Disclaimer:
All characters of "Ranma Nibunnoichi" a.k.a. "Ranma 1/2" are the property
and copyright of RUMIKO TAKAHASHI / SHOGAKUKAN INC. / KITTY / FUJI TV
Warning:
This is not intended to be dark, but it is one of those
Ranma-is-cold-and-merciless fics, if you know what I mean. If you don't,
After reading it, I tend to disagree... somewhat.
well that's where Ranma has little compunction with seriously maiming his
opponents. In this one though, Ranma was hardened by several years of
killing in china. On the other hand, he is not a psycho like in Ill Met By
Starlight.
He was just hardened by.... well, that would be telling.
Jaken Sho (Hard Hearted Bastard) By: Jason Monti
Does the title need to be in Japanese? Jes curious.
Prolog . . .
The girl merely laid there on the rock outcropping. A trickle of blood
lay, laid is past tense.
flowed from her mouth. Blood soaked her clothing in various places where
they were not ripped. Broken bones protruded from her arm and leg, more
As opposed to the ripped places, which were clean and sparkly.
blood slowly oozing from the wounds there. She was dead. She was finally
dead.
Now that she had some free time, she could go to that party Greg was
having on Saturday!
A read haired girl with a pigtail breathed heavily, sobbing over the corpse.
Ooh, another homonym to add to the forthcoming FAQ Supplement: Homonyms
and Frequently Abused words.
Red. Read has to do with books. You could have a well read, haired girl... but
that would just sound funny. Breathed and sobbing are two different tenses.
Yes she was sobbing, something she had not done in a long while. For those
And the fourth-wall trembles.
who knew her track record, this was one more kill, the latest of many.
Sadly, only one other person knew of that record, her father, and he was a
panda at the moment.
Else he would be dead, too?
The aforementioned panda stood staring at the red head. He had trained his
child in the art well. He thought back to the days when his master trained
him. His master mainly created the style for the purpose of stealing and
getting away, but Genma wanted more. Sure, Musabetsu Kakutou-Ryuu was
Gratutitous Japanese! : )
another art one live one's life by, but he wanted to do better. He believed
art to live one's life
that competition fighting, filled with all its rules, stupid rules,
I would almost suggest -- stupid rules --
restricted the heights one could progress in the art. Any crackpot martial
artist with half a brain could win a match, but what's the point of the art
if it isn't battlefield effective? When one's life was the cost of loosing
Homonyms my friend, homonyms. losing
a fight, he reasoned, you better be good enough to win, or prepare to join
your ancestors. Yes, he trained his son, now daughter, Musabetsu
Kakutou-JUTSU, not just some style or way, but the essence of the art,
practicality in its true form, probably the deadliest unarmed style to date!
Genma had considered teaching his son Jeet Kun Do but had instead decided
to use Tae Bo.
Genma let his son participate in competitions, but it was after he won, when
a sore looser would try to catch Ranma outside that the looser would
loser
discover just how good he was. Ranma might not be allowed to make certain
moves in the ring, but outside, when some crazed looser would call out the
loser
familiar battle cry: "Ranma Saotome, Prepare to die!" Ranma could use any
"It was only because of those stupid rules that I lost! Now that we're outside
the ring, face the wrath of my tickle-attack!"
move desired. Ever since Ranma was ten, the challenger would always be
Hm, foreshadowing? Backshadowing, whatever.
found dead in a back ally or field use for battle. Ranma was not malicious,
but for the sake of safe traveling, he made it a habit to make sure they
If he's killing at age ten, well. . . .
were dead before he walked away.
Once he did not check, and the insane attacker tracked them to the next
town, only to die once more, this time, he did not get back up.
Was this man, perhaps, Gemma? You can't 'die once more.' I know,
nit-picky.
Genma chose to err on the side of caution. He had not seen his son cry like
this since the first person he killed. After that, his son walked away from
a corpse with out a second glance. Now, the girl before him was weeping
without
uncontrollably. Now Genma was dense most of the time, but even he could
"I've got an onion in my eye, okay!" Now, Genma
recognize what was going on. This purple haired girl had meant something to
his boy; it must have taken a lot to kill the girl. But why, Ranma had
"I'm so proud! He kills even when he doesn't want to!"
killed girls before. Genma saw to it that Ranma learned that all enemies
were to be defeated, male or female, they were still the enemy. Though it
seemed that for every ten men Ranma . . . dispatched, only one woman or girl
came along. This still puzzled Genma; why did this girl mean so much to his
boy? He only hoped that the boy had not sullied himself with the Amazon,
Might I suggest. This still puzzled Genma; who was this girl to Ranma?
no, that would not do, he had to marry a Tendou.
Has some morals then, does he?
