Nothing new here, just a final posting before I send it off to be added
to the remailer... I should have done this weeks ago!! Sorry!
Robma "I'm hiding anyways so who cares?" Orick
"Here we go again!" -Azusa Shirotori(If you don't know WHO she is, you failed
the first security check. GET OUT!!
If you don't know WHY she said it,
that's okay... you're still leaving!
Everyone who stays behind, YOU'RE MINE
NOW! Ho-ow cute! ^-^)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Many years ago... A forest near Jusenkyo...]
The narrow cresent moon did little to illuminate the foliage. The
wind howled through the trees and whistled past a black-clothed figure
carrying a large bundle on its back sneaked across the forest floor. The
figure misjudged its footing on a loose rock and stumbled a bit. It swerved
for a second and eventually fell to its knees with a quiet curse. The bundle
let out a low moan as it is jostled to the ground resting against the figure.
Violet eyes glanced back in annoyance, then turned to search behind the bundle
in the direction it had come from, searching for any signs of pursuit...
A sudden gust of wind ripped the loose black cloth from the figure's
face and unfurled a long lock of white hair to whip behind the figure like a
banner. Perfume desperately grabbed at the cloth as it flew off her face but
her burden and the whipping hair covering her face prevented her from moving
fast enough to catch it. An angry curse escaped her lips.
The cloth flew past and letters started to fade in...
--------========--------========--------
[This Space For Rent Production]
[A Prelude Story To The Ranma 1/2 "Rising Star" Fan Fiction Storyline]
[By Rob Orick]
[(It hasn't been written yet so stop looking for it!)]
--------========--------========--------
Perfume sighed and freed her right hand to tuck her stray hair back
into the folds of her cloak's hood and out of her face. With a grunt, she
shifted the bundle of yellow cloth higher up on her back. Hitoshi's head
rested on her left shoulder, his eyes were in that same swirled position one
gets after being stunned. Being uppercutted by an outraged girl and having
one's head crash onto a boulder after a short orbital trip could do just that.
It was lucky for Hitoshi that he had the thick skull of the Hibiki family so
no lasting damage should plague him when his mind returned to its normal,
operating condition. Lucky for him, unlucky for that poor boulder that was
now a fine pile of gravel.
*It is at this time that historians would like to point out that the
modern super-thick Hibiki skull was still in development at this point in
history. Even though Hitoshi will not suffer lasting damage, he will be
remaining knocked out for quite a while. He'll be back in the world of the
living, later.*
--------========--------========--------
[Special thanks to those who convinced me to write a story]
[If you don't like this story, you can hurt them.]
[Really special thanks to the creator that inspires me]
[In the end... there can be only one... May it be Rumiko Takahashi!]
--------========--------========--------
*Flashback to the time just before the boulder bit it.*
Perfume stood with her legs shoulder-length apart and her right arm
raised with her clenched fist. Her face was flushed and her breath was ragged
and quick. She took a few breathes and opened her eyes as she heard a low
whistle approach from above. Hitoshi's body returned from it's quick voyage
to the Earth's lower orbit and struck a large boulder, head first, ten feet
in front of Perfume. Her flushed face turned pale at the loud, sickening
crack but before she could do anything else, the boulder exploded into small
pieces. Her eyes were wide open with shock as a piece flew out and struck her
in the forehead. Her eyes imitated Hitoshi's as they went into the swirled
pattern of being involuntarily stunned. Her pinky and fore fingers
reflexively shot out straight into the appropriate position. Her body swayed
back...
"Uuuugh..."<Thump!> ...And she fell down onto her back.
--------========--------========--------
[ Twilight ]
[A Legend of Jusenkyo]
--------========--------========--------
Perfume got up off the ground with a groan. She felt her new bruise
and winced. The stone fragment left a circular bruise in the middle of her
forehead which was bruising nicely. Then, she remembered Hitoshi.
From what she could tell, he was in the same spot where he had come
down. He wasn't moving and that worried her.
