Subject: [FFML] [Ranma/Highlander x-over part II, sorry agian][pls c&c]
From: "Christoph Pirringer" <pirringer@web.de>
Date: 8/19/2003, 7:00 AM
To: ffml@anifics.com

 p {margin: 0px}

i�m terribly sorry guys, my f****** e-mail account didn�t send the last of
the story as it seemed, well, here�s the rest of it and sorry again,
NemoZero

 

 

For some people, summer is without question the most beautiful of all
seasons. The country, in spring only reluctantly awakening from it's
enforcedslumber of winter, now shows itself in an abundance of colours and
forms, awing and reviving those who had almost gotten used to the monotonous
grey and white of winter. 

Like a victorious general returning from battle, all reminders of the harsh
coldness are eradicated, showing that not only winter was once more
defeated,but almost as if summer was this time here to stay.

 

Others, for thank god not all people are the same, take immensely more joy
and delight from the coldest of the seasons. Walking hand in hand with their
lovers through avenues whose trees were, covered in ice and snow and
glistering like coated with diamonds, frozen in time, nothing could exceed
such a moment for them. 

Looking forward to spending evenings in front of open fireplaces or enjoying
themselves making the first snow-angel of the season, they couldn't think of
any season with more beauty or calmness like this.

 

These two figures walking through the almost empty streets of the Neriman
outskirts however, made the appearance that they couldn�t care less if it
were the void of space, cold and completely absent of any light, or the
blazing fires of hell that framed the way to their destination.

 

Briskly walking through the dark streets, only occasionally passing beneath
asharply defined circle of light thrown by the streetlights, it seemed that
the reason for their swift pace, if there was one, only consisted that they
once had started this way and saw no point in  a change.

 

Although it is said that in the night, all cats are grey, the islands of
light on the streets, asides from some rare shop-windows the only
illumination in the cold autumn-night, made it possible to catch one the
other quick glance at the passing figures. 

 

That the only living thing out there to use the opportunity, a jet-black
alley-cat in search for dinner, paid more attention to a fatally careless
mouse then the trespassing humanoids, however spoiled the chance to know
moreabout the two figures

.

At least besides that both were carrying enormous backpacks that, in opinion
of the cat that is, would be better filled with fish then with whatever
useless junk those clumsy humans carried with them anyway.

 

Nearing the edge of the district of Nerima, although there was no visible
change in his behaviour, the smaller mans companion could sense a slight
feeling of curiosity entering his friends thoughts. 

It was usual for the man, a master in the art himself, to lapse in the
concealment of his thoughts and intentions, but they had travelled together
for years and on more then one occasion saved each others hide. 

And since there was nobody else out there, it was a small but however
welcomeassurance to the other traveller that this trivial and perhaps even
involuntary gesture brought him.

 

At last however, the two companions arrived at their destiny. Standing
halfway in the illuminated circle provided by a streetlight, the old man
could see the slight cover of crystallised fog on the wooden gate and it's
handle, wiped away where the last person entering had touched it. 

 

If before it was a mere idea, an abstract plan to come here, this was the
last proof Happusai needed that he had committed himself. 

He just prayed that he hadn�t made a mistake by choosing this path. With
these thoughts he pushed open the gate to an estate and a family he hadn't
seen for almost two decades.

 

 

 

 

Inside the Tendo-dojo the events at dinner had spiralled down the same way
they had since the day the letter from China, announcing the old master and
his disciple, had arrived. While Kasumi still held the radiant but somehow
oblivious smile, the old Saotome now had to help himself to his
extra-helpings. 

Not that, talking about oblivious, Kasumi�s response (which was tantamount
tosomething that would involve being brained with a blunt object the size of
a tank were it anybody else) provoked any reaction at the elder Saotome.

 

But while the young matriarch of the Tendo-family couldn't bring herself to
anything harsher than a slight decrease in her omnipresent smile, the other
family-members were more then happy to oblige the necessities of the moment,
in other words turning on Genma Saotome like a pack of wolves. 

 

Ever since three days ago, when Soun Tendo had finally learned the true
storybehind his friends premature arrival, he couldn't help but feel disgust
and bitter disappointment at what his old friend and comrade in arms had
become.

