Subject: [FFML] heart of flame 4[Ranma]
From: Ryoga P Hibiki
Date: 1/31/2000, 9:11 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

	Heart of flame, breath of fire

	Part 4

	Hunted.	

	Tatiwaki Kuno stared at the boy in confusion as he punched up at him.
The wind picked up around him and he realized what was happening to him.
This time it was different though, much more intense. The icy blast hit
first throwing him into the air high above the ground. He could still see
his hands waving wildly around him as the force made him lose control of
his limbs. His body started to grow cold and small specks of ice began to
form around it growing quickly, his skin turned blue and a thin frost
covered him in mere seconds. Then came the worst part, he actually felt
his heart stop cold. 
	That was when the flames hit, just as quickly as the ice had formed it
vanished and was replaced by searing heat that burned his flesh. He saw
the skin on his arm begin to blister and peel before his eyes as his
clothes started to smolder on his body. Then it stopped. A moment later
he found himself on the ground as unconsciousness took over mercifully at
last. He never even felt himself hit the ground.

	Kuno woke up gasping for breath and covered in sweat. The perspiration
burned his delicate skin as he struggled for breath in his bed. He
reached over to the tank near his bed and after a few moments of groping,
he found the mask and placed it over his face quickly. He breathed in
deep controlled breaths inhaling the oxygen greedily. At last his spasm
died down and he relaxed somewhat. A hate-filled glare burned in his eyes
as he remembered the attack. 
	Now he was too weak to even scream as he woke from his nightmares.
Nightmares brought on by the boy who dared to face him in battle. Now he
could not even stand without help, but he was recovering very quickly.
Something that cursed sorcerer Saotome had done to him ensured that. "Oh
how you mock me cur." he thought. "Soon I shall be strong again, and then
I will exact divine justice upon you and the villainous Ryu." 
	The cold weakness that formed in his heart could not be fear. He was the
mighty Blue Thunder of Furinkan High and could never know such a thing.
He glared at the wall and tried to stop his body from shaking from the
cold night air that seemed to blow through his room in the night now.

	Akane sat across from Taro and watched him cautiously; Taro glared at
her and reluctantly started his tale.
	"While I was in China, he...he caught me off guard. I was sitting and
minding my own business by the fire one night when he hit me from behind.
I didn't even hear him coming. I woke up a few hours later tied to a spit
over a fire. He said that honorable young men were considered a delicacy
for his kind and he started to cook me." 
	"What?" said Akane giving him a shocked look.
	"You heard me. He started to cook me. Luckily he likes to talk so he was
distracted when I managed to get the water bucket he had for the fire
with my foot. I changed and looked around only to see he was gone." 
	"That's insane! Why would he eat people?!" cried Akane.
	"Why? I guess he thinks we taste good. I understand that his kind has a
thing for young girls as well," snorted Taro with a cool smirk.
	"What are you going to do?" said Akane with a worried look.
	"I'm going to catch him and tie him to a spit and let him roast that's
what. I wasn't prepared for him last time, next time I'll be ready," said
the boy with an evil grin. He held up a small leather bag as he said this
and quickly placed it in his robes. He jumped out the window and Akane
ran after him. 
	"Wait! What abou-" she started to say before she realized he was gone. A
water bucket rolled off the edge of the roof and Taro flew off into the
moonlight.
	
	Later that night Ranma stumbled into the house with a haunted look on
his face. Akane stormed up to him and started yelling immediately,
completely oblivious to his condition. 
	"Where have you been?! Off with Shampoo or Ukyo I bet," she growled.
	Ranma just turned his head and looked at her sullenly. He made a small
humorless laugh "Don't worry about that, I'll never be bothered by
Shampoo again." 
	Akane and everyone else in the room looked at him suddenly. "Oh my,
Ranma. Is something wrong?" said Kasumi looking worried.
	"Shampoo is dead," he said as he walked up to his room.
	Akane stopped him half way up the stairs. "Ranma, what happened?" she
cried in shock, her face was completely white.
	"Your friend Ryu killed her; Hit her with some kind of fire," he said
bitterly and shook her hand off his shoulder.
	"It was beautiful, it moved like water almost..." he muttered as he
walked up the stairs in a daze.
	"Oh my, Shampoo was such a nice girl," said Kasumi with a mournful look
on her face. "Well, not really but..."
	Akane broke down crying. "She isn't dead! Ryu wouldn't just kill her!"
she sobbed. "It must be a mistake, Ranma wouldn't say something like that
if he was serious would he?"
	Genma stood and frowned. "I must go talk to him, it is my duty as a
father."

