[FFML] [Ranma/OMG]A New Life 3

"How to deal with this," an ancient figure
muttered. "Can't have them hanging around here
anymore. Cologne is enough to deal with, three gods,
that's beyond what I want to try."
He tapped his foot, and considered the situation.
Ranma still thought of Happosai as a comparatively
harmless sort of evil, and he was right. Most of the
time.
Happosai's primary joy in life was in groping woman
and stealing their underwear, no more than that. He
had set about becoming a martial artist for that goal,
since he especially loved the idea of getting the
better of powerful women.
That did not make him evil, however. There were
plenty of perverts out there like him and none of them
quite reached the status of evil.
What made Happosai evil wasn't that he enjoyed
grabbing a woman's breast or buns or bra. What made
Happosai evil was that he enjoyed twisting other
people onto his path. The path of self-appeasement
and ease. Those he couldn't corrupt, he ruined. It
was a matter of jealousy in some ways, he hated seeing
people that reached his level of power without making
the same sacrifices.
Soun's emotional stability had been shattered.
Hinako Ninomiya had to live with her cursed body and
mind. Genma had all but shifted to Happosai's path,
but he was lazy and stupid. His evil was all
accidental, not intentional like Happosai's.
He did not really care much one way or the other
about any of the more obvious sorts of evil. Which
was just as well since they attracted a lot of
attention.
No Happosai's evil was the silent, pernicious kind
that grew like cancer. This generation he had not
accomplished much, no Shi-Shio, no Naraku.
But he was capable of a little murder and mayhem if
he wanted.
That was not what worried him though. An evil man
could pass under the radar of a deity if they didn't
attract attention. Diabolism, however, that was a
different matter. Especially if the diabolist in
question had courted the powers of hell rather than
being tempted into it.
Happosai had worked hard to become the martial
artist he was, and that work was all his own. The
techniques, however, the ancient techniques that he
had used to build his own deadly style of martial arts
out of his Jujutsu knowledge had to be located first.
A large number of them had been lost for ages before
he found them. The Anything Goes Style, as he
practiced, it was a match for the Amazon Wu Shu for
one simple reason.
Happosai had made a deal all those years ago. The
locations of where every martial arts technique known
might be learned, in exchange for his mortal soul.
He had hoped to drag Ranma down, for the boy was
quickly going to surpass his capability. Not to
mention the fact that he barely needed to find ancient
techniques, he created new ones as he needed them.
And that really frightened the ancient pervert, since
the map he had sold his soul for showed no technique
that had been created since he had asked for it.
That would never happen now. Instinct would keep
the three of them on the more or less straight and
narrow. Bringing a god down to hell was nigh
impossible for a demon even. A mere diabolist had no
chance.
So now Happosai was faced with an odd choice. Find
a way to make Nabiki and Ranma leave with that little
brat, or leave himself. And he wasn't about to
concede defeat to that either the punk or miss frigid.
Especially not since Nerima was the region of Japan
most friendly to him. A "harmless" evil like him
could hide in this weird place.
He had to do it soon before they felt the wrongness
about his souless body, and before Ranma learned to
control his mana any more. If he was lucky he could
even get Nabiki and the little brat killed. That
might certainly convince Ranma to leave Nerima and
never look back.
So, a word in the right place...

*****

"So why does everyone have to go?" Ranma asked.
"Think about how much we have to buy, baka," Akane
said irritably. "You think you're going to carry her
and all that by yourself."
"Right," Ranma said, looking like he wanted to
scratch the back of his head in consternation. "Heh."
"Besides," Nabiki said. "This is a daughter you're
shopping for, and the more women involved the better."
"Exactly, Nabiki-chan," Nodoka said smiling. Ranma
grimaced. He glanced around for a moment nervously.
"Something wrong, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked
curiously.
"I thought I heard something," Ranma muttered.
It was like whispering from the alley's as they
passed. He'd thought he'd heard his name, only it
wasn't his name not as his friend's said it anyway.
Something out of his dreams or nightmares...
"I'm sure it was nothing," Akane said. She was
acting a little less petulant now, but she still
seemed to be taking this accident as a direct afront
to her woman-hood.

