Permanent part 4: An angry attack.
Ranma sat uncomfortably in the back of the group of girls. They were
sitting in the back of an ice cream store gossiping among them selves.
"What's wrong Ranma?" asked one of Akane's friends noticing how reclusive
she was acting.
"I'm not comfortable around other girls my age." said Ranma flatly.
The group looked at her with surprise. "Why?" asked the one on Ranma's
right.
"Sayuri!" said Akane glaring at her.
"Sorry, you don't have to tell us." said the other girl.
Akane gave Ranma an apologetic look and sighed. "Its OK Akane." She
looked at the girls and frowned. "The last girl I knew spent seven months
trying to kill me, she hunted me like an animal, until I finally defeated
her." Ranma looked out the window with a far away gaze as she said this.
Sayuri gulped hard. "Defeated?" she said quietly.
"I think we should change the subject. Sayuri, Yuka?" said Akane calmly.
The two girls looked at her with frightened eyes and nodded.
Akane walked behind Ranma a few feet on the way home with Yuka and
Sayuri walking even further back. They walked silently through the light
rain. Ranma finally broke it after about ten minutes. "I'm surprised you
got them to come along after what they saw the other day, you don't have
to try to cheer me up ya know."
Akane smiled a little. "I like you Ranma, despite all you've been
through your still a good person, even if you can't see it." she said
looking up at the clouds as they walked.
Ranma smirked a little. "You don't know me that well Akane."
The girls edged closer to Akane. "Why do you try to push others away
Ranma?" thought Akane in frustration.
A whirling noise came softly at first and grew ever louder. Ranma
stopped and looked around. Akane and her friends walked up to her.
"Ranma? What's Wrong?" asked Akane with a confused expression. Ranma
shushed her and crouched low. "What's wro-" started Akane but she never
finished.
Ranma screamed and her arm exploded in pain. She turned to see a
horrified Akane staring at her arm, her face covered in blood. In the
wall next to them something that looked like a yo-yo with spikes
protruded from the concrete with specks of blood all over it, a thin
metal wire protruded from it to some bushes nearby. Ranma reached up to
clutch her arm and stopped as she her fingers touched bone, her nerves
exploded again almost caused her to black out; she screamed in anguish.
"Ranma Saotome. For what you did to Shampoo you die!" cried a distinctly
male voice from all around them. Ranma frowned and grabbed the wire. She
felt it cut deep into her hand as it was pulled tight, forcing her to
release it. A robed figure leapt into the air from the bush and spun in
mid air. Ranma's eyes went wide as she leapt into the frightened girls
shoving them to the ground and covering them with her own body. She
yelled in pain yet again as seven metal spikes embedded themselves in her
legs, back and arms. Ranma stood shakily and faced her opponent.
"Who are you?" she demanded standing in front of the girls.
"I am Mousse. I am the man who was to be Shampoo's groom. Until you
came." said the boy with his back turned to them. He had long flowing
robes and long brown hair, he also wore a small traveling pack on his
back. He turned his head slightly letting Ranma see his face. His glasses
shone with even the minimal light coming through the rain clouds.
"Shampoo." growled Ranma bending low to the ground in an attempt to
right herself despite her injuries. "So this is how it ends, looks like
you win after all you Chinese bitch." she thought bitterly. "I'll not go
out alone though." thought Ranma as she readied her attack.
Mousse smiled and swept his arm up releasing a large spinning blade at
Ranma. Her eyes went side as she registered the size of the weapon; it
had to be three feet long. She braced herself for the blow.
Suddenly, a small black blur appeared from over a wall and slammed into
the blade from above it. Ranma wasted no time, she shot her own arm
forward and pointed her hand at Mousse. The boy cried out in rage and
pain as he clutched his face, blood poured from between his fingers. He
pulled the small metal knife from his shattered glasses and what was left
of his left eye. He uttered a single curse, staggered into the shadows,
and disappeared.
Ranma looked at the blade Mousse had thrown sitting upright from the
ground and an apparently unharmed Mr.P sitting up near by. She hobbled
over and retrieved her knife from the ground and flipped it over in her
hands. "Shampoo." she said again and returned it to her sleeve; with that
she collapsed.
