[FFML] [Ranma]Hengeyokai 7

"And don't come back until you can cure my
babies!!" Soun demanded angrily as he slammed the door
shut on Genma. Genma left running, grumbling about
ungrateful so-called friends, disrespectful women and
most of all wretched sons.
Soun glanced about his empty home and tried to
maintain his stoicism in the face of the current
situation. Even Nabiki had wished to stay with her
sisters as if she were afraid of what she could expect
from her home.
Soun knew that his declaration to Genma was more or
less a permanent exile. Dr. Tofu had explained that
the change was permanent and that Nabiki was now
permanently a member of another species, and that soon
Akane and Kasumi would join her.
Soun hoped that once his other daughters woke up
that they'd all come back home, where they belonged.
If they didn't, he didn't know what he'd do.
Curse Genma and his stories about cursed springs.
Curse Ranma for bringing this catastrophe about. And
curse himself for inviting them.

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

Nabiki looked at her sister's sleeping faces and
changing auras and clenched her fists together. Ranma
would have to explain this, and then he would have to
pay. That was the simple truth.
How much he paid would depend greatly on whether he
had a good reason for turning her family's lives
upside down. What Genma had told them had been next
to useless, and perhaps completely inaccurate. Nabiki
didn't think Ranma had explained much of what he was
doing to his father.
The first priority was finding Ranma, and gleaning
some answers from him whether he liked it or not.
Unfortunately, Nabiki lacked the information she
needed to make any sort of deduction like that. For
all she knew, Ranma had packed up and vanished.
She sighed irritably and stroked her sisters'
foreheads before turning to the television and
flipping it on.
"You should go home and get some sleep," Dr. Tofu
said. "You won't make things go any quicker by
staying her."
"I suppose so," Nabiki said looking over to Dr.
Tofu. "You already called the school to say I'd still
be recovering today, right?"
"Yes," Dr. Tofu said. "You've been up all night.
It's time to get some sleep."
"Are you certain that it isn't that I make you
uncomfortable?" Nabiki asked bluntly.
"I'll admit it's strange," Tofu said. "But you're
still Nabiki from all I can tell. I don't see why
anyone should be more or less uncomfortable around you
than they were before." Nabiki smirked proudly at
that comment.
"You know the kicker in all this, Dr. Tofu?" Nabiki
asked.
"What's that?" he asked her.
"Kasumi suspected something," Nabiki said. "So did
Akane, but she always suspects something so that
doesn't count. Still, Kasumi figured out something
wasn't right, and was on the way to figuring out what
before I had a clue. That's embarrassing. Spilling
the rice indeed."
"Yeah," Dr. Tofu said, starting to get a little
goofy as they started talking about Kasumi. "She's
smart isn't she. I hope she isn't too traumatized by
this."
"I think we'll all figure it out fine," Nabiki
said. "But I'd say the Saotome agreement is out the
window now."
"This just in," the television said. "A local
student was orphaned yesterday when her parents were
killed in vicious assault. The girl says a that a
red-haired woman came in and killed her parents and
kidnapped a friend of hers that was spending the night
over."
"She would have gotten me too," Yuka's voice said
dramatically. "But I got away..."
"Isn't that one of Akane's friends?" Dr. Tofu
asked.
"Yuka," Nabiki said. "Yes, it is. And a
red-haired...woman? Could Ranma have a partner?"
"Other news reports a fierce battle between unknown
individuals in the same area," the reporter said after
finishing with Yuka. "Perhaps these events are
representative of some new criminal element, but
whatever the case, we must, as citizens, take more
care in the following days until the government can
resolve the situation."
Nabiki looked between the television and Akane,
unconcious on her bed, hesitantly. Finally she turned
to Dr. Tofu.
"I'm going there," she said.
"Are you certain that's a good idea," Dr. Tofu
asked. "You aren't the fighter that Akane is."
"I'll be okay," Nabiki said. "I just want to talk
to Yuka and hear what she has to say. I'll almost
certainly find some clue as to Ranma's location."
"Just be careful," Dr. Tofu said. "If Ranma isn't
the only one involved, you don't know what to expect."
"I know how to handle myself with a school girl,"
Nabiki said dryly.

