Waters Under Earth

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum - harnums@hotmail.com

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published by Shogakukan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

Homepage at:  http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/9758

Chapter 22 : And One to Walk Alone [3 of 3]

Comments welcomed.  I'm not on the list, though, so send 'em privately
if you please.  

**********

     Her stomach rumbled, and she realized it had been a long
time since she'd eaten.  But there was no food at hand.

     The cliff sloped down as she walked, until she came to an
easily climbable part.  She slung her spatula over her back,
grabbed the lip with her hands, and hoisted herself up, arm
muscles straining.

     She paused to rest for a moment, wiping sweaty bangs out of
her eyes and retying her ponytail which had come loose in her
walking.  The night was still very warm, kept temperate by the
moderation of the sea and the position of the Okinawan islands.

     Ten minutes later, she was walking thirty feet above the
beach below, gazing down at the night-painted sand, a dark
landscape of desolation as bleak as any desert without the light
of the sun.

     A scrabbling sound made her turn suddenly, but there was
only another tree, ragged and tattered against the night.  But
she could not shake the feeling that she was being watched.

     "Is anyone there?" she called.  
     
     Silence answered, and the rustle of wind through grass.
     
     She stood still for a moment more, and then began to walk
again.  Up ahead in the darkness, she saw a pinpoint of light.
As she walked, it grew larger and larger, though it was still
very far ahead.

     And after more walking, as the cliff rose higher and the
beach below retreated, Ukyou came to the lair of Clan Kenzan.

     A wall enclosed the compound on three sides, and the fourth
wall was provided by the open air of the cliff, and the hundred
foot drop to the beach below.  Each wall stretched nearly two
hundred feet, topped at each corner by blazing electric lights
that hurt the eye to look at directly.  The walls were weathered
granite, thick and over fifteen feet tall, narrow peaked roofs of 
dark red tiles topping them.  

     Ukyou walked around the walls until she reached the front of
the compound, where a great wooden gate stood, flanked on either
side by ancient stone statues, tall women with scowling faces who
held long spears.  The lamps atop the roof of the gate cast
flickering shadows across the statues, making their expression
seem to change from moment to moment.

     "Creepy," Ukyou muttered, and began to tie a cord to the
small ring of one of her throwing spatulas.  The gate would be
locked, of course, so she'd go over the wall.  

     Creepy as it was, the compound had a sense of peace to it.
Desolate peace, like an old deserted city, but peace all the
same.  Ukyou got the strange impression that despite its size, it
was almost uninhabited.

     She twirled the makeshift grapple over her head, then threw.
It snagged one of the lamps over the gate, and after a few quick
tugs assured her that it was solid, she placed her feet against
the old thick wood of the gate, and began to pull herself hand
over hand up and over the wall.

     When she reached top, she stood for a moment, balancing
carefully on the sloping tile roof, and gazed upon the compound
of Clan Kenzan.

     The centrepiece was a tall building, three stories high,
covered by an elaborate pagoda roof.  Four other buildings,
identical but smaller, lay on diagonals from it, connected to
each other and the central building by long roofed hallways.  In
the area enclosed in the centre, she could see gardens and trees
and ponds sparkling in the starlight.

     It was a lovely spot, a masterpiece of integrating
architecture with the natural setting.  From her perch, she could
see the ocean, rolling endlessly in the distance, boundless and
free.

     It did not seem right, that this place should be evil.  But
Konatsu was here, and she knew he was in trouble.  The old woman
had told her about Kenzan, about what they did.  Worshippers of
dark gods and foul demons.  A force of the shadows, who used
sorcery to put those they trained under their control.  

     Kako had mentioned a name.  Someone called Hako.  Ukyou
suspected that was their leader.  Despite the odd peacefulness of
the place, she still could not be too cautious; it only looked
empty, she was sure of that.

     She dropped lightly to her feet on the well-clipped grass 
inside the compound, and began to walk towards the central point
lying draped in the shadows, a pinpoint of darkness at the centre
where the light did not reach.

