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The Hunter
"A wild boar!" the shout rang out through the small
village nestled in the forest as a loud bull was rung
again and again. "On a rampage!"
The animal in question was much more than just
another boar. It was a huge creature more than twice
as tall as a man and larger than most carriages. Its
huge eyes squinted angrily as it smashed through a
wall, scattering villagers before it.
Everywhere people were running for whatever high
ground they could find as the dire monster wreaked
havoc through their village.
"We're doomed," an old woman muttered sadly as
another house was destroyed. "It'll find its way up
here soon."
"Skuld's blood," someone swore. "We had such a
good harvest, too."
"Hey! Look at that fool!" somebody shouted,
pointing at a young traveller that was walking calmy
down the road. "Run you idiot!! Run!"
The traveller continued walking as the thundering
sound of a charging boar grew ever closer to him. He
turned around reaching up for the bamboo umbrella at
his back, staring at the approaching beast in boredom.
In a simple movement he held the umbrella out in
front of him and stopped the boar cold. The
stranger's feet didn't even shift position from the
impact. The boar exhaled angrily and pushed against
the stranger, gouging the floor with its hooves.
"He stopped it one-handed!" somebody shouted.
The boar continued to push against the unmoving
umbrella. Then the young man shifted slightly and the
boar suddenly felt what it was like to fly. At least
it flew for about twenty seconds, then it landed
behind the young man as he was sheathing his umbrella
again. A small crowd immediately began to gather
around him.
"Are you one of them rangers from Ryugenzawa?"
somebody asked.
"Where'd that monster boar come from?" another
asked. The young man didn't answer them at first then
he held up a map.
"Where is Furinkan Hall?" he asked simply.
"Furinkan Hall?" somebody asked.
"Oh he has a map," another commented.
"Let me see that," the man looked at the map and
blinked. "Ain't this a map of North Tokyo?"
"That's hundreds of leagues away from here!" the
man next to him shouted.
"I see," the young man said, taking back his map.
"Forgive the commotion." He turned and started
walking.
"Figger he's lost?" someone asked as a wind blew
through the scene.
"Hey, ain't he going southeast?" someone else
asked.
~Ranma Saotome! Prepare to meet me!~ the stranger
thought. ~You can hide from me no longer.~
*******
In Nerima a storm of savage was raging outside the
Tendo Monastary. Inside a storm of another nature was
brewing.
"Okay, I understand that your clothes are..." Akane
started.
"Burnt to a crisp?" Ranma said dryly. ~Stupid
panda, what was he doing with a fire breath potion.~
"Right...but why do you have to borrow my clothes?"
Akane asked. Ranma muttered something. "What did you
say?"
"Akane, you have noticed Ranma's height, haven't
you?" Nabiki asked. "And I use the term height
loosely." Ranma twitched.
"Wait a minute, are you saying that I'm short?"
Akane demanded.
"Nope," Nabiki said straightening.
"Then what..." Akane started as Nabiki turned
around. "Oh...I didn't know I still had that."
Akane's voice sounded a little disgusted. Ranma stood
up and turned to see what they were talking about.
Ranma was expecting something rather practical,
like an old training outfit, or some breeches and a
blouse. What she got was something out of one of her
nightmares.
It was red at least, but there all things Ranma
liked about it ended. The item in question was a
dress, which made her acrobatic method of fighting
potentially embarrassing. It had long sleeves, if
Ranma had to take her natural form it would fall
apart. But most importantly, it had BOWS. Big bows.
Big YELLOW bows. It was something her mother and
Uncle Xellos might dress her up in. The thought of
Uncle Xellos brought him to look at Nabiki again and
sigh expressively.
"Oh no," Ranma shook her head. "Not that!"
"Oh, but you'd look so cute in it!" Nabiki
insisted.
"Yeah, terminally cute," Akane agreed.
"There is no way I am go..."
"Consider it one of my favors," Nabiki suggested.
Ranma stared at her. There was dead silence for a
long second.
"Oh yay," Ranma dead-panned. "It is such a
wonderful dress, please let me wear it."
"I thought you might see it my way," Nabiki
smirked.
~She's got something on him already?~ Akane
wondered.
Soon Ranma was standing in Akane's chamber wearing
the red and yellow garment. Strangely enough the
irritated red head actually managed to pull the look
off. Ranma investigated the dress as the Tendo
sisters looked on.
"He actually looks nice," Akane said quietly
impressed. "Perfect even."
"Ah, can't wear this," Ranma said cheerfully. "It
doesn't fit."
"Oh," Nabiki crossed her arms. "How so?"
"The chest is too tight," Ranma said. "And there's
way to much room in the waists. Not surprising
considering whose it..."
