone starts
commenting on this new piece of information.
"How can he do that to a girl? She is still in high school!"
"Poor girl, she's just got beaten up by Akane too. I hope she is
all right."
"My father works in a abortion clinic, may be I can ask him to help
her."
"I don't know, may be she wants to keep the baby, so she could force
Ranma to marry her. It's time for the wild horse fo settle down."
"I am planning to ask the girl for a date too. Why does Ranma have
to ruin her life?"
That was how the newest gossip in the school started, and Ranma would
be the one that had to pay for his big mouth.
Ranma, so wrapped up in his misfortunes, did not notice a filled water
bucket falling on top of him until water exploded all over him.
"I hate my life." Ranma, now a girl, commented.
Walking away from the pig-tailed girl, Daisuke and Hiroshi nodded to
each other. Their plan had worked. Ranma was not depressed anymore.
***
Kunou smiled in satisfaction when he crossed out the last item on
his list with a pen. He had finished preparing the equipments and
medicines
that Shiori would need for her recovery, and a doctor would arrive at
the
Kunou Mansion at six clock tonight.
"Sasuke!"
"Yes, master." The little ninja bounced out from some bushes.
"Did you prepare a room for the doctor?" Kunou asked.
"Yes. I have cleaned the guestroom next to Mistress Shiori's. The
doctor would have no trouble finding his way to her room."
Kunou nodded. It was excellent that his servant had done that. On
the first two days of her stay, Shiori has gotten lost five times
walking in
such a large mansion. If Kunou had not stopped her, she would have
wandered
into Kodachi's drug room, which was not healthy for anybody other than
Kodachi herself.
"Very well, you may return to the mansion."
"Yes, master." Then the ninja leapt away.
Kunou turned and started to walk back towards the school. Looking
at the clock in a bookstore, he commented to himself how he would be
able
to arrive at school at lunchtime. And that would be a perfect
opportunity
for him to punish the foul Saotome.....Kunou stopped and shook his head.
No, it was not Saotome's fault this time, punishing him without reason
would be dishonorable.
Desperately trying to find a reason to punish the foul sorcerer,
Kunou finally remembered that Ranma DID hurt Shiori a few days ago and
the
cur had not been smitten yet. Soon, Saotome would pay for his evil
ways. Kunou resumed his walk towards the school, happy that he could
justisfy attacking Ranma Saotome.
When he passed a bookstore, he caught a glimpse of something shiny
and sharp out of the corner of his eye. The object in question was going
for his neck at high speed, and Kunou quickly bent backward to avoid it.
The weapon flew by inches from his face and buried its sharp end into a
wall. It was a shuriken.
Turning around quickly, Kunou pulled out his bokken and held it
in front of him with both hands.
"Who are you? Come out and I will accept your challenge in battle."
Kunou waited in this position for a full minute, but no one answered
and there was no trace of his attacker. Thinking that his attacker was
gone,
Kunou turned and continued his path, but more carefully this time. Kunou
looked around him occassionally, but could not find anything out of the
ordinary. However, when his danger sense suddenly screamed at him, he
leapt straight up into the air, narrowly avoiding three shuriken that
were
meant for his back. Kunou was really upset right now. That dishonorable
cur had the nerve to attack him from behind!
Kunou landed on his feet, just in time to see a flash coming for his
waist. He blocked that strike, which stopped the weapon and showed that
it was a katana. Ha! The knave tries to beat the great Tatewaki Kunou
in a sword fight? He had just sealed his fate!
With a left swing to the attacker's right knee, Kunou forced his
opponent to lower his katana to block that strike. Then Kunou made a 360
degree turn and executed his Cyclone Slash aiming for the head.
The attacker blocked that strike with his katana, but the force
broke his grip on the katana and he was knocked off his feet. Kunou,
seeing an opening, made a downward slash. Unfortunately his bokken
met air as his opponent back-flipped out of the way. Now Kunou was given
some breathing space and he could finally observe his opponent. The
attacker was a ninja apparently, and that might be the reason for his
agility.
"Amazing, Tatewaki Kunou. After your pathetic demonstration this
morning I have not expected you to be able to knock my weapon away."
The ninja said.
"You are facing one of the best samurai in this place, and you dare
to use a sword against me? You are truly out of your mind." Kunou said,
confident that the ninja was no match for him in a sword fight.
