Subject: [Fanfic] (Draft) Darkness and Light Part 2a
From: "C. Wong" <711788@ican.net>
Date: 7/2/1997, 3:55 PM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com




     Inside the Tendo Dinning Room, Ranma was eating a lot less.
. . enthusiastic than usual.  What his father had said in the
dojo was forcing repressed memories back into his mind.  <He was
right about that, it is fortunate to be here.>   Nabiki switched
on the TV, on which a blond gaijin woman was singing agonizingly
on a stage with a grand cathedral setting.    

     *I have a tale to tell.
     Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well.
     I wasn't ready for the fall,
     Too blind to read the writings on the wall.

     A man can tell a thousand lies,
     I've learned my lesson well.
     If I live to tell the secrets I have learned too well,
     You will burn inside of me!

     Truth is never far behind,
     You've kept it hidden well.
     If I live to tell the secrets I knew then that night,
     It will have the chance again!*

     At the end of that sentence, the woman collapsed onto a
confession stand, curly locks obscuring her face.
            
     Ranma sighed.  After an entire morning of flashbacks, he
really didn't need to hear a song like that right now.  The idea
of confession, of exposing weakness and inner secrets, however
artistically displayed it was, unnerved him.  But being that this
was the Tendo residence, there wasn't much he could do about it.

     "Ranma!  I challenge you!!"

     Ranma's train of thought was immediately broken as a
projectile bandanna wizzed toward the side of his head.  He
dodged it, and stood up to confront the stocky, bandanner clad
boy standing on top of the garden wall.

     "Long time no see, Ryoga.  What do you want with me this
time?"  Ranma said with his standard mask of annoyance.

     Ryoga glared down at Ranma with hate filled eyes, as he had
always done since he had tracked him down at Nerima.   "What I've
always wanted. . . REVENGE!"  The boy that was doomed
to travel for eternity leaped up into the air, yielding his
umbrella.

     For a split second Ranma looked weary . . . and sad, then he
hardened his eyes as he launched himself upward toward his
opponent.     

     CRANG!!

     In one fluid motion, Ukyou had pushed Ranma aside and
cleanly sliced Ryoga's umbrella in half with her giant spatula. 
Ranma sommersaulted in midair and landed on the front of the
semi-open dinning room as Ryoga fell head first onto the
glass-paved yard.

     "Ucchan, that's my fight!"  Ranma protested.

     Ukyou ignored him and approached Ryoga, picking him up by
the front of his shirt.  "Couldn't you just leave Ran-chan alone
for once?!"

     Ryoga slapped her hand away and bared his fangs.  "Shut up!
You don't know what he has put me through!"

     "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you for quite some time
now, what has he put you through?"  Akane approached them with a
questioning look.

     "He. . . that is. . . I. . ."  Ryoga fumed helplessly,
unable to expose the real reason in front of Akane.  

     "Akane-chan, one of your friends is on the phone."  Kasumi
called out to her from the dinning room.

     "I'm coming, sis."  Akane walked back into the house as
Ryoga gave a sigh of relief.

     "You can't hide the truth forever, you know."  Ranma said.

     "Shut up!  It's all your fault anyway!"

     "Well, excuse me!  But I'm not the one who dragged you all
the way to Juse-"

     Ryoga clamped his hands over Ranma's mouth as he peeked at
the Tendos.  "Not here, you idiot!"

     "Ryoga, just act mature and stop blaming everything on other
people."  Ukyou said indignantly as the boy glared at her.

     Ranma sighed and said.  "Look, Ryoga, let's go somewhere
else so we can settle this once and for all.  You're becoming a
pain."

     "That's my line!"  Ryoga scowled.

     "Ran-chan, are you sure?  You got quite a hit from your
father at the dojo. . ."  Ukyou asked with concern.

     "I'm FINE, Ucchan.  I'm a martial artist, for Christ's
sake!"  Ranma said in an exasperated tone, and turned to Ryoga. 
"Now come with me!"  The boys both leaped over the fence and
disappeared.

     Ukyou sighed as she stared after them.  Ran-chan can be so
damn macho sometimes!  But that, along with all his other traits,
made him even more attractive in her eyes.  Her mind became
troubled at that. 

     <I hope you would choose me, Ran-chan.  I'm not a saint, and
it will be almost impossible for me to give up fighting for you
shall you choose otherwise.  Please, don't abandon me and left me
being the bad guy that I would probably be shall you choose her .
. .>
 
     Just then Akane came back into the dinning room.  "Where are
Ranma and Ryoga?"  She asked, looking out to the yard.

     "My boy is merely going to teach that Hibiki boy a lesson in
humility."  Genma said absently as he picked up the bits and
pieces from Ukyou's okonomiyaki and dropped them in his mouth.