 

 The fears and trials they had mastered together, how they had fought,
literally as one, to be rid of that�.. that pest, and now this. But no, Soun
Tendo had not yet reached the stage of moralistic judgement and righteous
anger, no, at the moment he was quite satisfied to yell at his friend at
every opportunity, be it night or day.

 

This habit had taken on a degree where Genma had to belt out his friend by
the window to get at least some shut-eye before the tormenting resumed at
thebreakfast-table. Not that this hindered the Tendo-patriarch to crash into
the guest room about half an hour after leaving, or rather being made
leaving, it to seamlessly resume his unique mixture of accusations, fearful
babbling and wailing. 

 

That, for some metaphysical reason, didn't leave him dried-up like a mummy
because of fluid-loss dues to his fountain-like bursts of tears, they didn't
even regularly manage to annoy Genma, since he had bought an inflatable
mattress shortly after arriving. 

 

As it was, only being woken up a dozen times at night by his hysterical host
annoyed him, but falling asleep with the sound of slight waves breaking at
his mattress (thanks to fountain-sama again) had, as he found, a really
calming effect.

 

At this time however, all habitants of the Tendo-household sported, after
three days of semi-madness by their father/host, dark rings under their eyes
and a rather short temper. 

As was expressed by Kasumi having the slightest of frowns on her face Soun
was doing as before described, and Akane belting him with objects of various
kinds and sizes. 

 

If for real moralistic resentment against his person or just because she
enjoyed it will however remain unknown.

 

Having once more completed his circle of angry accusation / shocked denial /
severe depression with occasional flooding of living-rooms / spreading of
doomsday-atmosphere, the patriarch of the Tendo�s felt himself once more in
the need to accuse what was in his opinion a worthy replacement for the
firstof the deadly sins (most likely something like �Thou shalt not leave
yerkin with Happusai�).

 

Feeling himself once more cornered in his friends� house, leaving was out of
question, being followed everywhere by a wailing Soun while Nabiki was
filming all of it with a ridiculously big camera was just too much to bear a
second time, Genma Saotome sighed to himself once more and once again
startedthe tale he had seen fit to be told his host. 

 

What should he do else anyway, the things being as they were (where had that
girl got the sound-engineer for the microphone from???) he couldn't do much
else but try to stall, buy time, and hope that somehow things would sort out
themselves or at least give him an opportunity to flee (had that been a van
for satellite-transmission around the corner???).

 

 And he had long since learned that the simple fact that Nabiki was at the
moment not in the house, but doing one or the other of her dubious errands
with her associates, didn't necessarily mean she wouldn�t at some
inconvenient time produce film or sound recordings made by means he better
didn't think about.

 

Once again resuming his tale while dodging several rather heavy-looking
objects on collision-course with his head (the Tendo�s didn't have 
marble-statues of Greek gods in their house, did they?), the various
one-sided tales/accusations/discussions were once more disrupted when two
knocks in rapid succession sounded from the front-porch. 

 

The sinking feeling in everybody's intestines was accompanied with an
unmistakably joyful exclamation from Kasumi:� Oh my father, there�s somebody
at the door. Do you think it could be Master Happusai and Ranma?�  

 

Not waiting for reply asides from 2 faces becoming several shades paler, she
gracefully rose and walked towards the door, the rustling of her long blue
skirt the only sound in the room. Inside the minds of the two adults in the
house, whole choirs of voices were screaming: �Stop her!!!� , �Don�t let him
in!!� or �Kill him before he kills you!!!�. 

 

Well, maybe they were in a little bit of panic, but since both of them were
frozen like 2 cubes of ice, it didn't really matter what they thought anyway
as the door opened and Kasumi greeted their guests with a winning smile.

 

 

 

 

Slightly hesitating, the two black-clad figures entered through the door
helpopen by Kasumi. After taking a thoughtful look at the smiling girl,
Happusai was the first to enter the household in which he had caused the
state of a mediocre war-zone without actually being there. 