*****

They didn't quite reach the stores.
"Oh shit," Ranma gasped suddenly. He'd heard
another "name" in those whispers, and this time
understood the jist of the message. He turned to
Nabiki. "Get out of here!"
"What?" Nabiki asked as Ranma handed her Midori.
"Your the only other one that can take care of
her," Ranma said. Nabiki frowned, and would have
snapped back if it weren't for the serious look on
Ranma's face.
"What seems to be the matter?" Nodoka asked.
"Hurry!" Ranma said.
"Just say what..." Akane started.
"Shampoo's coming!" Ranma said. "And she's not
going to give us time for a story!" Nabiki's eyes
widened.
"Damn!" she muttered and turned head back down the
road to the dojo.
Too late.
Shampoo landed, sword in hand, on the path only a
leap away from the group and looked from Ranma's face
to Nabiki's and the baby's. Being too far away, she
failed to note the Chinese features on the girl.
"Is TRUE!!!" Shampoo growled. "Airen have baby
with greedy girl!!!" Her face darkened to purple with
rage as she launched herself forward.
"Get out of here!" Ranma snapped as he intercepted
the Amazon. Nabiki nodded and headed down the road,
Nodoka and Kasumi going with her.
"Airen get out of Shampoo's way!!" Shampoo growled
as she slashed with her sword. Ranma could
practically see the arc of motion and breezed around
the strike, then using Shampoo's own momentum to send
the Amazon away from them.
"She's not Nabiki's daughter!" Akane shouted moving
to stand next to Ranma and getting in stance.
"No!" Ranma snapped moving past Akane to intercept
Shampoo again. "Go with them!"
"Shampoo KILL THEM!!" Shampoo shouted, before
being redirected by a few well placed taps and shoved
into a tree.
"But," Akane started.
"I can't watch them while I'm fighting Shampoo!"
Ranma shouted. "Go keep an eye on Nabs and Midori!"
"Nabs," Akane repeated with narrowed eyes.
She shook her head, now was not the time for
jealousy, even she saw that. Shampoo again tried to
get around Ranma and again was sent into a piece of
the landscape. Akane chased after her sisters and
Nodoka.
"Ranma, how dare you abuse my Shampoo's trust!!!"
Mousse shouted as he entered the scene.
Ranma could already feel the chains edging for his
back, and Shampoo was positioning herself to go past
Ranma while Mousse kept him busy.
Ranma spun around and met the first chain with a
touch of hand. With the same efficiency of motion
that he had been using to deal with Shampoo, he
altered the chains' course.
He seemed to almost casually touch the chain and
lightly push it to intercept the next, and that one to
intercept the next and so on. To the naked it eye it
almost seemed as as if Ranma had waved his hand and
the entire array had curved around toward a new
target.
"SHAMPOO!!?" Mousse shouted as his chains wrapped
around to force Shampoo to a skidding stop as they
barred the path before her.
"Stay out of this Mousse!" Ranma shouted as he
moved to place himself between Shampoo and the
retreating Tendos again.
"How DARE you!?" Mousse demanded. He landed and
leaped again launching a volley of daggers.
"Shampoo no want to hurt Airen," the female Amazon
warned.
"You want to hurt them, you have to get past me,"
Ranma snapped, casually spinning back to avoid the
daggers.
He hadn't even technically attacked them yet,
merely used their own motion against them. He always
did that, but against artists of such caliber as
Shampoo and Mousse, what he was doing should have been
impossible. It was like his instincts about the way
motion could be manipulated had increased a
thousandfold.
Shampoo charged forward with a swipe that was a
feint, Ranma could already feel the kick building up.
At the same time, Mousse was lashing out with his own
kick.
Ranma walked into the sword slash, away from
Mousse's kick, ducking under the blade and pushing
tapping the inside of the blade with one finger while
pushing up on Shampoo's leg with his other hand.
With what seemed barely a touch of two fingers,
Shampoo was sent in a dizzily twirling path straight
into Mousse.
"Give up," Ranma said seriously as he again arrayed
himself in stance between the Amazons and his family.
He hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

