Here is the third part.. I still haven't finished it but I thought I'd repost the whole lot with corrections and see responses to it.

                                                                  
                                     EVE      
                                                         
                                              
Notes for the series....           
<xxx> = Chinese or other language (when specified)         
_xxx_ = accenting words.           
~xxx~ = sound effects.          
((Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 created by the great and extremely funny Rumiko Takahashi and owned by her, Viz., Kitty, Fuji TV and Shogakukan Inc. and maybe other assorted companies. I hold absolutely no claim on any of the Ranma 1/2 characters but Eve and Jaden are mine...))       
 
         
CHAPTER 3 - BITTERSWEET MELODY OF SOUL, PART 2    27/07/97
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"There's no truth that hurts more than truths about yourself."

    "This Jaden is a monster!" Akane gasped. "How can a person be so twisted?"
     Nabiki cleared her throat loudly.
    "You forget, little sister, that Jaden isn't truly human."
     "She's near enough!" Akane desperately tried not to look stupid.
     "Have you been reading this or just daydreaming about Ranma?" Nabiki asked, seemingly innocently.
     "I don't daydream about that jerk all the time!"
     "So you _do_ think about him?" Nabiki smiled smugly.
     "..."
     "Now girls, you should really stop arguing. We have to go warn Ranma and Ryoga about what this Jaden is capable of," Dr. Tofu spoke up, having finished reading all he had saved.  This was worse than he'd expected. He would tell Kasumi, too, but the girls seemed nervous about him going near her, strangely enough.
    "Well, I'm ready. Akane, you can't go out like that, you'd better get something decent on."
    "Nabiki, I'm dressed!"
    "Oh, my mistake, younger sister."

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    Ryoga wandered down the street. He had had to get out of Ucchan's. He needed space from sympathetic, pitying faces. He had never taken pity well. The hot sun seemed to be beating his head in and annoyed his exposed wounds which bit him back in anger. But his mind was on another wound: his soul. Long ago he had lost his spirit.
    He was not in an emotional stupor as he was before but he was confused and teetering over the edge in hesitation. Ryoga was in shock. Akari had dumped him. Sweet, loving Akari hated him, had no respect for him. She never did. The one person in life who had kept his sanity in place had stumbled away clumsily, knocking it over. But Ryoga thought he didn't love Akari. Why should he be upset at her separation?
    Too many questions left unanswered that simply didn't matter to anyone but him. And he mattered to no-one. He saw his parents barely two or three times a year. His mother had trouble remembering his name. No-one would miss him if he...
    ...Couldn't possibly be thinking of doing _that_?! He still had a home, a staple holding on to part of him. He even had a pet dog, who had gone off him a little after Ryoga had poured hot water over him. A small smile appeared on his face, he would find home and stay there until he saw his family, but the smile never reached his eyes.