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

"Unnnn," Ranma groaned as he came awake. Almost
instantly he felt the bounds that were holding him
secure. "What the..."
"Our guest is awake," a old voice spoke.
"Wha..." Ranma's eyes cracked open and he saw
himself in a small, poorly lit room. A chill ran
through him. "Oh kami, it's over..."
"Yes, it is over for stupid fox," another voice
said.
Ranma glanced around toward the voice and
recognized the purple haired girl from that village.
She looked pleased to see Ranma, though not really in
a good way.
"All right!" Ranma said, smiling. "Still in
business."
"Stupid fox," Shampoo snapped angrily, flicking her
nose in her air and leaning back with a yawn.
"Hey, where's the other guy?" Ranma asked.
"Mousse is currently sleeping," Cologne said,
hopping into the light. "Since your...visit both my
great-granddaughter and he have been spending much
more time awake at night."
"Ah," Ranma said embarrassed. He almost moved to
scratch his head, but remembered he was tied up. He
sighed. "I'm sorry about that."
"Sorry!!" Shampoo shouted in Chinese. She stood up
and purposefully strode across the room to get in
Ranma's face. "I am exiled, I am NO LONGER Amazon.
You are dead as soon as you answer one question."
"What question?" Ranma asked, looking nervous.
"Why did a stupid Japanese fox have to come and
ruin my life!!!" Shampoo demanded.
Ranma swallowed nervously, remembering just what
Shampoo was now. It wasn't so bad now as it had been
before. For one thing, Ranma felt something of a
connection with Shampoo. A responsibility that
molified the fear of her c..c..c...feline nature. For
another, Shampoo was human at the moment.
"You got drafted," Ranma said simply in her native
language. Shampoo flinched and stepped away from the
fox to sit back down in a pout.
"The hannya?" Cologne asked. Ranma looked at her
confused. "Do you not even know what it is that you
fight, child?"
"Oh, what are they then, elder?" Ranma asked,
respectful and sarcastic all at once.
"The hannya, child, is a snake demon that makes a
deal with a human in exchange for a physical body to
effect the mortal realm with," Cologne said
exasperated.
"Elder," Ranma said. "They ain't nothing connected
with animals of any kind. If you got close enough to
see the demon, then SHE," Ranma nodded toward Shampoo,
"was close enough ta see 'em for the outsiders they
are."
"Shampoo," Cologne turned toward her granddaughter.
"I don't argue with my great-grandmother," Shampoo
said crossing her arms.
"They are hannya, however," Cologne said. "I have
seen one before, many years ago in my youth."
"As good a name as any I guess, I'll still call 'em
voidlings myself," Ranma said. A sudden thought came
to him. "Sayuri...they didn't get her did they?"
"The girl you were with?" Cologne asked.
"That weakling is in the next room," Shampoo said
dismissively. She was leaning back in her chair
against the wall with her eyes closed.
"Some weakling," Ranma returned. "Most of the
people round here woulda turned tail and run away
screamin', but she helped me."
"And why didn't you 'draft' her?" Cologne asked.
"If she is so strong."
"Strength of soul don't make strength of body,"
Ranma said firmly. "I don't want to kill nobody. Now
I'd like proof that she's still around and not
carrying about some voidling."
"That is a reasonable request," Cologne said.
"Shampoo, please bring the girl in here."
Shampoo leaned forward, the front two legs of her
chair slapping loudly against the floor as she turned
a put upon look toward Ranma. She stood up and tossed
her hair back striding arrogantly out of the room.
Cologne noted the amount that Ranma relaxed as
Shampoo left the room.
"Does something about Shampoo make you nervous,
fox?" Cologne asked.
"Ever here of the Neko-ken elder?" Ranma asked.
"You can sense what she is then?" Cologne asked.
"Or did you determine it."
"I just saw what she'd be before I gave her my
gift," Ranma said. "I didn't decide it."
"That was quite a 'gift,' child," Cologne said.
