Ranma 1/2
- The Code of Honor
by TKHM
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and Sakura Taisen are owned by their respective
owners.
The Code of Honor
by TKHM
Contact: http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/pier/878/
tkhm@hotmail.com
Part 3 - Buried Bokken
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A young Tatewaki Kunou gingerly tiptoed towards his sister's
room. Kodachi had locked herself in her room since the attack from the
black demon that killed Akira. He was sure Akira was dead, since his
body
disappeared in front of his eyes. He opened Kodachi's door.......and
was shocked at what he saw.
His sister's room, which was once decorated with various dolls
and colorful posters, was now infested by roses, black roses.
"Kodachi?"
No answer.
Seeing that his sister was turning her back against him, the
boy suddenly remembered that he had homework to do. He left the room
quietly and closed the door behind him.
He was not abandoning his sister, that was what he told himself.
***
Tatewaki Kunou woke up abruptly and found himself on the floor
in his room. Hmm, that's weird. He did not remember rolling off his
king-size bed. Kunou picked himself up groggily, and threw himself back
onto his bed. He needed sleep.
What was that all about? Kodachi was always a nutcase, right?
Why did it seem like something was out of place? Why did he feel a
sudden
sadness?
Kunou's brain started to shut down as it was overloaded with
problems that it could not face. So Kunou started to drift off into
sleep.
"Master Kunou!"
Kunou snored.
"Master Kunou!"
Kunou sprang up suddenly, startling the little ninja, and pulled
out his bokken from nowhere.
"Foul Sasuke! How dare you disturb your own master in his
slumber!" Kunou yelled angrilly.
Sasuke, panicking, quickly made a deep bow and addressed his
master in a trembling voice. He made a glance at the shadowed wall in
the
corner of the room while planning on his escape if Kunou decided to go
ballistic. He had no desire to be smacked around by that bokken. He had
tried it once, and it hurt.
"Master..I do not have a choice. Our guest is already awake
and in the living room. I just think that it might be rude to leave her
there while you continue to rest."
All traces of exhaustion left Kunou as he sprang up suddenly
and jumped off his bed. He immediately tried to tidy up his hair, which
was a tangled mess. After a few unsuccessful attempts he turned to his
trusted ninja.
"Sasuke! Bring me my proper clothes and a comb! I cannot meet
our guest in this condition."
"Yes master." Then the little ninja left.
The ninja returned to find his master pacing around the room
impatiently. He handed him his clothes and left. Kunou quickly picked up
his favorite samurai outfit and put it on. After combing his head, he
walked in front of a mirror in his room and made sure that he looked
good
enough for Akane and his pigtailed goddess....oh, and the guest down
below too. He pulled out a bokken and strapped it against his waist. Now
he could go down and impress the lady.
***
Shiori was sitting in the living room legs crossed and eyes
closed. Sweat began to form on her forehead as she concentrated. Her
mother had once told her that some martial artist were powerful enough
to
master their ki, and her great grandmother herself was able to channel
her
ki to augment the spiritual power that was inherited in her blood.
Shiori
herself did not believe in the so-called spiritual energy or ki until
now.
Ranma Saotome had almost blasted her with some kind of energy ball.
After
a few more minutes of failed attempts to control her ki, she let out a
sigh
and decided it was enough for today. She stood up, turned around, and
found
herself staring at her host, who was standing in the hallway. The sudden
movely caused a small stab of pain on her chest, but it was tolerable.
"Fair Maiden...um...Shiori, I must apologize for interrupting
your meditation." Kunou made a bow. "I must depart now."
*Good, he remembers to call me Shiori instead of the other..
...formal names.* Shiori thought to herself. Then she noticed that Kunou
was
turning to leave. There was no reason for her to keep him out from his
own living room. He was kind enough to give her a place to sleep in, and
Shiori had no desire to be a rude guest.
"Kunou-san, that's okay, you can stay here. I am finished
anyway." Shiori called to the departing Kunou.
"How are you injuries?" Kunou asked with concern.
"Thanks to your hospitality for the last few days, they are
healing pretty quickly."
