Revised version. Thanks to Grayson Towler, Vincent Seifert,
and Gary Kleppe for helping to improve this chapter.

C&C is most welcome.

<Insert Usual Disclaimer>

---

Kaji Awanai sat on the gunwale of the small harbour tug and
enjoyed the night breeze blowing gently upon Tokyo Bay. On
certain nights, when the waters turned crystal clear, he
fancied he could see right into the heart of the harbour. On
one such occasion, he was certain he had seen a legend: a
mermaid, boldly female with a tail of silver scales. She had
blown him a kiss, flicked her tail, and vanished, leaving
him forlorn. He glanced down again in the hopes of repeating
that experience ... and froze.

Something moved in the depths of the bay - something cold,
something vast, something monstrous and inhuman. Kaji
stared into the dark waters, feeling bitter fear run its
skittering claws down his spine, and from the abyss, a
great golden eye stared back.

He stumbled away from the gunwale, crying out in horror and
flinging up his hands in a futile warding gesture. In the
darkest reaches of his mind, he recognized the monstrosity
for what it was. "Umibouzu," he whispered.

The Devourer of Ships lurked the deeps of Tokyo harbour.

---

An Awakening of Demons
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Kagami

Chapter 2: Sea Legend Umibouzu

---

"Welcome to Tokyo NBC Morning News. I am Michi Hanashi, your
host. Today, we have an unusual story wherein a harbour tug
crewman claims to have seen a monster lurking within Tokyo
Bay." Michi paused to smile at the viewers. "Do we have the
equivalent of the Scottish monster 'Nessie-san'? Or is it
Gojira come to life? The port authorities insist that we
have nothing to worry about, and suggest that the crewman
might have been hallucinating from over-working. We have
this clip from our news anchorman."

Nabiki quickly hit the record button on the VCR remote. She
watched with interest as the image changed to show a burly
seaman, pale and shaking, berate a bored harbourmaster.

"It was there, I tell you! I saw it with my own eyes.
Enormous! And that eye, that great, golden eye! I can't
forget it. It was Umibouzu, the dreaded sea monster!" he
ranted, spittle covering his mouth. "You're a fool if you
don't take precautions. All those ships are in danger!"

He shivered violently, before grabbing the master by the
lapels of his coat. "Send them away! You have to do it.
They're all in danger. Terrible danger!" he shouted into the
master's face. Two other seamen rushed to restrain him,
pulling him back from the shaken harbourmaster. "You have
to ..." he continued brokenly as he was dragged away.

"There you have it, viewers," Michi finished as the scene
returned to the NBC studio. "Straight from the mouth of
veteran seaman, Kaji Awanai. Currently, the port authorities
have him on paid leave. Now to other news."

Nabiki switched it off and rewound the clip. She watched it
again, taking in Awanai's reactions, and then a further
three times. Finally, she stopped it and stood up. Ranma,
she decided, had better see this. Hmm, she mused. Now, that
thought brought back echoes of the reactions from Nodoka's
announcement last night.

Surprisingly, no one had seemed all that shocked. Kasumi had
accepted it much as she had accepted everything else in
life. Her father had bawled, and then said that since Ranma
was already half a man, it wouldn't make much difference for
the marriage. Akane ... her sister had been silent for the
remainder of the short visit. That, in itself, was most
unlike her, and Nabiki wondered what she was thinking.

As for Shampoo, Nabiki had seen the crafty glint in her eye.
She wondered what the Amazons were planning. Cologne had
quickly left after the revelation of Ranma's true paternity
when it became obvious that Nodoka wasn't about to say more.
She had a feeling that trouble would come from that quarter.

Ukyo had said as little as Akane - another disturbing sign.
What was going through the mind of Ranma's 'cute' fiancee?
Questions and yet more questions to be answered. Nabiki
flung up her hands in exasperation. It probably wouldn't
matter. All the fiancees were likely to accept Ranma being
half-human just like they had accepted every other weird
thing in his life. They would all be planning on using it
for their own ends, even her little sister. For a moment,
she was thankful she hadn't managed to contact Kodachi.
Then, she remembered the lost yen involved. She shook her
head to clear it of all the annoying thoughts.

No, the person most affected by the announcement had been
Ranma himself. Nabiki headed for the dojo.

---

Ukyo Kuonji awoke sweating from a night spent tossing and
turning restlessly. It wasn't the fact that she'd just
learned that her fiancee was a half-demon that disturbed
her; after all, he was a half-girl as well as rude,
arrogant, ate for free, and seemed content to string her
along despite their engagement. It was that the entire
meeting with Ranma's mother had forced her to look at her
unsatisfactory life yet again. What did she see in Ranma
anyway? Oh, that's right. She loved him - the macho,
indecisive idiot. If only he'd see her as a girl, rather
than as just a best friend, she thought wistfully.

For a brief moment, all she wanted to do was turn over and
go back to sleep, but then a knock on her bedroom door
sounded.

"Ukyo-sama," came the soft, feminine voice of her resident
kunoichi, "there's someone here to see you."

