[FFML] Hengeyokai 6

Ranma frowned as she, taking that form for the dual
purpose of disguise and it had been too long since she
last used it, looked at the sliver of sun that was
sinking below the horizon. The whole day had taken
too long. Certainly, any teenage girl was already
well on the way towards where she planned to spend the
night already.
The only good thin was that she had snuck a peek at
Yuka's address from the school files, so at least
Ranma knew where she was heading.
Now, in the past, Ranma would have been leaping
over the rooftops to reach his destination. However,
now she was finding flight to be much more useful.
The falcon's form melted and reformed as it dropped
toward the roof. Yuka's home was especially easy to
find with Yuka's aura radiating out of it. Quickly a
small red fox was dropping off the roof and landing on
the low fence circling the small yard.
The good news was that Ranma couldn't smell but
faint traces of Sayuri anywhere about the house. She
was a frequent visitor though it seemed that it had
been a week or so since she had last been to Yuka's
house.
There was bad news as well. Violence, recent and
terrible, and taken place at this house. The smell of
blood and fear was strong, very strong. Ranma
followed the scent as well as he could to a pair of
dumpsters in a back ally.
She didn't have to look in the dumpster to
recognize the smell of human beings, she thought maybe
two. Ranma hesitated to make a move to open the
dumpsters then a thoughtful expression crossed her
face and she shifted into her human form.

************

"You say she was attacked?" Dr. Tofu said angrily.
"Yes, we saw the young man toss Ranma out the
window," Genma said. "How that worthless son of mine
could let such a thing happen, I'll never know."
"This doesn't fit what I was told about your other
two daughters," Dr. Tofu said. "Ranma said Nabiki
just collapsed, and nobody knows, apparently, what
happened to Akane."
"You don't think Ranma could be involved," Soun
said, aghast. "I'm certain that no son of Genma's..."
Soun stopped to consider Genma's character.
"This is nonsense," Genma said. "What possible
motive could the boy have for attacking the girls in
this manner?"
"I don't know the intent of the...attack," Dr. Tofu
said, grimmly serious as he too glared at Genma.
"If your boy is the one harming my babies Saotome,"
Soun said angrily. Genma laughed nervously, wondering
if his son had indeed done something to cause this
fiasco.

************

"Oooohhh," Nabiki moaned as she woke up massaging
her forehead. "That was some kiss." Her mind was
already trying to work out just what exactly had
happened in those five seconds.
She quite quickly worked out that she wasn't in the
school, recognizing Tofu's patient room. Further
examination proved that it was night. So Ranma's
"kiss" had put her out for at least the full day. Her
father had already produced a tsunami from his wailing
and tears.
Looking to her sides she saw two paper dividers and
the shapes of two more people laying in bed. She
could feel that their bodies were in a riot of
activity of some sort, though they weren't conscious.
She resolved to stay quiet and not disturb them,
though the two seemed familiar in some way.
"Wait a minute," Nabiki said. She sat up and
crossed her legs.
She looked first to the left and concentrated. As
she noted the soft glow of that person's aura her
hackles started going up. Looking to her right
finished the job.
"I'm seeing chi auras," Nabiki said quietly,
gripping the side of her bed tightly. She glanced
around, not willing to investigate why the two women,
she KNEW they were female, felt familiar.
The sight the greeted her in the wall mirror across
from her wasn't all that different from the one she
was used to, aside from a very obvious fact. When
Ranma had kissed her she had a very distinct shade of
brown hair. Now it seemed that she had iron grey hair
with black streaks apparently pointing toward her
face.
"Okay, they could have dyed my hair I guess,"
Nabiki said, looking at those black streaks.
What's more was that, above and beyond the
strangeness, she didn't really feel completely at
ease. She felt comfortable enough, but it was more
like she was putting on a good face for a visitor.
"It has to be just the stress of not knowing what's
going on," Nabiki said to reassure herself. She took
in a deep breath and resolved herself to just
completely relax for a moment. "Then I can plan out
how to interrogate...Ranma...about this."
Her voice was truly irritated. That changed as she
felt herself...doing something. It was subtle, she
almost missed it, but her little medative exercise
left her aware enough to catch it.
Especially the fact that she had to rearrange her
seating position to avoid crushing her...something.
Nabiki's eyes cracked open and she took in the
mirror. She failed to notice that the room seemed
significantly brighter than when she had closed her
eyes. Considering what she did notice, this was not
really a failure.