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    Ranma watched, bored and impatient, as Eve slowly finished her food, seemingly taking every bite like she was a pirate and it was gold. She had taken ages to order food from the hospital cafeteria and seemed to be in slow motion. Soon she finished by licking her long fingers.
    "It's been _weeks_ since I last ate."  Her flute-like voice was asking for an apology without actually being obvious about it.
    "I know the feeling," Ranma replied, apparently accepting her apology.
    "No, really, it ha's been over 2 months since I last had some solid food."
    "It was a little like that when me an' Pop were on a training trip. Who knows _how_ many girls I was enagaged to in order to get something to eat!"
    "Four, not including Ukyo. One was a boy, even."
    Ranma spurted out the coke he was sipping. "How did yo -"
    "Please do no't worry, all the girls except the boy are either in love or engaged."
    "And the boy?"
    "He now lives in Nova Scotia." Eve watched Ranma stare back at her, he seemed unnerved by her ability, still. "No need to be scared of me, I will ono't hurt you. In fact, I a'm going to protect you from Jaden."
    "Who _is_ ?" Ranma wanted to see what kind of tale she would come up with, although his scepticism was fading , he couldn't help but distrust this stranger. There was something about Eve which made him view her differently. Maybe it was her icy-blue eyes which were a little too bright and startling to be normal. Maybe it was long, flowing red hair which reminded him far too much of blood. It was creepy but not ugly, almost beautiful as it shimmered, which scared Ranma even more.   
    "Jaden is evil, she has a _lot_ of magic at her disposal and she wants to use it against me."
    "Okay... but why?"
    "Ran-chan, there you are!" A voice shouted uninhibitedly across the echoing room. Ranma circled to see Ukyo, leaning over a barrier facing him, flustered and worried. She wasn't her normal, happy self. There seemed to be something haunting her. It was too Ryoga-esque for Ranma to be comfortable with it.
    "Ucchan, what's wrong?" He walked over to his best friend.
    "It's Ryoga, I... I..."
    Ranma turned back to study Eve, to see if she knew what was going on but her eyes were darting every which way but his.  "What about him? What's happened?" Ranma knew Ryoga had jumped out of the window but nothing odd had further happened, till now.
    Ukyo seemed on the verge of tears and her face was a map of guilt. Eager to get rid of it, Ranma smiled encouragingly at the upset friend. "He was standing outside of my place, a total mess, so I brought him in to have a seat. He was completely drained of his usual spirit! I didn't know what had happened to him. He was acting totally out of character, I was real worried, he's kinda like a friend to me..." When he's not a jerk that is! But now's not the time to think like that....
    "Why should that make you feel guilty, Ucchan?"
    "I-I gave Ryoga a letter that Akari had left for him. I thought it might cheer him up... but after reading it he disappeared. I read the letter he'd left behind..."
    "And...?"
    "And in it, Akari had dumped him for someone else. It had something to do with her finding out about P-chan and it being pathetic, it's... it's all kind of vague. I don't know what he's going to do but I know what he's capable of and that scares me." Ukyo looked at Ranma for a reprieve but he was too busy trying to hide his shame as he slowly realised what must have happened. For a few moments, there was steel silence, the cafeteria was quite sparse.
    "It was not your fault, Ukyo Kuonji," a quiet voice piped up. It was Eve, wavering just beside Ranma. "Akari might not have even written the letter. It could have been Jaden, then again..." She shrugged her shoulders, undecided. "It might have been all lies that Ryoga's been exposed to. Truth isn't always easily available. What we have to do is get out of these hideous hospital clothes and go search for him, if Jaden has no't already finished him off."
    "You're probably right," Ranma reluctantly answered.
    Ukyo stared, puzzled, "who's Jaden?"
    "We have no time for explanations. Get something decent on, Ranma, I'll do the same and we wi'll go."
    "Where? Do you know where Ryoga might have gone?" For once he sounded worried about his rival.
    "I have an idea,"Eve replied, almost instantaneously.
    "You seem to know a lot about Ryoga...?" Ranma questioned.
    Eve passed him the same intense gaze she had given him when she first had warned him about Jaden; it was as unnerving as ever. Except this one seemed to have melancholy wrapped up in it. "I know everything about Ryoga, what he's been through, how he felt about it, what he felt for others..."
    "How'd I come out of it?"
    "Do you really want to know, Ranma? It i's not very pleasant listening." She fixed Ranma with a more angry gaze; "All I can say is... that Ryoga has been badly scarred by experiences, some involving you but a few years back, he did regard you as a the nearest thing he had to a friend."
     "He did?"
     Eve gave a silent nod; "...but not anymore," and motioned for them to get ready as time was running the 400m sprint. What she didn't tell them was that she had an awful headache and that was bad news, not just for her health.
    
