Chapter 3

---
Disclaimer: Aside from Rumiko Takahashi, the list of
people who have the rights to Ranma 1/2 escapes me at
the moment. However, I can tell you with absolute
certainty that it most definately does NOT include me.
---

Tsubasa whimpered.

He had hidden himself in the Ucchan in the hopes of
spending time with his beloved Ukyo-sama as he always
did, when IT happened. He wasnt clear on what IT was,
he simply knew that IT was a BAD THING. Now he had to
do the impossible, he had to cross the 20 or so feet
between himself and the door. His body was only just
able to move again, he wasnt sure why it could not
before. Maybe the spiders where holding him down?
Spiders... Spiders where bad, creepy crawlie things
that sucked you dry... Where had that come from? His
mind rebelled at the thought and promptly squashed it,
but still, spiders where not his friend... Half way
there now. A small part of his mind asked why he was
running away from his Ukyo-sama, that part was
immediately beaten into submission by his subconcious
who wanted OUT of here, immediately, if not sooner.
Almost to the door, hardly daring to breath as he ever
so gently unlatched it, a shuffling noise from
upstairs... 

Half of Nerima woke to a high pitched scream of
terror, as a large potted plant ran for its life from
something only it could see.

Elsewhere...
The little man walked down the corridors of the Nerima
mourge, dreading what he might find. He had recieved
the call barely an hour before, asking him to identify
the remains of one Sakura Sagakure, and had spent that
time praying it was a mistake. Now, as he entered the
chilled basement area, following a rather bored
looking police detective, he prayed even more,
convincing himself over and over again that someone
had made a mistake.

One look at the mishapen form under the clean white
sheet dashed all of his hopes forever. She had been
literally torn apart, ripped limb from limb while
being slashed with a razored edge, but enough of her
face remained to tell him that his daughter was
dead... He listened in mute shock as the medical
examiner explained how she had been kept alive thru it
all and had actually died as the result of poisoning.
Apparently, after torturing her, her killer had
injected her with enough brown recluse venom to kill
an adult bison.

Elsewhere...
Little white pills. Little white pills, in a little
paper cup. Not much, not much at all. Unless, of
course, you happen to be the Black Rose. Then those
little white pills in the little paper cup mean the
end. The end to what, you say? Why the end to
everything, of course, then end to light, the end to
color, the end to life. Those little white pills, in
their little white paper cup would end it all and drag
her back to _there_. Back to the small minded world
that everyone else lived in, that drab and lifeless
place, home to the one trick pony known as sanity. As
she did every day, she dropped them, pills, cup and
all into her waste basket, where they rightfully
belonged, knowing that as every other day, they would
be replaced in the morning by one of the servants.

They meant well, of that she was sure, but they would
never understand. How could she be expected to give it
up? All the life, color, sound and texture that only
she could percieve? That wasnt counting her friends.
No, not the drab and lifeless people around her, her
real friends, they were everywhere, they danced with
her in the night when she ran, telling her things
about the world around her, although today they seemed
sad.

She watched in confusion as one, a small serpentine
dragon spirit retrieved the cup and its little white
pills, and placed them in her hand. Why? Why were
they, her friends, trying to send her away? 

-Its only for a while, they told her, just for a
little while then you can come back, we don't want to
see you hurt, we dont want you to see today... -

They bowed thier beastial heads in sadness as the
pills were flung back into the trash. She watched the
dragon re-coil itself around her ribbon as the others
took up their places around her, in her clothes, on
her shoulders, in her hair. 

-We tried,- they said, -we tried.-

She then made her way to school, wondering if today
she would see her Ranma-sama, he who shined with a
beastial light, not unlike her friends.  They said he
was special, special and dangerous, but that only made
him more enticing, farther from the drab lifelesness
she despised.

She saw it as she approached the gates of her school,
a point of bright light in the distance, bright, yet
dark at the same time. Stopping for a moment she
watched as it grew in size and detail, coalescing into
the form of a bird, a bird of black flame. After a few
moments she began to realize that its apparent size
was more a factor of distance than mass, for now it's
wingspan extended for miles in either direction.

Behind it was what concerned her however, for behind
it the earh was scorched, nothing but embers lay
behind its glowing ebon tail. She couldnt move, she
could barely breath as her ears were filled with the
sound of flames and screams. She watched in mute
horror as the devastation approached then consumed her
in a blinding flash of ebon light. When again she
could see, her world was changed. Gone were the pretty
colors, gone was the warmth, the light. In its place
was a pall of greenish black, superimposed on the
world around her was one of death and devastation that
slowly healed. Yet as things finally returned to what
they were, she could just make out a point of bright
darkness, approaching from the distance once again.

-It wont stop,- they said, -this is why you must go
for now. When it is gone for good you can return, and
we will be waiting.-

The world was destroyed six times before she made it
home again, regardless of how many times she saw it
happen, the spectacle was never once any less
horrifying than the first time. Running thru halls
that were at the same time whole and ruined, she made
it to her room, where the little white pills in their
little white paper cup were waiting for her. Waiting
to end her pain, yet also waiting to end her life.
With one final goodbye to her friends, she swallowed
the little white pills that marked the end of an era,
thus ended the reign of the Black Rose.