************

"AAAAIIIIIIIEEEE!!!"
"Nabiki!" Soun declared loudly. Soon he and Tofu
were rushing into the patients' room, leaving behind a
very relieved Genma who was very tempted to leave the
area while he had the chance. Family honor, meaning
the chance for an easy retirement, convinced him to
stay behind, against his better judgment.
"Nabiki, you're..." Soun stopped as they came into
the room to see a very shocked looking...creature
sitting on one of Dr. Tofu's beds.
"Sorry about this," the creature growled. She had
a pointed face about half-way between a girl's and a
tanuki's and was currently digging a furrow into the
bed she was on as a racoon like tail swished behind
her, peeking out from under the hospital robe. "Oh,
you'll be sorry alright Saotome. You'll definitely be
sorry."
"What have you done with my daughter, demon?!" Soun
demanded as he failed to see Nabiki anywhere.
The tanuki turned around and looked toward her
father and Dr. Tofu and flinched, uncertain how to
proceed.
"Daddy," she said, cautiously slipping off the
table and taking a step back from the hostile looking
martial artist. "I AM Nabiki."
"Nonsense," Soun declared. "You're not even
human!"
"But..." Nabiki hesitated and looked to Tofu for
help and noticed a hesitant but thoughtful look on his
face. ~Okay I turned into this, I can change
back...just concentrate. Putting on the best for the
guest, that's right...~
Soun watched was the tanuki closed her eyes and
started to shrink back into the familiar form of his
middle daughter. He flinched back in surprise and
then frowned suspiciously.
"Come on, Daddy," Nabiki said quietly. "It really
is me."
"Could she be possessed, Tofu?" Soun asked.
"No," Tofu said, stepping forward. "Her aura is
changed, but that is Nabiki, I should have recognized
it immediately."
"Nabiki?" Soun asked. Nabiki wanted to run and hug
her father and beg for his support, but...that just
wouldn't do for her reputation.
"Daddy," she said irritably, with an arched
eyebrow, arms crossed and the fingers of one hand
tapping impatiently.
Predictably the bundle of emotions that was Soun
Tendo ran forward and wrapped his daughter in a
powerful hug, giving Nabiki the contact she wanted
with out really appearing to regress to a child that
needed reassuring.
"Well," Genma said from the door. "Everything is
okay then, we'll just wait for Akane and Kasumi to
wake up and everything will be fine." Three sets of
eyes turned toward Genma Saotome.

************

Sayuri was a jumble of nerves as she walked quickly
through the streets. She was late, very late, but
with Akane joining her sister in this mystery disease
she just couldn't get a handle of keeping track of
time.
Yuka was making her nervous too. She had been for
a while actually, but that had been different. If she
had to compare to anything it would be like the
feeling she got when she felt she'd have to give the
"let's just be friends" speech, but that wasn't
possible.
Today, however, Yuka had seemed
downright...Kunoish. There was something about her
that had set every alarm off. Still, this was her
friend, and she seemed to need to get her mind off
Akane and Nabiki as much as Sayuri did.
Still, the mysterious surroundings had her looking
into every shadow on the way and expecting some
monster to leap out at her. She relaxed as she saw
Yuka's house and it's lights. Soon she'd be safely in
Yuka's house with her parents there to watch the
night.
Something dropped down out of the trees and bounced
off her shoulder to land inbetween her and the gate.
"AAAHHH!!!"

************

"Hmmm," the demon said, looking up. Then she
smiled. "I do believe that was Sayuri-chan." The
demon frowned. "I hope she didn't find my parents,
that would make things somewhat more difficult."
The demon shrugged and stood up, turning to the
door.