                                                        *    *    *    *    *    *
   
    Ryoga staggered for a few hours, not quite sure where he was.  He regarded the ordinary-enough house in front of him, a flicker of recognition swatted him.
    "_My_ house?!"  He couldn't believe where he was. Surely he should have been in Okinawa or somewhere similar? Sweeping out any doubts over the situation, Ryoga stepped inside, greeted by his dog. "Hi Shirokuro!" He patted his dog happily but a knot of emotional agony still lay in his stomach and his body hadn't yet recovered from its burns. Unable to ignore them anymore, he collapsed on his sofa, sinking into the soft material. His mind, sad and bewildered, let unconsciousness take away the unrelenting pain.
     ....A few minutes later, something disturbed Ryoga awake. Blinking his eyes open, he scanned the room. Nothing out of place. Was somebody there? He shook the bad feeling off, he'd had a bad enough day without becoming paranoid. His senses told him no-one was there but part of him was convinced there was.
    "I'll just check the house once over. Shirokuro, Shirokuro?" No answer. "That dog must be around here somewhere...?" Ryoga trailed round the house looking for his pet and tried to keep matters of the heart from reaching the front of his mind, concentrating instead on finding Shirokuro. Failing miserably on both counts.
    "Where did this street come from?" Ryoga found himself outside of his house. Right then he could have smashed up a few walls out of frustration of life but he had no energy, he just slumped down against one opposite his house. He leaned back against the brick wall and stared up at the mid-day sun, who snarled back at him.
    Nothing in life felt worth the energy. He was tempremantal half-pig with a lousy sense of direction who suffered from a terminal case of unrequited love and who had never been able to completely defeat his rival, his nemesis. And now he had a possibly psychotic paranormal being after his blood. Life wasn't too good.
     Ryoga found himself doing the one thing he never thought he would do: regretting ever following Ranma. He would have had none of the troubles that had plagued him since. His martial arts skills might not be as good but a curse wasn't worth it. How could he regret meeting Akane and Akari? Maybe the fact that now his life was nothing because of how he felt - or how he thought he felt - about those two.
     It was too late, now, his life was too far down in the gutter for him ever to be lifted out of it and cleaned up. He masqueraded as a pet pig so that he could sleep in the same bed as the one he loved. How perverted, how dishonourable, can you get?
    But instead of seeing it as a stepping stone to a new life, Ryoga felt he was drowning and the only way to end all the suffering was to stop breathing. His only anchor was his home and his family and that seemed desperately out of reach. It had been nearly 6 months since he had seen his mother and it was likely it would be a few months more before he'd meet her again. What's the point? She probably wouldn't even know who he was! Sometimes he didn't even know who he was...
    Ryoga's drooping head flicked up abruptly as he smelt a familiar choking, reeking scent slowly emerge from across the street.
    No...
    Oh no...
    He stared, wide-eyed, in shock and horror and guilt at the sight before him, not sure which emotion he should let come through.
    My house...
    On fire...
    The enveloping heat rasped over Ryoga as he dashed madly towards his burning home. The house was now black. Had he been that involved in his thoughts that he hadn't seen or smelt it before now? He jumped over the fence and bounded to the door, hardly aware of his actions. The rasps of fire through through the window taunted his skin with daggers as he reached for the door handle. It was white as his still bandaged hand grasped it and ripped the door off.
    ~Woooossshhhhh!!!~
    Ryoga shot back as a ball of fire streaked out of the door, setting fire to his front lawn. The fires fever and the cloaking smoke cocooned his staggering body, stinging and rupturing the vulnerable body. But Ryoga was determined to get into the house. To save possesions, to check that no-one had gotten lost in there, to find Shurikuro. He didn't notice the crowds gathering around his house and the nearing moans of the fire engine.  
    "Nooo...!" Ryoga screamed hoarsly, his throat tight and tense, frustrated at the lack of entrances which wouldn't kill him. "It's my fault!" Somehow he knew that it was. "Damn Fate!!" Ryoga prepared just to smash his way through the wall, not caring about the consequences. When a firm hand gripped his arm and sharply pulled him back.
    "You can't do that, even if it is your fault,"a soft voice strongly whispered in his cracked ears.
   Ryoga circled round to face the stranger, his body aching and crying in pain with every movement. "Who are you...?" The sight of a blonde woman barely made it through his eyes before he collapsed into his own blackness.       
                                                   