"I'll be right down, Konatsu." She swung herself out of bed
and quickly dressed. Another day, another hope. She walked
down the stairs and through the doorway into the shop. "Good
morn ..." Her voice trailed off as she recognized her
visitor: Shampoo.

"Hello, Shampoo," she tried again. "What did you want?"

"Shampoo no want anything, Spatula Girl. Come to say
something, that all." Shampoo smirked confidently. "Great-
grandmother go back to village to get marriage to Ranma
released. Shampoo tell Airen this when is time. Want tell
you now so you no get wrong idea. Shampoo and Ranma still
be destined together, if not why he son of cat-demon and
Shampoo have cat curse? Airen is Shampoo's. Spatula Girl
stay away if know what good for her."

"Hey! How dare you just come in and ..." Ukyo trailed off as
the purple-haired Amazon ignored her and flounced out of the
shop. Why, that sly minx! Still, her words bore thinking
about. The Amazons were giving up their one hold on Ranma.
Was Shampoo really that confident about winning Ranma? It
wasn't possible. No, this had all the makings of one of
Cologne's plans - some new means of noosing Ranma. Unless--
A faint chill touched her. Unless the indomitable Amazon
matriarch was considering the possibility of defeat, and was
taking steps against angering a future demon. Ranma, she
thought, shivering slightly. What was he becoming?

She shook off the cold which seemed to have settled in her
bones. It didn't matter, she decided. No matter what he
became, she would be there by his side. She'd lost him once,
but she would never let that happen to her again.

---

Ryoga awoke, yawned and stretched out on the cushy pillow he
was sleeping on. He nuzzled at the yielding cushion and
relaxed, enjoying the comfortable warmth enveloping him.

"Stop that, piglet," a soft, sleepy voice giggled. "That
tickles, you know."

Ryoga's eyes snapped wide open. Sultry, dark eyes, framed by
Kodachi's smiling face and lustrous black hair, scrutinized
him calmly. His body tightened apprehensively, trotters
clasping at the smooth surface below him, and she giggled
again. Out of the corner of his eye, he realized that the
'cushy pillow' seemed to be a silk-covered mound of fine,
womanly--

Blood erupted from his snout in a rising arc, and
consciousness started to leave him. "Ick, really! Do you do
that all the time?" he heard Kodachi say. "I do wonder what
Akane Tendo sees in you. I suppose I shall have to give you
a hot bath this time." Ryoga sank beneath the rising
blackness, with sharp panic pounding at the innermost core
of his being.

A splash of warm water brought him back to consciousness.
"Bwe-urkk." His voice stumbled as he realized that the room
appeared to be properly sized to him, rather than overly
large as when he was in his cursed form. Then, he realized
that he was in a bathroom - in a steaming bath, in fact,
and that someone had to have splashed the warm water that
had woken him.

He glanced round nervously, sweeping the room before his
roaming gaze was brought to an abrupt halt at the towel-
clad figure of Kodachi Kuno. Correction: the semi-nude
Kodachi Kuno whose towel seemed artfully draped both to
conceal her lush figure and to entice one to snatch it away,
and then feast their eyes on her naked and exposed form.
Ryoga felt the blood rush to his nose again and desperately
looked away.

"Really, what is it with you?" she said amusedly. "You're no
demon, that's for sure. I hardly even need my power to tell
me that. So, what are you, my transforming piglet?"

"Um, my name's Ryoga Hibiki and could you like put on some
more clothes?" he said, facing the wall.

"Oh, but why wouldn't such a handsome man want to gaze on my
lovely form?" she crooned, before purring seductively, "I
could expose a bit more for you if you like."

"No! That's okay! I have to be going anyway!" He stumbled to
his feet, red-faced and feeling very, very hot, and stabbed
his finger at the wall impeding his escape route. "Bakusai
Tenketsu!" He took the bits of flying rock stoically,
blocking as much of the debris as he could, determined that
none would get past to strike the girl behind him. Then he
lunged through the gaping hole and started running.

"Watch out for the traps!" Kodachi called out in warning as
she watched Ryoga flee. She looked at the debris around her
and smiled slightly - not a single piece was within a foot
of her kneeling body. "What a delightful secret Akane's
little pet has. I wonder if she knows. Surely, she must."

She looked past the broken wall with a hint of regret.
"Perhaps I should have used a touch of the paralysis powder.
Oh, R-yo-ga-sa-ma." Her voice lilted in fine cadence,
turning the name into a caress. "What a lovely name." She
shook her head in denial. "No, no, what am I thinking? I
must save myself for my Ranma-sama."

She tilted her head fetchingly in contemplation, staring at
the bath and envisioning a muscular form that was no longer
there. "Then again, why can't I have them both?!
Ohohohohohoho!!" The laughter pealed out and chased after a
distant figure, who was intent on finding a clothing store.

---

The Tendo Dojo was a place that embodied spiritual calm and
physical battle, and suited sessions of repose, discussion
or the planning of strategy equally well. Thus, it was
entirely appropriate for the three people who were seated
within that morning. Genma sat in the traditional position,
facing the doorway of the dojo, with Ranma and Akane before
him.