"Perhaps you can beat me in a sword fight, but you can't beat me
when I am using this." The ninja said while taking out more shuriken.
"Besides you are too slow to hit me anyway."
Kunou stared at his opponent as he tightened his grip on his bokken
and prepared his final attack. Running towards the ninja, Kunou began to
swing his bokken wildly.
Seeing this attack, the ninja laughed. When Kunou was three feet from
the ninja, there was a small explosion and a cloud of smoke appeared
from
where the ninja was standing. Kunou inhaled some of the smoke, and
started
coughing uncontrollably. When the smoke cleared, he saw that the ninja
was gone.
"Come out, coward! You cannot hide from my wrath forever!" Kunou
cried out, then continued his coughing fit. A few egg-shaped objects
began to drop from the tree beside him, and Kunou knew that whatever
those objects were they would spell trouble for him.
When the objects in question touched the ground, every one of them
exploded in a cloud of smoke, severely shortening Kunou's sight range.
Kunou, blinded by the smoke, tried to force himself to stay calm. He
began
to concentrate on his surroundings, and tried to have his danger sense
on
red-alert mode.
When countless amount of shuriken began to rain down on Kunou, he
was not surprised, but was nevertheless having trouble dealing with
them.
The shuriken threatened every part of his body, but he had only one
bokken
to attempt to block all of them. He did his best, but some of the
shuriken
got through his defense and buried themselves into Kunou's shoulder and
forearm.
In desperation Kunou made a mad dash to his left, hoping that he could
get away from the smoke and regain his control of the situation. Luckily
for him, after crashing through two walls, he was able to pull himself
out
of the smoke. There Kunou stood still, ready for whatever trick the
ninja
would use on him, at least he thought he was ready when the ninja
suddenly
appeared behind him.
Kunou quickly turned around, and yelped in pain when a shuriken
made a deep cut on his right hand. He lost his grip on his bokken, and
could only stare helplessly as the weapon dropped to the ground. He
bent down and tried to make a grab for his weapon with his left hand,
but another barrage of shuriken forced him to leap back.
"Not so great and mighty now eh?" The ninja taunted. "You've lost."
"I did not lose." Kunou replied. "I am just slightly taken off guard
by your vile tricks. Your dishonorable ways have vexed me."
The ninja gave a chilling laugh at this reply. "You are saying that
I am dishonorable because I don't fight in your terms? Well, I will let
you see how dishonorable I can be...." He paused, then gave Kunou a
wicked smile. "Ah, right before I saw your quick defeat this morning,
I saw a girl entering the scene with you....."
Kunou's blood turned cold. Shiori, he was talking about Shiori.
The ninja continued. "Hmm, the girl was taken to the nurse office
after she was beaten to the ground, so I can assume that she is
vulnerable
to any attack right now. Killing you right now is not fun anyway, I
might
as well kill the girl first and then look at your reaction. After I have
enough fun looking at your miserable face, then I will consider ending
your pathetic life." Then, without a second word, the ninja leapt on a
rooftop and started running in Furinkan High's direction.
"NOOOO! You will not touch her. Come back here!" Kunou screamed
at he ran after the ninja, his injuries and bokken forgotten.
Kunou was never really good at doing ki-enhanced jumps, and he knew
that he would never be able to jump on the rooftop like that. The best
that
he could do was to try to find the shortest route to Furinkan High and
intercept the ninja before it was too late.
So focused on running as quickly as possible, Kunou did not notice
a shuriken coming his way until it ripped open the side of his pants and
made a shallow cut on his left thigh. Kunou stumbled and almost fell,
but
caught himself at the last second and continued running. The ninja was
toying with him, he knew, but it also meant that the ninja would wait
for
him before entering the high school.
*His arrogance shall be his downfall.* Kunou smiled grimly at the
thought.
When Kunou was running past a chinese restaurant, a dozen shuriken
seemed to have dropped from the sky. Using his momentum, Kunou threw
himself
forward as far as he could, and only one lucky shuriken was able to bury
itself into his ankle. Kunou landed on the ground, but he picked himself
up
and kept running. He had no hope facing the ninja right now since he
could
not reach the rooftops.
