Here's my "One-Hour Challenge" fic...
Heart of the Warrior, side story
by Cindy Toler
Ryoga Hibiki settled down in his sleeping bag, staring moodily up
at the starry sky. His eyes, darkly shadowed from lack of sleep, slowly
traced over the forms of the constellations. Funny how, with his sense of
direction, even the stars never seemed to be in the same place from night
to night...
Ryoga shifted uncomfortably in the sleeping bag as his vision
blurred. He shook his head to force his eyes to focus, and heaved a deep
sigh. He dreaded sleep, but it was only a matter of time now - even the
strongest determination could only put off sleep for so long. He wondered
if Ranma ever had flashback-nightmares about the drowned red-haired girl.
The stars blurred again, and Ryoga felt his eyes burning. Sleep
overcame him gradually but surely, a small taste of death...
*****
"He's not a runt! He's mine, Daddy said I could keep him!" the
little girl was saying, hugging P-chan tightly.
"Doesn't matter, Dad said it wouldn't live too long anyway!
Scrawny little runt!!" the boy spat, turning away to resume torturing a bug
that had unfortunately wandered into his view. The girl spun on her heel
without another word, cuddling P-chan close. He felt hot tears drip onto
his head as the girl carried him into the house.
"Why are you bringing a pig- ?" a woman's voice asked.
"Easy," a man interrupted. P-chan peered out from the girl's arms
to see what had to be her parents. Her mother stood by the fire, stirring
soup, and her father was seated at the table. "I told her she could keep
it as a pet."
"Well...I suppose it could teach her some responsibility..." the
mother mused...
*****
Ryoga tossed restlessly in his sleep, tangling his legs hopelessly
in the sleeping bag. With a mumbled protest, he sank again into the
dream...
*****
P-chan wandered aimlessly around the stall, tossing pitiful glances
toward the house from time to time. The father had announced that he was
now too big to live with the family, and had to join the other animals.
"It's not fair!" he grunted.
"Oh, relax," squeaked a rat who had taken up residence in the yard.
"You still get to see her every day...until you put on weight."
"What's wrong with putting on weight? The man and the woman give
me food all the time!"
"And they say they want to fatten you up!" the rat sneered.
"Because then I'll be big, and the boy won't be able to call me a
runt anymore!"
"And you'll be about the right size for eating, too," the rat
answered with a sly grin.
"Eating what?"
"Eating little black pig, you idiot!!! Just think of it, after
they cut you up, there'll be bacon, and pork chops..." The rat stopped.
It was snickering too hard to finish, as the little black piglet fell over
in a dead faint.
"Now, now, that's enough of that!" said a Voice from above.
"Aw, you never let me have any fun..." the rat grumbled as it slunk
away. The pig opened his eyes to see a large grey spider making its way
down to his eye level.
"Salutations!" the spider said cheerfully.
"Who- who are you?" P-chan asked.
"A friend," the spider answered. "You may call me Charlotte."
*****
Ryoga woke up abruptly, shuddering with horror. The THINGS they
had done to that poor pig, after Charlotte the spider died!!!
THE END
Well, that's it! I'm probably the only one who'll be amused by this, but
I'm sending it out anyway! ^_^ It took right around an hour to write, but
I did have interrputions. Sorry if the stories didn't mesh too well; it's
been an awfully long time since I saw "Charlotte's Web". I kind of
imagined Kasumi's voice for Charlotte, and Templeton the rat had a
definitely Nabiki-esque grin. I really didn't get to bring out half the
things I thought were really funny about this idea! ^_^ Anyway, the hour's
up, and that's what there is. Now that you've seen what I can come up
with when I'm pushed for time, I trust that no-one will object if I take
forever writing my next fic. ^_~
^_^
Cindy