"<Hibiki, if you just made me angry enough to kill you, I'll never
talk to you again.>"
When she went to check on him, she spotted movement in the distance.
She glaced at Hitoshi then glanced to the group of unconscious and wounded men
behind her and decided on an action. She wrapped Hitoshi in her cloak and hid
him in the underbrush in case the men came to before his mind came back from
the land of revolving stars. She then pulled her mask up to cover the lower
half of her face and slinked off into the shadows to investigate.
--------========--------========--------
[Chapter Two]
--------========--------========--------
Half an hour later, she could tell what she was going to see before
she crawled up behind a group of boulders that stood on the outskirts of
Jusenkyo. And she hoped that she was wrong. Cautiously, she straightened her
legs to look over the boulder that was her concealment.
The light from many fires reflected from her eyes as she looked down
upon the floor of the valley and the large encampment that occupied it. The
closest of the campfires was still a good forty yards away and she could make
out what she assumed was the perimeter guards with makeshift braziers to
signal their location.
(How? How did so many get here without me noticing them?) Perfume
glanced to where her former post in the tree was, and what she noticed made
her jaw drop. There was a large cliff face there and it blocked her view of
this area when she was IN the tree! Perfume put her head in her hands and
shook it back and forth. Then she punched the ground with her left fist.
(Hiya! I'm a total and complete idiot!!! Forget reprimand, Mom's gonna kill
me!!!)
Perfume calmed herself down after her initial shock at her stupidity
and looked out at the encampment. The closest guard was about ten yards from
her position and was leaning heavily on his spear. Perfume smiled when she
heard the soft snore emating from him. She looked at the next two closest
perimeter braziers to see if those guards were paying this area any attention,
and when she was sure that they weren't, she began to sneak forward...
(Maybe... she'll let me off the hook with just the klonking of my life
if I do a little reconnaissance of the enemy.)
When she reached the guard, she was amazed at his ability to stand and
sleep at the same time. She snuck past with no problem, a silent black shadow
with violet eyes. She stopped when she came to a large clump of brush by a
campfire near the edge of camp and peered through it to spy on those gathered
there. There seemed to be a disagreement occuring between a few of them. She
blocked out all background noises to hear what was being said.
"What I'm saying is that it's stupid to have to go so far for water!
There are springs just a few minutes walk from here!" one voice cried.
"Shh! Keep your voice down! HE might hear you!" a second voice
warned.
"You know that HE has said not to touch that water," another voice
spoke up.
"I hear that the water's cursed and dead spirits haunt them. They
rise and torment those who would disturb their rest..." a third voice added.
"Bah! HE does not frighten me with those tales. They are just myths!
Stories to scare little children!" the first scoffed.
"Even myths have their roots in the truth... and children are not the
only ones who should be believe them." a new voice simply stated from behind
the one who had just spoken, startling the men around the fire. A man wearing
a dark grey cloak casually strolled up into the light cast by the fire. His
face concealed in the deep shadows of his hood so that only his mouth and chin
were seen. His appearance startled Perfume because this time she was
absolutely sure that she was paying attention to her surroundings and would
have been able to notice this man. Then she knew why she couldn't. (He's
able to conceal his presence!)
The other men quickly and nervously found interest in other things.
Other things that could keep them from having to look directly at the man as
he coolly surveyed them. His gaze rested on the man who had complained about
why the spring water was off limits. He tilted his head and studied him
before speaking again.
"You don't seem to like the orders I gave about staying away from the
water from the springs," his voice dripped with venom and made Perfume shiver.
The other men moved away from the one being addressed as fast as they could
without making it look like they were trying getting away from the man. "So
you find it necessary to complain in the dark where you don't think I can
hear you."
"Well, um, you see, sir, I was just..." the man began to sweat
profusely.