*****

Nabiki stopped dead as Ukyou stepped into her path.
"It's not my baby, Ukyou," Nabiki said quickly.
The chef looked to the baby with a sour face and then
up again.
"I had to see if it was true," Ukyou said grimmly.
"It's not my baby," Nabiki repeated, stepping back.
"Young lady," Nodoka said. "This is most
unseemly." She stepped forward, drawing her katana.
Nodoka rolled her eyes and easily disarmed the woman
with a tossed spatula, slicing open Nodoka's hand
lightly.
"This ruins everything," Ukyou repeated, not moving
from her spot. Nabiki started to relax, feeling that
Ukyou wasn't about to attack them.
"Ukyou-san," Kasumi said desparately. "There is a
reasonable explanation!" Ukyou looked bleakly to
Kasumi, and the Tendo sisters felt a pang of pity at
the look.
Akane caught up with them at this point.
"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTERS UKYOU!!!" Akane roared
"Oh for goodness sakes!" Ukyou snapped. "All
right!!! You want a fight?! You GOT ONE!!" Ukyou
dodged Akane and readied her spatula.
"Great," Nabiki said as she broke and ran from the
fight, carrying a wailing Midori. Kasumi was helping
Nodoka and didn't see where her sister had run, but
someone else had.

*****

The Amazons both hobbled to their feet looking
determined to continue. Shampoo's eyes flicked past
Ranma to where the Tendos had vanished in the
distance. Mousse was upset that Ranma hadn't been
addressing him in that imperative. The pig-tailed
martial artist had only one person in his focus.
"Ah ha!" a new voice said. "So tis true that the
vile sorcerer has been trifling with the affections of
the Chinese Princess." Kuno shouted. Almost
instantly launched into his thousand strikes.
Kuno lacked Shampoo and Mousse's near absolute
control of their momentum.
This time Ranma did merely raise his hand to catch
and deflect the first blast of air pressure. Shampoo
and Mousse watched in shock as Kuno suddenly rocketed
the way he had come from and slammed into a brick wall
unconscious.
"Give up," Ranma said again. Shampoo seriously
considered it.

*****

Nabiki took paused and took a seat on a bench to
catch her breath and quiet down a crying Midori. A
shiver went down her spine as she suddenly felt that
she wasn't alone.
"So this is the abomination I was told of," a tight
voice declared.
Nabiki, terrified and very alone aside from Midori,
turned to see Kodachi standing a little ways down the
path. Her ribbon was in hand, and Nabiki was well
within reach.
~I'm sorry, Ranma,~ Nabiki thought.

*****

"Hmmm," Happosai said. "It is a very good thing I
didn't try to take him on myself. He hasn't even used
any mana beyond enhanced physical capabilities yet,
and that hardly at all."
Then he noticed another newcomer, one he hadn't
expected, and smiled. This would be a decent test of
what Ranma's abilities truly were.

*****

"RANMA!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!" Ryouga shouted. Ranma
turned to see the other boy and expected him to be as
enraged as Mousse or Shampoo.
Instead he saw the small smirk on Ryouga's face
that signified that he had no specific grudge against
Ranma at the moment and merely wanted to get in on the
fun.
Shampoo welcomed the Lost Boy's unfortunate
appearance with an evil smile as she made use of
Ranma's distraction. She broke for the path the
Tendos had taken.
Ranma felt the shift and moved to block her again,
but found Mousse in his way. And Ryouga was still
following behind him.
Ranma didn't have time to stop both the male
martial artists and still get in front of Shampoo, but
if he ignored them, the hits would slow him down to
much as well.
Frustrated and desparate beyond anything before
Jusendo. Ranma lost his temper.
"ENOUGH!!!!!" Ranma shouted angrily.
Suddenly a blast of golden energy radiated out from
in a brilliant flash. When it cleared only seconds
later, all three of his opponents were in their cursed
forms. Ryouga's umbrella was embedded in a wall near
Kuno's head.
Shampoo, Ryouga and Mousse glanced around in
confusion. Shampoo was too shocked to notice that
Ranma was approaching her without fear, until he
picked her up by the scruff of the neck.
She hissed and yowled angrily, and Ranma recognized
the sounds coming from her mouth as the whispers he
had heard earlier. The ones that had warned him of
Shampoo's coming. He filed that away for later, along
with the fact that he wasn't terrified of Shampoo's
cursed form.
"You went too far this time Shampoo!" Ranma
growled, his marks still flared brilliantly. All
three of the Jusenkyo-animals vainly fought the desire
to abase themselves. "You shouldn't have tried to
kill my daughter!"
That same golden light moved from his hand into
Shampoo's body. Ranma almost lost his grip in
surprise, but maintained it.
"Never," he said. "NEVER try that again!! This is
your only warning!"
He dropped the shivering cat on the ground and
turned to Ryouga as Shampoo ran for the Nekohanten.
Both the pig and duck were on the ground and staring
at him in shock. As the light of his marks faded they
began to glare at him.
"Mousse," Ranma said seriously. "I ain't
interested in Shampoo. I'll never marry her, and I'd
rather never see her until she changes. So get it
through your head that I'M not your obstacle. She is.
Oh, and sorry Ryouga, bad timing you know?"
Ranma reached down into Mousse's robes and pulled
out a thermos which he poured on Ryouga. Before the
Lost Boy could do more than growl at him and get grab
his clothes Ranma was heading away.
"We'll fight later!" Ranma said. "I gotta make
sure Nabiki and Midori are alright."