"Incidentally, are you a boy or a girl?"
"Both," Ranma said. "But that's just me, Elder,
Shampoo ain't going to have to worry about that.
Mostly I'm a guy right now though."
"Ranma," Sayuri said as she was brought into the
room. "You're alive..."
"Yep," Ranma said. "Sorry about all this, Sayuri."
"What's going on?" she demanded. "Who are these
people, and what happened to Yuka?"
"You really want to know?" Ranma asked. Cologne
spoke something in Chinese that received a pouty huff
from Shampoo before the exiled Amazon left the room
again.
"One of my best friend's tried to...do something to
me last night," Sayuri said. "Another of my friends
and her sisters are in comas in the hospital,"
Cologne's eyebrow arched. "I think you owe everyone
some answers."
"Okay," Ranma said, pausing a moment for Shampoo to
arrive with a bleary looking Mousse. "Yuka ain't Yuka
no more, she got possessed yesterday. She got tricked
inta offering herself up in return for some favor from
the demon in her."
"What possible reason could Yuka have to sell her
soul," Sayuri asked timidly, uncertain how to handle
that.
"You," Ranma said.
"What?" Sayuri shreiked.
"Yuka traded her soul in return for the chance to
get into the sack with you an' Akane," Ranma said
simply. Shampoo snickered from where she was
imitating sleep.
"Girl is too weak like a man," she said in Chinese.
"Can't love like a real woman." Sayuri didn't
understand it but caught the gist and flashed angrily
red.
Cologne sighed and pushed Shampoo's chair legs and
inch forward, dropping the former Amazon in a tangle
of chair and flesh.
"What did Grandmother do that for?" Shampoo
demanded.
"I would remind Shampoo about her mother's 'friend'
before she makes any further comments like that,"
Cologne said quietly to the girl.
Shampoo virtually hissed in response but did not
dispute her Grandmother, though anybody else would
have been hurt. She grumbled as she sat back on her
chair, keeping better awareness of her balance this
time.
"I am not a lesbian," Sayuri insisted angrily.
Shampoo rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"And what do these demons have to do with ruining
our lives?" Mousse demanded in fluent Japanese for the
benefit of the schoolgirl. Ranma flinched but growled
back after a moment.
"And what right do you have to kill someone over a
bunch of food that can be replaced?" Ranma demanded.
"Or because you got such fragile egos that ya gotta
kill everyone that's better n' you?"
"Is Amazon LAW!" Shampoo shouted in Japanese. "Is
sacred!"
"Is STUPID!!!" Ranma shot back.
"What did you do to them, Ranma?" Sayuri asked
suspiciously.
"Yes, child," Cologne asked. "Explain just what
happened during the two days my granddaughter and
Mousse were lying unconscious in the healer's hut."
"Unconscious for..." Sayuri's eyes widened.
"Err...same thing I did ta the Tendo sisters,"
Ranma said remorsefully.
"As in all of them?" Sayuri gasped. She stood up
and rushed across the room to slap Ranma. The fox's
head turned and then settled back, accepting the slap.
"How could you do that to them? Especially Kasumi.
How could you hurt her!" Sayuri demanded noticing
Ranma wince with each question.
"I got a dirty job," Ranma said quietly. "An I
ain't got much time ta do it in, or much idea of how
to do it."
"That's no..." Sayuri started.
"'Sides," Ranma said. "It was either I make 'em
like me...or they take 'em. I know there were after
Akane, an' I'm certain they'd like ta add the other
two to the mix also. Either that or kill 'em. Which
do you think is better?"
Sayuri glared at Ranma and clenched her fists
before walking to sit down next to the former Amazons
where Mousse stood watching them.
"What is job, Fox," Shampoo asked.
"Our job...c...c..." Ranma took a breath.
"Shampoo. Our job."
"Shampoo not want job," the cat said, pouting and
crossing her arms.
"Yeah, well, there's a reason that twelve people
like us are needed ta end this war," Ranma said.
"Anybody can fight it...but hengeyokai, twelve