"May I have permission to examine your left arm? It was
dislocated by that cur Saotome right? I will see what I can do to
alleviate the pain."
Shiori lifted her left arm for Kunou to examine, who started
twisting it in the wrong way. Shiori's eyes widen as a wave of intense
pain tore into her mind like a dagger. Her bone, which had just started
to heal, threatened to be snapped into two.
"AWWWH! STOP! Please stop...." Her protest died down into a
whimper.
"Why? Are you feeling better now?" Kunou stopped, puzzled at
her reaction.
"Not..not really, I think my arm is best left alone." Shiori
spoke in a pained voice as tears ran down her cheek.
"I see, may I ask why you are meditating this early in the
morning?" Kunou asked, curiousity written all over his face. After
regaining her composure, which took a full minute, Shiori answered.
"I am trying to enhance my ki. But I just don't know how."
Shiori paused, then looked at Kunou with a hopeful expression. "Do you
know how to use your ki?"
Kunou pondered for a moment, then he nodded. "Do you know what
means you can use to control you ki?" Shiori shook her head. "Emotions
is one of the ki-mastering tools. Search deeply within your heart to
choose the emotion which you want to use.
Shiori closed her eyes while trying to recall her emotion.
Unpleasant scenes of Ranma hitting her repeatedly and the thugs trying
to
take advantage of her flashed through her mind. She could barely control
her bitterness as she gritted her teeth. Suddenly she felt a tingling
sensation sweeping through her body. She opened her eyes to see what was
happening.
She looked up and saw Kunou looking at her with concern and
a little...fear? Why was he afraid of her? She looked down at herself
and
noticed that she was now emitting an eerie black aura. Her eyes widen as
she realized what she had done.
Bitterness. That was her emotion.
***
Kunou could barely conceal his alarm when the lady before him
was suddenly covered with a black mist. His mind was screaming to him,
telling him to get away from this creature. Kunou's hand unconsciously
tightened its grip on the bokken as he submerged the urge to run
away.
Why was he practicing such cowardice like Saotome? There was
nothing wrong with Shiori, was there? Kunou's image of Shiori was slowly
replaced by another scene.
The mocking laughter.
A sphere of pure blackness.
A swordsman being blasted repeatly on the ground.
The screams.
The images shattered as Kunou shook his head, trying to ignore
the sense of dread he was feeling right now. What were those images? He
could not recognize them. Perhaps he needed more sleep than he thought
he
did. Sweet Akane must have expressed her love too eagerly yesterday.
After finding his voice again, Kunou spoke. "Alas, I must
congraduate you for mastering the first lesson of ki so quickly. Yet I
must depart to receive my share of education." With that he moved
hastily
out of the living room, leaving an obviously upset girl behind.
***
How could she be so stupid? She had just scared off her host
after all the pleasant hospitality he gave her. Why did she had to
use bitterness to fuse her ki? Being an agent of such negative feeling
did not sound appealing to her. She wondered what her great grandmother
used to focus her ki and merged the ki with her inate spiritual power...
Spiritual power? That's it! She could try to use her spiritual
power to reduce the darkness of her ki. She was not even sure if she had
any spiritual power. But since she was a descentant of its owner she
might
as well try. Two days ago Shiori would disregard any comment on
spiritual
power and ki with a laugh, but now she was hanging on the unrealistic
idea
of merging them. And all was because Ranma had showed her that ki was
not
a myth. It was something that can be mastered.
She resumed her meditation on the floor, and started to
focus her dark ki. When the black mist surrounded her body, she began
the
kata of her family's school with a bokken that was lying unattended
on the ground. The sword style was specifically passed down in her
family
to fight demons. Perhaps it would help. She was careful to avoid moving
too quickly and putting her healing ribs under too much stress.
It did. After five minutes of kata, Shiori noticed that her
black ki was changing color. The sinister looking black mist was slowly
turning into a soft purple glow. She wiped the sweat off her brow, and
smiled in satisfaction at her accomplishment.
<Well done, Shiori.>
Shiori almost hit the roof when the strange voice called her.