 

Not knowing, or actually caring, if his former students were upset,
terrified, or even a short way from a cardiac attack for all he cared, he
took two steps into the house. Leaving enough place to let Ranma enter
shortly after him, Happusai returned Kasumi�s smile (without actually
appearing frightful or lecherous for once) and greeted the first of his
hosts, as he had concluded, with a deep bow.

 

�Can I assume that you are Kasumi-san?� the diminutive master asked, while
his companion had only held eye-contact with the brown-haired girl for a
moment and now stood at Happusai�s right with his head held low so his bangs
concealed his blue-grey eyes.

�Yes, I am Kasumi; may I ask how you know me, master Happusai, is it?� 
returned the brunette girl, while attempting to help the elder master out of
his black mantle.

 

�Oh, I see my reputation is ahead of me as always�� replied the old man, now
revealing his brown gi, and for the first time wearing something like a
smug-grin on his old face, but without actually being impolite.

�You see, Kasumi-san, i actually saw you once, though you will not remember.
It was just a few days after your birth, and I was one of the first people
tosee you then.�

 

Slightly blushing at meeting somebody who knew her so well without knowing
ofhim, She turned towards her second guest who had, clad in black as well,
bynow closed the door behind him to keep out the cold nights wind. �And who,
may I ask, is your companion master Happusai?� Kasumi asked.

 Although she already knew that it had to be Ranma, she somehow felt that it
wouldn�t be wise to press the young boy in front of her into a conversation
he didn't want to enter.

 

�Oh, i�m sorry Kasumi-san.�  Happusai filled in, �This of course is Ranma,
asyou will know he is Genma�s son as well as my student. Say hello to
Kasumi-san Ranma.�  Said boy lifted his head to once again look in the
beautiful eyes of his hostess. 

 

Bowing low as Happusai had done moments before, �Hello Kasumi-san� was the
short greeting that conveyed nothing but simple politeness, though his eyes
betrayed a hint of depression that vanished to her sight as soon as his
blackbangs were once more obscuring them.

 

Adding a point �Cheering up Ranma� on her list right underneath �Get more
sedatives for father�, Kasumi helped Ranma out of his own black mantle which
she hung asides the first one in the wardrobe. 

 

Ushering her guests from the entry to the warm living-room, the same scene
ofa frozen Soun and Genma (who was by now lying horizontally, still frozen
inshock, thanks to not-dodging something that strangely resembled a
stone-head from the easter-islands which now decorated the edge of the
koi-pond) as 5 minutes ago greeted the arrivals, only that the curious looks
from Akane now were measuring up the two arrivals with unconcealed interest.

 

Now that all were successfully assembled in the living-room, Kasumi quickly
glided into the kitchen for 2 more cups and fresh pot of tea, as well as a
tray of Kasumi-trademark cookies (trademark thanks to Nabiki, who now was
dealing them at the international market at higher prices as the best white
truffles).

 

Happusai however had other plans for tonight�s evening, as he addressed the
two men who had now recovered enough from their shock to assume the
positionsof their most effective techniques. Genma�s not-so-feared `Crouch
ofthe wild tiger�, and Soun�s own variation �Carp on chopping-board�.

 

Unfazed by his two students cowardly behaviour Happusai addressed the two of
the three girls of the house being present and watching their father/guest
making a fool of themselves with the air of a connoisseur, only noticing
slight variations of the standard-idiocy.

 

�Could you girls please show Ranma the dojo, I�d like to have a few words
with my students in private.� Only nodding an affirmative at the seriousness
of the request (instead of the looting and plundering little demon they had
anticipated from their fathers reaction) the two rose and mentioned Ranma to
follow them, a beginning conversation from Akane was drowned to the adults
asthe door closed behind the leaving teenagers.

 

 

 

 

The moment the children had left the two cowering adults increased their
pleading for mercy, either for ones house since it was all that his family
had left, or plain for ones life and to take his son�s instead.

 

 Still staring at the same spot on the wall since behind where Soun�s
daughters had sat, Happusai suddenly shook himself out of his reverie to
looksharply at the two fools, squashing their meagre hopes to get away
unscathed from the personified terror that had decided to haunt� ah.. visit
them. 