Elsewhere...
Once again, the little man walked. This time the
corridors were those of the sewers beneath the city of
Tokyo, there he walked with nothing more than a cheap
disposable flashlight to illuminate his path. Yet this
time he did not travel alone, his family was with him,
scurrying around his feet, their numbers were legion.
For hours he traveled, never once pausing, never
hesitating as he navigated the labrynth of tunnels,
some man made, but more and more often, either
natural, or dug by thousands of tiny clawed feet.

Finally, after the better part of a day, he came into
a large dimly lit cavern, crowded with dozens of large
humanoid rats. There was a raised dais in the center
of this chamber, covered with a mound of refuse,
intermixed with bones, both human and other and topped
with an oversized, over stuffed chair. The rat-man
that sat on the improvised throne was old, his eyes
yellowed and filmed over, his muzzle white. He was
missing his right ear, the scars of the blow that
removed it running down the side of his face, leaving
furrows of pink flesh in his pale fur. Across his
knees lay a sword, a large two handed affair that
looked to have been made of beaten iron, yet its edge
seemed to glow with a preternatural light.

The elder looked down upon the little man as he
entered the chamber and bowed. After a few moments it
spoke in a screeching, chittering tongue.

*What brings you here Guardian?*

The little man looked up at the elder, pausing for a
moment to properly phrase his request.

"Elder, for twenty years, I have held the title of He
Who Guards The Seers, as my father before me held the
title, and his father before him. For the last eight
generations, we have performed our duties to the best
of our abilities, bringing news of visions that might
in some way affect the Warren. In all that time we
have asked for nothing, being content to serve the
Warren and Mother Rat... Is this not so?"

This brought a murmur from the beings assembled, only
some of whom knew what the title entailed. The Elder
waited a moment for it to die down before answering.

*That you have, as have your forefathers before you.
Am I understand that after all this time you have a
request?*

The little man simply nodded his head in assent.

*Then speak and you shall be heard.*

Standing to his full height, he looked up to meet the
Elder's eyes as he spoke, his voice a bare monotone,
yet still betraying the anger and pain bottled up
inside of him.

"Three days ago my daughter Sakura Sagakure, known to
you as Sakura Walks In Shadows was murdered. Her
killer tourtured her over the period of several hours
before allowing her to die. Were her killer a human
being, I would not need the help of my kin, I would
have taken no small amount of pleasure in making him
pay... But he is not. According to the autopsy report,
she was killed with a massive dose of spiders venom
and there were traces of webbing found under her
fingernails and in her hair."

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in, the
rising cacophony of voices telling him that his
bretheren had drawn the same conclusions as he had and
it pleased him to note that many of his distant kin
were already plotting revenge. Once the voices had
quieted down to a more manageble level he continued.

"Yes, my daughter was murdered by a Kumo"

The Elder sighed, this was one of those times when
politics truly got to him, and the resigned tone of
his voice was missed by none.

*As much as it pains me to say this, there is not much
we can do. I hate the damn bugs as much as any of you,
but the Beast Courts will not allow us to strike at
them openly. We may be strong, but we are not strong
enough to defeat the combined might of the Hengeyokai,
should it be brought against us.*

The voices in the chamber muted a bit, although there
were still those plotting private revenge should the
culprit be brought to light. They all quieted when the
little man spoke again.

"No, you cannot strike at them, but you can give me
what I need to avenge my daughter. As a man I am not
strong enough to fight a Kumo, so I ask that my time
as a man be ended tonight, one way or another. I
request the Rite of The Birthing Plague, to join Rat
as one of her warriors. Should She choose to remove me
from this mortal coil instead, then so be it!"

The muted chitterings rose into a roar as all present
had something to say in this matter. The Rite had
never been performed on someone his age, what he was
attempting would surely kill him. Yet others could
feel the rage inside of him, with that much anger to
fuel him, he just might survive though the odds were
slim. Out of all of them however, not a single voice
questioned his right to request it, and that was what
the elder was listening for.

*SILENCE!!*

The Elder looked down at the little man for a moment
before speaking again.

*Step forward and place your hand upon the dais.*

There was nothing but determination and a little anger
on his face as the man did as he was told. He watched
as the elder shifted down to his rat form and hopped
off the chair onto the platform before him. The pain
of the oversized incisors piercing his flesh was
nothing compared to the pain of seeing his daughter on
the morticians table, and the almost immediate fever
that tore thru his body was welcome, as it would be an
end either way. As the room slowly emptied out, the
elder shifted to his human form, which appeared to be
in it's eighties, and looked down upon him, not
unkindly.

"Sasuke Sagakure, may Mother Rat guide you and keep
you on your journey."