She looked around the living room, but could not find the source of the
voice.
<Do not be alarmed, my child.>
"Who's this? Show yourself!"
Shiori's purple aura suddenly exploded in a blinding light.
When it subsided, a human shape could be seen standing in front of the
startled girl. The figure was wearing a pink kimono with cherry blossoms
on it.
Shiori gasped. She could not comprehend how this woman could
materialize in front of her. And most important of all, she could not
understand why the stranger looked exactly like her.
"Who...who are you? What do you want?" Shiori stammered. Her
legs gave away under her and she s0at ungracefully on the floor.
"I am Sakura Oogami, your great grandmother."
"Great grandmother?" Shiori whispered, still in shock.
"But how?"
"Your ki and spirit's merging has formed a link so that I can
communicate with you for a short period of time. But I am not here only
to congraduate you for your accomplishment, even though you are the
first
of my decendents who managed to merge the powers. I am here to warn you
of your new found abilities." The spirit paused, then resumed. "You see,
a power in the Shinguuji, my family's blood that allow one to detect
demons has been activated by you. And it is your duty to seek these
demons
and eliminate them. However, this job is very dangerous. And since you
have led a relatively peaceful life, you might not wish to have this
kind
of burden on your shoulder. Are you sure you want this power?"
Shiori considered her options gravely. This was a chance to
redeem herself after the failed engagement with Ranma Saotome. If she
did well in this job, she could go back home! This was a chance that she
could not miss.
"Yes, I want this power."
"This is not a game Shiori. Using this power means exposing
yourself to the demons in this world. While you can sense them, they
can sense you too."
Shiori shuddered at the thought of countless numbers of ugly
monsters rushing towards her. The spirit sensed this.
"You don't have to accept this power, Shiori, all I have to
do is to lift your spiritual power from your blood and you will be
free."
the spirit said in a soft voice.
Shiori thought for a moment. It was true that she did not like
the burden, but she simply hated her black aura of bitterness, and her
spiritual power promised to remedy the problem. She hated her black
aura,
yet she could not explain why she did not like it. Was it because of
Kunou's reaction? Or was it something else?
"I will keep it."
The spirit's face, which had been quite serious since her
entrance, now brightened as a smile appeared on it.
"Thank you. You have resurrected the power that had
been buried with me. Thank you!" Sakura exclaimed, smiling ear to ear.
She put her hand under Shiori's chin, and said. "I know you will make
the right choice, Shiori, you are almost my double." With that the
spirit
started to fade from view.
"Good bye, Shiori. Make good use of the power." Then she was
gone. Shiori could only stare at the space where the spirit had been a
moment ago with wide eyes.
***
Kunou was berating himself for being such a coward in front
of Shiori when a laugh announced his sister's presence. Kunou, too
occupied to bother with her, walked past the insane martial artist.
However, a ribbon soon found its way around Kunou's torso.
"Now, brother dear. It is not so nice to ignore your sister
like that, correct?"
"I have no time for you. I must depart." Kunou said cooly.
But instead of walking away from him, as he expected, Kodachi used her
ribbon and threw Kunou upward towards the ceiling. There was a loud
crash,
and Kunou seemed to be stuck onto the ceiling for two full seconds
before gravity regained control on his body. Then another loud crash was
resulted.
Kunou picked himself off the ground, and glared at his sister,
who was giggling softly with amusement. He had the urge to attack his
sibling, but he was a dignified samurai, and therefore he merely held up
his head and continued his way in the most dignified manner.
Fortunately,
instead of pursuing him, his sister just bounced towards the front door.
Obviously she was on her way to school.
School. Yes, that was the reason Kunou left the lady in the
living room, wasn't it? Of course it was, it would be rude if it was for
any other reason.
Kunou, who was trying to convince himself that he did the
right thing, failed to notice Sasuke running towards him with breakfast.
The glasswares broke against his forehead, and Kunou immediately felt
a little dizzy and confused.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing
in a large room. There were a lot of people in there, and none of them
looked to be in high spirits. He walked around the room for a while.
