Permanent 9
Ranma's apprentice.
Ranma walked beside Akane towards the school as usual. Akane hung back
with her friends and talked vigorously. Ranma looked back at her and
sighed. "Hey, Ranma what's up?" asked Yuka.
"You'll find out when we get to school," said Akane with a small smile.
"I got a hundred yen that says he's calling himself 'black eagle,'"
commented Nabiki as the group caught up with her.
"Your on, I think its 'Dark angel' myself," said Ranma from her perch
with a smile.
Akane smiled as Ranma cheerfully walked towards the school and argued
happily with Nabiki over Kuno's new name.
Kuno smiled as the group of girls walked towards the gates of Furinkan.
"Ah, Ranma-kun, I the Dark eagle, the Black angel of Furinkan high would
spar with you," said the boy dramatically as he pointed his bokuten at
Ranma. His ten-foot long wings were spread wide and he held the bokuten
in his clawed hand, a dark smile was on his lips.
"Draw," said Nabiki and Ranma in unison. They looked at each other and
started laughing.
"Are you mocking me?" asked Kuno with a frown.
"No Kuno, Its just something that happened on the way to school," said
Ranma as she eyed him carefully.
"You know Ranma, the curse was not completely removed, I can still 'see'
a lie," the boy frowned slightly and then dismissed the matter.
"Well, I was trying to be polite Kuno, you could return the favor,"
Ranma eyed him carefully and smiled a little.
"Ah, very well then you accept my challenge?!" said Kuno as he gave a
rough snort to dismiss the conversation.
"What the hell is he thinking?" muttered Daisuke as he looked at Kuno's
wings skeptically.
"Those things look ridiculous who is he trying to fool? I guess he
thinks those fake wings make him look like one happening dude," said
Daisuke from next to him.
"Happening dude?" said Hiroshi with a strange stare.
"Shut up man," muttered Daisuke. "Kick his ass Ranma!" he cried as he
waved at her.
"Man you've got it bad," muttered Hiroshi as he watched his pathetic
friend drool. Then he looked at Ranma for a moment. "Kick his ass Ranma!"
he cried with his friend.
"I thought you thought she was creepy," said Daisuke with a slightly
annoyed look.
"I saw the light my friend, she just jumped."
"Yea, heheh heh heh," agreed his friend.
"I think they actually make him look kind of regal for once," said one
of the nearby girls. Her friends looked at her strangely and backed away.
"What?!" she cried defensively as she glared at them.
From a nearby set of bushes Hikaru Gosunkugi watched in awe. He was very
near to the pair and could see Kuno's back closely. He could see the
muscles tense up and move as Kuno moved around. He lifted his camera and
began to snap photos despite his shock. "The wings are real," he thought
over and over. "How?!" he asked himself out loud.
Kuno swung at Ranma with blinding speed and she ducked under the strike
easily. Kuno was much faster but his patterns were still readable. Then
the kendoist changed; Ranma took a light blow on her side and backed away
with a surprised look.
Kuno smiled. "Point, You can learn allot about yourself when you can
only hear the truth Saotome," said the Kendoist with a smile. Ranma grit
her teeth and charged.
Kuno was not expecting her to rush him he swung wildly; Ranma dodged
skillfully around his blows barely. How ever fast he was now Ranma was
still faster. "Damn," he said as she struck his chest.
"Point," she said with a smile.
Then Kuno did something completely unexpected.
Ranma charged again and Kuno began to beat his wings. Ranma was taken by
surprise and thrown back from the sheer force of the wind created. She
grit her teeth and struggled to keep her balance. Kuno smiled and jumped
up into the air, he spread his wings and soared up.
"They work?" said Ranma in disbelief. "Now I know why he wanted to keep
them."
The entire student body of Furinkan high stared at the spectacle in
disbelief. Kuno was flying around and diving at Ranma at high speeds in
an attempt to tag him from above. She kept away pretty well but almost
took several of the strikes. "OOH, he really is an angel!" cried one of
the girls in delight. No one said anything.