 

�Shut up you fools and you better listen well now if you know what�s good
foryou!!� This was more then enough to silence the two who were still trying
to creep into the cracks of the floor. 

�Listen too me, this is very important� resumed the old master who was now
speaking in a more placid but in no way less commanding tone. �On our
voyage�. something�. happened to Ranma��

 

Within an eyeblink the elder Saotome was on his feet lunging at Happusai, to
shake the information out of him if necessary to know what happened to his
son. 

Before his fingers could touch the grandmasters gi or his feet reach the
ground again from his lunge, Happusai�s left hand shot out at an
unbelievablespeed to meet the elder Saotome�s solarplexus. 

 

Flying backwards, drops of saliva hanging in the air from the shock of the
impact, Genma came to lye right at the place he started from, convulsing and
heaving dry from the blow he had received.

 

Soun had terrified backed up when his friends �attack� had backfired, by now
he was sitting halfway up the table, his left hand having knocked down a cup
of lukewarm tea which was now spilled out in a slowly expanding puddle
aroundhis hand and dripping on the rug beneath the table. 

This however did not register in his brain since all it was capable at the
moment was needed to continue gaping like a fish on land as he watched his
friend quivering on the floor of his house.

 

Happusai let a small fraction of his power flare up, creating an unreal halo
of dark blue intermixed with strands of black whipping around his diminutive
body like unholy flames.

 

�I said you should shut up and listen, try that again and i�ll break your
neck like a twig� roared the chi-strengthened voice of the old man, each
wordaccentuated by a whipping and lashing of the black fire consuming more
and more of the elders aura.

 

Black eyes in a roaring black fire made the appearance of a demon appearing
in the Tendo�s living-room, a very small shrivelled-up demon but a demon
nevertheless. 

Seeing his former students almost wetting themselves Happusai sighed
inwardlythat he had to result to such blunt means to get them to really
listen to him, but knowing them as good as he did he knew time was something
he didn't have here. 

 

He knew about their foolish plan for Ranma of course. Having trained and
travelled with the two men for years, he had known their wives when they had
begun to court them, he had seen their first children after they were born
aswell as learned about their plans for them.

 

If the idea had been good or not at the day it was born, there could be no
worse moment to try and enforce it, and he would be dammed if he wouldn�t
prevent it, at least for the moment. �Sit down and listen you two� repeated
the old man, not roaring but speaking in an almost weary tone, his aura
leaving the visible spectrum again. 

 

�You know I gave you a promise Genma before we parted, and I intend to keep
that promise, even if it means to go against you two. I�ve come here because
we needed a place to stay for a while, but don�t think I put up with any or
your stupidities for as much as a moment.�

 

Stopping to stride up and down before the two terrified martial-artists
Happusai once more looked at them, this time eyes filled with sorrow and
determination. �Now listen, I don�t need your help on this, but it would be
better to have it anyway.�

 

 

 

 

Having put on some of the pairs of slippers that were lined up asides the
door, Kasumi led their guest to her family�s dojo, while Akane was proudly
relating the tale of how her father had constructed it on his own now almost
20 years ago. 

 

It was quite an interesting tale in itself for somebody interested in the
matter of traditional Japanese building traditions, from the materials to
themeans to prepare and craft them, even the Shinto-rituals to clean and
protect the structure and it's inhabitants, all of it showed a great deal of
devotion and attachment to the building and what it symbolized.

 

That the black-haired boy didn't provide any sign of understanding or even
listening to the information�s didn't however faze Akane, if she was aware
ofit at all. 

Letting his eyes take in the layout and details of, for a suburb of Nerima,
the very large and tasteful estate, Ranma neared the doors of the
Tendo-dojo,Kasumi to his right. 

 

Meanwhile Akane was still intensely occupied with continuing her tale, glad
about having found a vict�. person willing to listen who hadn't already
heardit about a dozen times.

 

Eagerly waiting at the dojo to let her sister and their guest catch up with
her, Akane couldn't help but let a proud grin flash over her face when she
opened the doors and let them in quickly before too much of the cold
autumn-air could follow them in through the opening. 