Strangely, the others did not seemed to notice him. Slightly irritated
by being completely ignored, he addressed one average built man.
"Please tell me your name."
There was no reply.
"Well, then I shall give my own name first. I am Tatewaki
Kunou, champion of samurais, Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" For some
reason, the usual lightning did not appear.
Again, there was no reply.
Kunou, his face red with anger, reached out to hit the
insolent peasant in front of him. Then, to his surprise, his hand
passed through the man's body as if nothing was there. He blinked
as his brain tried to process this new piece of information. After
a while, it concluded that it must be the doing of the foul sorcerer
Ranma Saotome. He raised his bokken towards the ceiling and was
determined to smite the knave today. Finally he would punish Saotome
for abusing a fair maiden like Shiori.
"Come out! Foul Sorcerer! Today you will be slain by
a worthy samurai!"
There was no reply, and Kunou began searching around the room
for any signs of the foul sorcerer. Then his head snapped up as he
realized
something dreadful. Shiori had been staying in his house as a guest, and
since the sorcerer had cast a spell upon the Kunou mansion, it meant
she could be in grave danger.
He immediately delay the pursue for Saotome and searched
for any sign for her. When he heard that someone was coming into the
room, he turned around, expecting either Shiori or the foul Saotome.
Seeing a young boy in the doorway was not in his expectation.
The boy, who appeared to be about ten years old, was wearing
clothes that indicated the passing of his relative. He was also carrying
a bokken in his hand, which seemed out of place with his outfit. What
caught Kunou's attention however, were the eyes that seemed to be
hauntingly familiar. They were the eyes that he saw everyday, in front
of
his mirror when he was posing.
They were almost identical to Kunou's eyes.
Behind the boy a girl around the same age appeared, she looked
was looking at all the people in front of her and was obviously
frigthened.
The boy turned around, and made a gesture for the girl to follow him.
The children started walking forward, and the crowd in front of
them began to move aside to form a path for them. When the boy reached
his destination, which was in front of a coffin, he stopped and knelt
down. The girl did the same thing.
Kunou suddenly had a sense of deja vu as he watched the boy
weeping in front of the coffin. There was nothing in the coffin, he
knew.
Kunou blinked, then started to question himself how he knew the coffin
was empty. Getting no answer in his brain, he remembered that this was
Saotome's doing, so it must be fake. Kunou's thoughts were interrupted
when the boy started speaking.
"I am sorry, Big brother, I have failed to bring my father
to your funeral. I am sorry." Then the boy stopped sobbing and stood up.
"But I will honor your memory and trained myself to be a samurai like
you.
I will protect the weak and smite the evils. And I will avenge you,
brother."
There was a short silence after his speech, then a person
started clapping and the others immediately followed suit. And in the
thunderous applause the young boy put his bokken into the coffin, and
stepped to the side with the girl following him.
Kunou, however, was staring blankly at the coffin. He did not
know why his legs could not move, or why he had this longing to stay
where he was. He started walking toward the boy. He felt that it was
necessary to find something out from the boy. He did not know why, but
he knew he needed the information.
But alas, it could not be done. As Kunou was merely three
meters from the boy, his surrounding started to shift, and once again
he found himself in total darkness.
"Master Kunou!"
Kunou opened his eyes, and was immediately regretting of doing
so. An entire tray of rice cakes had landed on his samurai outfit. He
looked
around him in confusion, and saw that he was back in his mansion. He
tried
to recall the detail of the hallucination, but failed when a sharp pain
stabbed into his mind. He knelt down while crutching his head in pain.
"Master Kunou! Do you need me to send a doctor?" Sasuke asked
in panic. The ninja knew he was doomed. He had just injured his own
master!
To the small man's surprise, Kunou merely shook his head and walked
towards
the bathroom. Sasuke quickly prepared another set of clothes for his
master.
As Kunou was cleaning himself in the bathroom, he could not
help but feel a sense of depression. He felt sorry for the boy and
himself, for no apparent reason at all since the vision had not been
real.
