Here's part eight of the Ranma/Yuffie story. C&C greatly requested.



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** White Lotus Ninja **
** A Ranma / FF7 fusion fic **
** Written by Cosmic Knight **

NOTE: The link picture is made from a Ranma/Ranma-chan picture composed 
as the background for a Yuffie picture by Rei(rei_00@geocities.com). None of the pictures are mine,so please don't sue me! :)

LEGEND:
 ~~: Thoughts
 []: Signs
 //: Foreign languages

====================
Chapter 8: Lost Boys
====================

In a village,an alarm sounded.

"Minna-san! Watch out! A wild boar is on the loose!"

The giant boar smashed through a nearby house effortlessly,snorting
wildly as it looked about for another victim to gore. People ran in
hysterical panic to avoid the monster.

The boar turned to see a young man carrying a bamboo umbrella and
with a backpack on his back. He wore a yellow tiger-striped bandanna
around his black hair. Some people saw the boy too.

"Hey you! The boy with the umbrella!" shouted a villager. "Get out
of here! You are in serious danger!"

The boy snarled,showing off two tiny fangs - mutated canine teeth.
Then he saw the boar. The boar charged,and the boy held out his
umbrella...which caught the boar between the eyes. It grunted and
squealed,trying to push forward,but couldn't.

"Did you see that?"

"He's holding it back like nothing!"

The boy smiled wickedly as he flicked the umbrella up,sending the
surprised wild animal far away from the village in an overhead arc.
The boy slid the umbrella back into his backpack effortlessly.

"I don't believe it!" said a man. He went up to the boy. "Gomen,but
I bet you are a martial-artist,ne? We have lots of martial artists
coming through here to train in the mountains nearby."

The boy handed a map to the man. "Do you know where Fuurikan High is?"

The man looked at the map. "This is Shikoko,not Tokyo. Gomen." He handed
the map back to the boy,who shook his head.

~Not again...~ thought the boy. "Gomen ne,I didn't mean to bother you."
He turned and left. ~Saotome Ranma...you will pay...~

"Strange man," said a woman.

"Hai," said the man.

=*=

Ranma was holding an umbrella over his head as he and Yuffie were doing
some shopping errands for Kasumi. It was raining buckets.

"Hey,Ranma-kun," said Yuffie. "Don't be selfish. Share the umbrella."

"No way!" said Ranma. "Do you know what people will think if they saw
us sharing an umbrella? Besides,I need the cover."

"Yeah right," muttered Yuffie,rolling her eyes. "Okay,at least take the
bag. Honestly,you are SO paranoid at getting wet!"

"YOU try and land in a Jusenkyo pool and THEN we'll see about paranoia,"
said Ranma angrily. "You don't know HOW bad it is."

"Okay," said Yuffie,handing the bag to Ranma. "Sheesh. At least you are
lucky. You only change sex when wet. What about your dad?"

Ranma sighed. "Don't talk about that." He shuddered.

=*=

~Not AGAIN!~ thought the young boy with the bandanna and umbrella as
he realized that was on the OTHER side of Japan now. He shouted a few
expletives to clear his mind. He hated his curse. Every time he TRIED
to get somewhere,he took 100 times as long as normal people did for
he'd end up getting lost in some weird place.

This was a major frustration to him. The usual remedy for such: Pound
a nearby inanimate object into a pile of rubble. He didn't waste all
his pent-up anger,though...THAT he was saving for his enemy,Ranma.

=*=

Three days later,the boy finally arrived at his destination,but he
didn't realize it. He was a mess,his face covered with dirt and his
clothes in shabbles - he wore a brown gi with black pants. He didn't
bother to clean them;he wanted to focus all his effort on destroying
his mortal archnemesis,else Ranma would get away AGAIN.

She heard the final bell for school,then voices.

"Hey,who's the cute boy?"

"He looks like he went through Hell."

He looked up and saw girls in school uniforms,whispering about him.
He lit up. Was he close to his objective? He grabbed Hiroshi by the
shirt. "Is this Fuurikan High?" he demanded.

"Y-Y-Yeah," said Hiroshi in shock,seeing the fangs on the boy.

"Are you sure?" snarled the boy.

