Permanent
Part 28
Five fools and a demon.
Akane Tendo stood on the roof of her home overlooking Nerima as she did
every evening. The expanse of the city spread out before her, and a
breeze shifted her bangs away revealing the dark scar that covered the
left side of her face. She frowned and tightened her cloak before jumping
into the shadows again.
As she roamed her thoughts wandered to the drastic changes the young
sorceress had brought into her world. Her new powers were probably the
most drastic of them, but there was a lot the girl had brought into her
life, most of it not good. Despite that, she found she really did love
her Ranma Saotome was probably the best friend she had ever had. Their
relationship had almost been lost because of her own stupid mistakes, but
things were stabilizing now between them.
Ryoga Hibiki was another matter, she knew she cared for the boy, but
whether or not she was in love with him was another matter. She had
enough trouble dealing with Ranma, much less him as well. Fortunately she
had been able to beat back the engagement between them. He seemed just as
relieved as she was about it, but for his own reasons. Ranma or her
actions had destroyed almost everything in her life; but the girl had
also done her best to rebuild it. For some strange reason she could not
even imagine disliking her. Akane paused on the roof of a small business
as she thought about Ranma again, a slight blush formed in her cheeks as
she looked out over the darkened streets. She shook her head and turned
away pulling the hood of her cloak down over her face again.
She tended to spend her evenings away from home as of late. She didn't
need to sleep any longer and was restless at times. As to not disturb her
family she found herself roaming about the city aimlessly. Unfortunately
that also entailed many of the dangers of a demon roaming the street
alone at night.
"Shit!" Akane rolled away as a shadow loomed up behind her in the
moonlight. She spun around just in time to catch a shadowy figure
standing silhouetted in the moonlight behind her. It was a girl with long
flowing hair that blew dramatically in the wind behind her. "Damn it
Keiko! Can't you take a night off every once and a while?"
A soft laughter floated over the rooftops towards Akane and she froze as
another figure appeared nearby, and then another, and another, until five
girls stood around her in the shadows. "Ha! Evil creature who knows no
love for mankind! I shall end your evil plot tonight! On behalf of the
stars, I shall punish you!"
Akane raised her eyebrow slightly and stared at her. "What evil plot?
What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't try to play dumb!" cried one of the girls off to her right, even
in the minimal light it was easy to see that her hair was darker than the
first girl's. "We know you're plotting something! I shall punish you in
my economical and comfortable pumps!"
"I was just gonna go for some ramen. Who the hell are you people anyway?
Why are you bothering me?" said Akane a little irritated at these strange
newcomers.
"I am Sailor Sol!" cried the lead girl dramatically as she posed in the
moon light after stepping forward so Akane could see her better. She had
two long flowing braids and blonde hair.
"I'm Sailor Betelgeuse!" cried the brunette girl with the ponytail as
she moved forward as well.
"Sailor Polaris!" called a shorthaired girl who looked remarkably
similar to what Akane had once looked like.
"Sailor Novis!" said the dark haired girl firmly.
"And I'm Sailor X-23!" said the final girl, she was blonde with long
hair that went below her waist. All five of them were dressed in sailor
fuku.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," muttered Akane as she fell down to
her knees and sighed. "What is it with you people? Can't you leave me
alone? I haven't done anything!"
"Y-you haven't?" said the lead blond as she almost fell out of her pose.
"NO!" screamed Akane angrily.
The shorthaired girl put her hand up to her ear and blinked. "Stella,
are you sure this is the source of dark energy you found? I mean, she
doesn't seem like any youma I've ever seen."
Akane blinked, for the first time since the whole mess had started
someone was actually taking the time to listen to her? It seemed almost
too good to be true.
"I'm positive! We have to destroy it now! The enemy is getting smart,
she must be a deceiving!" cried another strange voice. Akane glanced
around for a moment and then noticed the small headset that rested in the
girl's ear.
Sailor Sol simply stood and looked at the girl sitting in the middle of
their group and blinked. "But Stella, she isn't doing anything. She's
just sitting there."