     Laughter made her turn.

**********

     Yamiko watched the girl climb over the wall.  She was in,
then.  This was as far as she came; Hako would have wards all
around her sanctuary that would alert her to any presence, and
Yamiko did not want to enter open conflict with the sorcerous
kunoichi at this point.

     Hopefully, the girl would do what Yoko wanted her to.  If
she didn't, well, she was only a pawn like Galm had been.  You
always lost a few pawns by the end of the game, even if you won.

     Silent as the darkness, Yamiko folded into the all-consuming
shadows that lay across the world in the absence of the sun, and
was gone.

**********

     Ukyou turned back to see a tall woman in a red outfit like
the one Konatsu had worn leaning against the inner gate, arms
folded.

     Striking was the best word to describe her.  Stark white
hair enfolded the harshly beautiful lines of a face tanned dark
by the sun and scarred by the blade, her lip twisted into a
half-sneer by a white scar at the edge of her mouth.

     "Let me guess," Ukyou said, slowly taking her spatula off
her shoulder.  "You're Hako."

     The woman straightened up, and Ukyou saw something in her
eyes that almost made her drop her spatula and reach for the belt
pack at her waist, the one that held the box and the bamboo
stick.

     But she was so sick of being needy, of needing other people.
This was something she could do herself, without magic artifacts
or anything else.  Her hands tightened on her spatula.
     
     "And you're Ukyou," Hako said.  "Konatsu's ever so fond of
you.  Did you come here to rescue her?  I'm sure she'll be 
touched."     

     "Where is he?" Ukyou said.  
     
     "He?" Hako said, raising one eyebrow.  "You know perfectly
well Konatsu is a girl."

     "I know perfectly well he isn't," Ukyou said.  "Now where
the hell is he?"

     "Konatsu is in her room," Hako said.  "She is here of her
own free will, and does not want to see you.  So go away, little
girl.  Go back to your restaurant."

     "Konatsu doesn't want to see me?" Ukyou asked.
     
     "Yes," Hako said, taking a step forward.  The distance 
between them was barely ten feet.  "What do you think of that?"

     "I think," Ukyou began, "that you are full of crap.  That's
what I think."

     She raised her weapon slightly.  "Now take me to Konatsu, or
don't stand in my way."

     Hako laughed again.  It was cruel, a cold sound in the 
darkness.  Light and shadow stroked her face, made the scars seem
to burn with an inner light.  "Little fool.  You are nothing."

     "You wanna see nothing?" Ukyou growled.  "I'll show you
noth-"

     Hako moved, silver flashing from her hands.
     
     Ukyou raised her weapon like a shield, and the knives
clattered off.  Her vision of Hako was blocked for a fractional
second, and as she lowered her weapon Hako-

     Was gone.
     
     Instinct, and a flash of crimson made her turn, weapon
sweeping through air, slicing wind, whistling...

     Hako ducked under, smiling, and somehow she was _behind_
Ukyou now-

     And as Ukyou tried desperately to recover from her missed
swing, a red-clad foot lashed out in a perfect kick and slammed
into her side like a hammer blow.  A muffled scream escaped her
as she staggered...

     And Hako moved in, blindingly fast, laughter dancing in her
dark eyes, twinkling like the stars above-

     A knee slammed into Ukyou's stomach, and the air exploded
from her body in a mad rush, fleeing like darkness from light...

     Fighting pain and panic, she slashed out at Hako, a weak
blow, defensive, trying to put the ninja off-balance...

     And she missed, somehow, and Hako's sweep kick cut her legs
out from under her-

     Grabbing desperately at her bandolier as she crashed to the
ground, taking the fall one on arm, she hurled a packet into the
air, and a choking cloud of flour engulfed them, as she tried to
scramble to her feet-
     
     And pain drove in icy splinters through her ribs, through 
her heart and her lungs, as the point of Hako's foot slammed
against her side, knocking her sprawling, gasping and 
involuntarily inhaling the flour, coughing and choking-

     "There is no one here to save you, little girl," Hako said
from somewhere beyond the pain, and she laid another savage kick
into Ukyou's ribs, and Ukyou screamed now, not muffled at all, a
high wail of pain.  