"RAAAANNNNMA!!!!"
*******
"Where is Furinkan Hall?" the wandering stranger
asked the farmer in front of him.
"If its Tokyo," the farmer said. "Then it's about
a ways south of here."
*******
One week later it was a clear day on the grounds of
Furinkan Hall. A pair of guards stood wearily at the
gates to the fortress wishing for some shade.
"Skuld's blood but it's hot today," one guard said.
"Who's that?" one of the guards asked, pointing at
the cloaked stranger standing before the looming
monument to strangeness that was Furinkan Hall. He
seemed more than a little travel worn, his clothes
caked in dirt from the road.
"I don't know," the first said. "Never seen him
before."
The guards started toward him to investigate. As
one of them came in range, the stranger casually
reached out and snagged him. A field of angry menace
seemed to radiate out from him. The other guard moved
forward and found himself also grabbed and slammed
against a wall.
"Where's Furinkan Hall?" he demanded of the first
guard.
"Huh?" The guards looked at each other blankly, and
then back at the stranger before pointing at the
fortress. Covered in an abundance of flags proudly
displaying Furinkan's coat of arms. The stranger set
the guards down and growled irritably as the sound of
the wind filled the scene.
"Where is Ranma Saotome!" he demanded, the sound of
foot falls approached from behind him.
"Saotome?" the guard repeated blankly.
"RANMA!! STOP!!" Akane yelled. The priestess
followed angrily behind Ranma who was almost gliding
across the ground.
"Come and get me!" Ranma yelled back as he
effortlessly leaped into the air.
"You! You!" Akane growled from the ground. Both
of them stopped as something new filled the air.
Looking up Ranma and Akane saw the stranger descending
on Ranma in mid leap, umbrella ready for a strike.
"RANMA!!" The stranger yelled. "Prepare to die!!"
Ranma watched with an expression that moved from mute
disbelief straight to irritation. He flipped around
in the air and dodged the downward strike as he and
the stranger landed.
The sudden crater caused by the umbrella's blow
sent Ranma temporarily reeling. The guards scattered
backwards shocked at the force of the blow.
"You," Ranma said coldly.
"You haven't changed Ranma," the stranger smirked
grimmly. "You're still good at running away."
"Someone you know?" Akane asked.
"Yeah," Ranma said. "He's...he's..." Ranma pointed
dismissively. ~Shit, I can't say how I know him.~
The stranger watched the irritation flow over Ranma's
face with a slight look of disbelief on his face.
"Don't strain your brain remembering, Ranma," Akane
said dryly.
"Just tell me one thing, Ranma," the stranger
demanded cooly. "Why did you run out our fight!!"
~Oh, that's right,~ Ranam slammed his fist into his
hand, and then pointed at Ryouga. "Ryouga Hibiki!
You stood me up!" ~Again!!~
"Stood you..." Ryouga blinked and then narrowed his
eyes angrily. "It wasn't a date!! It was a duel!!
You set the challenge!"
"I waited three days," Ranma snapped. "Three days
waiting to pound your face in."
"Three days?!" Akane said in disbelief.
"Yes! And when I came on the fourth day," Ryouga
started. "You had already run away!!"
"Let me ask you something," Ranma said. "The place
we were supposed to fight was that clearing in front
of your cabin. So why did I have to wait three days
for you to show?"
"Why you!?" Ryouga growled. "Do you think I was on
a casual stroll for four days?!" Images of a chibi
Ryouga flashed by asking directions, often in the
aftermath of some kind of battle. "I suffered to meet
with you."
"Bad sense of direction," one of the guards
whispered, his compatriot whole-heartedly agreed.
"Breaking a vow between men!" Ryouga snapped. "And
running to Qinghai with your father!" Ryouga swung
out at Ranma with the umbrella.
"I gave you lots of chances, Ryouga," Ranma
shrugged cooly as he landed. "And NOW you want to
finish your fight? Well I could care less about that
now."
"'Finish our fight'?!" Ryouga snapped. "How
feeble. I have a mission, Saotome." The umbrella in
his hand was snapped open. "And YOU seem to be
standing in my way!" The umbrella flew from Ryouga's
hand whirling towards Ranma on a current of magic.
Ranma dodged the umbrella casually, never taking
his eyes off of Ryouga. The umbrella curved around to
a return path, nearly bisecting an incautious
courtier, and Ranma and Akane half-consciously dodged
it again. Ryouga caught it smoothly.
"No matter what it takes," Ryouga said. "I shall
destroy your happiness!"
"My happiness," Ranma repeated. He turned to
Akane. "Am I happy?"