	Ranma lay on his futon and stared at the empty ceiling. A light from the
hallway shone across his legs as he lay there. He didn't bother to look
at who had entered; he didn't care.
	"Ya know, she was kind of cute. I don't know, maybe I could have...I
know I never would though, what a waste." he said to who ever it was in
the room. "I just don't get it. Why where they after him? Why did he kill
her? I just can't..." he fought his emotions valiantly and not a single
tear escaped his eyes.
	"We cannot understand such things boy, it's just the way things are,
feelings and emotion have no place in the martial artist code. We must
live by it or allow ourselves to become weak and make mistakes because of
rash decisions. I know it's hard," Genma sat next to his son solemnly and
placed a gruffly comforting hand on his shoulder.
	"I won't let him get away with this," said Ranma angrily. 
	Genma sighed and sat silently for a moment.
	"I can't let him get away with killing her, I have to do something,"
snapped Ranma as he lay still on the ground; his face had twisted into a
mask of anger.
	"Do what you must boy," said Genma as he stood to leave him with his
thoughts. "But look at the bright side! At least you have one less
fianc�e' to deal with," he said cheerfully from the doorway.

	Akane stared straight ahead from her place at the table. She had stopped
her tears and now sat silently gazing at the night from the table. She
was awoken from her personal meditation by sounds of pain from the rooms
upstairs, a moment later Genma came flying through the door of his and
Ranma's room. He flew directly into the koi pond. She heard Ranma mutter
"Stupid old man," halfheartedly before he moved back into the darkness of
his room for the night.

	"What? No tell Ranma I alive?" said Shampoo in shock. 
	Mousse quacked noisily from his cage in the kitchen and as a result
heard none of the conversation.
	"Yes, Shampoo," said the old woman as she sipped at her tea.
	"Why great grandmother?" said the girl she was close to tears.
	"Because dear, if he thinks you're dead he will begin to wonder if he
should have married you. He will question his relationship with Akane
Tendo. You see dear?" Shampoo nodded and frowned. "He may help us hunt
down the dragon heart now as well, especially if he thinks the boy has
your blood on his hands. If he kills for your honor he will surely
realize that he truly loves you and will marry you. He may be a bit fussy
when we tell him your still alive but he will comply in the end." 
	"What about pig boy? He know I still alive," said Shampoo.
	"He may be a problem, we'll take care of that when the time comes. Come
now, Mousse has not heard my true reasons for this and will be most eager
to help keep Ranma in the dark about your death now I think," Cologne
hopped off into the kitchen with a small cackle.

	Cartson was on the trail again. He glared down the large tunnels and
frowned as he had reached a large junction of pipes that went in every
direction. A few pebbles scattered down one of the diagonal pipelines and
he grinned as he looked up into the darkness. "I found you!! Come out
come out!" he said giddily as he started to climb up the pipe. It was
fairly large, about eight feet in diameter. The walls were covered in
slime and roaches crawled about, there was also a small trickle of water
that flowed steadily at his feet. He pulled out his blade and scrapped
the edges of the pipe with it creating a lot of nose and sparks. A dark
grin crossed his face as he heard breathing. "Well now. We sure are tired
aren't we? Damn boy, you sound like you got a cold or somethin'" he said
as he approached the sound. It was coming from a cross path. He turned
the corner and smiled as he held his blade ready. "No more foolin around
boy." 
	He looked and saw nothing but blackness. He shone his light and saw that
the pipe was blocked off by something. He stepped forward and examined it
closely. "What the hell?" he muttered as he pushed on it lightly.
	That was when the eye opened. It was as large as his head. The blockage
began to twist and turn in and out of itself; he realized that it had
seen him and was uncoiling itself. "Oh shit!" he shouted as he started to
run.
	He bolted down the corridor at top speed. The thing was following close
behind him and he could hear it's massive form scraping down the walls as
it twisted and rubbed it with its scaly hide. He didn't dare look back
and pushed himself faster as he felt the breath of the beast on his back.
It was scalding and he could smell the sulfur on its breath. "Son of a
bitch!" he screamed as he heard it's jaws snap behind him dangerously
close. He could see the end now and the hole grew larger with every step
he took towards it. He finally reached it after what seemed like an
eternity of running. Sweat and slime covered his body. Various bugs
crawled across his torso as he gasped desperately for breath. He turned
and dared a look back at the tunnel and screamed as he saw only rows of
six-inch teeth and a long serpent like tongue reaching for him. A
steadily growing light appeared in the creature's throat.
	