Genma cleared his throat. "I know I have my faults, Ranma,"
he began.

"Yeah, you got that right." Ranma began ticking off his
fingers one by one. "You're a cheap, lazy, good-for-nothing
liar and cheat. Did I forget something?"

"You didn't have to put it quite like that, boy," Genma
growled, his face darkening perceptibly.

"Oh, that's right." Ranma snapped his fingers in sudden
recollection. "You're a panda as well."

"I think you need a lesson to remind you of your place,
Ranma!" Genma stormed, clenching his fists.

"Hah! Who's going to do that, Pops? I can take you on
anytime." Ranma smirked with confidence and leapt up into a
ready stance, awaiting his father's first blow.

Akane cleared her throat noisily. "What the heck do you
think you're doing? We're supposed to be ..." She trailed
off uncertainly as something oddly familiar about the entire
scene struck her: this was how Ranma and his father always
acted towards each other. She suddenly realized why it was
happening this time - Ranma was trying to come to grips with
the fact that Genma wasn't his real father as such, but he
was willing to fall back on their old relationship in the
meantime, and Genma ... Genma was willing to do the same.
She sat back, stunned at her intuitive flash of insight, and
reconsidered all of their sparring, their arguments and
their insults in a new light.

"Akane? You okay?" Ranma asked.

"Huh? Oh, fine," she said hastily. "I just realized
something."

>From the doorway of the dojo, Nabiki watched the scene
appreciatively. She had observed all three of them in
silence and picked up on Akane's reaction. You're finally
growing up, Sis, she thought. Things weren't always as
people believed or wanted them to be.

"Nabiki, you want to join us?" Ranma called out.

She shook her head slightly. Ranma had detected her even
with his back turned. Was that a sign of his inheritance or
merely his high martial skill level? "No, no, you all go
ahead for now. I'll just sit outside, enjoy the sun and
listen. But there's something you ought to take a look at
afterwards, Ranma." She paused to make sure he understood
the seriousness of her request. "Go on, Uncle," she
finished, before turning to sit down on the dojo porch.

"Right, now what was I saying before I was so rudely
interrupted?" Genma started again, looking balefully at his
son.

"Apologizing for your sins, maybe?" Ranma retorted, not at
all abashed.

"Ranma!" Akane hissed. Enough was enough. She wanted to
know what Uncle Saotome had to say. "You were about to tell
us about Ranma's real father?"

"Ansou. Makizoku Ansou. He asked Nodoka to call him that.
Yami-no-tsume is his name amongst demons." Genma sighed.
"Look, boy, I know I wasn't a good father to you, but
everything I did was to improve your skills as a martial
artist. I pushed you hard many times because of one reason.
Before he died, your real father told us the name of his
enemy ... and yours." He crossed his arms, looking sober.

"Shukumaru," Genma said softly. "That was the name he gave.
Seems this Shukumaru wanted to become the Demon Lord of the
East and tried to seize power. Fortunately, your father
managed to use a powerful seal in the battle and banished
the treacherous attack; otherwise, you and your mother
would have been in grave danger. Still, the seal wasn't
permanent. Ansou didn't have enough power left to make it
so. It was meant to last just long enough for you to assume
your powers and reclaim the domain. But it might already
have run out."

"So that's why you put Ranma through all that 'training'?"
Akane asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, everything I did on that ten-year training journey was
to ensure that Ranma would stand a chance against this
enemy," Genma said, nobly looking off into the distance.

"Uncle ..." breathed an obviously impressed Akane.

"Geez, Pops, cut the crap, willya? What about Ucchan's yatai
and her engagement to me? Not to mention teaching that
dangerous technique to the Kumons, or the time you took me
to visit that-murflggh."

The rest of his sentence was lost as Genma clapped a hand
over his son's mouth and hissed, "Not in front of the girls,
boy!"

Ranma pulled Genma's hand away. "Since when were you so--"
He suddenly stopped and cocked his head, his right ear
twitching involuntarily. A puzzled expression crossed his
face.

"Mom's here," he said suddenly.

---

"Oh, hello, dear," greeted Nodoka as Kasumi opened the door.
"I was looking for Ranma."

"Aunty, how nice to see you again. I was just about to take
these to Ranma, Akane and Uncle Saotome out at the dojo."
Kasumi gestured with the tray she was carrying. "Please
join us."

"I would love to, Kasumi. That would be quite perfect."

They walked in companionable silence to the dojo. Nabiki was
sitting on the dojo porch and staring up at the cloudless
sky. She turned to look at them as they approached. "Hello,
Aunty," she said coolly. "Ranma and the others are waiting
for you." She stood up and dusted off her clothes before
stealing a cookie from Kasumi's tray.

"Thank you, Nabiki." Nodoka smiled graciously and entered
the dojo, followed by Nabiki and Kasumi. "Hello, dear,
Ranma, Akane-chan," she said, hugging Ranma and kissing him
on the cheek. He flushed a little, obviously embarrassed,
and stepped back as she greeted Akane in the exact same
way.

"Have you seen the morning news?" she asked the gathered
group. Everyone save Nabiki shook their heads in negation
and confusion. She turned to Nabiki. "Would you happen to
have it on tape?"