hengeyokai, are needed ta end it for our good. An
they need twelve of them to end it the other way."
"And how many of you are there," Cologne asked.
"Includin' us," Ranma asked. "Six so far, an' I'm
the only that knows how ta make more, an' I don't know
how ta teach it yet. I don't know if I WANT ta teach
it period." Cologne watched him intently.
"You truly don't like this situation," Cologne
said. "Do you fox?"
"Why would I?" Ranma asked. Cologne considered
that a moment. "Shampoo, Mousse, Let's discuss this
in the other room, we'll leave the Japanese to stew in
their own affairs for now."
"Why you not let Shampoo stay in one place?"
Shampoo whined as she stood up and walked out the
door.
"Fox demon, we shall settle this soon," Mousse said
angrily. Cologne hopped along behind them on her
staff.
Sayuri sat in her seat with her eyes jammed closed,
sobbing quietly. Ranma watched her and the former
Amazons leaving, taking each sign of how he had
affected there life as a stab in the heart.
Ranma took a deep breath. The ropes tying him were
designed to still hold if he changed size. He could
break them, but that would alert his captors. Still
he had another way out. They thought they were
dealing with a straight hengeyokai, not a master
shapeshifter.
He shifted into a snake and slid out of his bounds.
Then shifted back into human form. He was still in a
lot of pain, but apparently the old woman had healed a
little. Otherwise he'd still be in bad shape,
increased healing or no. As it was, another day of
rest and he'd be good as new.
"Hey, um Sayuri," Ranma said quietly from right
behind her. Sayuri blinked and stared at Ranma for a
moment before opening her mouth.
Before she could scream Ranma, in a fit of panic
bent leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss.
Sayuri's eyes bugged out wide as his lips but hers and
she started to wonder just how Ranma changed people.
As Ranma broke off the kiss, she stared at him in
blind terror.
"Shhh, ya gotta warn Dr. Tofu and the Tendos, an'
see if you can find out how ta get these demons outta
somebody, k?"
Sayuri nodded slowly, wondering if Ranma was about
to do to her what he'd done to everybody else.
"K," Ranma said. "I gotta get outta here. I ain't
runnin' but they gotta calm down an' see what's fixing
a bit before they can work with me. The Tendos too."
Sayuri nodded again.
"This is a war," Ranma said. "An your as much a
part of it as I am. Everybody in the world is. Yer
smart, yer brave, you can help us out here, got it?"
Sayuri nodded again still nervous about what was
going to happen.
"Is somethin' wrong with you?" Ranma asked
nervously.
"Am I going to be like them now?" Sayuri asked
nervously, waiting to collapse into a shaking
unconsciousness. Ranma winced.
"I can't do that to you," Ranma said. "It'd kill
you. Besides, you can still do stuff they an' I
can't." Sayuri breathed a sigh of relief and looked
somewhat confused for a moment before her hand drifted
up to her lips.
"Then that..." Sayuri started to speak.
"Ummm, sorry about that," Ranma said. "I panicked,
an' I been doin' a bit of kissing recently." He
looked to the room's door and then the small window.
"I better get going."
Then Sayuri watched as Ranma jumped toward the
window, shifting into a slightly larger fox than the
one she had seen before, and work his way out the
opening.
After Ranma was gone the shock wore down and all
the conflicting emotions she had felt throughout the
talk were released in one, loud scream.
Outside, Ranma smirked as the three Chinese
fighters burst into the room to see what was
happening. In the second it took them to realize that
Ranma had escaped, the fox was stepping into the room
where he felt his new sword's aura and grabbing it.
He felt their auras coming up toward him to check
on the weapon, but by the time they reached the room,
he was gone. The fox had become human just long
enough to grab the sword, and then the sword
transformed with him as he went out the window to join
a flock of pigeons.