     And Ukyou thrust out at the voice, an attack driven by pure
adrenaline, by desperate fear, and she heard Hako scream, felt
something slice open beneath the edge of her weapon-

     And she was out, of the darkness, out of the cloud of flour,
desperately trying to catch her breath and get to her feet all at
once-

     And Hako stepped out of the drifting remnants of the flour
cloud, the right side of her face laid open by a hideous slash, 
blood flowing down her cheek and neck, dripping darkly onto her
uniform.  Ukyou saw a white flash of bone amidst the red, and 
realized with an odd sick feeling that she had done the wound.

     "That hurt," Hako said, voice barest hatred, purest pain.  
"I would truly, truly like to kill you for that, but you are of 
more use to me alive.  However, I'm going to hurt you very, very 
badly."

     Her right hand came up, clasped itself to her cheek.  Blood
ran across red-gloved fingers.  She took her hand away, and 
slowly licked her fingers.  Ukyou watched, half-paralyzed,
fascinated with the horror of it.

     "Flesh and blood," Hako said dreamily.  "So transcendent."
     
     Her right hand and arm flicked out to her side, and she
grabbed her right wrist with her left hand.  "No.  Not her."

     Momentary hesitation gone, Ukyou took advantage of the
opening and leapt forward, swinging the flat for Hako's head,
ignoring how the movement sent pain throughout her body as her
ribs throbbed-

     And Hako's right hand flashed up, so fast it was only a
blur...

     The screech of metal tearing apart-
     
     Hako's left hand, balled into a fist, slamming out across
Ukyou's cheek, a crack like a thunderbolt bursting through her
head-

     The clatter as the two separate pieces of her spatula
dropped to the ground...

     Falling, trying to catch herself, arms not working right,
though, damnitall, head bouncing off the grass, smelling the
scent of new grass and blood, gazing up at the endless sea of
stars, at the dark spaces between the stars-

     A heel crashed down into her stomach, and all the air left,
and everything she'd eaten tried to leave as well for a moment...

     Hands hauling her to her feet by the collar, red hands like
blood, slamming back against the wall, how did they get near the
wall, it hurt so _bad_, it felt like her ribs were going to snap
at any minute.

     Slammed back against the wall again, head bouncing off the
rough old stone, tears of pain in her eyes, clawing at the hands
holding her, but the strength in them was impossible, rigid as
iron bars, implacable as starvation-

     Laughter ringing in her ears, in her eyes, thrown stumbling
forward, and then a kick behind her kneecap sent her crashing
down as her leg collapsed like a tree falling...

     A hand seized her hair, slammed her face into the ground,
new grass, coppery blood on her tongue-

     She was screaming, she realized.  Pleading with Hako to 
stop, but Hako wasn't stopping, and again her ribs ached beneath
the kicks, fractions away from breaking, heart pounding like a
drum.

     Some part of her dangling on the edge where there wasn't any
pain tried to make her fingers reach for the pouch of her waist,
but Hako's foot slammed down on them.  

     "What's this?"
     
     And no, no, no, because the pouch was torn away, gone, the
hope, and Hako knelt, digging a knee into the small of her back.

     "Well then," she said.  "What else have you got that's
interesting?"
     
     Don't let her find the ring, don't let her find the ring-
     
     And the ring Shampoo had given her, the second object, was
plucked off her fingers, gone, gone, lost, lost.

     For a merciful second, as Hako stood, there was no new pain,
though the old pain was enough, the aching of her body.  

     Then Hako kicked her in the joint of the left knee, sending
her entire leg into spasms of agony.  "I don't know if I'll cut
you or not.  I tend to go overboard when I start cutting."

     She kicked her in the joint of the right knee.  "Or a part 
of me does, at least.  No, I don't think I'll cut you just yet."