Genma was shaken from his thoughts when the red head gently grasped his
massive arm and tugged.
"Come on, we had better get out of here," said the girl in a low and sad
tone. She sighed and led the way back into the forest, in the direction of
Japan.
Second island to the right, straight on til morning.
Chapter 1: Will I ever find love?
The pair, father and son, sat by a small fire used to cook their food, and
make some hot water to change them back.
sat and used are past tense. make is present.
"What did that girl mean to you boy?" Genma asked his son, no longer female.
you, boy?
"Whadaya talkin' 'bout old man?" replied the boy, still visibly shaken by
the day's events.
"You never cry over the dead anymore, why did you cry this time?" Genma held
his ground.
Ranma looked to the ground, and in a barely audible voice, explained. "When
I first met her, when I had to challenge her, something clicked, I think I,
I think I fell in love with her . . . I don't know, it has been a while hasn
't it?"
Bump up that last line to join the previous.
"What do you know of love boy, you've spent your life training? Besides, I
already told you, you will marry a Tendou; so if you ruined yourself on her,
don't tell me. For your own honor though, you certainly better not have!"
Genma lectured.
Lectured... or railed?
"Oh, and I suppose that killing fifty four people, make that fifty five, IS
honorable old man? No, I didn't touch her, save to beat her and snap her
neck! Our family honor is still in tact." Ranma replied dryly.
intact. Can honor have tact? hmmm
"Good, why would you want her anyway, she only wanted you dead from the time
she laid eyes on you." Asked Genma.
"Like I told ya: I don't know old man, I don't know. I certainly hope the
Tendou girls will be more inviting than that one." Ranma joked and his face
brightened. He and his father began to chuckle.
"Yes, m'boy, I should hope so as well!" he laughed and soon they laughed and
joked through the night.
Did I ever tell you about the ant and the elephant? Well, one day...
* * * * *
The rain seemed to pour and pour and pour! Oddly enough, the mood of the
area was relatively bright. Couples strolled under umbrellas, clutching
each other tightly, smiling; storeowners sold their goods, a beautiful young
red head strolled along chatting with her pet panda. Ah yes, life was good,
even in the worst of weather. However, unlike the author of this fic, the
And the fourth wall suffers a crushing blow at the hands of the author!
people of Nerima did not see a red headed girl chatting it up with a
seven-foot tall giant panda as commonplace at all. The panda did nothing as
it passed by, other than hold up the occasional sign, but in all it ignored
everyone else, but they kept their distance anyway.
Did the panda grunt? Can he do tricks? That last sentence seems like it
could be broken into two.
"It'll be great to finally stay in one place for a while, eh old man?" Ranma
said excitedly.
eh, old man If there's a question mark, Ranma should be questioning...
[Yes, it will boy, I believe that the Tendous will be most hospitable.]
Signed the panda.
[Or I'll crush Soun like a bug.]
"Kasumi . . . Nabiki . . . Akane . . . AKANE . . . where is that girl?" Soun
called his three daughters, tears streaming down his face.
"She's in the dojo daddy, I'll go get her" said Nabiki, the middle daughter.
If we don't know that she's the middle daughter, should we be reading this?
"KIIIIYA!!!" cried Akane as she broke a stack of bricks.
"No wonder all the boys at school think your weird, come on, daddy wants to
tell us all something." Quipped Nabiki.
wierd. Come on, daddy... something," quipped
Akane looked thoroughly disgusted and retorted, "You know, Nabiki, not
everything revolves around BOYS!"
"Oh, I guess this won't interest you then."
you than."
"Marry him? Don't we have any say in who we marry?" Akane yelled at her
father, who looked un-phased by the outburst.
he looked unphased? Where's Soun? What have you done to the real Tendou?
"Yes, if one of you were to marry him, and carry on the family dojo, they
our legacy will be secure." Soun seemed to pat himself on the back with that
statement; he was proud that he and Genma thought of it.
There was a rustle at the front door. Soun and Nabiki scampered to the door
to see if it was indeed Ranma. Just as quickly, they scampered right back
That's a lot of scampering.
into the living area followed by a smiling girl and a panda.
"You wouldn't happen to be . . .?" Soun asked cautiously, when the panda
showed no move to attack anyone.
"Ranma Saotome! Nice to meet you, Soun isn't it?" Ranma beamed and finished
for him. Soun caught sight of Ranma's chest and promptly fainted.
you. Soun, isn't it? Better than him feinting, he might have landed himself
a broken arm.
Soun woke up to the sight of his three daughters looking down at him, as
well as the girl, Ranma, and her panda.
"And how'r we s'pose to marry a girl daddy," snapped Nabiki, as she made a
Well, this is the '90s. I mean, the '00s.
grab for Ranma's left breast. Her arm was caught by a small, but strong
hand and put gracefully at her side.