"I do, Aunty," Nabiki answered. "That's what I wanted Ranma
to see afterwards."

Nodoka nodded. "Yes, indeed. I suspect that it'll be vitally
important, actually. Why don't we take a look now?"

"What was on the news, Aunty?" Akane said as she liberated a
few cookies and a glass of milk from Kasumi. "Thanks, onee-
chan." She smacked Ranma's hand which was sneaking back for
more despite having a mouth full of the heavenly baked
goodies. "Really, Ranma. Finish what you have first."

"Mrpggood struguff, 'Sumi," he said in a muffled voice as
they left the dojo for the house.

The news was sobering, primarily because both Nodoka and
Genma had looked very serious throughout the short clip.
Soun had joined them as they reviewed the clip again. Akane
shifted her glance from one serious face to the other.
Unable to keep her disbelief in, she spoke out. "You don't
really believe there's anything to this story, do you?" she
said, feeling her heart sink as neither of the Saotomes
changed expression.

"I'm afraid so, Akane-chan," Nodoka said sadly. "Umibouzu
was one of Ansou's four primary servitors. It's quite likely
that he has come to Tokyo to seek out Ansou's successor."

"But it's been eighteen years, Aunty," pointed out Kasumi.
"Surely he would have shown up before now."

Nodoka shook her head. "Time is meaningless to most demons.
Eighteen years is but a blink of an eye to Umibouzu. He's
an ancient being. Besides, he's shown up now for a reason."
She turned to look at Ranma.

Ranma looked up from munching yet another cookie. "Say, why
can't you make 'em like this, 'Kane?" he said, before
noticing the glares heading his way. "Huh? What? Oh, the
demon thing? Nah, no problem with that. I'll head on over,
kick his butt and come home. Simple."

"By yourself?!" sputtered Akane.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Ranma-kun?" asked
Kasumi, who looked a bit concerned.

Nodoka shook her head slightly. A high level of confidence
was a good sign of manliness, but sometimes her son seemed
a trifle ... overconfident. "Take Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyo
as well as anyone you think may help, Ranma."

"Huh? Why? I could do it on my own." He grabbed another
cookie. "But I guess it'll be cool to show off my new powers
in front of Ryoga," he added, eager to put another one over
his rival. "But why the others?" His gaze slipped to Akane
before quickly sliding away.

"They're your fiancees, Ranma. They'll have to see what it
would mean to remain involved with you," she replied,
sounding very serious. "I understand that you are keen to
fight and I take that as a great sign of your manliness."
Nodoka nodded happily. "But the best solution would be to
enlist Umibouzu as an ally against future battles. We still
have no idea whether or when this Shukumaru will appear. It
would be wiser to be prepared."

"Okay, Mom." He capitulated. "I'll grab Shampoo, Mousse,
Ukyo, and Ryoga if I can find him. We'll head off tonight
and see what we can do."

"Hey, what about me?!" Akane interjected angrily, the
comment about her cookies forgotten in the face of a more
important slight.

"Well, I want you to go over to my mom's place. That way
Pops can protect you both."

"That's right, son," Genma said valiantly, obviously
relieved to be left out of the potential battle. "I'll be
glad to defend Akane as well."

"Damn it, Ranma! Why do you always do that?!" Akane cried
out furiously. "I'm a martial artist too, you know!" She
spun and ran from the room.

"Akane!" he shouted futilely after her. It's because I
don't want to see you get hurt, he admitted to himself.
Then, he cringed back as he made eye contact with the
inflated demon head of Soun Tendo.

"Ranma! How dare you upset my girl like that?!" Soun's
demon head collapsed rapidly as the rest of Nodoka's
implications hit him. "But I don't want her to endanger
herself either." The tears started leaking furiously.
"What should I do?! Oh, Akane, my poor girl!"

"Go after her, boy," Genma urged him.

"I will! I will!" Ranma said.

"She left the house," reported Nabiki, eyeing him
critically.

"You could have done it in a nicer way, Ranma-kun,"
admonished Kasumi gently.

---

Ryoga bashed his head against the brick wall, ignoring the
flying dust. He rested his forehead in the depression formed
by the head-butt. His mind kept wandering back to that scene
in the bathroom. Akari, he thought desperately. He had to
remember her. But then, he'd never seen her like that - the
towel barely covering her nude body and exposing her silky-
smooth limbs. Arrrghhh! Akane, Akari and now Kodachi! What
was wrong with him? Why was he such a--

"Ryoga-kun?" Akane said softly. "Are you all right?"

"Akane-san!" Startled, Ryoga spun around and looked into her
worried features. "Ahehe," he laughed, rubbing the back of
his head nervously and stepping back to shield the wall's
damage from her eyes. "Nothing's wrong. Not at all. What
could possibly be wrong on this fine day? I was just
looking for Ranma."

"Uh, okay, then. Mind if I walk with you to the dojo?"

"S..sure, Akane-san. I'd be delighted."

"Ryoga-kun, I wanted to ask you a question. If you knew
something about someone close to you, something horrible,
what would you do?"

