Ruroni Ranma
Part 11
Baptism by fire.
Flames, the smell of burning flesh surrounded him in the field. His eyes
cold and hard as men slaughtered each other mere feet in front of him.
"He is there," said a familiar voice from beside him as he watched the
carnage calmly. "I will take his life away."
He turned slowly and stared at the man with cold dead eyes. "No, you are
ill my old friend. You will not spill his blood today."
"Then I will die honorably in the field of battle," retorted his comrade
coldly as he stared down his target as men fell before his blade in
droves. "He is nothing, a mere boy... and yet..."
"I will kill him, the time has come for us to meet our destiny my
friend," he said calmly. A bucket of water tainted red with the blood of
the fallen men was at his feet. "He cannot stand against my power."
"Come Saito, it is a good day to die together! I shall die gloriously as
a captain in his army!" cried the man's companion as he charged forward.
The sound of his own steel blade being drawn mixed in with the clash of
metal around him as he took up a distinctive stance. His right foot
forward with the blade held in his left-hand parallel along his body and
his right hand in front along the blade. He chuckled to himself as he
watched his companion charge into the mass of men. "Huh huh, Battosai, I
will destroy you!"
Ranma stared into space; a strangely calm look crossed his features as
he stared out into the clouds. "Hey, Saotome?"
Ranma turned to look at the source of the disruption and frowned
slightly as Nabiki pushed her face up close to his own.
"What's with you? I've been trying to get your attention for a while
now," she pushed her finger against his forehead and smirked. "Getting a
little soft? You're usually much more alert than this."
Ranma blinked and looked over her shoulder. "Hibiki? What's he doing
here?"
"He won't say, but he's here for you," she sat down next to him and
sighed. Akane and Yuriko watched in mild surprise from the table. "You
gonna tell me what's up or not?"
"Just memories," replied the boy casually.
"About the war?" spurted out Yuriko. Akane smacked her in the back of
her head and frowned.
"Don't be so rude!" snapped the girl angrily.
"It's all right Akane. She's right," replied the boy calmly. "I was just
thinking about Herb's honor guard."
"The honor guard?" Akane sucked in a quick breath.
Ranma smiled gently. "Yes, we crossed swords many times during the war.
I think I felt closer to them than I did the politicians I was working
for. They were known for their great swordsmanship and their absolute
swordsmanship and absolute lack of fear of death. They were defeated by
modern weapons and disappeared into the past, but they were probably the
greatest fighting force in history; the largest, the strongest and the
last great group of swordsmen; they were called the Wolves.
Akane paused and looked as if she was remembering something. "But they
were best at group swordsmanship, fighting many against one.
That's cowardly."
Ranma chuckled slightly at that "It's because they first worked to
maintain the public peace. Naturally they couldn't fight proper duels;
and when you speak of strength, of course there were individual
differences. But the officers--the company captains of the first, second
and third units, out of the ten, were undoubtedly strong."
Yuriko blinked in confusion at this "If it's a unit, why "company
captain"? Isn't that kind of strange?"
Ranma simply shrugged his shoulders. "That's the way Herb wanted it I
guess. I don't know, but the first and second, and then the third captain
. . . no matter how many times we faced each other, we never reached a
conclusion. I've heard that most of them have died by now...it's too
bad."
Nabiki grumbled slightly under her breath. "What're you being so nice
for? Weren't they your enemies?"
Ryoga spoke up for the first time since he entered the home. "It makes
perfect sense to me."
Ranma merely nodded. "We were both fighting for a cause we believed in.
Just on opposite sides of the battle. I have more respect for those men
than many of the soldiers who I was fighting with. They were like me.
Living by the sword, and dying the same way. All for the sake of our own
ideals."
"Hmm," murmured Akane in shock.
"It is the way of a war," replied the boy with an almost casual shrug.
"I guess it is kind of strange."
Akane shook her head. "It's not that, I've just never heard you talk
about your past this much before. You usually avoid speaking about it."
Ranma paused and opened his mouth to speak. After a moment of
consideration he turned towards Ryoga and nodded a small bow of greeting.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, I just stopped by to see how things are going. I heard the dojo
had a new student," Ryoga nodded his head in Yuriko's direction.
"Yes, she is doing quite well," noted Ranma. He saw the girl puff out
her chest in pride and smirked. "But she still has a long way to go."
The lost boy smiled at this. "I remember those days in my own past.
Still, there is something else..."