"Damn!" cursed Ranma as she rolled on the ground away from another of
the kendoist strikes. She turned and saw him diving again. She stood and
jumped into the air. Kuno was taken by surprise and swung clumsily at
Ranma who dodged and grabbed his shirt. She shifted her weight and drug
him to the ground The pair rolled for about twenty feet when they hit and
came to a stop near a tree. Ranma landed on top and punched at Kuno's
face stopping just before the tip of his nose. "Point. I win," she said
with a smile.
Kuno grinned and nodded. "You took me by surprise Saotome, tomorrow will
be different," he said as she let him stand.
Ranma smirked, she could get to like this little game. For the first
time in a long while she had a challenge.
During lunch Akane Tendo sat with some friends at her usual spot. She
laughed and smiled as she conversed with them. Ranma was strangely absent
and she glanced around occasionally. Hikaru sat in the bushes and sighed
as he snapped a few photos. "Today Akane Tendo I will have you!" he said
to himself as he pulled out a voodoo doll and nailed it to a tree with
tears in his eyes. He took a small bag out of his pocket and dumped its
contents onto the ground. An assorted array of strange things fell out,
things like dried eyes and tails. He looked at a small piece of paper and
began to read directions off as he followed them.
"All right, First I take the eyes and place them in the yak urine and
then I add the herb mixture, and then I tie the leather on top of the
bottle with the lizard tail and shake it up. It should glow pink and then
I just say who I..." he looked at the bottle in disappointment. He had a
rather disgusting stink bomb for his work and he knew it. "Stupid
salesman, it didn't work," he said to himself.
"That's because you didn't do it right," said a feminine voice. Hikaru
froze and turned to see Ranma hanging upside down from a tree branch just
inches away from him.
"Auuuuggghhh!" he cried in surprise.
"Shut up fool. Who ever wrote those instructions is a moron, the
ingredients are right but you mixed them totally wrong," said Ranma
casually.
"Um, you've done this before?" asked Gosunkugi as he turned completely
red.
"No," said Ranma with a cold stare. "You must be Hikaru Gosunkugi, the
other 'Sorcerer' Kuno mentioned," said Ranma as she jumped down beside
him.
"Uh, yea, please don't tell Akane about this." said the boy
pathetically.
"Don't worry it wouldn't have worked anyway, love is fates favorite toy
and she doesn't like sharing. It wouldn't have come out the way you
wanted it to, you might have ended up dating Kuno. Even if it had worked
I would have destroyed the spell," said Ranma as she assessed the boy.
Gosunkugi shuddered as he thought of the possibility of dating Kuno.
"Wait a minute. How do you know that?" said the boy as he turned and
stared at Ranma in disbelief.
"How do you think I know brainiac?" said Ranma smugly.
Gosunkugi backed into a tree. "You're a witch!" he cried.
"Keep it down, and I prefer the term Mage thank you." Ranma replied
curtly.
"What do you want?" said the frightened boy.
"You and I need to talk kid, I've been watching you and you've been
using some pretty dangerous and stupid magic, luckily you've never gotten
it right. This is as close as you've come," said Ranma as she held up the
bottle he had just mixed and made a slightly disgusted look. She looked
even cuter than normal for a moment and Gosunkugi had to cover his nose
with his hand.
"I don't want to clean up your mess on the off chance that you get
something right or really screw something up in the wrong way. I can
guarantee that if the kinds of spells you've been trying to use do come
out right they aren't gonna react the way your expecting, magic is very
dangerous for some one like you. You don't think about what might happen,
only what you want to happen and that's not the way it works I'm afraid.
You had better find something else to do with your spare time got it?"
said Ranma with a warning glare.
"B-but I..." stammered the frightened boy as he backed into the tree.
"Look no buts here, this is some dangerous crap your messing with, I
want the book your getting it from -now-," growled Ranma.
"I...I don't have it with me," stammered the boy.
After school that day Ranma followed him home. "But if my parents find
me with a girl when they come home..." stammered the boy.
"They'll probably cry tears of joy," said Ranma flatly.