"Quiet! I'm not finished!" He waited until the man shut his mouth
and calmly slid his hands into the sleeves of his cloak. "You might have a
point, you know, and I might be wrong. So, I've come to a decision," in a
quick, fluid motion, the cloaked man drew out a stoppered, clay vial and
studied it. "I've decided that IF you want the water from the training ground
of CURSED springs, THEN, by all means, my friend, you may have IT!" The vial
suddenly flew from his hands with unerring accuracy towards the would-be
troublemaker.
Before the shocked man could react, the vial shattered on his face and
splashed him with its contents. He screamed in surprise. The rest of the men
shouted out random expressions of shock as their companion shrank and his
clothes fell into a bundle at the spot where he once stood. Their shock grew
as a brown field mouse crawled out of the pile of clothing on the ground. The
mouse squeaked. The men gaped. The cloaked man smiled at their sudden
discomfort. Perfume stifled her gasp and watched with new eyes as the magical
properties of the water became known to her.
"Behold! This is the curse of Jusenkyo!" the man bent down and
lifted the mouse as it franticly tried to scamper away. He turned his dark
visaged towards the shocked faces gathered around him. "Tell any others who
would doubt my words as the truth. But, first..." His hooded face turned to
face Perfume's hiding spot. Even though she couldn't see his eyes she knew he
had made eye contact. She felt her blood go cold as he smiled at her. He
arrogantly waved his hand towards her. "...I want that amazon spy brought to
me, NOW!!" He clenched his hand into a fist at the end of his order and his
eyes flashed with a green light for a second.
"Eep!" Perfume cried at the sight. The remaining men looked in shock
at the eeping bush that the cloaked man had indicated.
Perfume scrambled out of the bush and started an all out run. The
shocked men hastily grabbed up their weapons and began to chase the fleeing
Amazon. The cloaked man held the squirming mouse and laughed. If his smile
had chilled her body, his laughter froze her soul.
News of the intruder spread quickly throughout the camp and Perfume
knew she had to get away. The guard she had snuck past earlier was waking up
due to the commotion in camp. As he turned to see what was causing the
disturbance, he was sent crashing back into deep slumber by a flying bonbori
to the face. Perfume scooped up the weapon as she ran past. She was a few
seconds away from the stand of boulders where she had first spied on the camp,
when the first arrows struck them and richocheted off. For someone not use to
being shot at by arrows, she handled it as well as can be expected.
"HIYA, HIYA, HIYA, HIYA, HIYA!!!! I always wanted to be popular, but
this is stupid!!" Perfume twisted her body in a way she hoped she would never
have to again as an arrow flew through the area where her head was a split
second before. (Shut up and concentrate!! I've seen Mom do a trick just like
this! If I concentrate hard enough, I can sense the arrows before they hit me
and pluck them from the air! That will surprise the archers and tell all of
those fools who would fight with us that Amazons cannot be harmed by mere
arrows! I can do it!) A smile crossed her face as she imagined the
expressions on the archers' faces and at the soon to be famous tale of the
white-maned maiden who's flight to freedom against all odds inspired her
people to drive out the intruders from their homeland. It was going to be
glorious!
An arrow splashed through her white locks and lodged itself into her
right bonbori which was up next to her head at the time. Perfume's eyes
opened wide in shock and her speed increased to twice of what she should be
able to run normally. "Who needs gloryy?! Running is good. Running is very
good!!"
{Thus the flashback ended with a lone amazon being chased by an army.
Random arrows continued to fly out to try and catch her as she quickly reached
the speed of sound...}
--------========--------========--------
(And here I am now. Trying to keep in hiding and sneak home.)
Perfume sighed and checked on Hitoshi again. (He must of came down harder
than I thought!) She had found him exactly where she had stashed him. He was
still unconscious. Perfume was actually worried about him, even though she
had just met him. She couldn't leave him so she brought him with her. She
quickly hated that decision after the first five minutes of carrying him. She
had been carrying him for only ten minutes when she had to put him down and
rest. (Damn! He's heavier than he looks!)