************

"Oh," Sayuri said, catching her breath. "It's just
a little fox."
She breathed a sigh of relief and then giggled as
the little fox sneezed and looked decidedly pitiful
and dejected. It looked so cute, maybe she could keep
it for a pet.
As Sayuri took a step forward the fox skittered a
few feet away and stopped looking back, decidedly more
animated and cheerful looking. Sayuri blinked at the
strange behavior.
"Maybe it's already somebody's pet," she said
taking another couple of steps after it. "It acts
like it's playing a game."
The fox backed away again, definitely seeming to be
treating this as a fun game. Sayuri was going around
the corner when the door to Yuka's house opened.
"Sayuri-chan," Yuka called out. "Are you there?"
Sayuri was too intrigued with the strange little
fox to pay the sound much mind and continued further
into the alley.
"Are you through playing this game, K-Chan?" Sayuri
asked teasingly.
She was hoping to entice the odd fox closer to her.
Especially with the terrible smell in this alley.
Then she saw the fox vanish behind the dumpster with a
little disgust.
"Errr, I already started this," Sayuri decided.
She walked forward carefully around the dumpster
and found the fox just around the corner. It was
staring at her very gravely and seriously now, before
looking up toward the open dumpsters.
Sayuri's eyebrows scrunched up at the definitely
bizarre behaviour and glanced toward the dumpster
wondering what had attracted the fox's attention. As
she turned, her breath caught in her throat and her
hand flew to her face.
"Ohh, kuso," Yuka's voice said. "You found them."
Sayuri whirled around, noting that the fox had
vanished.
"Yuka!" Sayuri shouted. "Your parents are dead!!"
"What?" Yuka declared, switching gears quickly.
"B...but they just left here, they can't be dead."
She stepped forward toward the dumpster and tried
to look around Sayuri to see what she was looking at.
The other girl felt a cold chill spread down her spine
as she wasn't pushed out of the way. Yuka loved her
parents a lot more than this, and there was what she
said first...Sayuri hadn't caught it at first, but.
"L...let's go inside," Yuka said, frightened.
"And, call someone...it'll be safe inside, please..."
"You knew," Sayuri said quietly. She stepped away
from her friend and trying to back down the alley,
away from Yuka's house.
"Come on, Sayuri-chan," Yuka said, she moved to cut
off Sayuri. "Let's just go inside...we can call the
police."
"I...think I should go home," Sayuri said
nervously, she tried again to get past Yuka.
The other girl slammed her hand into the wall. The
impact shattered more concrete than Sayuri thought she
had ever seen Akane do.
"Come inside!" Yuka was virtually growlling now.
"You'll understand a lot better, once your inside."
"Let me leave, Yuka!" Sayuri demanded.
"Not until after you've been..." Yuka stopped
talking as something knocked her heavily to the side.
Sayuri watched her fly several meters down the alley
and land crookedly.
"No technique at all," a voice said.
Sayuri looked to her saviour to see a furred girl
with a heavily pointed, fox-like face. The girl's
white tipped tail was swishing nervously, angrily as
it stood between Sayuri and Yuka. Sayuri blanked out
as the fox turned to her with an urgent expression on
her face.
"Let's get out of here before the others show up!"
she shouted, grabbing the unresponsive Sayuri's hand.

Out of some sense of loyalty to her friend, Sayuri
looked over to see Yuka standing up and turning toward
them. Her eyes were glowing a formless, empty white,
but otherwise the world seem to dim around her.
"Another fox!!" Yuka shouted, screeched, in a voice
not altogether human. "Let go of my toy, little fox
and I'll just skin you alive!"
"I don't think so," the fox shouted leaning down
and smashing the ground. Sayuri still just watched
blankly as the ground rolled forward towards Yuka,
finally exploding in an almost liquid way and dragging
the girl down. "I don't know how long that'll hold
it. So like I said...let's beat it."
"But..." Sayuri tried as the fox-girl lifted her up
and took off running.
"Damn it," the fox said. "I was hoping you'd leave
before she found you there."
"Y...you showed me the bodies," Sayuri realized
suddenly, turning pale. "K...k...k..."
"Kitsune," the fox-girl supplied for her. She
glanced back towards Yuka's house.
"What's going on?" Sayuri demanded. "Where are you
taking me? Wh....what happened to Yuka...why did she
do that?"
"I don't know where we're going," the fox-girl
said. "An' I don't think that was your...ehh?" The
girl looked up in time to shield Sayuri from a
slashing attack. Sayuri felt herself rolling and then
being sat down as the fox-girl stood between her
and...
"Kuno?!" Sayuri gasped.
"Stay back," the fox whispered tightly. "They want
to get one of their friends inta ya'." Sayuri pressed
away from the fox-girl and took away her hands as she
felt a wetness. Looking down she saw the woman's
blood on her hands.
"So, there are two of you," Kuno said. "She is
ours little fox, you and your...mate? Can't stop us."
"I recognize that sword," the fox said icily as
Kuno smirked at her.
"Ah, yes," Kuno said. "We took it from the last
fox we destroyed. It had seemed more powerful in the
spirit world, but I've acquired some of my host's love
of this art, and it seemed a shame to waste such a
weapon."
"That's Kitsune weapon," the fox said, certain of
himself. "I'll be taking it back now." The demon
laughed.
"Come and try," Kuno said, smiling.
"There's a third," the fox girl whispered to
Sayuri. "Stay close and call out if you need help.
Just don't get close enough to the fight to get hurt."
The woman blazed forward, and the possessed samurai
smirked in response, moving to meet the charge. The
flash of chi around the fox was visible even to Sayuri
as the demon and fox began trading blows.
Kuno struck forward in a barrage of heavy, lunging
stabs that almost seemed a wall of metal. Sayuri
couldn't see how the fox hoped to survive the attack,
but the other fighter seemed to be blurring around the
strikes with comprable speed.
Sayuri couldn't understand way she hadn't moved
yet, but she was too frightened to do much of anything
but watch as the fox-woman slipped downward and
flipped a kick up.
Kuno flew backward, his sword flying free into the
night to land in the fox-woman's hands. Kuno rolled
back to his feet in time to see a tingle of magic
flash as the kitsune's hand gripped the hilt.
"Very impressive," he said. "But how much strength
do you have left after that?"
"Enough," the fox insisted, taking a stance with
the sword.
"You're holding back, so I'm practically fresh,"
Kuno noted, starting to circle her. "I have no
compunctions about going all out though."
A flash of crackling white and black ripped out of
Kuno's hands and flew towards the fox woman. The
Hengeyokai took in a deep breath as her chi again
became visible and the blast washed over her reddish
aura. Still she was pushed back several feet from the
force.
As the blast wore down, the girl fell to one knee
breathing heavily. Sayuri's conscious mind started to
consider just running into the night screaming, but
still just watched, frozen in shock and terror.
"You really should try harder," the demon smiled.
The fox glared at him a moment, considering. She
could take him out, easily, even now. But that would
only be the body...and she wasn't entirely certain
this Kuno deserved that.
"Time to go, Sayuri," the fox-woman said, twisting
about and grabbing the statuesque girl and bolting.
Kuno blinked in surprise, but was pelting down the
street after them. "Wish I...knew...how to
work...this thing."
Sayuri started to panic further as she could feel
the fox-woman start to tire. Looking over her
shoulder, Sayuri saw Kuno starting to catch up to
them.
"Kami, it hurts," the fox-woman whispered faintly.
She glanced drunkenly toward her left and caught sight
of botanical garden. "Lose him in the plants."
Sayuri wanted to yell at her too stay focused, but
her mouth just wouldn't work. The fox slashed forward
with the katana to smash the window ahead of them.
Then they were into the gardens, and the fox was
greatly slowed down now.
"What do you expect to find in here fox?" Kuno
taunted from behind them. Sayuri couldn't see him
from where she currently was though. "Quite an
attractive figure you pose, fox. I can keep you alive
long enough for some fun before I kill you. Turn over
the girl and I'll let you keep your dignity."
The words were wasted as Sayuri noticed, with a
sense of resignation, that the girl's face was even
more unfocused than her own. As the resignation
started to hit she calmed down.
"Poppa, not the pit, poppa," the fox whispered as
it dizzily set Sayuri down, nearly dropping her. Then
the fox crumpled against the planters breathing
heavily. Sayuri saw her Chinese style shirt slashed
in many places, and looked like she was bleeding from
all of them.
Sayuri looked back toward where she heard Kuno last
and almost bolted right away. Instead she bent down
to pick up the fox woman and try to drag her away. It
was surprisingly difficult considering the girl's
small size. She wasn't quite, tiny, but she was
definitely bridging the gap of small and average.
Sayuri found herself wishing that she had spent
more time in the gym working out like Akane. The girl
had to way at least a hundred pounds, and she wasn't
helping Sayuri to move her much.
"What's your answer little fox?" Kuno demanded, not
far behind them now.
"We're going to die," Sayuri thought. Then she
corrected herself. "No, she's going to be raped and
killed...I'm going to be...one of those."
"Sorry," the fox whispered. "Not much of a hero."