P-chan, Ryoga's mind yammered in fear. She knew about him
being P-chan. There was nothing else that she could mean.
Bleak depression crashed down upon him. Life wasn't worth
living anymore. Ranma, that swine, must have told her all
about it. Wait, what was that sound? Crying? But surely ...
He was more than startled when he felt Akane's sobbing body
crash into him.

"W...what? Akane-san?" His arms came up involuntarily to
enfold and comfort her.

"Oh, Ryoga! It's Ranma! He's ... he's ..." She broke down,
crying even more intensely. "I don't know what to do!"

"Ranma? But what--" he began, completely nonplussed.

"Hello, Ryoga. So nice to see you again. Are you enjoying
yourself there?" The calm, cool voice was Ranma's, but he
had never sounded like that before. A thrill of fear touched
him as he looked up from Akane, still drowning her sorrows
into his shirt and oblivious to everything else, to see
Ranma's steely eyes glaring at him.

"W...wait a minute," he stammered. "It's not what it looks
like!"

---

"Are you feeling better?" Ranma said as he removed the cold
compress from Akane's forehead. For once, they had been left
alone in her bedroom, though Kasumi bustled in with food,
tea, medicine, laundry, and a miscellany of other items
every once in a while.

"I'm okay, Ranma. I don't know what came over me," Akane
said wanly. "It's like everything built up and up, and just
erupted. Poor Ryoga. I'm glad you two didn't get into a
fight."

"Nah, no chance of that happening. I've been in that
position too many times to just pound on him - unlike some
people I could mention..."

Akane sniffed and looked away.

Somewhat surprised at not being hit after his attempt at
cheering Akane up, he laced his hands behind his head and
tried for nonchalance instead. "You ... wanna talk about
it?"

"I don't know if I can." She looked uncertainly at him. "It
must be pretty weird for you as well, Ranma. Do you feel
anything different?"

Ranma shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure. Mom said it'd
happen tonight. Whatever that means."

Akane nodded solemnly. "Are we going to check out that
report about Umibouzu? No protests, Ranma. I'm coming with
you if we're going."

He looked unhappy. "Yeah, we are. My mom's probably right.
One of my ... father's old servitors. Ryoga and I are just
waiting for Shampoo, Mousse, and Ukyo to show up before
going. I guess it should be okay for you to come along.
Quite ..." He gagged on the word "safe".

"Thanks, Ranma," Akane said, eyes aglow with enthusiasm.
"You won't regret this, I promise."

---

The soft footfalls echoed against the walls of the massed
warehouses on the harbour-front. The solidly-constructed
buildings loomed darkly in the shadows cast by the light of
the waning moon and the dim glows provided by a number of
lonely street lamps. Apart from the footsteps, the silence
was overwhelming. In fact, it was eerily so. No one seemed
to be around the place. Where were the dockside guards? The
night-shift workers? Tokyo Bay itself looked strangely
empty. It was never that crowded, with most shipping traffic
stopping at Yokohama instead, but there should at least have
been some patrol boats, harbour tugs, trawlers, or even a
couple of liners or freighters.

"Damn, this is gloomy," Ranma muttered, trying to ignore the
dank stench drifting in from beyond the piers.

The small Nerima group was standing on the open dockside,
facing the bay. Shampoo and Ukyo had arrived at the dojo,
fully prepared for battle. Shampoo carried her twin bonbori
and had a sharp Chinese sword strapped to her back. Ukyo
carried her battle-spatula and seemed festooned with
bandoliers of throwing spatulas. Ryoga had retrieved one of
his heavy umbrellas, which had been previously left behind
at the Tendo home. Akane wasn't carrying any weapons - a
fact which worried Ranma. He tried to shake it away.

"Say, where is Mousse anyway?" he asked Shampoo as the
sudden thought hit him.

"Great-Grandmother go home to village. She take him."
Shampoo shrugged without much concern. With Mousse out of
the way and the Nekohanten currently closed, she had a lot
more free time to chase after Ranma. Challenging a demon was
a cheap price to pay for that.

Ranma frowned momentarily, then focused back onto the
problem before them. They had taken the train to nearby
Minato and walked the rest of the way to the harbour. Now
what? he wondered.

"How are we going to look for the monster?" he asked as the
group finally realized its dilemma.

"Wait, what's that?" Ukyo asked, pointing out to the bay.

A rolling tide was flooding in at them. A massed wall of
water, driven by some enormous submerged object, grew taller
and taller before crashing and breaking. The tide picked up
again and continued to thunder towards the harbour-front.

"Gah, it looks like a scene from that horrible gaijin remake
of Gojira," Ryoga muttered in dismay. The entire group
hastily leapt back towards shelter to avoid the huge wave
and the certainty of cold water spraying everywhere.

The incoming wave surged, smashing into the cement piers and
shattering into foamy surf. In the wake of the tide, a
monstrous head emerged, rising up and up and up. Serpentine
in form, the gigantic head was covered by an overlapping
shield of shiny black scales, each the size of a small car.
Massive flukes graced the serpent in place of the ears on a
human head, and a cloud of writhing tendrils framed his
scaly head. A ridge of dark, webbed fins sprouted down the
back of the elongated neck. Two golden eyes, great globes
shining with lustrous fire, stared down upon them, as the
neck of the beast continued to emerge out of the water until
he was taller than the surrounding warehouses.