After getting into a new samurai outfit, he went into his
closet room to get something that he had gotten for Shiori. He examined
it for a while, making sure that it was in its best shape. Then he
walked
into the living room.
"I've brought you a school uniform, Shiori."
Shiori smiled slightly and took the uniform, then she went into
the guestroom to change. As she was putting on the uniform, she could
not
help but giggle slightly at the thought of impressing her stubborn
father
with her newfound power. Her father had been adament of this engagement
to Ranma Saotome, despite her initial objection. She was still not very
fond of marrying a boy she did not know, mind you, but she resigned to
her father's wish. That was two weeks ago, before she arrived at Nerima
and got injured by the boy she got engaged to. Her ribs were not
completely
healed yet from the attack.
She took out her red ribbon, and tied her hair in a pony-tail.
She looked into the mirror, and was lost in wonder at the image looking
back at her. She was seemingly identical to her great grandmother, and
for some reason Shiori did not think it was merely a coincidence. She
was the one chosen to inherit her family's spiritual power.
She grabbed her family sword and unshealthed it. Looking at the
glowing blade in front of her, she wondered what kind of mess she had
gotten herself into.
***
Ranma was walking to school with his fiance, Akane. This action
in itself was insignificant, as he did it almost everyday since the his
first day of school in Nerima. However, the pig-tailed martial artist
was
neither on the fence, nor was he insulting Akane. Akane, uneasy because
of this, looked at him, who remained strangely silent the whole time.
Soon she formed a plan to bring Ranma back to normal. She
pulled out her trusty hammer and with a vertical swing on the head she
smashed Ranma onto the ground.
"What did ya do that for?" Ranma picked himself off the ground,
annoyed.
"I was trying to get your attention!"
"Well, I can say this is a pretty rotten way to do it!"
"Stupid insensitive jerk!"
Ranma was feeling himself falling into the pattern of insults
again, and he did not have the humor to indulge her. So instead of a
witty reply of 'Uncute Tomboy', he closed his half opened mouth and did
not say a word. However, Akane was far from finished. She thought of all
the time when Ranma bested her in martial arts, all the time when Ranma
took great pleasure of having all his other fiances around, and when
all the time he teased Ryouga and bullied P-chan.
"I wonder why I try to tolerate you anyway! You freeload off
of us and bring trouble to us all the time!"
"Hey, I let Nabiki sell...."
"And I have enough of your stupidity. I might be happier if
I am engaged to someone smarter Instead of someone like you!" Then she
stomped off.
Behind her, Ranma slowly removed the shocked and hurt expression
on his face. All the things he did for her did not matter one bit for
her.
She still did not have the slightest positive feeling towards. He shook
his head in despair as he thought how many things he had sacrifised. And
he had just broken one of her ideals of never hitting girls.
He had not merely hit her, but had clearly hurt her. He did not
pull any punches on that fateful day, and her ribs had obviously
sustained
heavy damage from his chestnut fists. She had coughed up blood, and had
left the dojo before anyone could treat her injuries. He had called
Doctor Tofu to check if that girl had went to his place, but the answer
was negative. Where could she be?
He had injured a girl for Akane, and Akane did not seemed a
bit affected by it. That was enough to discourage anyone, even someone
with an inflated ego like Ranma. He was sure he liked his fiance, but
the
problem was, Akane did not seem to like him. It seemed to him that Akane
merely saw him as a typical boy in her school, or what's worse, a
shameless freeloader who had unwelcomely intruded her family.
When he went into his classroom, and was strangely early because
he had somehow avoided Kunou's usual morning challenge, he sat down and
stole a glance at Akane. His fiance was turned her head away from him,
killing off any chance for him to explain or apologize to her.
"Hey, Look! It's Kunou! And there was a girl following behind
him." A boy, who was looking out of the window, shouted. Soon the
everyone
moved near the window to see what was going on. Kunou used to be
respected
by them, but the undefeated kendo champion had been considered an idiot
at
school since he started chasing after Ranma's female self. Seeing him
with
another girl was too weird to be described in words.