The fox steadied herself and started to grow.
Sayuri nearly lost her hopelessness inspired calm as
the fox girl became a fox boy. Instantly the fox
seemed to be much healthier and was dragging Sayuri
forward.
"Y..you're still bleeding," Sayuri pointed out.
The fox, very familiar looking now, looked down and
cursed.
"Damn it," he said. "I guess fatigue's the only
thing that gets better." He could already feel
himself tiring again.
"Awww," Kuno said as he rounded the corner. "There
you..." Kuno's visage twisted into a look of rage as
he tried to step forward. The demon samurai covered
his mouth and retreated away from them.
"What the?" the fox asked. He looked around to see
what was around them. "Violets, violets all the way
to where he is." The fox smirked in a decidedly
malicious way as he released Sayuri and started
gathering his chi again.
Sayuri looked at him in confusion until a window
burst out of the fox man, whipping the violet petals
out with it. Kuno hissed and roared incoherently as
he rushed, terror clear on his face, away from the
violets.
"That handles that," the fox said dropping to his
knees and leaning on the reclaimed katana. Then he
shrink down into someone Sayuri did recognize.
"RANMA?!" the girl declared, surprised.
"Hai," Ranma said. "Sorry about this." Then he
fell forward, eyes closing. Sayuri moved to catch
him, and looked in shock at the wounds covering him.
Whatever was going on, Ranma had the answers, and she
WANTED those answers.
"I need help," she said softly.
"Don't worry on that account, child," a withered
voice said. Sayuri looked up to see a little old
woman on a staff standing in front of two...things. A
cat and a bat, Sayuri thought.
"Uhhh..."
"Shampoo, Mousse," the old woman said. "See if the
hannya is still in the area. It seems we arrived at
least in time to collect our quarry with ease." The
animal creatures nodded and seemed to fade away.
"What is going on?" Sayuri asked.
"That is something you and my great granddaughter
will have to ask the fox," the old woman said.

=====
"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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