 

Excited to having somebody to show the dojo to, Akane soon was buzzing
around, all but dragging the pigtailed boy around, showing him an impressive
assortment of training and actual combat-weapons.

 

Eve from the pile of cinder-blocks she used for her training (the third one
this week, as Nabiki�s heavy sighs commented at every monthly
balance-calculation to the spider living atop of one of the rafters, nothing
escaped to be on list of Akane�s impromptu- tour through the dojo.  

 

Finally seeing the moment come to rescue Ranma from Akane�s overbearing
excitement, Kasumi gently asked if it were true that he had been training in
China and how he had liked it there. Her hesitation, resulting from a badly
hidden wince on Ranma�s side, was more then enough time for Akane to take
theleading part in the conversation again.

 

�So you do kempo Ranma?� was the inevitable question, which for so many
unsuspecting teenagers before had ended in an exceedingly quick, brutal and
painful trip to the one thing of the dojo they hadn't yet inspected in
detail: the floor (for some with a detour from one of the walls, something
they�d gladly have refrained from).

 

Only hesitantly the movement of the black braid indicated a slight nod from
it's owner, more then Akane needed to quickly turn her confused sister into
areferee, dragging her aside a chalk-circle painted on the floor, and assume
a position, obviously waiting for Ranma to do the same.

 

Raising his head again to know the reason for the sudden silence by his
host,the sole reaction on Akane's expecting demeanour was a look devoid of
any emotion, before he returned to the place at the doors, where he had
watched out into the black sky at every chance Akane�s excitement had given
him.

 

Seeing that her guest showed no intention to follow Akane's urging, and not
wanting her guest, who was obviously not planning on participating in the
spar, to be pressed into something against his will, Kasumi quickly walked
upto Ranma and laid her hand on his shoulder. 

�You must be terribly tired from your journey Ranma-kun, why don�t you take
abath in the furo. I�ve heated the water before you arrived and i�m sure
you�ll feel much better afterwards.�

 

 Seeing the sincere concern and sympathy on the face of the eldest daughter,
as well as a perfect chance to escape the situation, Ranma consented and
followed Kasumi back o the house.

He was leaving behind a confused and angry Akane (silenced in time by a
slight shaking of Kasumi�s head) seething in the circle of chalk. 

 

If cinder-blocks were sentient beings, they would most likely have felt a
strong foreboding of doom.

 

 

 

 

Feeling the tension and nervousness literally flowing out of his muscles,
Ranma began to appreciate Kasumi�s idea more by the minute. 

He hadn't wanted to be rude to the youngest daughter, Akane if he remembered
correctly, but he had to admit that Kasumi�s sensible reaction had just in
time prevented a harsh rebuff that would have damaged his relations to his
hosts at a very early stage, perhaps irreparably. 

 

 Having successfully avoided bringing Happusai�s plan to fall, for the first
time the young Saotome lowered his guard, letting the hot water and the
steamrising from it�s surface soothe his troubled mind into an almost
trance-like state.

 

After being ushered from the dojo by Kasumi and being shown the door of the
bathroom, Ranma had once again to admire whoever had planned the
Tendo-estate. 

On his trip through the whole country of Japan, before China as well as
afterwards, he had stayed at numerous dojo�s or friendly houses, many of
themhundreds of years old. 

 

Some of them could have even been called luxurious, but covering an overall
impression of style and homeliness, none of them could have hoped to compete
with this one.

 

Taking off his sleeveless black silk-shirt and opening the drawstrings of
hisrobust silk-pants, that were black as well, Ranma took care to conceal a
pair of black throwing-daggers underneath the rest of his clothes.

The style as well as the habit he had picked up at the home of one of his
masters, and had since then neither questioned nor bothered to break it.

 

Engaging in one of the techniques Happusai had recently taught him, he
entered a slight state of meditation, which allowed him to sort through his
memories and emotions, while at the same time not allowing them to affect
hisown state of mind. 

Thus slowly working on reigning in his restless psyche, Ranma was
unfortunately blind to anything but his immediate surroundings.