Meanwhile...
The mite sized spider hung from its thread over the
dining area of the Nekohaten and watched. A few blocks
away, in the apartment over a very different
restaurant, a much larger spider sat in the webbing
filled chamber that had, at one time, housed the best
okonomiyaki chef in all of Japan.

Ichiro watched, he had eyes spread all through the old
bitches restaurant and could follow her every move.
When he had seen what time had done to her body, he
had almost been tempted to simply watch her die, yet
the drive for revenge demanded something a touch more
personal. He almost hadnt recognized her, but then
again, it had been over 100 years since last they had
met. His defeat at her hands had been the most
humiliating of his life, and he fully intended to see
her pay for it.

He had been running an import/export business at the
time, though most of his business had been composed of
opiates and slaves for the foreigners in Shanghai.
Through Kui-jin contacts, he had learned of a group of
magic springs that had the ability to change the shape
of any who touched their waters. After having a sample
sent to him for corraboration, he had put together an
expedition to this place called Jusenko. Things had
gone wrong shortly after arriving, starting with the
fact that there were hundreds of springs, each with
their own unique curse and no-one knew which was
which.

He had sent scouts in all directions, foraging for
supplies and, more importantly, looking for a local
that might know the location of one particular spring,
the Nyanichuan, The spring of Drowned Girl. Once that
one was found, he intended to return home minus two
dozen porters and plus two dozen slavegirls for the
Shanghai brothels. Looking at the unknowing victims he
had to laugh... By the time they figured out that most
of the weight in the packs they carried where their
own collars and chains, it would be far to late.

Then, it had seemed, that things were starting to look
up for them. One of his scouts had returned, telling
tales of a village of warrior women, almost all of
exceptional beauty, without a single firearm to be
seen.

They had attacked at dawn, a black powder charge was
used to blow the main gates, as his men flooded in,
guns blazing. Only, things had not gone according to
plan. Instead of the disorganized rabble he had been
expecting, his men met stiff opposition. Even then,
their firearms would have carried the day if it were
not for _her_. She moved through his men like a purple
haired demon, leaving broken bodies in her wake, a
crushed larnyx here, a shattered spine there, till he
suddenly found himself surrounded and alone.

Chuckling, he shifted to war form, laughing out loud
as they broke ranks and ran, all except for her. She
simply stood there, nothing but disdain on her face as
she addressed him.

"Kumo! Know this. You have trespassed upon the lands
of the Joketsozuku and for that you will die. I am Ku
Lohn, Village Protector, and the last living being you
will ever see!"

With that, she assumed her war form, an oversized
pre-historic tiger with purple fur so dark it shined
black in the early dawn light.

They rushed each other, titans battling over a
cowering village, each vying for supremacy. At first
she had the advantage, her speed was incredible
striking him multiple times before he could even begin
to defend himself. Yet it was his ability to literally
see and strike in any direction that eventually began
to give him the upper hand as he pushed her on the
defensive. She then spent all of her time defending
and backing off, her light slashing counters doing
nothing more than angering him further.

Her shifting back to human form was the last thing he
had expected and the smirk on her face only served to
enrage him further but when he tensed to lunge, she
threw a single punch, a punch that came nowhere near
him as she yelled out an attack that would serve to
haunt his nightmares for decades.

"Hirou Shouten Haa!"

The resulting whirlwind had shattered him, the spiders
that made up his being were sucked into the vortex and
crushed. Where it not for the few spiders he had left
at the springs to watch his future slaves, his life
would have ended that day. It had taken him years to
reform, only to find that his financial base had long
since been taken over by others. It had taken him the
better part of a century to recover what he had lost,
though he had spent much of the time studying the
martial arts, in an effort to find a counter to the
move that had nearly killed him. To this day, he had
been unsuccessful.

His only real consolation was the fact that she was
practically helpless now, a meddling old crone
managing a restaurant. He would take great pleasure in
killing her, that was of course, after making her
watch her great granddaughter get sucked dry. Yes, he
had waited this long, he could afford to wait a couple
of days to set it up perfectly.

The dry laughter emanating from the upstairs area of
the Ucchan cleared out the few customers that were
there, as Konatsu looked up, sighed and smiled.

In the Nekohaten, an old, if far from helpless woman
shivered, before returning to her tea.

_______________________________________________________

Tbc

Previous Chapters Found At: http://nezumi.homepage.com

For those of you who wonder about the Nezumi, this may
give you some
insight:

http://members.tripod.com/wwta/Breeds/Ratkin/Tribes/Nezumi/nezumi_tribe.htm

DarqueChilde
aka Soul Survivor

Questions? Comments?
E-mail me at:

simkin@rocketmail.com

We are the equalizers, the Low Born, the ultimate
truth. When our Hakken brothers realize the need for
us again, they will come, and we will make a
killing...literally. 
-- TienBao, Nezumi Warrior

Hakken - Werewolf
Nezumi - Wererat
Kumo - Werespider 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone.
http://phone.yahoo.com
	     .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'