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    Ten minutes before....
    Eve was madly bolting down the quiet street, her long, swirling, sleeveless red dress not seeming to hamper her and her hair tied up hap-hazardly in a white bow. She didn't seem to mind being bare-footed either. "We a're nearly there!" The message passed out of Eve's lips and into the wind, catching Ranma on the way.                                           
    Ranma could barely keep up with Eve. And she was the one who was in a coma yesterday, his mind decided to tell him. He was leaping across the streets with the help of his crutches, wondering how anyone could go faster than him when in pain like that. He didn't even know why he was doing this. It wasn't as if he cared for the moronic jerk who once attacked him late at night and got him thrown out into the rain, he just needed some excitement. He curved his head round to see that Ukyo was at his side for once, though she was tiring. She seemed to be gulping in the air around her.
    Eve suddenly stopped in mid-sprint. Ranma managed to brake just before hitting Eve. Ukyo was about to jerk forward into the air when Ranma caught her arm and prevented her from flying or falling.
    "What's the big idea?!" He angrily shouted at Eve's hypnotised form. Eve twisted round to meet Ukyo's and Ranma's stares. The bright blue in her eyes had darkened and narrowed.
    "Look over there." Eve pointed down the slope the three were on, towards the a certain part of the city, barely 2 or 3 miles away. "Look."
    Ranma and Ukyo strained their eyes to see what she was pointing at.
    "Oh, I see it... is that smoke? It's a house ...on fire?" Ukyo asked. Ranma peered a bit more and then spotted the smoke and where it was coming from. His eyes widened in bewildered recognition. "What's a matter, Ran-chan?"
    "That's where Ryoga's place is at... It looks like you're right, he went home..."
    "...but Jaden followed him. Ryoga does have _some_ honour, he would not have burned down his own house.," Eve matter-of-factly stated.
    "How do you know so much about Ryoga?" Ukyo wondered, unsure of the whole situation.
    "We have to get to the house before Jaden causes too much damage." Eve lifted her head up defaintly, the glare of the sun covering the fear on her face. She ignored the question posed to her.
    "It looks too late for his home," said Ranma.
    "I wasn't talking about his house."
    "Oh."
    "Let's go then!" Eve impatiently started to run down the small downward-sloping street. Ranma and Ukyo began to follow, with new impetus to reach their destination.
    Soon, the three were about to turn the corner, getting nearer to Ryoga's place when Eve's senses shouted at her to stop, Ranma's instincts blared wildly and Ukyo's sounded a foghorn. They stopped at the same time and held their breath simultaneously. Eve peered round the corner, while everything told her she should run now. Frowning, Eve turned back to Ranma and Ukyo, who bared her sharp-edged battle spatula.
    "I cannot see any danger but I can feel it. What _is_ Jaden up to?" Eve pulled out a long, decorated sword from behind her back.
    "Where did you get that sword from?" Ranma asked, intrigued. Eve's eyes were now fixed above her.
    ~Rumble~
    She felt a shadow descending from above, slowly getting larger and larger. She backed up towards the other two, who felt the shadowy object from above come slowly down.
    "What's that?" Ukyo screwed up her eyes to see the long, vague object come closer and closer.
    "The sun's distorting its shape." Eve kept her eyes locked above. A spark shimmered in her eyes; "it's a trick!"
    "What?" Ranma asked.
    "Jump!" She screamed and flipped into the air. Ranma and Ukyo leapt high into the sun's glare.
    "Look!" Ukyo pointed at the descending shadow, which disappeared.   An underbreath of sound barely touched their senses as they all leaped to a rooftop. "Aaaaahhh!"
    A burst of light slashed from under the pavement. It streaked into the sky as the street shuddered and moaned in concrete anguish. The burst of white light rushed down again and faced the three young people, floating in mid-air.
    "What the -?" Gasped Ranma, his eyes bugged out.
    "It's shaped like..."
    "...A Chinese dragon? Jaden, _how_ unoriginal." Eve held her sword high in the air, threateningly.
    The white hot dragon, with tendrils of fire knitted with strands of incandescent rays, distinguishing its shape and patterning it's ten-foot long body, was strangely not blinding to raw sight but the heat flapped out all around it. It glared menacingly at any spectators gathering, who promptly ran away screaming. It would have been beautiful if it were not the for the aura of pure loathing which it struck in those near it.