*****

"Well," Happosai said sourly as he finished
cowering. He had felt the divine aura even as far
away as he was. "It's apparent that most of the
Jusenkyo cursed types have no chance against Ranma
anymore."
He didn't like not knowing the limits of his old
pupil, even if he hoped to drive him away forever.

*****

Ranma found Akane and Ukyou wearily glaring at each
other. They were circling and getting ready for
another round of battle, though neither looked in a
condition to continue fighting.
"Ranma-kun!" Kasumi called out. "You have to stop
them before somebody seriously hurt."
"She was attacking Nabiki," Akane said, she was
bleeding from several small cuts and looked fairly
battered as well. Both fighters were covered in
flour.
"I was not!" Ukyou snapped. "I came to see if what
I'd heard was true, that's all!" Ukyou was holding
her spatula one handed.
"You attacked Saotome-san!" Akane countered.
"Actually," Nodoka said. "She disarmed me when I
threatened her."
"See!" Ukyou snapped. "She attacked me, just like
you!"
"Where's Nabiki and my daughter?" Ranma demanded
finally. Everybody froze and looked very nervous
suddenly.
"She ran off when the fight started," Ukyou said.
"I didn't notice which way."
"I was looking the wrong way," Akane said.
"Oh my," Kasumi said. Ranma paled and looked
around in desparation for a moment.
He almost missed Nabiki's and Midori's scents, not
used to these new senses. Fortunately he caught and
recognized them and took off running.