Ranma raised his eyebrow slightly and frowned. "The murders?"
"That also, but I think you should know that someone else is looking for
Battosai as well. He's been asking around using the name. The local thug
groups are terrified of him as well. He's not Tokyo PD"
Ranma smiled and took a sip of the tea that was sitting beside him. "I
see..."
"I'll see what else I can find out for you," said the boy as he stood up
and shrugged his dogi back onto his shoulders again.
"I'd appreciate it; just don't get yourself into any trouble over this,"
said Ranma calmly.
Akane got a slightly worried look on her face as she leaned in towards
Ranma. "Can we trust him? He was trying to kill you a few weeks ago!"
Ranma smiled at her and put his cup down gently. "I think he's gotten
over it."
The boy was on his way out when Kasumi emerged from the kitchen. "Oh,
Mr. Hibiki! Won't you stay for dinner?"
The boy turned slowly around and looked at her with tear filled eyes. "I
wouldn't want to impose, but if you insist..."
About an hour and a half later Ryoga Hibiki found himself sitting on the
steps of the Tendo dojo again. "Man, that was good. I guess I'd better
leave now." He had tried to leave earlier only to find himself right back
where he started.
He paused and looked back at the house. Ranma was gone with Soun to the
public baths. Apparently one of the water pipes burst while Akane was
forcing Yuriko to take a bath. Both of the girls were currently jogging
around the neighborhood. Kasumi was gone to the store, and Nabiki had
disappeared immediately following the meal. "This certainly is an
interesting place."
He started walking forward when he noticed a strange man through the
gate. He was dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase at his
side. "Hello, I am Fujisawa."
Ryoga blinked and glanced around. "Who the heck are you?"
"I'm an insurance salesman," replied the man with a smile. His hair was
cut short and he had an almost feminine quality about his features. He
was young and very fit. "We sell policies that specialize in martial
artists around this area."
Ryoga smirked. "Really? Well, I'm sorry to say that I don't live here.
You just missed them." He walked by the man and turned his head slightly.
"Are you going to tell me who you really are?"
The man barely concealed his smile. "Pardon?"
"Insurance salesmen don't have calluses on their hands like the one's
you've got. Not that it's any concern of mine," Ryoga stood rigidly still
and watched the man over his shoulder carefully.
"Well, it seems you're on to me, not a very smart man. You should have
just walked away. Now I'll just leave Battosai a present on his
doorstep." He reached behind his back and Ryoga's eyes went wide as he
slowly slid a well-hidden short sword from behind him.
"If that's the way you want it. I'll just have to make you tell me with
my fists," replied the boy calmly as he turned to face the man. "He knows
who Ranma really is! He must be the guy who's been asking around!" he
thought angrily.
The man waited patiently and Ryoga charged forward slamming his fist
into his face. He gasped in shock when the man merely stepped back into a
strange stance instead of falling to the ground.
"So, huh huh, you are the legendary street fighter; Ryoga Hibiki.
Tetsukasa. That is a good punch, for a man who lives in the peaceful
islands of Japan. I'll admit that much..."
"No effect?" thought Ryoga as his eyes went wide in horror.
"But in China, during the war, a punch like that would mean nothing,"
continued the man as he ignored Ryoga's surprised face.
Ryoga could do nothing as the man charged forward at an insane rate of
speed and stabbed him in the shoulder. He screamed in rage and pain as he
glared at the man angrily. "Who the hell?"
"Huh huh," the man chucked darkly. "Looks like rain, Battosai had better
be prepared."
TBC...
Yes, I changed Ryoga's name. I mistakenly wrote the Japanese for Iron
Umbrella backwards. I'll be fixing this in the earlier chapters as well.
This one is relatively short, but I think both Ranma and Kenshin fans
will know what's going on. Much of this is taken directly from
translations of Ruroni Kenshin. I don't plan on doing that too much, but
there really wasn't much I could do about it this time. If I changed
Saito's story too much he wouldn't fit in later very well. You'll learn
more about his past later on, and that includes what he's doing now.
Relatively short this time, mostly just set up stuff for later. Ruroni
Kenshin does get fairly dark at times, so don't expect me to be too
squeamish in the future. Just a warning that this will have a dark tag
from time to time.
You'll also note that I've changed the continuity a tiny bit. There are
reasons for this, and I'll go into that later when I post authors notes
after it won't spoil the story anymore.
Things will get rolling finally next chapter.
Until then, Ja ne!
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/misatira/