     "That. . . jerk!!"  Akane's anger got the better of her. 
"Why couldn't he just leave Ryoga-kun alone!"  With that she
angrily exited the front door.  

     "Oh!  My poor little girl is trying to stop a life and death
fight between the best martial artists in town. . . and all by
herself!  She is going to get hurt for sure!  Waaaaahhh!!!!" 
Soun sobbed like a baby.
    
     "Well, I can always go help her. . ."  Ukyou said.

     "Will you really?!  Oh thank you so much!!"  Soun brightened
up.

     ". . . only if you agree to nullify her engagement with
Ran-chan."  She finished with a smirk.  

     "Waaaaaahhhh!!!"  Soun's cry renewed with a vigor.  "Now I
have to look for a new heir!"

     "Hey, hey!  I was only joking!"  Ukyou tried unsuccessfully
to block the fountaining tears with her giant spatula.  She
sighed in disgust as she left the flooding house in search of her
rival.  <How such a man survive in the real world, I'll never
know.>

*         *         *         *         *         *         *

     Meanwhile Ranma and Ryoga had settled down at the atheletic
field of Furinkan High.  The holidays had started, and the place
was completely deserted. 

     "So, ready to take the beatings that you deserve?"  Ryoga
gave him a nasty smile.

     Ranma stared at him with no hint of anger on his face.  He
didn't know if he was making the right choice by doing this, but
this feud between them had to stop.  It was driving Ryoga mad . .
. it was driving him mad.  "Why do you hate me, Ryoga?"
     
     Ryoga didn't notice the lack of hostility.  "You got me
cursed, Baka!"  

     Ranma took a deep breath.  "I've said it before and I'll say
it again. . . I DIDN'T DRAG YOUR SORRY HIDE TO CHINA!  IT WAS
YOUR OWN FAULT THAT YOU FELL INTO THAT CURSED SPRING!!"       

     "YOU RAN OUT THAT DAY, IF ONLY YOU HAD BEEN THERE-"

     "I'VE WAITED THREE DAYS FOR YOU ON THAT EMPTY LOT RIGHT
BEHIND YOUR HOUSE!!"

     "BUT. . . but. . ."  Ryoga couldn't find an appropriate
comeback for that one.

     Ranma's eyes darted around, as if making sure that no one
was spying on them, and walked toward Ryoga.  "What had happened
to you?  You didn't used to be like this in junior high. . ." 
Ryoga froze as Ranma's words hit him.  "Don't you remember the
time when you ran after me after I took that bread. . . and what
happened afterwards?"   Ranma grilled his eyes into Ryoga's,
trapping him.  "Don't you remember that?"    

     Ryoga panicked.  Ranma was talking about a time in his life
when everything suddenly appeared to be hopeful, the only time
when he wasn't lonely.  Their relationship were once so innocent.
. . well, maybe not entirely that innocent.  But still they were
so close and trusting toward each other that the even word
 friendship' failed to describe it.  And then, Ranma didn't show
up on that fateful day, and Ryoga immediately went to look for
him.  More and more misfortune befell upon him in his search for
Ranma, until finally, the world clashed down upon him in a place
called Jusenkyo.   That had driven him to his unending quest for
revenge from his ex-best friend.  For a drifter with nothing else
to do, this quest had become the goal of his life.

     "Ryoga. . ."  Ranma's eyes glistered ever so slightly as he
hesistantly said what he didn't dare before.  "You are not the
only one getting the blues from this crazy world.  We might not
be able to go back to be like we were in junior high. . . but" 
He struggled with his words.  "But at least stop hating me,
dammit!"  

     And now, his peceived enemy had actually managed to lower
his pride, and asked to dissolve their grudge.  Should he gave
in?  Gave in to those dark eyes and let everything be forgiven?   
 
     But if he did, then everything might repeat themselves.  He
knew he would be tempted to gave in to his past.

     And he won't allow that.

     He could never allow himself to be that close, that sincere,
to Ranma ever again.  Not after all that had happened.  Not after
all that misforunte that he had suffered that was related to him. 
Not after how he denied his part in his suffering.  

     Especially not after how he left without a trace, leaving
him to deal with this cruel world on his own.

     <Maybe it really wasn't his fault that he left. . .>

     It doesn't matter whose fault it is, somebody HAS to pay. 
Everyone who had caused his immense suffering, in anyway, HAS to
pay. . .

     Besides, he couldn't possibly allow himself to fall back. 
He had to be firm now.   There should never, never have been
anything between them.  Not now.  Not EVER.

     With that in mind, he struck Ranma in the stomach, hard.