Ranma woke a few moments later being carried into a building. She looked
around and saw Akane and her friends were carrying her. Yuka was beating
on the door of a small clinic. "Dr.Tofu open up please!" she cried with
desperation in her voice, she was leaving handprints on the door from the
blood Ranma had lost. Ranma smiled at this.
A tall kindly looking man finally opened the door with a concerned face.
"Akane-san what happened?" he said looking at Ranma in shock. The three
girls were covered in blood and crying in the light evening rain.
Tofu lay Ranma on the examining table and sighed. "Akane we have to get
this girl to a hospital, these wounds are very serious. Sayuri could you
turn on the lights please?" he said after a quick glance at the various
wounds. Ranma smiled again.
She gently but forcefully pushed Dr. Tofu away. Her right hand began to
glow bright pink. Sayuri stopped and stared at her in wonder. Ranma
placed her hand firmly over the wound on her arm, she felt the bone and
screamed in pain as the burning started. The light erupted from her eyes,
mouth, nose, stomach and every other hole in her body including her
wounds. She screamed an almost inhuman cry and writhed in pain. A moment
later she stopped and passed out on the examining table with a tired and
painful expression on her face.
Dr. Tofu stared at her in disbelief. "Sayuri, lights please." he said
softly. Sayuri complied and walked up to the doctor.
"Dr. Tofu...what was that?" she asked.
"I have no Idea." said the Dr. with an unreadable expression.
Ranma awoke once again, "Magic." she said with a smile. The four people
looked at her oddly.
Akane gasped "You really are a witch?" she whispered looking at the girl
on the table.
"Not exactly, it's kind of hard to explain. I've helped allot of people
over the past year, but I can't help myself." she said with a small
laugh.
Dr. Tofu looked carefully at her wounds. "Completely healed." he said
quietly. Accept for a small red mark where Ranma had placed her hands
there was no evidence she had ever been hurt.
Small scratching noises came from the doorway. "Somebody go let Mr.P
in." said Ranma as she drifted off again.
"Healed or not she lost allot of blood. She needs her rest. Let's get
you girls all cleaned up." said Dr. Tofu to Yuka and Sayuri. Akane walked
into the room with Mr.P in her arms. She placed him on the bed and
giggled as he lay across Ranma's stomach.
"She sleeps like a boy." said Yuka with a giggle after noting Ranma's
position.
Akane and Sayuri glared at her. "I have brothers, remember?" said Yuka
returning the glare. Akane and Sayuri blushed and turned back to watching
Ranma.
"I'll walk you two girls home and Akane can stay with Ranma until I get
back." said Dr. Tofu as he took the two girls by the shoulder and lead
them away.
Ranma woke the next day groggily. She sat up and turned to see Akane
sleeping peacefully beside her in a chair. She smiled and then frowned at
this.
An hour later Ranma sat with Dr. Tofu and Akane at a small table eating
breakfast. "Well, I guess I had better explain things." sighed Ranma.
"It's a long story and it doesn't have a happy ending, well I don't
consider it to be one anyway; It will help you understand who that guy
was even though he is not directly involved with it." said Ranma as she
poked at her half eaten breakfast.
"He's not in it?" asked Akane sounding a little surprised. "You two
seemed to know each other."
Ranma smiled humorlessly. "Actually I don't remember ever meeting him,
Remember what he said when we saw him?"
Akane looked puzzled.
"I am the man who was to be Shampoo's groom." quoted Ranma.
Akane looked at Ranma again this time with a look of recognition.
"Well this is the story about her....." said Ranma and she began her
tale....
TbC...........
I know this seems like a terrible place to cut off but the next part will
be pretty big. It will take place entirely in China and won't be told as
Ranma's telling of the story. In other words the story Ranma tells will
be highly edited, she'll skip allot of things particularly anything
involved with Jusenkyo or the truth about her condition and her families.
Just thought I'd clear this up now so I don't get mail later that asks
why Akane doesn't know about the curses after Ranma tells this story. At
any rate it should be interesting to say the least. Although I have an
ending planned this one has "I'm going to write myself" written all over
it. I'm already running all kinds of variant ideas through my head.
Please feel free to C&C on my fic's as I love to read what people think
about my stuff. Send to Catbert25@aol.com
"I'll write some more, but not today. I'm off to watch more Anime" - hey
that Rhymes!
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