    "Just like Jaden herself," Eve scowled, "how apt. But I have a Ryoga to save, so... go bye-bye." She flung her sword violently at the neck. It was usually the weak spot on a monster. But nothing happened. "What the ..?"
    A few drips of silvery liquid dropped down from the "dragon" to the pavement and sizzled snappily against it. Eve stood silent for a few moments, her face painted with shock. "That was my best sword!!!"   
    "How do we fight this thing?" Ranma piped up, beside her. The dragon was now fixed on them and wasn't too happy about its "heartburn". It came closer. They stepped back. It came even closer. They stepped back. "I can't just stand here!" Ranma roared, "I can defeat this light show! ...Moko Takabisha!!" A massive ball of chi built up in his hands and he fired it at the dragon.
    Eve instinctively shut her eyes as the ball connected with the beast of light. "Get down!" She cried. They slammed themselves to the hard surface of the roof.
    The dragon roared in pain as an explosion of fire and light danced through it, ripping it apart. Daggers of fire streaked out in all direction, slamming into buildings, setting them on cataclysmic paths of destruction.
    "No!" Ranma screamed as a massive ball of fire shuddered over them, raking scalding heat over their backs, bristling their bones. A tremor whip-lashed the empty house till it slammed to the ground.  
    "Unh!" Eve was flung across the street. Her body grated against the rough and crisp concrete. Agony crucified her whole body, paralysing her to the ground. Fear threatened to kill Eve but she stood up, unsteadily, and gazed across the war-torn landscape. Balls of fire that were once a dragon hurtled into the air, strangely dissipating into the clouds. The fire which was supposed to spread, choked up as it neared the end of the abandoned street. The reeking smoke from the houses made Eveher feel like she was being cocooned in an envelope of acid; "not a nice feeling, oh no."
    Something struck Eve and it hurt her thoughts. "Ukyo? Ranma? Where are you?" She strolled uneasily around the steaming street, avoiding the gash down the road which seemed to like a mini-earthquake. Her groggy demeanour struggled to find the two. "I didn't over-estimate your strength, did I?"
    "No, we just took a short detour in the clouds," Ranma coughed, as he felt his body lurch him toward Eve in great pain, betraying his state to a withered Ukyo, hanging on to him, and to Eve, who was concentrating on her balance. The fire had burned off his top and his trousers were making a desperate bid to stay on despite being in tatters. He had _deeply_ bonded with the ground only a few minutes before and was barely recognisable with bruises covering him whole. Ukyo was no better for wear.
    "You two look like hell."
    "Been there, done that," moaned Ukyo lightly.
    "But what are we going to do about this place? It's totally wrecked!"
    "Don't worry about it, it was empty and insurance will cover it. No-one, except us, are hurt."  
    "You can shrug something like this off?"
    "Like I said, Ranma, no-one is hurt, that is what matters" sighed Eve, her face turning away from his view; "there was this remote village in China Jaden found me in... two young girls got in the way, I-I tried to help but..." She seemed momentarily distracted and sighed again. The three stood there in disturbed silence.
     "We should get going. Ryoga is in trouble!" Ukyo anxiously interrupted the quiet.
     "You're right, Ukyo. By the way... well done with that energy-based attack, Ranma, I overestimated Jaden's concoction, it was merely to slow us down." Eve stopped abruptly and seemed to be in deep thought; "I have an idea. I think that Jaden's leading us on a wild goose chase. She's always been subtle and sneaky when chasing me."
    "What do you think she's up to?" Ranma eyed Eve carefully.
    "I have this really strong... feeling... that Jaden is heading for the hospital and I know that the Tendo's are planning to visit you there this morning," Eve grimly replied.
    Ranma stood quiet for a few seconds, his head filled with thoughts of safety for one person. "Akane...!" He muttered under his breath. He calmly turned around in the direction of the hospital, taking a few deep breaths and then... shot madly down the street, his feet not making contact with the pavement once.
    Ukyo raced after him frantically. "Ran-chan, wait!!"
    Eve sped down the street... in the opposite direction. She was steering herself towards Ryoga's fiery abode.        