The foaming wash covered the dockside. Ranma stepped forward
cautiously as the water subsided and rolled back into the
bay.

"Mortals!" The deep, gravelly voice sounded a bit surprised
to see that the intruders were mere humans. "I am Umibouzu,
the Great Devourer! This is my present domain." The great
serpent looked down upon the scattered martial artists
dispassionately. "How did you break through my fuuin?"

"Your seal?" asked Ranma in surprise. He struggled to
remember anything about seals that he had come across in the
piles of mouldy scrolls 'belonging' to his father. "Maybe
one designed to conceal you?" he hazarded a guess.

"That is indeed one of my powers: to remain unnoticed until
I wish it otherwise," the beast confirmed. "Susanoo-oh
granted me this power, that I might await the Day of
Judgement and feast on the souls of unworthy humans."

"Uh, that's very nice and all, but I didn't notice any seal
when we came here."

"Then, you must have some power yourself," Umibouzu
rumbled. "Who are you, mortals? Tell me before I choose to
consume you."

Ranma moved to speak, but paused when he felt a faint touch
on his arm. "Ranma, you let Shampoo handle this, yes?" The
purple-haired Amazon stepped past him, proud and determined,
every inch of her bearing proclaiming her to be the warrior
that she was.

"Mighty one, demon of five-thousand-years, whose name is
known to the Amazons of Joketsuzoku who live within the
heart of China, Great Umibouzu, I greet you." Shampoo paused
to watch the serpent preen its scales and flukes, glorying
in her praise. She hid a smile. "Know that before you stands
one who is heir to the throne of the Demon Lord of the East.
He is Yami-no-tsume's own son and proclaims his might to all
who would seek to serve or defeat him. I present to you,
Great Serpent, one whose name shall be written in the
heavens and the hells - Ranma Saotome!" She stepped back
gracefully, unobtrusively treading on Ranma's foot to cue
him, and backed away.

"Uh, right," Ranma said, shaking his head from the
spellbinding oration and the shock that Shampoo could speak
in perfect Japanese. He strode forward confidently. Behind
him, he heard a pair of guarded whispers.

"Huh, I didn't know you could speak in proper form, sugar,"
Ukyo whispered.

"Lot you not know, Spatula Girl. But truth is Great-
Grandmother give instruction before she leave for home,"
Shampoo whispered back.

"I am Ranma Saotome, Umibouzu," he shouted defiantly,
filling his voice with as much confidence as he could. After
the many powerful beings that he had defeated thus far in
his life, he found he had no trouble meeting the gaze of
the serpent's golden eyes. Still, he sweated a bit when he
noticed out of the corner of his eye, a large hump - the
size of a small island - break the surface of the bay's
water out in the distance. That was over a kilometer away,
he estimated, feeling slightly stunned. The Orochi had been
one thing but just how big was this monster anyway?

"You are the heir to Yami-no-tsume? A mere human?!"
Umibouzu's bass voice thundered his own disbelief, then he
paused and scrutinized Ranma further. "No, not a mere human.
Still, you hardly have the power to hold what you have, much
less seek my service, mortal."

"Hah, set me a challenge then, serpent! I'll show you how
good I am. I'm Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome Anything
Goes School of Martial Arts, and I never back down from a
challenge!" Ranma trumpeted his complete assurance in his
own ability. A rolling bank of clouds covered the moon,
throwing dark shadows across the harbour-front.

"Arrghhh!" Akane whispered through gritted teeth. "Doesn't
he ever learn?!"

"Are you crazy, Ranchan?!" shouted Ukyo in disbelief. "Look
at the size of that thing!"

"S'no problem, Ucchan. I've got a plan!" Ranma smirked
confidently.

"A plan?" Akane stormed, looking angrily at Ranma who was
standing cockily before the gigantic monstrosity. "You
idiot! You're going to get yourself killed!"

"You are brave enough, mortal. Very well, then. Defeat me,
Ranma Saotome, and I shall grant you my powers!" Umibouzu's
eyes glittered fiercely in anticipation, and he opened his
jaws fully in a toothy smile, revealing row upon row of
jagged fangs. Ancient ship timbers, mere splinters in that
vast maw, came crashing down onto the dockside.

"Easily done!" Ranma leapt back into a defensive stance and
awaited his opponent's first move. Then, a sharp, powerful
voice rang out and distracted him.

"I forbid this! I am the true heir to Yami-no-tsume's
throne!" The commanding voice came from the shadowed roof
of a warehouse beside the dock. Ranma glanced up, his sense
of imminent danger tingling wildly. The moon slid out from
behind the clouds, bathing the warehouse roof with light and
revealing the speaker. Ranma gasped. A woman!