After another ten minutes of running, his ankle began to scream
louder for attention. It took a lot of will of Kunou to keep himself
from
collasping onto the ground. Finally, he could see the gates of Furinkan
High.
Standing in front of the main gate was the ninja, his arms crossed.
He was smirking at Kunou arrogantly. Kunou's strength seemed to have
disappear at this point as he collasped onto the ground.
*She's still alive.* Kunou almost grinned, but then reality kicked in
and Kunou's face became grave again.
"How can you fight me in this pathetic state?" The ninja asked, the
shook his head slightly. "Forget it, I will just go in and kill her,
this
game has gone on long enough." Then he turned and began to walked
towards
the nurse office.
Kunou, ignoring his ankle, got up and ran towards the ninja. He
tackled the ninja from behind, and the two crashed onto the ground.
The ninja was greatly surprised as he did not expect Kunou to be able
to fight and had relaxed his guard. The ninja, annoyed that Kunou still
refused to lose, grabbed a shuriken and tried to shoot it into Kunou's
stomach. However, his hand was grabbed by Kunou before it could deliver
the attack. The ninja's agility was useless for brawling on the ground,
and Kunou knew it. There was no skill in this, just a test to see who
would stay down first.
Pulling back his left fist, he slammed it down on the ninja's
forehead as hard as he could. The ninja's brain seemed to have shut
down for seconds before the dizziness was shaken off, by then another
punch of Kunou sent another wave of dizziness.
Knowing that Kunou must be stopped before he could do some serious
damage, the ninja made a left swing and the punch connected to Kunou's
left side of the skull. Kunou, convinced that giving the ninja breathing
space would jeopardize Shiori's life, made a straight punch that was
meant
for the attacker's face.
Unfortunately, the ninja grabbed the hand and threw Kunou over his
shoulder. Kunou landed roughly on the ground, but he simply got up and
started charging towards the ninja again.
Kunou was greeted by an uppercut which almost caused him to bite off
his own tongue, but he quickly retaliated by grabbing the ninja from
behind
and slammed both of them against the school wall. Not wasting any time,
Kunou, even though still groggy from the slam, started punching wildly
in the general direction of the ninja.
This time, Kunou managed connect a right hook on the ninja's
face, but his reward was a savage kick on the chest which knocked him
onto his back.
And this time, Kunou was not able to climb back to his feet.
The ninja pulled himself up on his feet weakly, and gave a small
laugh. He had trimphed. Now he would kill the girl, then bring her head
besides the boy's unconscious form. After Kunou woke up and saw the
head, he would be killed. The ninja chuckled some more before walking
unsteadily towards the nurse office.
"Moko Takabisha!"
The sudden pain on his side was enough to force the ninja to abandon
his plan. He was simply too weak to face another opponent right now. He
looked back, and saw a pig-tailed girl standing still with her hands in
front of her. Clutching his side, the ninja used his smoke bombs for a
quick
escape.
He was not done with Tatewaki Kunou yet. He would be back.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes:
Akane is a lot of things, but she is not a cold-hearted killer. She
does a lot of stupid stuff, but she tends to be ignorant of the fact
that
those are stupid stuff until it is too late. Ranma's overwhelming guilt
is not alleviated since he fails to apologize and make up for the one he
has hurt. He would probably feel better if Shiori do something to him
with
her sword, as long as no permanent damage is done. He values his life
even
more.
Yuka's role in this.....It's just what a good friend would do-helping
a friend getting through a tough situation.
With the constant fighting in Nerima, it is not unreasonable to think
that people would be less alarmed by the violence. In fact, this happens
all the time, when people get used to something, even though it is
wrong,
they tend to display high tolerance towards it.
How many shuriken does that stupid ninja has? I would say he was
able to get them out of nowhere like Mousse's weapons or Ryouga's
bandannas.
The ninja guy idea was freshly made after I discovered that the plot
of the original outline was very weak. I am never really good at fight
scenes, since I don't watch enough Ranma to know how they really fight.
I have this strange feeling that I've put too many shuriken in this
chapter.
I was planning on giving the ninja a pair of metal claws, but too many
weapons would make him resemble Mousse too much.
Did I make Kunou too powerful? I hope not.
Prereader:
Ann Luu - ssim_nna@writeme.com
Contact me:
http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/pier/878/
tkhm@hotmail.com
TKHM