	Ryoga stopped as he staggered down the street. He thought he heard a
muffled scream. He looked around and saw that the streets were deserted.
"Of course its deserted, its the middle of the night." he muttered to
himself as he continued on his trek. He had to find the Tendo Dojo, Akane
was in danger and he needed to protect her. He never noticed the steam
rising from the manhole cover he had been standing on. He idly looked
down at his shoes and frowned as they seemed to stick to the pavement
slightly, "I must have stepped on some gum or something."
	
	Ukyo sat up and stared at the moonlight that illuminated her floor from
the window over her bed. She had not been able to sleep for several hours
and frowned as she moved about uncomfortably in her bed. "Why can't I
sleep?" she wondered aloud. She heard a knock on her door below and sat
up and placed her robe on loosely. "Who would...Oh maybe its Ranma!" she
cried and rushed to the door. She was surprised to see Akane standing in
the doorway.
	"Akane, what are you doing here at this time of night?" she asked
sleepily.
	"Ranma isn't here is he?" said Akane with a disappointed look.
	"No he isn't, did something happen?" said Ukyo in a worried tone. If
Akane was hoping he was here it had to be serious.
	"You haven't heard?" said Akane with a surprised look.
	"I haven't heard what?" said Ukyo now fully awake.
	"Ukyo...Shampoo is dead," said Akane quietly.
	Ukyo froze and looked at the girl in shock. "What?"

	The two girls sat quietly at the grill and Ukyo just looked at Akane
quietly as she heard the story. 
	"You think he went after this Ryu?" said Ukyo after she heard the whole
thing.
	"Where else would he go?" said Akane with a very worried tone.
	The chef stood tall and grabbed her battle spatula. "Where are you
going?" said Akane.
	"After Ranma," said Ukyo simply.
	"You don't know what Ryu is capable of..." started Akane.
	"I know, I go to Furinkan too remember? He messed up that idiot Kuno
pretty badly. I'm not going to let Ran-chan face this alone," said Ukyo
as she walked out the door.
	"Wait I'm coming too!" cried Akane as she chased after her.

	Ryu looked at the junction and glanced back into the pipe again. He
sighed heavily as he finally had a chance to stop. Cartson had almost had
him that time but he had barely managed to escape. He began to climb out
of the drainage system and pushed his way onto the street at last. He
crawled out of the manhole and rested against the side of a building. He
was in the shopping district and it was the middle of the night. It was
completely deserted, he was covered in dirt and slime from the storm
drains, but he was still alive. That is what counted at the moment. He
staggered into a nearby alley and went to sleep in a pile of garbage.
"Not exactly the picturesque manga lifestyle I signed up for when I came
to this place," he muttered to himself. "I hate this, I want to go home."

TBC...	

	Things just seem to get worse for Ryu. He may have Cartson off his tail
finally, but now he had every super powered martial artist in Nerima
gunning for him now. Who will reach him first? What will happen when all
his problems hit him? Does he still hold a final card to play? Does he
have any other pursuers from his scattered past?
	Some of these questions are answered Next time!
C&C to: Carrotglace@juno.com


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