"Hey, the girl is gorgeous!" Daisuke exclaimed. Soon, the male
population began to comment on the stranger while the female population
glared at them. Ranma was looking at the new girl too, but for other
reasons. Then, without warning, he jumped out of the window and landed
a few meters in front of the new girl.
"That pervert! I can't believe he is trying to get close to
his new fiance!" Akane exclaimed, drawing alarm from everyone. As she
stormed out of the classroom to get Ranma away from the new girl, her
classmates started gossiping with one another.
"Did you hear her? The new girl is Ranma's new fiance!"
"Aw man! Why does Ranma get all the pretty girls?"
"Well, It's Ranma you are talking about. He has god-knows-
how-many fiances."
"I wish I have half his luck."
"Can you guys be quiet? Akane has just gone down to face the
new girl, and I want to see what would happen." a girl said.
***
Shiori took an involuntarty step back when Ranma suddenly
appeared in front of them. Then she composed herself and reached for her
family sword. When her fingers touched nothing but air, her eyes widen
in shock when she remembered leaving the sword in the Kunou mansion
because she was not supposed to bring it to school.
"Kunou-san, may I borrow a bokken?"
Kunou immediately handed her the bokken he was holding. Shiori
held it in front of her in a ready stance, expecting Ranma to attack and
finish her off. When Ranma did not put up any kind of stance, her hand
started to sweat in nervousness. Obviously Ranma did not even consider
her
a worthy opponent. She would show him how wrong he was when she
unleashed
her power onto him.
"Wait. I am not here to fight you." Ranma said.
Shiori paused as she considered if she should believe him or
not. Kunou, however, had enough and charged towards his mortal enemy,
swinging his bokken wildly along the way.
His efforts, however, were wasted when Ranma punched him on the
chest, slammed into his stomach with an elbow, and uppercut him. Kunou
was forced into unconsciousness before he could hit his enemy.
"Kunou-san!" Shiori quickly rushed to Kunou. After seeing that
her host had not been hurt too severely, she turned back to Ranma. This
boy had hurt her, and now he hurt Kunou, the one who had helped her when
she was in distress. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her ki and
spiritual power.
The boy in front of her, however, was still not in any kind
of ready stance. After seeing that she was gathering her power, he
moved.
But instead of raining punches on her, he merely sat down on the ground
crossed legs and crossed arms.
"I am not trying to fight you or anything, okay? I am here
to say that I am sooo...r....sooor.." What was he trying to say? He did
not get a chance to finish his sentence, however, when he was flattened
by
a mallet.
"Ranma you pervert! Why are you trying to flirt with that....
...that bimbo!" Ranma's another fiance, Akane, yelled, red in rage.
Shiori's eyes widened at the angry girl's words. Shiori had
been called a lot of things. But she had never been considered THAT in
her entire life.
Ranma, meanwhile, was trying his best to circumvent Akane's
wrath. But his efforts failed when Akane made a savage swing downward
and
flattened him on the ground. Then, when she saw Kunou starting to regain
consciousness, she kicked him on the head and knocked him out again for
good measure.
Finally, Akane turned towards Shiori, and swang her mallet
angrily at Ranma's newest fiance.
The mallet did not impact on the girl as Akane expected because
Shiori had blocked the strike with the bokken in her hands. Then there
was a flash, and the mallet head fell to the ground.
Akane stared at her destroyed weapon for a few seconds, then
her face twisted into a violent rage and she ran towards her opponent
while
screaming a war cry. The entire student body of Furinkan High was
temporary
stunned by the extreme belligent reaction of the short hair girl.
Shiori was satisfied with the result of her cut. It was true
that she was really good with her sword, but she had always rely on its
sharpness when she fought. Before she had heard about ki, she would
never
imagine herself strong enough to cut with a bokken. And that was such
a clean cut too. Not wasting any more time, as Akane was almost upon
her,
she gathered both her Ki and her spiritual power at the same time.
Unfortunately for her, her inexperience with the merging of
the powers failed her as she felt she was slowly being splited apart by
the pulls of the two equal forces. She tried to concentrate to merge
them, but they seemed to drift farther and farther apart from each
other.