"Why are you asking me?" Akane asked dryly. Then
Ryouga lunged forward in an attack. Ranma leaped up
and over the charging young man, and Ryouga lost track
of him as a slight push from the passing Ranma sent
him teetering forward.
"You can't hide from me forever Ranma!" Ryouga
shouted angrilly, rushing full tilt in a Random
direction. In a few moments his yells faded to
nothing as he turned a corner.
"What was that about?" Akane asked. Ranma shrugged
non-commitally.
*******
"Skuld's blood," one of a group of farmers said
looking over the huge boar that was now something of a
benefit to village rather than a threat. "I wonder
what happened to..."
"WHERE ARE YOU RANMA!!?!"
The farmer and boar turned to face the speaker
along with everybody else and blinked in surprise.
"Oh...excuse me," Ryouga said, embarrassed before
disappearing down the road again.
*******
Deep in the mountains Ryouga strode through the
trees bitterly recalling how Ranma had escaped him
again.
~Ranma, I shall remove you,~ Ryouga growled. ~I
have failed so far because of you. I know you're
hiding something from me, demon.~ Ryouga picked up a
pair of walnuts. ~I shall find what it is, and then I
shall crush you. Just like this walnut. Your time
has come Ranma.
"RANMA!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!" Ryouga shouted angrily.
The sound of a rumbling behind him brought to his
attention the oncoming landslide created by his shout.
Ryouga leaped into the air and great white and black
feathered wings extended from his shoulder blades as
his clothes seemed to magical change to accomdate the
new body parts. A white glow seemed to emanate from
the young man as he caught his breath and surveyed the
near disaster.
"That could have hurt a damn..." Ryouga was
interrupted by a lightning bolt striking down out of
the clear sky. Ryouga, slightly crispy was plastered
to the rocks. "Sorry mom." The young celestial said
weakly.
*******
"Well Ranma," Akane asked impatiently. "What did
you do to this Ryouga?"
"Not as much as I'd like to have," Ranma-chan
muttered.
"Okay, so what did he do to you?" Akane demanded.
"He..." Ranma stopped in mid sentence.
"I...uh...don't really remember." Nabiki and Akane
looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"Ranma, a message just came for you," Kasumi said,
she walked in with a kettle of hot water. "From a man
named 'Ryouga Hibiki'?"
Ranma took the scroll and unrolled it, revealing
the word "challenge" almost immediately.
"You must have done something," Akane said. "This
is more than your everyday annoyance." Ranma leaned
forward and growled. Then she straightened up and
sighed resignedly. "I knew it."
"This out to be good," Nabiki smirked.
"Well we were in this militia or somethin together
and there was...uhh...this girl," Ranma said.
"You were fighting over a girl?" Akane asked, eyes
narrowed.
"She was a relative!" Ranma said quickly.
"A...uh...cousin!" Nabiki arched an amused eyebrow.
"Okay so what was going on with this girl?" Akane
demanded.
"Well, she..." he glanced at Nabiki and angrily
noted the start of a twitter of laughter. "Was sorta
interested in Ryouga."
"He didn't do anything to her, did he?" Akane asked
cautiously.
"No," Ranma said angrily. "He didn't do anything
to her. He completely ignored her, over and over AND
over again. Actually he seemed to think it was funny
to completely miss meetings all the time. I heard he
claimed to be lost once." Ranma rolled her eyes.
"How terrible," Kasumi said. "It must have been
terrible to be treated so callously." Ranma and
Nabiki stared at the eldest Tendo sister and wondered
just how much she knew. Kasumi stared back at them
innocently.
"What does that have to do with you?" Akane asked
irritably.
"Well I got a little angry at the way he treated
my...uh...cousin," Ranma said hesitantly. "So I sort
of kept stealing his rations and picking on him. I
finally set up that duel after she had waited through
a thunderstorm for him. Maybe I forgot to say I knew
the girl."
"Why didn't she ever say anything?" Kasumi asked,
which was something Nabiki was wondering too.
"I guess she never thought to mention me," Ranma
shrugged, embarrassed.
"And Ryouga never saw the two of you together?"
Akane asked in disbelief.
"She had to sneak around a lot," Ranma said. "We
weren't supposed to have female visitors even family."
The sisters stared at him in surprise, especially
Nabiki. "I didn't always change with a splash of
water you know!"
"I don't know, Ranma," Nabiki said. "This didn't
sound like a lover's spat." Ranma bridled over the
term as Nabiki snickered.
"Yeah," Akane agreed. "He said something about a
mission, remember. Something about you being in the
way."
"I have no idea what THAT was about," Ranma
shrugged as Kasumi poured the hot water over her.