"Genma said he had a son, I figured his son would be a boy!" he retorted.
"Pleas don't touch me there." A quiet voice rebuked Nabiki.
Please,
Akane sensed their guest's discomfort and lightly place a hand on Ranma's
shoulder. "Hi, I'm Akane, wanna be friends?" The red head nodded once and
smiled. "Then let's spar." Ranma's smile shrank, unnoticed by her new
friend.
Akane squared off facing Ranma. Her stance told Ranma everything she needed
to know.
Five foot four. B-cup. Still a virgin. First dan, Indiscriminate Grappling.
Cheated on her fifth grade English paper.
Akane was using an offensive stance, that meant she would make the
first move, and she underestimated Ranma, a fatal mistake on the part of
many of Ranma's kills. Her facial expression showed that she lived the
"martial way, but she was no killer, in fact, if Akane had ever taken a
life, he would have been very surprised. She reminded her of Shampoo. At
this point Ranma's smile disappeared. Shampoo . . . she could sense that
the Amazon had never taken a life before either. Maybe pops was wrong,
maybe he really did like, possibly loved Shampoo. There was something
there, but it was too late now, he would never see her again. Ironic
really, she uses to spy on Shampoo, watching her cook her dinners, or how
used; watched
she slept elegantly on a bed of leaves. A few times, a forest animal would
start to sneak up on the sleeping girl, but a wisp of air, and a soft crack,
the animal was no more. Shampoo was no killer; she was hardly a warrior,
Living out in the middle of China, I'm sure she has some foresting skills. I
doubt there's a Safeway nearby. Not that killing animals and people are the
same thing.
for she was none the wiser of her prey's activities. Any morning after an
animal would stray too near to the Amazon, Ranma and Genma would feast.
Shampoo. But Akane, she was beautiful like Shampoo, and was a hell of a lot
What about Shampoo?
sweeter than Shampoo. Those eyes captivated her, was she already falling in
love? Pops was right, she knew nothing of love, and this was just her
desire. Feh, this Akane wanted a friend, not a fiancé.
This paragraph is quite long compared to everything leading up to it. You
might either break in up a little or segue to flashback.
Ranma snapped back into reality as a fist went flying toward her face. She
instantly parried the blow, knocking Akane off balance for a split second.
The move twisted Akane around just enough to expose her side, which Ranma
jabbed with a pair of extended fingers. She made three more jabs one in
between each rib.
Each rib? Be more than three jabs. She jabbed three more times, each
strike falling between two ribs.
Akane saw Ranma seem to stare off into space, so she launched her attack.
She kept it slow enough for Ranma to dodge, but enough to get her to pay
more attention. She was surprised that she was instantly blocked and felt
four sharp pains on her side, below her armpit.
Ranma then side swiped her opponent sending her to the ground. Her extended
opponent, sending
fingers shot toward Akane's throat, as she descended, but the fingertips
stopped a millimeter above Akane's neck. The air pressure alone was still
enough to leave a bruise.
That's not much room to breath, is it.
Akane saw her life flash before her eyes as the spear-like fist descended
toward her neck too fast for her to block. What scared her the most was the
predatory gleam in Ranma's eyes and that sickening smile. She closed her
eyes waiting for the killing blow, and even felt something connect. After a
second or two, she determined that she was not in fact dead, but very much
alive, and hyperventilating.
"What the HELL do you think you're doing, trying to kill me?" Akane screamed
at Ranma. "It was s'pose to be a friendly match!"
"Whaa . . ." was all Ranma could say before Akane ran crying from the dojo.
No, she thought, Akane had never taken a life. She would have to get use to
not killing, and even though she regarded what she did as an act of
friendship, she might have to use a little more discretion in the future.
Oh, come on! I could totally have killed you back there! Doesn't that count
for something?
She walked back into the house and was met by Kasumi. Kasumi seemed to be
one of those quiet, ultra-nice types, but as per usual, no one gets Ranma's
trust for free; she would have to earn it like all the rest.
That second sentence needs a bit of work...
"Oh my! Ranma, it must have been a while since you've taken a bath, would
you like one now?" Kasumi smiled.
"Phew! You reek!"
Ranma returned the smile, "Sure, I'd like that." She wondered where Akane
had gone. Probably up to her room.
Ranma enter the washing area, got undressed and quickly washed herself down.
She used the hot water tap and changed back to his original form. Much
better he thought as he opened the door to the furo to take a nice long
soak.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GET OUT OF HERE YOU SICK
PERVERT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!" screamed Akane as she threw anything
she could get her hands on at him.
Ranma stepped backwards and shut the door. Slipping on a wet spot on the
floor, Ranma fell back knocking over a bucket of cold water. Girl type
Ranma lay on the floor, looking stunned.