She stood tall and proud, with a figure that many men would
have found seductive and many women would have greatly
envied. Long, white hair cascaded down to her waist and
cold, blue eyes stared out from a face framed by exotic
black markings. The tips of pointed ears peeked out from the
waves of hair and long claws extended from her fingers,
denoting an inhuman heritage. Her skin an alabaster white,
she was as pale as snow, and as beautiful as ice.

"You shall be my opponent, Ranma Saotome!" she emphasized.

Umibouzu's laugh gusted out in deep booms, nearly deafening
all present. "Interesting. How very interesting! I recognize
you ... Shukumaru!"

"She's Shukumaru?!" Ranma felt himself stiffen with massive
disbelief. A chorus of consternation joined him from the
rest of the group.

"So, you too seek the throne of your father? I thought he
had slain you after you wounded him unto death." Umibouzu's
bass chuckles broke out again as the serpent roared with
genuine amusement.

Ranma was beyond disbelief, numbed shock replaced all
sensation in his body.

"Not so, Umibouzu. My father was a fool! He could not bear
to slay a beloved child and so only sealed me away. Now that
the seal is broken, I shall reclaim what is mine!" Shukumaru
smiled arrogantly and pointed a long, slender finger at
Ranma. "Beginning with you, dear brother!"

"How awful!" burst out Akane. "To kill someone who loved
you!" She was ignored by the two demons.

"It shall be most entertaining! I agree to your duel,
Shukumaru, and to make it even more interesting, I shall
grant my powers to the one who entertains me the most!"
Umibouzu rumbled in delight and greedy anticipation of some
relief from his unrelenting boredom.

"Then it shall be me!" proclaimed Shukumaru. "Since my dear
brother will soon be dead, you will serve me, Umibozo, as
you did my father!"

"No ... no way in hell!" snapped Ranma. "How can you stand
there and--" He was interrupted by the demoness.

"You will die, brother! I will see to it!"

Brother and sister glared at one another. Shukumaru stared
with hatred and obsession etching her fine features, while
Ranma stared back with determination and the beginnings of
a cold fury. The rest of the Nerima gang watched the grim
tableau breathlessly, shaken by the fast-paced revelations.

Another voice shattered the tense moment of silence.

"I think not, demon!"

Everyone looked up at the new figure, standing on the roof
across from Shukumaru: a figure in a form-hugging black
dress with a prominent yin-yang symbol outlined on the front,
and carrying a glowing coiled whip.

"Kodachi," Ryoga murmured softly without much surprise.

On the other hand, the others were shocked to their core, to
say the least.

"What the hell? Kodachi?" muttered Ranma.

"Kodachi! What's she doing here?" asked Akane.

"Aiyah! Crazy Rose Girl wear dress of Devil Hunter!"
Shampoo exclaimed in recognition.

"What?! A Devil Hunter? Surely they don't exist anymore,"
Ukyo wondered out loud.

"I, Kodachi Kuno, 106th generation Devil Hunter of the Kuno
Clan, shall be the one to return your foul soul to the
hells!" Kodachi paused and stared at the enormous serpentine
head of Umibouzu, then she dismissed the Devourer and
continued to scan the surrounds. Her power insisted that
Shukumaru was the real threat here, and besides, the demon
bitch had threatened her Ranma-sama. Yet, there was a foul
miasma of evil that seemed to cover the entire docklands...

Her attention finally focused on the small group of martial
artists standing below her. Spotting Ryoga, her eyes
quickly brightened with delight. "Oh, Ryoga-sama!" she
cried, waving cheerfully.

"Ryoga-sama?!!!" yelled the rest of the group. "How the heck
did that happen?!" Ranma asked in shock.

Ryoga blushed a brilliant shade of red and twiddled his
thumbs nervously. "Ahehehe ... I don't really know."

"Leave this to me, Ranma-sama, Ryoga-sama. I shall quickly
slay this demon and then we shall retire to the Kuno manse,
partake in a feast, and indulge all our senses." She waved
again before looking back to Shukumaru.

"Partake in a feast?" repeated Ukyo with some asperity.

"Indulge all their senses?!" echoed Akane with growing anger.

"Crazy Rose Girl sure know how to piss everyone off,"
finished Shampoo, hands clenched tight over the handles of
her bonbori.

Ranma didn't listen. His growing sense of danger was telling
him that Kodachi was heading for trouble. "Wait!" he shouted,
trying to stop her but it was too late.

"Prepare yourself, demon!" Kodachi launched herself from her
warehouse in a parabolic arc, Spear of Fuma extended, and
aimed herself at the unperturbed demoness.

"You, a mortal, slay me? I hardly think so," Shukumaru said
disdainfully. "Raiha!" she cried out the name like an
evocation, and opened her mouth widely.

Ranma's sense of danger suddenly spiked sharply and he
reacted with blazing speed. He crouched and launched himself
into the air, driving his body up in a desperate attempt to
reach Kodachi.

Kodachi's eyes widened in apprehension as Shukumaru's open
mouth glowed brilliantly and the demon unleashed a sizzling
bolt of lightning which violently exploded forth at her.
Then, a hard impact struck her from behind and the scene
spun crazily. She caught a brief glimpse of the blazing bolt
that crackled past her tumbling form before Ranma's arms
clasped her tightly to his masculine chest and swung the
both of them upright again. "Ranma-sama," she whispered with
joy.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he said grimly.