Akane unrolled the scroll a little further.
"Ranma, the date for this showdown was yesterday,"
Akane said.
"So? He's late for EVERYTHING!" Ranma reminded her.
"He'll show up when its inconvenient, like in a week
or so. He can't do anything when he says he's going
to."
*******
"Then it's this way to Tokyo?" Ryouga asked
pointing down a road. The man he was talking to
almost pulled his hair out in frustration.
"It's this way! THIS way!" he shouted pointing
down the main road. "Why are you going THAT way?"
*******
In another week, as Ranma predicted, he and Ryouga
were standing across from each other on Furinkan's
tournament ground. A large audience was gathering as
a strong breeze sounded through the scene.
"We can't do this properly with all them here,"
Ranma said, gesturing at the people watching the
fight.
"Just as well, Ranma," Ryouga smirked. "It's at
least fair to give you the chance to die like a man
rather than the fiend you are."
"It's been a year, can we just skip this," Ranma
snapped. "So I was a jerk, so were you. Besides the
girl moved on."
"Umm...what girl are you talking about, Ranma?"
Ryouga asked. Ranma twitched. "The only one I can
remember was that little redhead that used to like to
hang around me. What was she, eight?" Ranma twitched
again.
"I KNOW I'M SHORT!! You don't have to rub it in!"
Ranma shouted, then stopped. ~Wait a minute, he
still didn't know what kind of demon you were...oh
shit.~ Ryouga stared at him for a moment then
snarled.
"You won't trick me so easily, Ranma," Ryouga
snapped. "You're not getting out of this fight by
changing the subject. What are you hiding!!"
~He hasn't figured out I am that girl yet?~ Ranma
thought as Ryouga launched forward, his umbrella
leading in a vicious barrage of stabs and swipes.
Ranma effortlessly backed away from the swinging
umbrella.
Nabiki and Akane both nodded as they felt magic
swirling strongly around both combatants. Personal
enhancement spells, powerful personal enhancement
spells. There was something odd about both fighter's
power though. Nabiki knew in Ranma's case it was the
inherited fiendish nature, but Ryouga's power
completely baffled her.
"Wait a minute," Ranma leaped backward into the air
and Ryouga followed. Akane was again struck at how
they both seemed born to maneuver in the air, though
Ranma was mildly more manueverable. "What are you
talking about! Hiding what!"
"I have been told," Ryouga snapped. "My mission
here lies through you! I have seen hell since my
failure to deal with you!"
"Seen hell?" Ranma said dryly. "Really. How'd you
get there?"
"I didn't mean literally you idiot!" Ryouga
shouted, snapping open his umbrella. "Words can not
begin to convey my suffering and all you're running
does is prolong it!"
The umbrella flew out again narrowly missing Ranma.
Ryouga ripped a bandana off of his head, and whipped
out. The bandana wrapped around Ranma's hand. Ryouga
smiled grimmly.
"This'll keep you from running away!" Ryouga
shouted as he lashed out with an open handed strike.
Ranma blocked it to the side.
"Tell me something..." Ranma started as he kicked
out at nearly the same time as Ryouga. Neither of the
kicks connected, being blocked inches from the other's
face. "How many bandannas are you wearing?"
"You'd better take me seriously Ranma," Ryouga
growled. "I'll find out what I'm here for eventually,
you can't stop me."
As the martial artists continued to duel the
launched umbrella finally breezed downward to an easy
stop. It closed itself up as it rolled across the
ground and finally came to a rest. After it nearly
tore a few of the audience into pieces. The fight
continued fast and furious, heedless of what was going
on in the sidelines.
Akane was watching, concern growing as the fight
continued. Behind her people were talking about how
this Ryouga could be an even match for Ranma.
"What's with this thing!" somebody shouted to the
side, attracting Akane's attention. She looked over
to see a pair of guardsmen struggling to lift the
discarded weapon.
"What's the trouble," she asked.
"This umbrella weighs a ton!" the man returned
desperately. Akane narrowed her eyes curiously and
moved to investigate. She picked up the umbrella,
with effort. She certainly wasn't strong enough to
use it one-handed.
~Ryouga,~ Akane thought. ~Swings this with one
hand!~ She glanced out at the fight and gasped.
~This is no even match!~ She dropped the umbrella and
turned full towards the fight.
"RANMA!!" She shouted. "Don't stay in close with
him!! Stay out of his reach!" As she shouted Ryouga
launched another open-handed attack. Again Ranma
dodged, but this time a line opened up on his face.
Ryouga laughed once as the blood started to trickle.
"You CUT me!" Ranma snapped angrily. "That DOES
it! You want a fight you got it!"
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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