Akane was enjoying her soak, the warm water relaxing her muscles, and
relaxing her. That girl, she thought, was good, too good. That gleam in
her eyes, that predatory smile, that's what Ranma's face reminded her of, a
predator. A chill went up Akane's spine. Suddenly the door opened, and
Like the man who'd chased her down the alley way last week wearing a
large trench coat and nothing else.
there was a boy, a very naked boy standing there. Covering her self with
one arm, she screamed and threw a bottle at the pervert. She then threw the
soap, and anything else she could get her hands on. The boy backed away
You're repeating yourself.
with a surprised look on his face, and slid the door shut. Akane heard the
sound of falling objects splashes and then silence.
Covered in a towel, Akane emerged from the furo. She was shocked to see a
scared and stunned Ranma lying there, beginning to sit up. The girl cringed
at the sight of Akane, fully expecting to be hit by something else.
"Ranma! Did you see where that pervert went?" asked Akane as she stepped
forward. Akane held out her hand to the naked girl, who grasped it to get
up. When Akane's foot kicked a bucket of hot water over, it splashed on to
Ranma transforming him in front of Akane.
"I, uh, I . . . I c-can explain." Stuttered Ranma. Akane fainted.
explain," stuttered
* * * * *
Akane woke up in her bed, with Kasumi looming over her.
"Oh good, I'm glad you're awake, daddy wants us to meet in the living room
again." Kasumi informed the youngest, smiling.
youngest.... woman to ever receive a Nobel Peace Prize?
The four Tendous sat opposite the two Soatomes, staring. Soun was crying,
Kasumi was smiling, Nabiki was sizing the two up, and Akane was seething.
Akane glared at the boy who, by all standards, seemed not to care. He just
sat there as if nothing was wrong.
Soun began, "This is my friend . . ."
"Genma Saotome." Genma answered.
Saotome," Gena,a
"And this is his son . . ."
"Ranma." The boy said with a smile.
Ranma," the boy
The Saotomes recounted their story of being cursed. Ranma seemed not to
care, shrugging his shoulders. His father however, cried as he described
the unfortunate occurrence. The two men went on to talk about other
experiences in China, poignantly leaving out the trail of bodies left in
..and that was how I killed Old Man Wong. Man, you should have been there.
His daughters were crying on one side, his sons were declaring vengence and
dad was eyeing the old man's wife. Waitaminute. Dad! Aren't you always
going on about how important my virtue is? What were you thinking?"
their wake. Other details left out where a certain purple haired Amazon,
seeing as Ranma needed no reminder of her.
"Well, that's just wonderful, son, but not everything's so bad, here are my
daughters: Kasumi; she's nineteen, Nabiki; she's seventeen, and Akane; she's
sixteen. Pick one and she'll be your fiancée." Soun supplied.
In unison, Nabiki and Kasumi shoved Akane to the forefront and said, "Oh, he
definitely wants Akane, she's the wisest choice."
"WHAT? Why would I want to marry some pervert like him?" Akane yelled.
Ranma's already bewildered expression fell further. He wondered if maybe
coming here was such a good idea after all. He really wanted to settle
down, but he was beginning to doubt that this was worth it. This girl had
gone from friend to enemy in very little time, and he really liked her too.
He just hoped he didn't have to kill her later.
"Why do you call me a pervert?" he asked in a low voice, looking down and
away.
Inserting my one comment in the middle of thinly disguised C&C, I would go
so far as to state that Hentai is also a pun. Hentai means 'to transform'
as well as perverted. ;)
"You saw me in the nude, you pervert!" yelled an exasperated Akane.
Still looking away, he said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on you, I
also didn't mean to scare you in the dojo like that." He glanced at the
still visible bruise on her throat.
Hm, out of time. Will comment on the second half at some later time.
Warr
D.B. (If you're reading this, sorry I didn't start with your story. I'll
get to that soonish, I swear it!)
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My webpage, front page updated 1/7/99:
http://welcome.to/nifflheim
http://members.xoom.com/Tengpow/front.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Tom Morello: Are you a fan of any particular kind of music,
and can we play a request for you?
Noam Chomsky: If I told you what my tastes where, it would
shock you.
TM: Oh no, you go right ahead. Shock me.
NC: Almost nothing. I am very much restricted to things in my
childhood or before. Far before.
TM: Our CD catalog is pretty large, try me.
NC: I wouldn't even know what to say. Beethovens Late Quartets.
TM: Anything in R&B or pop music. Anything that rings a bell?
NC: I am so ignorant, it isn't even worth asking me. I sort of knew
something when my kids were around, but that's a lot of years ago.
TM: Well, Noam, thank you so much for being on the show and
have a great summer.