*         *         *         *         *         *         *

     POW!!

     For the first time in many years, Kodachi was regretting her
actions.  

     CLING!  CLANG!  CRACK!  CRASH!  

     Her opponent was skifully disarming her the sets of
gymnastic weapons that she was hiding under her cape, breaking
down her defences.

     PONG!!!   

     People always tell her that it is dangerous to cross people
for amusement, for sooner or later she is going to cross the
wrong person.  Somehow, all those that she had drugged,
ambuished, and schemed against before had either failed to get
back at her or didn't even try.  "For the Black Rose, who isn't
the right person to cross?"  Kodachi had once questioned with
amusement.

     This time, she found the answer.

     "Hiya!"  A swift centre kick caught her in the stomach,
sending her crashing into a concrete wall.

     "This for putting poison in Nekohanten's food, dishonorable
psycho."  Shampoo elegantly put down her foot, staring arrogantly
at the crumbled girl in front of her.   Really, her super-strong
Airen tended to attract the most annoying weaklings for some
reason. 

     Then a series of flashbacks regarding her past fights with a
certain martial arts okonomiyaki chef came into her mind.  Before
fighting her, Shampoo didn't think too hightly of her skills,
since training in fighting with kitchen tools and food couldn't
posssibily be more effective than training in stardard armed and
unarmed kung-fu.  However, Shampoo had forgotten something VERY
crutial regarding the practical skills of a martial artist:
his/her training environment.

     Shampoo was trained in her own village ever since she was a
child, in which all her opponents were top warriors.  However,
they were also her family, friends, aquiantiances, neighbors . . 
. people that wouldn't cause her any real damage.  Also, their
tornaments were all bound by a strict set of rules that would
ensure them to be fair.  As such, Shampoo was skillful . . . but
somewhat less than experienced in all-out fights.

     Kuonji Ukyou, the heir to the Kuonji Combat Okonomiyaki
Techniques, was trained in the actual mean streets, with
combat-skilled business rivals (martial artist cooks like Crepe
Joe),
gangs (groups of thugs, some armed with guns, who would demand
*protection fee* from a lone girl running her own tiny business),
and all kinds of villany types who could not hesistate in causing
her permanent harm or worse in satisfying their own personal
gains.  Being in such a harsh environment since she was six, the
girl was skillful as well as experienced in any kind of combat
situation.

     After several fights, it was apparent to Shampoo that Ukyou
was most certainly, if not more than a match for her.  Not that
she was scared of her, of course.   After all, an Amazon always
faces whatever challenges that came her way.  It's the origin of
their proud heritage.  She smiled with pride once more as she
turned back to the defeated girl.

     "You not Shampoo's class. . . actually, you not even AKANE'S
class."  Shampoo smirked.  "At least tomboy have kempo skills,
while you just cheating weakling.  Ranma not yours, will never
be."

     "Grrr. . ."  Kodachi painfully stood up and glared at her
rival.  How dare this bimbo say that?!

     The Black Rose had blossoming beauty, devious schemes, and
immeasurable wealth.  As long as she was willing to put some
effort in getting what she wanted, the unknown ribbon of fate
would spontaneously twirl around her in a vortex, snapping
whatever that she wanted right into to her hand.  It was this
kind of dark security that sustained this thorny flower,
glamourizing her face and fueling her laughter.  

      Ranma-sama, the only thing that she truely desired, the
symbol of the word "boyfriend" to a withdrawn girl, the only one
willing to get her out of jams that she deserved to be stuck in,
happened to be an exception.

     She almost smiled as she remembered that day when she had
challenged the Tendo girl at Furinkan.  Her Ranma-sama had denied
his feelings for her with a blushed face.  But once she started
crying, he immediately consoled her, more tender than any other
lover in the world.  It was then that he told her the real
barrier between them: his fiancee.

     It was so discouraging.  If truth be told, she could barely
hold her own against Akane, the first fiancee: that was when
fighting fair.  As if that tomboy kempoist wasn't tough enough,
OTHER even better martial artist girls had showed up one after
another throughtout the year that the Black Rose had claimed
Ranma-sama for herself, each wanting this strangely enticing man
for herself.  What started out as a light-hearted quest of love
had turned into a nightmare of unending battles with less devious
but more powerful opponents.

     But the Black Rose never backed down from challenges.  If
she can't inflict pain with her skill, then she might as well do
so with her tongue.  "You win this time.  But know that I shall
fight to my last breath to have my Ranma-sama!  The last thing he
could ever want is a barbaric, illegally immigrated, uneducated
Chinese slut like you!"  Kodachi spat out with venom, stinging
the Chinese girl with her thorns as she prepared herself to leapt
over a chosen rooftop and away.