Shiori thought of ways to remedy her problem, but the only
way that popped up from her mind was suppressing one of her two powers
while
using the other one. Spiritual power alone would not be useful, as she
was facing a fight, not trying to see a vision. So the obvious choice
would be her ki. But she did not want to unleash her dark ki to anybody,
for reasons that she could not explain. It just felt wrong.
***
Seeing that the new girl was staring off into space, Akane
quickly took advantage of her distraction and tackled her. The girl was
knocked off her feet, and Akane quickly followed up with a series of
kicks on the fallen body. The girl struggled to roll back to her feet,
but Akane's vicious kicks were keeping her from doing it.
"Stay DOWN!" Akane cried out as she stomped onto the girl's
chest with all her strength. Finally, the girl lay still as she wished.
Not even bothering to check on the girl, Akane turned, let
out a 'hmph', and walked back towards the school building.
The students watching from the windows slowly went back to
their own little chats. People were always getting knocked out by the
others
in this place. There was nothing to worry about.
Daisuke and Hiroshi were planning to ask Ranma a few questions
concerning the new fiance at lunch.
***
Kunou slowly picked himself off the ground as he ignored
the headache he was having from all those blows. Sweet Akane must
had taken this into account, and in an attempt to spare him the
headache, she had put him into a blissful slumber. How considerate it
was for her!
Hearing a groan behind him, Kunou turned around and saw the
foul sorcerer getting up groggily behind him. Seeing his most hated
enemy in this weakened state, he should try to send him back to the
infernal hell the cur came from. Yet a samurai should always search for
a fight, meaning he should not attack Saotome yet.
But alas, the foul Saotome himself had used his foul magic
to assist himself in battle when faced with the great samurai, tipping
the scale in his favor. And for all the crimes he did, he needed to be
punished!
Picking up his bokken that was on his side, he slowly walked
towards Ranma Saotome. The knave was still rubbing his head in
confusion,
no doubt he had angered the sweet Akane. Bringing his bokken above his
head, he prepared to deliver the fatal blow to the sorcerer.
His bokken dropped to the ground when Kunou stared past
Saotome's shoulder. Shiori was lying unmoving on the ground, her hands
had lost their grip on the bokken and it had landed to the right of her.
Saotome and his sorcery were all forgotten when he rushed
to her side. He clearly remembered that Shiori was still not completely
healed from her injuries, and he had failed to protect her. He
remembered
attacking the foul sorcerer when he appeared in front of Shiori, trying
to harm her, of course. After he was hypnotized by Saotome's spell,
Saotome
had obviously attempted to inflict some serious damage on the fair
maiden.
Kneeling beside her lifeless body, Kunou absently noted that
blood had come out of her mouth. He put his shaking hand in front of her
nose, and was relieved that she was still breathing. He checked her
pulse,
and was immediately alarmed. Her pulse was so weak it seemed like it
would
stop any second. Gathering her into his arms, Kunou ran towards the
school's
nurse office.
He failed to notice Ranma Saotome gasping behind him.
Ranma himself in turn failed to notice someone watching
the scene behind him with amusement.
"Your skills are pathetic, Tatewaki Kunou."
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Author's Notes:
What's up with all those scenes with the annoying new character
Shiori? Well, the new character's past is crucial for the plot later on.
Why are there so many flashbacks? Well, Kunou has to have a past too,
right? Why is Kunou acting so OOC? Uh, he is? Then I've failed. In this
chapter Akane is portrayed as a violent tomboy, which, unfortunately,
she is. I am never really fond of her anyway. Ranma is someone that can
never deal with a girl crying, what do you think he would feel when he
has almost killed a girl? Not very good of course, and Akane doing her
usual rude things towards him would surely weaken their relationship.
Who's that dude who's always creeping in the shadows? Well, you will see
in
the future chapters!
On chapter one I say that Akira's moves are from SNES's
Ranma Super Battle. I need to correct myself, it's Super Famicom,
the japsnese version of SNES, not the US version.
TKHM
tkhm@hotmail.com
http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/pier/878/
ICQ: 16751025