Hikaru just hung his head in defeat. "Here we are," he said as he turned
into his yard. It was an average home normal really. Even Gosunkugi's
room looked normal when he opened the door. Ranma shielded her face and
backed into the wall as the force of the book's power overwhelmed her.
"Jeezus kid what have you got?!" she cried in anger. Voices screamed in
pain and cursed in various languages as she entered. A book sat opened on
the desk in the corner. "You left a magic tome opened? Are you dense?!"
she screamed.
"No one told me I wasn't supposed to!" retorted Gosunkugi.
Ranma ran over and slammed the book shut. She glared at the cover and
pulled her hand away in revulsion. "Just as I though, Necronomicon
exmortum. I'm sick of these things," she muttered.
"You've seen it before?" asked Gosunkugi in surprise.
"I have seven, I had to 'confiscate' them from idiots like you,"
grumbled Ranma bitterly. She placed her hands over the book and mumbled
something. All the power in the room seemed to move in reverse for a
moment and a lock appeared on the book.
"What did you do?" asked Hikaru from behind Ranma.
"I sealed it," she said as she placed the book under her arm and began
to walk out of the room.
"Cool!" exclaimed the boy as she left. She turned to see that he had
sealed his math book.
"Idiot. You can't open it now! How are you going to do your homework?"
she said angrily.
"I hadn't thought of that," said Hikaru with a defeated stare.
"Exactly why you shouldn't be using magic; I had to learn the hard way,"
said Ranma coolly.
"What if, you taught me?" said Gosunkugi with a withering stare. He was
having trouble speaking to her if he looked at her. It was easy to think
she was a boy if he didn't see her.
"No," said Ranma.
"Please I'll do anything!" cried the boy.
"So you can go and screw up like this again? You lucky this book didn't
eat your soul the moment you opened it! I've seen it happen and it isn't
pretty," said Ranma angrily.
Hikaru shrunk back, "But no one told me..." he started.
"You couldn't tell this thing was evil the moment you touched it?! You
knew! Don't give me that bullshit you little worm!" screamed Ranma as she
slapped him hard. "You could have done things you don't even want to
think about with this if you had screwed up."
"Please teach me, I'll change, I won't use it to make Akane love me or
hurt anyone, I swear!" cried the boy as he fell to his knees.
"Why do you want to learn magic?" said Ranma with a cold stare. "If he
says 'to help people' I'm walking out the door," she thought coldly.
"Because without it I'm nothing, I'm just some creepy kid with no
friends. Nobody. Just someone people will half remember in the year book,
they'll look at me and go, 'hey look its that creepy Gosunkugi kid,
remember him?' I don't want to be like that," said the boy, tears began
to fall down his face.
"Stop crying you're a boy aren't you?" said Ranma angrily, she then
winced as the words brought back a bitter feeling in herself. Hikaru
stood and tried to gain back some of his dignity.
"You will never touch another book like this. Do you understand?" said
Ranma as she glared at him. He nodded and a weak smile formed.
"I'll help you learn, but I can't really teach you, you have to learn on
your own," said Ranma as she turned to leave. She stopped just as he was
about to thank her. "Let's get one thing straight, I am only doing this
because I know you'll just go and try this on your own if I don't. I
don't want you getting another copy of this or something worse," said
Ranma as she walked out.
"Worse?" said Gosunkugi to himself as he watched her leave. He paled and
sat down on his bed. He began to realize what the book was doing to him
while he had it, with out its influence he felt his head clear and he
realized just how evil it was. The feeling he had gotten but foolishly
ignored when he had found it became clear. He knew she was right, he
already felt an unbelievable urge to find another copy. Then he thought
again. "Worse? Is that possible?" The urge died down suddenly and he felt
much better.
"Yes boy, it is," said a voice in the back of his mind. He looked out
the window to see Ranma staring at him from the street. She turned and
began to walk home.
TbC....
C&C welcome. Please actually I love it really. Send to
Carrotglacejuno.com
Next time: Another threat from China? A double attack! Plus Kuno deals
with his new form, is it what he had hoped it was?