Perfume studied his dazed eyes and open, stunned mouth, and decided
that she didn't like how they looked at her, accused her of her part in his
condition. She manipulated his face with her hands until she changed the
I've-been-stunned-by-an-angry-Chinese-Amazon-who-lost-her-temper-and-hit-me
look to an I'm-sleeping-and-have-not-been-uppercutted-by-an-angry-Amazon look.
(He looks peaceful...) She brushed away a lock of hair that covered
his eyes back into its place.
"<Oh, Hibiki... I could really use you right now... I'm so sorry...>"
Her eyes became soft and she gave a small smile to the daz..., um, SLEEPING
figure. "<I've... I've never felt so alone... and... sc... sc...*sigh*
scared....,>" she grimaced at the idea. "<Ha! An amazon scared! Mom would
be so disappointed in me, as if she didn't have enough reason to be. I'm a
screw-up, a troublemaker, I refuse to follow most of the amazon laws, I use to
scoff at the legends in this area just to find out that they're true, and now
I knocked out the only thing I have to a friend during a dangerous situation.
I messed up big time, Hibiki. I'm no amazon. When it's all over, I think
I'll go on a long training trip that never ends...>" She hefted Hitoshi back
onto her back and got ready to move away from Jusenkyo and the searching bands
of soldiers. "<This isn't your war. You don't need to get involved. I'll
get you away from here. I promise.>"
No matter what Perfume thought about herself, she was not as
inattentive as she thought she was. She heard the spear as it flew through
the air and jumped up to let it strike a tree behind her. When she tried to
land on it as she always did whenever a spear is thrown at her a lodged into a
tree, the spear snapped under her feet and dumped her unto the ground. She
did manage to land on her feet, uncertainly.
"<Hibiki! You weigh too much!>" she accussed the nonprotesting form
on her back and turned to face her enemy, reaching back to seize her
bonbori... and realised with annoyance that Hitoshi's body had pinned her
weapons down.
"<I can't just ditch you, Hibiki!>" She dodged to the side as another
spear thrusted out at her. The fact that Hitoshi's added weight considerably
slowed her down didn't escape her attention. She gasped as a spear shaft
struck her in the chest and a second blow stuck the back of her knees. The
momentum from Hitoshi and Perfume's combined weight threw her face first to
the ground.
"Maybe it's just his backpack that weighs so much...," Perfume
rationalised as she tried to get out from under Hitoshi's body. A spear's tip
gently rested on her throat. Her eyes traveled up the shaft to see the
weilder. Her heart stopped beating as her eyes made contact with the green
eyes of the cloaked man. His mouth twisted from a stern line into a false
smile of surprise.
"Why, NIHAO! It's so _nice_ to see you again! You were in such a
horrible rush the last time we saw each other. I HOPE that _I_ didn't offend
you at our last meeting... Ah! And I see you have a friend with you this
time. How nice! Now I have two guests instead of one!"
Perfume felt her hope for escape die as he tore the air apart with his
psychoticly cold laugh. She closed her eyes in shame for not getting Hitoshi
to safety and cursed her existance.
"<Forgive me for failing you, Hibiki...>" she whispered to the
sleeping form. The cloaked man smiled in malicious glee as signs of sanity
returned to his eyes. He studied his "guests" and decided what to do with
them. He began to laugh again as he pulled back the spear from Perfume's
throat. Perfume looked up in surprise.
"I'm not being a gracious host, I know. But, we don't really have the
proper accommodations for prisoners back in our camp, so... Bie Liao, amazon.
I send you to your ancestors!" The man's eyes became engulfed in dark green
demonic fire. Perfume screamed as he seized the spear with both hands and
drove the spear towards her head.
--------========--------========--------
As Perfume's scream ripped through the night, two brown eyes snapped
open. The spear jerked to a halt centimeters from Perfume's forehead.
"Wha...?!" the green flames flickered out as the man looked in shock
at the hand that grasped the spear just behind the spearhead.