"Are you sure that thing isn't broken Stella?" said Sailor Novis.
"No it isn't!" screamed the voice angrily. Polaris shuddered slightly
and winced.
Akane finally got up enough nerve to speak. "Who are you talking too?"
"You'd better answer our questions first! Who are you? Why are you on
the roof?" snapped X-23 bitterly.
"I don't have to answer any of your questions!" cried Akane defensively.
"Just leave me alone! Why do you always have to bother me!?"
"Why is Stella reading you as a demon then? At least tell us that!"
cried Polaris.
Akane sighed and glanced around noticing that she was surrounded. She
wouldn't escape without going through at least one of them. "I've been
tainted with demon blood."
"Tainted?" said Betelgeuse in confusion.
"I got into a fight with a demon, we managed to kill it... but some of
its blood got inside me through my injuries. I was also attacked by some
weird monsters that helped make it easier for the blood to taint me.
That's what Ranma says anyway." Akane stood up and dusted off her pants
before adjusting her cloak.
"Stella?" inquired Polaris.
"It's unlikely... but possible." The voice reluctantly agreed with
Akane's story and was silent after that.
"Who's Ranma?" said X-23 suspiciously.
"None of your business," replied Akane curtly, a little more so than she
had intended.
The girls stood around silently for a long moment before one of them
finally spoke up. "Are you sure you aren't draining energy from humans to
help your nefarious plot?" said the lead girl.
"What? What the hell are you talking about? I can't drain people's
energy," said Akane in confusion.
"You can't?" said the shorthaired girl in disbelief.
"I don't think so... I've never tried that before," admitted Akane.
"We can't trust her," said the voice over the intercom.
"You shut up! You don't even know me!" cried Akane defensively.
"She's right about that," noted Sol calmly.
The voice was silent after that for a long moment. "I suppose you're
right, back off... for now," it replied reluctantly. The five girls
jumped away from Akane leaving her alone.
"Honestly," snorted the girl as she watched them leave. She stood up and
dusted herself off before bounding away into the night.
A small pink rodent of sat behind the controls of a computer glaring at
the screen for a long moment. She sighed and turned the power off before
falling back on her back and looking up at the ceiling of the small
control room she was sitting at.
"I'm disappointed in you Stella," commented the cloaked figure that
stood behind her.
"We aren't mercenaries you know. If she hasn't done anything wrong yet
we can't do anything about her," commented the rat calmly. "You may be
our sponsor, but we do have to keep some standards."
"She is evil, I will see her destroyed," said the thing calmly.
"When she starts rampaging across Tokyo call us and we'll help out. I
don't have any reports fitting the description of a girl like that," said
Stella firmly.
"I understand, I will not ask this of you now. The code I placed to your
kind still stands. We will find another way to deal with this problem.
Devil hunters are still considered mercenaries after all." The figure
stepped out of the shadows revealing a long white cloak with locks of
golden hair flowing from the hood. "She is too dangerous to be left alone
in this world."
"I know, we'll be watching her closely," commented the rodent.
"Don't bother, I'm always watching." The man turned towards the door and
paused for a moment. "Just don't let your guard down."
"As if we ever would," snorted the creature playfully.
"Soon the battle will begin, I will seal off her kind from this world
once again, no one will stop me." He looked back over his shoulder. "The
devil hunters are clearly outclassed. Perhaps I will bring in outside
help on this one."
"Be well Azrael," said the rat as he left the room.
Fire, all around her it was all she had known in her life, as far as she
knew anyway. Fire and pain, tortures beyond imagination. It was the way
of the world. She sat on the pillar overlooking the blinding light that
surrounded her and the screams that had always filled her ears. "The time
will arrive soon," said a deep booming voice. "What do you want from me?"
She looked up and saw nothing, only the blinding light. "Power," she
didn't know why she had said it. The words just came to her mouth, no
reasoning behind it; she didn't even understand what the words meant.
"Give me power!"
A laughter filled her ears, a strange sound, something horrible that she
had never known even in all of her torments. "So be it."
