Don't misunderstand--I'm still working on Ranmadate. My muse has just been a
little skewed lately. The bronchial and bowel infections I've had the last
few weeks coupled with dogsitting for my aunt and her dog's nasty attitude
toward mine have not helped matters.

But my muse is tossing out random ideas lately, So I whip up little teasers
and bits of what-not...and, well, maybe after I finish Ranmadate, I'll write
this.



========================================================



Crashes of thunder and bright flashes of lightning punctuated the stillness
of the evening. The two families sat around the table in a darkened dining
room, sating their hunger with a meager repast of sashimi and pickles, the
power having failed before Kasumi could cook dinner.

"Sure is one hell of a storm, eh Tendou?" Saotome Genma asked.

Tendou Soun nodded, taking a long, slow sip of his beer. "I haven't seen a
storm like this since the night Nabiki was born."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "There was a storm the night I was born?" she
asked as she popped a slice of tuna in her mouth.

"It was a terrible storm," Soun replied, nodding. "We couldn't leave the
house, the midwife barely made it here, and even if we'd made it to the
hospital, the power was out across the ward." He frowned. "Actually, most of
Tokyo was dark that night, come to think of it."

"I remember that," Nodoka said, nodding. "Actually...wasn't that the
night..." She flushed.

Genma blinked, then flushed also, grateful that it was too dark for anyone
to really tell.

"The night what, Mom?" Ranma asked.

"Well, the night--well--"

Nabiki chuckled. "I get it! That's hilarious."

"What is?" Akane asked.

"Sounds to me like that's the night they made little Ranma here," the middle
Tendou daughter said with a sly smile.


Ranma choked on a pickle.

"Yes, that was quite a night," Nodoka said, the faintest trace of
embarassment in her voice.

"Can we talk about somethin' else?" Ranma asked.

The door crashed open, startling everyone.

"Oh my! Who could it be in this--?"

Everyone rushed to the foyer, where a cloaked figure stood silhouetted
against the flickering lightning. The heavy thump of the unexpected visitor
collapsing on the genkan was dulled by a soft rumble of thunder. The
umbrella the cloaked figure held demolished the wooden floor, and a fine
spray of water rose into the air.

"Who is it?" Nodoka asked.

"Ryouga," Ranma replied, nodding at the umbrella. "Gotta be."

"That's his umbrella alright," Akane said. "Let's get him inside."

"Oh dear, what could have happened to him?" Kasumi wondered.

******

Ranma had changed in the process of moving Ryouga. The thick leather cloak
which had covered the lost boy from head to foot was drenched, and though it
had been ripped and torn in several places, it had still managed to keep him
dry enough to avoid transforming into a pig.

When he saw the extent of the wanderer's injuries, Ranma cringed, and was
rather glad Ryouga had avoided changing. He wasn't entirely sure P-chan
would have survived.

Nabiki held a flashlight steady over the unconscious boy while Kasumi and
Nodoka took stock of his injuries. "Dear gods, this boy must have been
attacked by a whole gang of thugs!" the elder woman exclaimed.

Ranma shook his head. "No street punks could trash Ryouga this badly." He
eyed the long, deep gashes in the wanderer's arms and legs, and a
particularly unwholesome cut across his cheek. "Whoever did this was
*dangerous*."

Ryouga emitted a groan, and his head turned slightly. A fresh trickle of
blood flowed from the wound on his cheek. "Ugh..."

"Ryouga?" Ranma asked. "Yo, pig, you okay?"

The lost boy opened his eyes slightly. In the dim light cast by Nabiki's
flashlight, his hazel eyes were milky, unfocussed. "R-Ranma?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's right. You're at the Tendous' place. What th' hell happened,
man? You're all fucked up."

Ryouga groaned again, trying to sit up. Kasumi and Nodoka held him down.
"You shouldn't move, Ryouga-kun," Kasumi chided. "You're badly injured."

"Who gotcha, Ryouga?" Ranma asked.

"Nnn...ninja," Ryouga rasped heavily.

"Oh my! You were attacked by ninjas?" Kasumi asked.

"One," Ryouga said. "One...ninja." He looked up at Ranma, pushing his
shoulders up slightly. "Care...ful...tough...terrible...evil..."

Thunder crashed as Ryouga fell to the ground, his eyes closing again.

"He's alive, but we really need to get him some help," Nodoka announced
seconds later.

"A *ninja* did this ta Ryouga?" Ranma asked curiously, shaking her pigtail
over her shoulder. "What th' hell kinda ninja could do THIS ta Ryouga?"

******

Upon the roof of a grocery market in the main shopping street of the
Fuurinkan district stood a massive figure. Despite the howling wind and
driving rain, the ominous figure stood motionlessly, an oak refusing to bend
against the storm.

The young fool had been strong, but unskilled. A pathetic fighter. No
challenge whatsoever.

He needed stronger opponents. His skills were rusting, much as his armour
should have rusted in the driving rain. Eyes narrowed to slits, he gazed out
across the rain-swept streets, the darkness making no difference to him, for
he was ninja--the shadows were his domain, darkness his mantle.

Blood, thinned by rain, dripped slowly from the long, lethal claw attached
to his gauntlet. He clenched a fist. There had to be someone, somewhere, who
would be a worthy challenge. Too long in the shadows of his guise of
respectability had softened him--far too long, for him to have been bested
by such a miserable creature.

And so, he had returned to Japan, the land of his birth. For there would be
no challengers in the accursed land of the gaijin to satisfy him. But
here...

But where?

He leapt silently from the roof, highlighted only briefly by a flash of
lightning, a glistening mass of metal suspended on a curtain of shimmering
rain.

******


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