Before the cloaked man could react, Hitoshi pointed the spear away
from Perfume and yanked in the spear violently. The man's grip was solid and
locked so he flew forward with the spear. His body flew back and crashed into
the trunk of a tree with a sickening thud after Hitoshi slammed the man's face
with a powerful punch to the jaw. The man bounced off the tree and fell to
the ground. He quickly climbed to his feet and snarled at Hitoshi. With his
eyes burning with the unholy green light, he charged Hitoshi with a feral roar
of rage. The man's hands were curled into claws as they sought to tear the
boy apart. The sight unnerved Hitoshi enough to keep him from getting the
spear up to defend himself. Perfume reacted to the sudden attack from the man
by quickly drawing out her dagger and flinging it at the charging man. The
throw was blind, but her warrior training took over to send the dagger to its
target without err.
The green-eyed man crashed to ground, screaming in pain and outrage.
His hands clutched at the dagger embedded in his left eye. His right hand
grabbed the hilt and yanked out the blade. He let out another cry of anguish
as he covered his damaged eye with his left hand. He glared at the two
fighters who stood in the same stances. Perfume was shocked at what she
had done. Hitoshi didn't know what to say or do. The man parted his lips and
summoned his energy.
Half-blinded with pain, he stretched out his right hand towards where
the two teenagers stood. A green ball of energy formed in his plam. With a
cry of hatred, he thrusted the ball at them. The shot went wide and exploded
against a tree to their right. Hitoshi threw himself over Perfume as the
blast showered them with wooden pieces traveling at high velocity. When the
pieces stopped falling, Hitoshi grabbed up Perfume and ran from the screaming
madman as he shot off another blast.
"I WILL SEE YOU TWO DIE!! I WILL DESTROY YOUR FRIENDS!! I WILL KILL
YOUR FAMILIES!!" the "demon" fired off a blast with each promise, missing
each shot because of the loss of it's left eye. He decided to find out where
the rest of the men were. "OVER HERE!! THEY'RE OVER HERE!! KILL THEM!!
KILL THEM BOTH!!"
As Hitoshi ran through the forest carrying his companion with ki
blasts destroyed the trees all around them, Perfume turned and rested her
tired head against his shoulder and thanked her rescuer in the only way she
knew how to...
"<Hibiki, it's about time you woke up.>" She yawned and fell asleep.
--------========--------========--------
*The next morning...*
"<Hibiki? Where are we?>"
--------========--------========--------
[End Chapter Two.]
--------========--------========--------
[ Twilight ]
[A Legend of Jusenkyo]
[To be concluded...]
--------========--------========--------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sincerely hope that I have your attention, now. Where am I going
with this story? I have no idea!! I do believe that I shall only write three
chapters to this story since it is suppose to be only a prelude to my next
collection of stories. I hope I do well.
You all are familiar with the procedures. If you have anything to say
to me about this story or whatever else you might just possibly want to say to
me, send it to me at RGORICK@MAIL.UCCS.EDU. Come and keep me company during
the long nights of writer's block that I suffer from. (As if the 300+ people
on the Ranma 1/2 and Fanfic Mailing Lists wasn't company enough! I thank all
of you guys on the ML for putting up with my madness. May the Ranma madness
consume us all...)
Until you hear from me again, I am Rob "This space for rent" Orick and
you are a bunch of people who read my story. If you have any questions about
my writing, please take it up with my agent, Hibiki Bendo. (Hmm. She does
look a bit like Nabiki Tendo... If you took away the blond wig and the
sunglasses...)
Seriously, all things that belong to Rumiko Takahashi are hers. If
you try to sue me and I will defend myself with the legal representation of
Ms. Bendo.
Please come back for the final chapter of Twilight! I need you! If
you decide to not come back, I'll camp out on your front door step until you
promise to come back!
---(For those of you who keep requesting them, the fictional characters...)---
Virgo(character from Rising Star): If he does carry out that last threat, just
point behind him and say, "Look! It's Rumiko Takahashi!" It really
works!
Allegra(another one): You can stop reading now. We're finished. BTW, we say
something different everytime you look away from the screen...
Zodiak(you guessed it): See if you can move your head away and back again fast
enough to catch us...