 

 

Not being the center of attraction, Akane could live with. Having to put up
with being cut off by her own sister, Akane could do that too. Not being
taken for the martial artist she was sure she was, Akane never could do
that.

But the thought of being ignored, treated like she wasn�t even there, by
that�. THAT BOY. The thought alone made her blood boil, and sent the
patron-goddess of cinder-blocks into another crying-fit.

 

Seeing no other victims for her rage at hand and the training-dummies still
being in repair after last weeks Kuno-no-baka-session, Akane let out a deep
breath while she looked at the carnage of 20 minutes of destruction.

 

Having nothing more to vent her anger on, she stepped barefooted through the
pieces and dust of countless cinderblocks, searching with her still rampant
mind for some release that allowed her not to see THAT BOY again and beat
himinto a pulp at the slightest movement.

 

Finally shoving aside any thought of the newest addition of her
�stupid-boys�list (that at the moment held about 80% of the male population
of Nerima), she finally settled on a relaxing bath in the furo, a last
sanctuary of peace even in these times of madness. 

 

Lowering her head so as not to show her angry eyes to Kasumi or her father,
Akane pushed open the door to the furo and quickly shed off her sweat-soaked
gi.

 

Not bothering to take out a towel from the freshly cleaned stack that was
laid out on a bench, her thoughts solely diverted between the hot water of
the furo she was about to enter and a certain infuriating pigtailed
teenager,she pushed open the door to the furo with quite a bit more force
then actually needed. 

 

 

Reflexes are an interesting thing. For example cockroaches, even with a
�brain� that consist of 2 barely interwoven strands of nerves, they manage
toflee at the slightest sign of a threat, evading attacks from beings whose
brains alone exceed their weight more then a hundredfold. Or birds, who are
able to build the most complex of constructions out of nothing but grass,
with a brain the size of a peanut and never once having learned it. 

 

Or a female teenager martial artists who was so used to reacting with yells
of �PERVERT�, �HENTAI� or �BAKA� at the slightest sign of something sexual,
all of them in combination with various grades of violence, that a mad dash
for the family-blade at the sight of the nude boy in the furo was something
very natural for her. 

For Akane Tendo that is, thank god not for anybody else.

 

Feeling disturbed by something in his meditative state, only the second time
the bathroom-door crashed open, this time with the force of a freight-train,
was loud enough to finally pull the young Saotome�s mind back to reality.

 

Being greeted with the sight of a nude 16 year old girl charging at him like
an enraged buffalo and wielding something much too long, sharp and deadly
forhis liking wasn�t something he was prepared for at all.

 

For martial-artists reflexes are a crucial factor when it comes to fighting.
Kicking in at the right time, they could save one�s head where no conscious
reaction would be fast enough, but they could also cost the same head, if
dodging the first obvious attack means running straight into the one
following up. 

 

What the young Saotome�s mind however based his reaction on was neither pure
reflex nor conscious decision, but bottomless fear.

 The sight of the amok-running girl wielding a katana being swung at his
throat overrode whatever inhibitions or rational thought his mind was
capableof at this moment.

 

Jumping from a sitting position in the furo to an aggressive stance behind
its tiled wall his form was obscured by a spray of water that had followed
his backwards-leap. 

 

Out his left palm, before his second foot had even touched the ground, a
distortion rapidly expanded, only to be spotted by seeing a section of the
spray of water explode into a fine mist, shooting towards the unsuspecting
girl who was rammed into the tiled wall of the furo with enough force to
crack them and leave a huge dent in the brick-wall.

 

Already alarmed by a naked Akane having murder in her eyes, within seconds
the diminutive grandmaster as well as his two students and Kasumi were
running for the source of the crash

 

Sliding around the corner of door to the bathrooms anteroom, the missing
doorto the furo allowed the concerned Happusai to see his worst fears
confirmed and only having calculated this remote possibility in advance kept
him from freezing at the sight of his disciple.

 

Standing behind the circular wall of the furo which was covering his modesty
(at least from Happusai�s perspective, as Kasumi�s severe blush was showing)
Ranma was still holding his left arm raised towards his target, a high
concentration of invisible ki distorting the air like the waves over deserts
dunes.