Beneath them, Ryoga watched their ascent with dismay.
Ranma's tremendous jump had carried them out of the path of
Shukumaru's lightning blast which had shattered the concrete
and blown a smoking crater into the dockside. He ignored the
shower of rubble that came pouring down, yelling out to the
girls to take cover. Ranma had avoided the first blast, he
thought grimly, but Shukumaru was already preparing a second
one. In his rising arc and carrying Kodachi, Ranma wouldn't
be able to maneuver or dodge it. A desperate plan came to
mind and he ran forward to implement it.

Ranma knew he was in trouble. The leap had been reflexive
and powerful, and that had been the problem. It had been way
too strong, exceeding all his expectations, and now he was
stuck in midair without the capability to redirect his
motion.

Shukumaru's eyes glittered victoriously as she spat out the
crackling bolt of energy which would obliterate her hated
opponent.

"Ranma!" Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyo cried out simultaneously
in horror as the blast erupted towards Ranma and Kodachi. On
the open dockside, Ryoga crouched, open umbrella held ready,
and stabbed his finger into the concrete. "Bakusai
Tenketsu!"

Ranma cursed silently, twisting his body to shield Kodachi
from the worst of the blast. The incoming bolt coruscated
brightly as it bore in and Ranma winced in anticipation of
the impact. This would be really bad. Then a black circle
appeared before the imminent death-blow, silhouetted against
the brilliant light like the moon eclipsing the sun.
"What?!" exclaimed Ranma.

"Ooof!" he yelled as Ryoga was hurled into the two of them
by the force of the lightning's impact against his umbrella.
But he was quick to react and use the resultant energy to
redirect their path towards an nearby warehouse roof.

Ranma landed lightly on the roof tiles, Kodachi cradled in
his arms. Ryoga thudded down beside him, somewhat less
gracefully and looking a bit singed from the energy by-blow.
He hurled away the handle of his crisped umbrella.

"Look, Ranma," Ryoga snapped, "it's bad enough you've got
other girls panting after you. Why can't you let someone
else save a girl for a change?"

"Hey, I just reacted, okay?" Ranma answered peevishly.
"S'not my fault you're so slow."

"Oh, boys," Kodachi purred as she snuggled into Ranma's arms.
"There's no need to fight over me. I have more than enough
love for the two of you."

"Ranma!" The shout echoed from Ryoga and from Akane, Shampoo
and Ukyo who were still on the ground. In a fit of anger,
Akane reached the warehouse roof in one bound, with Shampoo
and Ukyo quickly following.

"Uh, we still have a problem, you know," he responded
quickly, seeing their infuriated expressions. He tried to
shake Kodachi off, but she clung to him like a blossoming
vine to a life-giving wall.

"Are you finished yet, little mortals?" The mocking voice
drew their attention. They quickly turned back towards
Shukumaru, who had been watching the events with amusement
and a look of snobbish disdain. "Then it is time for you to
die," she said grandly.

"Doesn't she remind you of someone?" Ukyo whispered to Akane
soto voce.

"Yup," Akane said, glancing at Kodachi.

"I am not a snob!" insisted Kodachi, glaring at the three
girls. She uncoiled herself from Ranma's arms. "Thank you
for saving me, Ranma-sama, but it looks like I shall have to
show my appreciation at a more appropriate time. For now,
why don't we remove the annoyance in our way?"

"No, I don't think so. Jakuten!" Shukumaru commanded
imperiously.

"At once, Shukumaru-sama." A short, wizened figure with
bulging eyes appeared next to the demoness and banged his
wooden staff down on the metal roof tiles, sending a loud
clangour echoing into the harbour. Dark figures, summoned by
the signal, appeared from behind the warehouses.

Oni. A dozen, no, two dozen. Forty. Fifty. Ranma stopped
counting at that point.

"Take two kitsune and handle our other little problem,
Jakuten," Shukumaru said to her servitor. She arched an
eyebrow at Ranma, and smiled triumphantly. "As I said
before, dear brother, you are mine to slay!"

"Dear me," observed Kodachi. "And I did think there was too
much evil energy around the place, too."

---

Author's Notes:

1) 'Kaji Awanai' means 'unfit rudder'.

2) 'Umibouzu' translates roughly as 'sea monster' and is
an actual Japanese mythological creature.

3) 'Michi Hanashi' - 'michi' can be used as either an
adjective or a noun: respectively, the name translates as
'unknown news' or 'news career'.

4) 'Makizoku Ansou' - means 'Demon Noble Dark Claw' (thanks
to VGAP for providing this name).

5) 'Shukumaru' - this is a little play on names, taking the
'shuku' from 'shukuteki' which means 'archenemy/nemesis' or
literally, 'destined enemy'; 'maru' comes from 'Sesshomaru',
who is Inu-Yasha's fully demonic half-brother in that series,
and can mean 'perfect'; thus, a potential meaning would be
'perfect destiny'. (Thanks to Vincent Seifert for this).