"Hey,I wouldn't be lying to a guy like...you..." choked Hiroshi.

~Good,I've found it,~ thought the boy. "Where is Saotome Ranma?"

"Hey,Yuf!" said a voice.

"I think he's coming," said Hiroshi,hoping that the boy would let go.

=*=

Yuffie ran through the courtyard,followed by Ranma.

"Come back here with that,Yuf!" shouted Ranma.

"Heh heh," laughed Yuffie,holding up the test paper. "Come and get it!"

"Kuso..." hissed Ranma. Suddenly,he felt his ninja training kick in.
He turned to see a shadow...and then the boy,diving at him.

"PREPARE YOURSELF,RANMA!!" roared the boy,umbrella out to pierce Ranma.

"RANMA!" screamed Yuffie in horror,but Ranma flipped away. The tip of
the umbrella slammed into the ground,opening up a huge crater. Yuffie
paled in horror - this young man was NOT someone she'd want to fight.

"So...still the same old Ranma," snarled the boy angrily. "Coward."

Ranma ran over to Yuffie. "Masaka..." he said.

"You...ah...know him?" asked Yuffie,sweatdropping.

Ranma tried to recall a memory,but couldn't. "Nope," he said.

"Come on!" said Yuffie. "He knows you,so why don't you remember?"

"Sorry," said Ranma.

The boy whirled about. "Don't you play like that,Ranma Saotome. We
went to the same boy's school! I am Hibiki Ryouga!"

"R-R-Ryouga?!" said Ranma,a look of shock coming across his face.

"Childhood friend?" asked Yuffie with a sigh.

"Sort of," said Ranma.

"So,you finally remembered," snarled Ryouga,his fangs glinting. "You ran
from our duel! Now I will get my revenge!"

"Duel?" Ranma said. He remembered. "Oh,come on,I was there,you were
not. YOU were the one who ran from the duel! I waited THREE DAYS!"

Yuffie was shocked. ~THREE DAYS?!~ she thought.

"So you say," said Ryouga angrily. "But I was there on the fourth day!"

~The FOURTH day?~ thought Yuffie. She sweatdropped again.

"You should have called!" snapped Ranma. "Why did you make me wait?"

"Baka!" snarled Ryouga. "I SUFFERED during those days! I kept ending
up in the worst places,but I made it!"

"It was only a few blocks from your house,Ryouga-kun," said Ranma in
frustration. "I was there in an instant! You were lost!"

Yuffie facefaulted. ~This Ryouga kid needs serious help,~ she thought.

"You coward! You ran off to China with your dad!" shouted Ryouga. He
charged and slashed at Ranma with the umbrella.

~Another misguided jerk,~ thought Yuffie in disgust. ~Kunou I can
understand,but this boy...oh boy!~ She looked at Ryouga. ~Well,he's
cute and has a mind,unlike Kunou-sempai.~

"So,you wanna start our fight?" asked Ranma,taking a stand a few
years away. "I'll be glad to oblige you."

"Not just a normal duel,Ranma," snarled Ryouga. "REVENGE! I will
destroy you and make you pay for my sufferings!" He hurled his
umbrella like a harpoon at Ranma. Ranma dodged,so did Yuffie,but
the poor bystanders there got a new change in their wardrobe as
the razor-sharp edges of the umbrella cut up their clothing and
the tip ripped a big rut in the school yard.

"I swear,Saotome,I will destroy your happiness!" screamed Ryouga,
reclaiming his umbrella and pointing it at Ranma.

~Do I look HAPPY to you?~ thought Ranma,looking at Yuffie.

Yuffie smiled at him,then noticed that Ryouga had left. "Why did he
leave? That's weird." She hoped that Ryouga didn't hurt Ranma. She
berated herself. ~Baka,you don't like Ranma,REMEMBER?~

=*=

Ryouga cursed his ill luck. He had hoped to scare Ranma so that he
could destroy him the same way that Ranma had destroyed Ryouga,with
slow and painful measures to the victim. So he left.

And had gotten lost. Again.

"Damnit!" he snarled as he trudged through a thick forest. "Curse you,
Saotome! When I get back,I will destroy you with all my power!"

He crushed a couple of walnuts in his bare hand.

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