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

Nabiki approached Yuka's house carefully, and noted
all the police in the area. She suspected, actually,
that they would have moved her away from the scene of
the attack by now.
As she came closer to the house she began to feel
distinctly ill at ease. Her spine felt chilled, and
if she had been in one of her other forms she was
certain all her fur would be standing on end.
It was like she had felt from Kuno the day Ranma
had kissed her, only she felt it a thousand times
greater. When Kuno had surprised her before the chill
had come and gone without her really paying attention
to it. Now...
Nabiki froze as she turned a corner to see Yuka
speaking to the police with a tear streaked face.
Standing amongst the human auras was that girl,
radiating...emptiness.
"Voidling," Nabiki whispered, backing away before
the girl could notice her. ~That was what he meant,
from outside...he meant outside our world...shit!!!~
She turned away from the house and towards the
other side of the street. She started to conceal
herself in another person's yard but found herself
unable to enter the building.
~If I were smaller,~ Nabiki thought to herself.
Then she sighed, realizing she could be smaller, and
smell things much keener as well. ~And maybe I can
smell out Ranma.~
It took a moment for Nabiki to find a safe place
and work out the changing instinct, and then she was
skirting around the area, seeking Ranma's trail.
Hopefully she'd find it and begone before the voidling
saw her and her aura.
It took less time than she thought to find a scent
that was like Ranma but female and Sayuri. That she
followed to another scene of police officers. There
were much fewer officers on this scene, however, and
no chalk outlines around the dumpster. Instead there
were blood stains here and there.
Nabiki followed the blood, the female Ranma's
blood, idly wondering if Ranma's "partner" was
actually a sister.
She lost the scent at the botanical gardens, but
the blood was easy to follow by this point. She
followed it as far as she could, taking human form to
avoid any animal control that might happen by, until
it just stopped.
That was as far as the middle Tendo was willing to
go. She thought that the female Ranma must have
gotten away, but even if she had she was incredibly
hurt. If it weren't for the scent of violets
everywhere she thought she could have maid out more
information.
"I'll have to settle for this," she thought and
turned around to leave the scene. "And there is still
your brother to worry about missy." She poked a
finger at the blood.
She didn't know whether the Saotome could be
considered an enemy, but she was quite certain that he
was for the moment less than a friend. Ranma had a
lot to make amends for in her book.
"Looks like a war in three directions then," Nabiki
grumbled as she headed home. "I should start training
again."

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

Ranma sat in the park, finding a small secluded
place that was hard to see, easy to defend, and
offered plenty of escape routes for someone like him.
In front of him was his new sword, stabbed into the
ground.
He KNEW there were many things he could do with the
weapon. He just couldn't remember how, or many of
what. It was apparently one of the pieces of
information his saviour had considered extra.
Things like, just what the enemy had to do to win,
why there had to be twelve hengeyokai, how they were
supposed to end this thing permanently. You know,
extra niceties like that.
He took a deep breath and watched the setting sun.
"Akane and Kasumi will be awake soon if not
already," Ranma said softly, cringing.

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

"Oh my," Kasumi said with a soft chirp as she
looked at herself in the mirror. Her hand, wing,
trembled as she reached out to touch the glass. She
had brown, grey and black feathers scattered about
with a hint of white towards her chest and abdomen.
Her feet were bird-like talons and she spoke through a
pointed beak. She walked around lightly, twisting her
head like a curious sparrow.
Next to her, Akane was pacing about, wringing her
hands and snapping and growling.
"I'll kill the bastard!" Akane snapped. "He
attacks us, turns us into these freaks and plays with
our heads! I'll kill him!"
The youngest Tendo looked similar to Nabiki, though
she was bigger, and seemed a great deal more compact
besides. Her lengthened face was more square than
pointed and her sharp teeth and jaws seemed that much
more dangerous. Her fur was a speckled brown, and she
had a long slim tail that was holding angrily still.
She quite obviously packed tremendously more power per
pound than Nabiki while at the same time being larger.
"Quit being such a bitch, Akane," Nabiki said.
Akane stopped pacing and turned to glare at her
sister. Kasumi blinked and turned to her as well.
"That is NOT funny, Nabiki," Akane said.
"No, it wasn't," Kasumi added.
"We're going to have to live with this," Nabiki
said. "Might as well get used to it. An Ranma's
future reckoning to the Tendo clan aside, we have
bigger problems. Sit down Akane, I have more bad news
for you. This is about Yuka and Sayuri."
"What about them?" Akane asked nervously.

=====
"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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