Hikaru Gosunkugi sat at his desk as he did every evening. A strange book
in front of him lulled him to sleep. He sighed deeply as he closed the
ancient tome and pressed the bridge of his nose. "I sure have been tired
lately." He glanced at his watch and saw there was a reason for it. It
was almost three a.m. he shoved the book aside and flopped down on his
bed.
There were no spells in the book to cure his condition; he couldn't
remember any of them at the moment anyway. After a moment he flicked off
his lights and turned on the nightlight. He wasn't afraid of the dark
anymore, but it was the only way to sleep with the golden shadow glowing
around him. It drowned it out just enough for him to fall asleep.
"Man, I've got to do something about this," he rolled onto his side and
dozed off with those thoughts.
Ranma Saotome sat in front of a large crystal in her room after the Cat
Caf� closed for the evening. She sighed heavily as the images were fuzzy
and unclear. "This is strange."
"Something is wrong Ranma?" asked Talcum as she entered the room with
two cups of tea. Ranma smiled and accepted the drink thankfully.
"My old man is hiding something from me, I've tried to find out what it
was with a few items I've got, but nothing is coming through," replied
the redhead in a slightly frustrated voice.
"You need relax," noted the girl lazily in reply. She was dressed in a
bathrobe at the moment and had her hair tied up on top of her head. A few
tresses fell through along the side of her face.
"Maybe, but I think it's being jammed somehow," said Ranma seriously.
"Maybe Panda?" asked Talcum.
"No, pops doesn't know any magic," replied the girl simply. "Nothing
like this anyway."
"Is bad omen," said the girl somberly. Ranma nodded in agreement.
"If Ryoga was nearby I might be able to break through, but that wouldn't
tell me who was doing this," said Ranma as she waved her hand and put out
the soft green glow the crystal was giving off.
"Want call pig boy?" asked the girl.
"No, the Tendos are asleep. It can wait until tomorrow," replied Ranma
simply as she plopped onto the ground just in front of Talcum's knees.
The girl leaned forward and looked her dead in the eyes. "You looking
tired."
"Yup, I'm going to bed," said the pigtailed girl lazily with a small
grin.
"Good night Ranma," said the girl cheerfully as she leaned forward and
kissed her dead on the lips lightly. Ranma froze in place as Talcum stood
up and walked out of the room.
"What the?" Ranma blinked and sat up for a moment. "What was that all
about?"
Ukyo Kuonji lay on his back staring at the sky above him. It was a nice
night out and she decided to sleep under the stars. It was peaceful and
gave him time to think. "Ranma, what am I going to do about you?" The
question ran through his mind over and over. There really was no way she
could have known about it. He had seemed so happy to see him as well. A
small pain formed in his heart as he thought about it, the two of them
were not so different.
"A friend?" Memories of happier times came to him as he lay out on his
travel blanket. Ranma had always been one of the best friends he had ever
had, and now it seemed she had not betrayed him in the first place as he
had long thought. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. "Ranchan...
maybe you can be Ranchan to me again?"
"Perhaps she can," said a new voice in the back of her mind. It seemed
gentle and calm, beautiful. "I came to offer you something Ukyo Kuonji,
your revenge is pointless. I shall give you a new cause, a greater one.
You will become the greatest of all my children."
He sat up violently when he realized that the sound was not just inside
his head, but all around him. "Who are you?"
"Do you wish to become one of my children?" said the voice as it ignored
her question.
Ukyo had no time to think about his answer, the voice sounded urgent and
firm; there was no way he could refuse it. "Of course..." he didn't know
why she agreed to it. He wasn't even sure what he just agreed too.
"My child, I shall grant you power beyond your wildest dreams..." At
that moment a pillar of light shot down from the sky and seemed to absorb
the boy completely, there was no fear or panic in his eyes, he simply
accepted.
On a hill a short distance away Azrael stood watching with a small smirk
on his face. His eyes glowed slightly for a moment and he vanished with a
small flash of light.
TBC...
Next time: Akane Vs. The Star Sailors!
Ranma confronts her father again!
Ukyo confronts Ranma yet again as well!
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