*****

"This is the abomination that would take my
Ranma-sama away from me," Kodachi said coolly
fingering her ribbon. She stepped forward gracefully,
like a serpent.
~Okay, how do I get her to go away,~ Nabiki asked
herself.
The usual way that Nabiki got what she wanted was
to give someone something else that they desired. She
had always been exceptionally good at figuring out
what someone needed, and offering it. But she
couldn't give Kodachi Ranma. Or was that what she
really wanted.
"You don't really think Ranma will love you if you
hurt his baby, do you?" Nabiki asked nervously.
"Ranma can't possibly want this noisome little
burden," Kodachi said. "And I believe you've been a
trouble yourself from time to time."
"Why do you even like Ranma?" Nabiki asked,
carefully not moving except to cradle the crying
Midori tighter. Kodachi smirked at the question and
shook her head.
"That is a ridiculous question," Kodachi said.
"I don't think so," Nabiki said, trying to keep her
voice from cracking. "He's poor, ill-cultured, and by
your standards low-born. So what's the attraction."
Kodachi laughed again and shook her head, though
she seemed to look a little disturbed.
"How many other men with whom could a share the
thrill of flying through the air?" she asked.
"There are several throughout Nerima," Nabiki
countered.
"But none better than Ranma," Kodachi countered.
"And its only the best for the Kunos."
"What's the real reason," Nabiki asked, gaining
confidence as Kodachi kept talking.
Nabiki didn't see Midori's markings flaring
lightly, nor did she notice her own glowing just
slightly. Not enough for Kodachi to notice from her
position.
"If it is your dying wish," Kodachi said, she
sounded uncertain though. "Fine. He was kind to me."
Nabiki heard all the varied layers of meaning to that
simple statement.
"That's all you want?" Nabiki asked, somehow
knowing the answer. She stood up. "Isn't it?"
Midori's cries came to a small end.
Kodachi no longer seemed so intimidating, in fact
she seemed very sad and pitiful. The gymnast's
shoulders didn't seem so firm as before, they were
almost slumping.
"D..don't try anything," Kodachi stammered,
wondering just when she had lost the initiative.
"You don't really want to hurt anybody," Nabiki
said, stepping forward. Kodachi took a step back
branishing her ribbon. "You don't think Ranma can be
kind to more than one person?"
"Stay b..back," Kodachi gasped as Nabiki's markings
flared brighter now. Nabiki tried to ignore the fact
that she was taking Midori and herself closer to
Kodachi.
She had unnerved the gymnast somehow, and if she
wanted to get out of this she had to maintain her
confidence. And she found herself truly wanting to
help the girl somehow.
"And you don't think anybody else would truly be
kind to you," Nabiki said coming closer. Kodachi
stumbled back, somehow terrified and ashamed. She
dropped her ribbon but managed to keep her feet.
"Pl..please don't hurt me," Kodachi whimpered as
Nabiki closed the distance. Nabiki shifted Midori to
one hand and reached out to circle an arm around
Kodachi's shoulders.
"Ssh," Nabiki said.
This felt unusual, this comforting. Especially
considering that Kodachi had been intent on killing
her. And for some reason Kodachi was still looking at
her as if ashamed.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. Nabiki reached her
arm up to Kodachi's head and softly pulled it down to
her shoulder. She stroked the other girl's hair
soothingly, the way Kasumi had to her.
"It's okay," Nabiki said. "I'm not going to hurt
you." Suddenly Kodachi's arms were around Nabiki and
the girl was crying loudly into her shoulder.
Nabiki's and Midori's marks ceased glowing, and the
gymnast continued weeping.
Midori turned in Nabiki's arms and looked at the
strange person that had seemed scary before but now
wasn't. She made a questioning noise and reached out
a tiny hand to pat Kodachi's head in a manner similar
to what Nabiki was doing.
"Nabiki!" Ranma's voice called out. "Is Midori
okay? Are you hurt?" Nabiki nodded and continued
soothing the sobbing Kodachi. Midori was cooing
something that almost sounded like melody.
"We're fine," Nabiki said. She sighed as she came
to an uncomfortable conclusion. Ranma walked over and
took Midori from Kodachi, and Nabiki nodded her thanks
as she used her other arm to hold Kodachi while she
cried.
They waited patiently and quietly for Kodachi to
calm down before anything else happened. Nabiki
stepped back from the now subdued Kuno and held her
eyes.
"Now I want you to go to my sister Kasumi and talk
to her, okay?" she said. "Tell her anything that
bothers you, okay? And don't get into a fight with my
little sister, okay?" Kodachi nodded with each
"okay."
"Thank you, Nabiki-sama," Kodachi said silently,
wiping her eyes. She turned to Ranma and muttered the
same before leaving.
"What happened to Kodachi?" Ranma asked.
"She got what she was needing," Nabiki said. "I
think. What happened to Shampoo?"
"I think I scared her away for now," Ranma said.
"We can't stay here, can we?"
"No," Nabiki said. "We can't. Ukyou wasn't going
to attack I think, but there's still Shampoo. And if
Tarou or someone on like Herb shows up...I don't know
how we're going to handle it. And if Happosai or
Cologne had gotten involved..." She shrugged and
looked around seeming haggard.
"Yeah," Ranma said soberly, looking at his
daughter. "I have to leave Nerima with Midori."
"We, Ranma," Nabiki said. "We.
"You don't have to..."
"This is my responsibility, too," Nabiki insisted,
then she smirked. "Besides, you'll need my help."
"Yeah, well, we should say goodbye to people,"
Ranma said. Nabiki nodded.
"But make it short," Nabiki said. She didn't feel
safe saying that she thought they should come back
eventually. She'd tell him that later.

*****

"Excellent," Happosai smirked rubbing his hands.
"Just according to plan."

Next: Meeting the Goddesses

=====
"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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