    "That was easierless challenging than I thought, lying always came naturally to me!" Eve puffed out as she danced over rooftops, her body protesting with every jump. Ranma and Ukyo wouldn't make it a minute against the twisted immortal entity, that like to call itself Jaden, in the state they were in. Eve had been taking a chance with them already. They would only slow her down and jeopardise Ryoga's mortal existence. Only she would stand be able to stand against the machinations of a being was past repetence and past caring about it...
     The thumping pain came to her blistered head, again. Except it sounded more like it was laughing at her. Eve was used to this, being telepathic made it hard to decided whether she had a bad hangover or a message from Jaden. She knew what this one was. She was being teased. She _hated_ teasing and she _hated_ Jaden swimming in out of her thoughts and her mind like it didn't matter.
    Eve was approaching the house when a chill shuddered down her back, locking her bruised feet to the spot. A breeze fluttered down her back and she knew something was wrong. Her muscles tensing up, she slowly circled her feet round to see what it was following her. She screwed up her eyes against the unrelenting glare of the sun, and tried to make out the distortion of light which sparked occasionally against the sun, revealing its presence.
    "What...?" Eve watched as drops of water dripped to the ground from apparently nowhere. She took a mirror from out of a pocket and shined it against the piece of so-called empty air. Shocks of sunrays blasted her vision. Was it...? Couldn't be! Squinting her eyes as the bitter burns on her face pained her contorted face, Eve slowly recognised the rapidly approaching phenomenon. "I was correct in my original estimation of you, Jaden."
    Eve stood her ground and fixed a stare straight ahead. She held up a new sword in one hand, the other tightened into a fist. "Give me all you've got, ice dragon... And I'll take it all away from you!"
    A deep but animalistic wail echoed loudly round the neighbourhood like an injured whale, bouncing off the sky, and only Eve knew where it come from.
    ~Wsssssssshhhhhhhhh~
   She kept a stern face as her heart jumped in response to the approaching danger. The dragon speeded forward towards the glare on Eve's face. She snarled. The dragon came closer. And closer. She felt the icy frost upon her. It was yards from her. She just stood there. The detailed form of the moving ice sculpture came into view. She didn't move. It opened its mouth. Her feet stayed stuck to the ground. The dragon prepared to strike. Her hand gripped the sword. Its claws extended and reached out to...
    ~Whhhp!~
    Eve zipped to the side as the dragon hurtled past.
    "Eyaaahh!!!" Eve flashed her sword through the air and stabbed at the creature. She slashed the dragon repeatedly, cutting it into lean slices of ice. The dragon never had a chance to know it was destroyed before it was. As she drew her sword back, the dragon collapsed to the ground, splattering and instantly melting against the scorching concrete. "That should stop you halt your actions, permanently!!"
    The fire in Eve's eyes calmed as her breathing slowed and her heart stopped hitting her ribcage. The dress stayed plastered to her body with sweat and humidity, gripping tightly against her, stifling her legs movement.
    ~Rrrrrip!~
    "That's much bettermore to my liking!" Eve looked at her much shorter dress, reaching a few inches above her knees. Burns and scars still evident on her bare skin. But she ignored, with difficulty, any agony they inflicted, concentrating on her mind, instead, on saving Ryoga. She took a piece of ripped cloth and knotted it round her small waist - using it as a makeshift belt and sword carrier. Her sparkling eyes gazed skywards and she shook her fist in the air. "You think a little Chinese burn is going to stop me?! Huh?! Well, you're verydeeply wrongmistaken!" Eve shouted, determined as ever and _really_ annoyed.
         
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     Jaden's malicious smile disappeared as she saw her nemesis come closer towards her target. She moaned angrily. No way was that Eve going to ruin her plan! "Things are going to turn out differently this time Eve, you'll see," her soft voice slipped out almost silently.
                                                       
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    (Not the end of chapter yet)


   
End of Chapter 3...
C&C of _all_ kinds  is _so_ welcome! _Ultra_ welcome!! _Extremely_ welcome!!!
Although there will still be stuff about Ryoga, for a while longer it will concentrate on Ranma and - to a  smaller extent - Eve.
And if you want any C&C on stories, I'm more than happy to read 'em! :¬) I can't promise to know the finer details of characterization in some as I don't know all the different anime/manga but I'm more than willing to give general writing tips (that should comfort you.. not!).