 

His right hand however, in no threatening position to the other observers
whoere skidding around the corner, was more then anything else concerning
theaged martial-artist. Only a couple of drops moving strangely through the
air indicated, what Happusai more felt then saw.

 

A sword of chi-hardened air was poised in the pigtailed boys right hand,
droplets of water running down it�s invisible edge. 

As he saw it, only the sudden entrance of the concerned group had hindered
the �autopilot� that Ranma was running on now to finish off the threat to
him, namely Akane, who was lying crumpled at the floor of the room. 

 

Tiny flows of blood from where the broke tiles had cut her were by now
accumulating in sharp contrast to the clean white of the floor. 

 

Seeing no other chance and being the only one really trusted by Ranma
Happusai began his plan to talk Ranma out of his autopiloted behaviour.

 

Speaking in a soothing but insistent voice, he only prayed that the gods
wereon his side today, or things would get messy soon.

 

 

 

 

�Ranma!!� the old master began, �Ranma my boy, look at me! Damn it look at
meyou stubborn ox!!� 

Succeeding with his gamble, the empty eyes slowly drew away their focus from
the crumpled girl to the source of the voice, the sphere of chi slightly
quivering and losing it's circular shape, though not even beginning do
dissipate.

 

�Look Ranma who�s here, it�s Kasumi!! Do you think she�ll attack you Ranma,
or that I will? Relax boy, everything�s okay now, nobody wants to hurt you
anymore!!�  

 

Seeing no reaction from the boy Happusai grew desperate, he had no illusions
that he couldn't stop Ranma if he chose to attack, less he got in a lucky
blow and killed him instantly. 

 

�Do you want to hurt Kasumi Ranma? Please calm down, or innocents could get
hurt. You here me boy, there are innocents here!!�

 

Having played his last ace, he could do nothing more but painfully watch as
Ranma�s consciousness fought over dominance with his fear-induced panic. 

After what seemed an eternity the sphere of translucent chi dissipated in a
slight shockwave, blowing away the wet black bangs that had until now partly
obscured the blue-grey eyes that now were filled with terror and shock. 

 

Yielding to the emotional breakdown his mind had already sustained, the
youngboy�s body fell to its knees with a strangled sob, before collapsing
bonelessly on the cold tiles of the floor.

 

Having laid the unconscious Akane in her bed and the minor cuts cleaned and
bandaged by Kasumi, as well as having put Ranma in a pair of silk pyjamas
andlaid in the guest-room where he had been meant to sleep anyway, the
residents of the Tendo-dojo, minus Nabiki who still hadn't come hope but in
addition of Happusai, assembled at the table for the umpteenth time these
days, to come to terms with the latest development of events in their lives.

 

An unconscious black-haired girl, still peacefully remaining in Morpheus
grasp, didn't witness any of the discussions that went until deep into the
night, neither did a pigtailed boy, whose tormented mind was reliving worlds
of blood, fire and pain over and over again, as it hat for days.

 

------------------end chapter three

 

Authors notes:

Since this is my first fanfic i�m strongly encouraging c&c on it, especially
because the replies of my 
two would-be prereaders were absolute zero.

(by the way, if one or the other experienced writer would be willing to 
lend me a hand as a prereader i�d be very gratefull)

I�m planning on making this a Ranma/Highlander crossover, something that
along with loads of other stuff 
will come in chapter 4, so please don�t get impatient with the slow pace of
the story ;)

I haven�t consciously ripped any ideas from other authors short of the
air-sword that was as far as i 
can tell originally an idea of Dark Phoenix (Jonathan Ford) but i hope
lending that idea won�t 
count as plagiatism ;)

Well, what else,  i�m planning on making this fic a non-canon matchup
beginning in the next 2 chapters. 
As well i�m thinking about if and how i should bring Ukyo and Ryoga into the
story, if anybody has got 
some ideas on that they are more then welcome to help me :)
THe amazons WILL make their entrance in the story, just about how and with
which intents i�m not sure.

Ok, so much concerning my first attempt at fanfiction, i hope you�ll
somewhatenjoy it :)

NemoZero

 

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