     "Please," Ukyou whispered, voice high and thin like a 
child's.  "Please stop."

     But Hako didn't.
     
**********

     Konatsu was out of his room and running as soon as he heard 
Ukyou scream.  He was there as fast as he could, but it wasn't
fast enough, because Ukyou was laid out on the grass, unmoving,
and Hako was standing over her, foot drawn back, levelled at
Ukyou's head.

     "STOP!" Konatsu yelled.
     
     Hako looked up at him.  There was more than twenty feet
between them, but he saw her eyes, terrifyingly cold.  "Why?"

     Every answer Konatsu could have given died in a second.
Hako could not be appealed to, not for any reasons of compassion,
or kindness, or love.  

     Ruler or ruled.
     
     He could not stop her.  He would never, ever be strong
enough to stop her unless he was willing to become like her.  And
that frightened him more than nearly anything.  

     He had nothing to bargain with.  Hako was stronger than him.
     
     And slowly, realization came to him.  He walked forward,
locking eyes with Hako, forcing his fear down, focusing on Ukyou,
on how she needed his help, on how she had come to save him and
had found the nightmare that was Hako.  She was hurt.  Hako had
hurt her.

     He was fairly sure he could have killed Hako in that moment.
There was a power in rage, in the flame of anger, and it was
burning in him like a furnace.  

     And he saw, reading it in Hako's eyes, that she knew it.  A
slow smile curved onto her lips.  She looked at him, not afraid
or unafraid.  Simply interested.  

     He might have been able to kill Hako, but he would not try.
Because then she would have won, she would have made him like 
her.  Only one thing left to do.

     He reached to his belt and drew his sword, placing the
gleaming point under his chin, against the hollow of his throat.
Every breath caused it to prick his flesh.  "Stop, or I'll do
it."

     Hako's eyes narrowed.  "If you do, I will make her suffer in
ways you can never imagine.  I will make it go on for so long
that she will believe it is forever."

     The tension was between them like a haze, the matching of
their two wills.  Hako glared at him, eyes burning darkly, and
every part of him, everything of how he was raised, told him to
submit, to give in.  She was clan leader, she was his ruler, he
was only small, pathetic Konatsu, he was nothing.

     And he looked down to Ukyou, unmoving, still, lovely face
covered in blood, dark hair sticky with it, breast slowly rising
as she breathed weakly.  He felt such an aching love in his
heart, so deep it was like pain.

     He looked back at Hako, and slowly spoke, silently begging
forgiveness from Ukyou, from whoever else might be listening,
whatever gods their might be to judge him.     
     
     "That you may do," he said softly.  "But I will still be 
dead, and you need me."

     And there a moment, a moment upon which everything hinged,
Hako's foot still poised for the kick, Konatsu with the blade
pressed to his throat.  He did not know what he would do if she
called his bluff, if bluff it truly was.

     The sword trembled in his hand, drawing a thin line of blood
at his throat.  He ignored it.  

     Blood slowly dripped down the side of Hako's face from the
massive cut, already scabbing over.  Konatsu was sure she would 
have a new scar.  

     And then she lowered her foot and spat blood onto the 
ground.  "Take her inside.  There are medical supplies in your
bathroom cabinet."

     Konatsu nodded and sheathed his sword.  He knelt down beside
Ukyou and gathered her limp form into his arms, never taking his
eyes from Hako.  The white-haired woman stared at him, face
totally without expression, unreadable.

     He turned away from her, Ukyou's head cradled against his
shoulder, and began to walk towards the buildings.  He had won,
he vaguely realized.  

     If there was a cost to that winning, he would pay it later.
Now, he was only concerned for Ukyou.  

     "Why did you come?" he whispered softly, closing his eyes
against the need to weep, the harsh tears of frustration.
     
     From out on the ocean that rolled below the cliffs, there 
came the cry of a bird, lonely and sharp, echoing through the
night, sad and lovely and terrible all at once.


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com