[FFML] [XOver][R.5/Bleach] Pale Horse Chapter Two: Shadows and Shades
Timothy Groves
groves_ca at yahoo.co.uk
Thu Jul 26 19:59:09 PDT 2007
Disclaimer
Ranma 1/2 was created by Takahashi Rumiko, and anyone who doesn't
already know this won't understand this story anyway. Bleach was
created by Tite Kubo; you don't really need to have seen Bleach to
understand this fic, but just so you know, anything not Ranma related in
here was created by him.
- - -
The redhead walked into the kitchen. "Yo, Kasumi."
Kasumi dropped the spoon into the pot, and whirled, to stare at her.
"Is...someone there?"
- - -
He smiled shyly at her. "You can see me."
"Yeah." She leaned over a bit. "How come you can see me?"
"We're ghosts, aren't we?"
- - -
Ranko watched him go, and frowned. "That candle...It seemed like he
could see me in its light..."
- - -
The small, black-haired girl watched silently. One hand tightened
reflexively on her katana.
-Shaolan...-
- - -
The air was split by an unearthly howl. Ranko felt her skin roughen
with goosepimples, actually felt each individual hair on her head rise
up, and she turned to look down the street.
She wished she hadn't.
- - -
Tail Kinker Presents
Pale Horse
Chapter 2: Shadows and Shades
Ranma stepped back from her male form. She checked her robes, baldric
and nagimaki, touched the scar running down her face.
"It was easier this time." She glanced over at Akane, then down at her
male form.
"Hey." She tapped the male body on the shoulder. "You can wake up
now."
Ranma's eyes sprang open, and he glanced over at his female form.
"Whoa."
Akane nodded. "This could definitely take some getting used to."
The female Ranma scowled. "How much can it take for you?" She jerked a
thumb towards the kneeling boy. "The only time I normally see him is in
a mirror."
Akane giggled.
The female Ranma sighed. "We're gonna have to find out how far I can go
like this. Ranma, you stay here."
"Sure thing, Ranko."
The female blinked. "Ranko?"
Ranma shrugged. "We're gonna have to call you somethin', right? At
least as long as you're wanderin' around."
The girl considered this, then shrugged. "I can get used to it.
'Ranko' it is." She pulled the nagimaki off of her back, and leaned it
up against the wall. "I better leave this here."
She turned, and walked towards the door of the dojo, but Akane's gasp
caused her to turn. "What?"
The turn made the baldric shift on her shoulder, and she felt the weight
of the nagimaki. She pulled it off her back, and examined it.
"This girl musta drowned still holdin' her weapon." She shrugged, and
slipped it back into its sheath. "Guess I'll have to carry it around
with me." She glanced over at Akane. "Can you do me a favour?"
"I guess."
"Just...hang back a bit, and keep an eye on me."
- - - - -
Kasumi carefully set the glass pot lid on the counter, and scooped a
small amount of soup from the pot. She sniffed, then tasted, and
smiled. "Almost perfect."
Ranko walked into the kitchen. "Yo, Kasumi."
Kasumi dropped the spoon into the pot, and whirled, to stare at Ranko.
Ranko scratched the back of her head nervously. "I know the getup is
kinda weird, but--"
"Is...someone there?" Kasumi's eyes were not quite focused on Ranko,
but seemed to be looking past her. Ranko looked at her oddly.
"Yer' lookin' right at me, Kasumi."
"Odd..." Kasumi smiled. "I must be imagining things." She turned back
to the soup.
"Imaginin'?" Ranko walked up to her. "Yo, Kasumi, I'm right here!"
Kasumi continued to stir the soup.
"Yo, Kasumi!" Ranko scowled. "Why are ya actin' like ya can't--"
She paused.
"Maybe she can't."
She leaned closer, until her nose was nearly touching Kasumi's shoulder.
Kasumi reached over with her left hand, picked up the pepper, and added
a dash. Her hand came within a millimeter of Ranko's robe, but still
she seemed oblivious to her.
"Whaddaya know...I guess it's just Akane and my boy type that can see
me." She leaned back. "Wonder why they can, and Kasumi can't?"
Akane walked in, a puzzled look on her face. "Hey, Ranko?"
"Yeah?"
Kasumi turned. "Ranko? I haven't seen her today. I thought that Ranma
had given up that name?"
"She has, Sis."
Ranko grinned. "She can't see me, Akane. It's just you and...well, me,
I guess. Watch!" She waved a hand near Kasumi's face.
Kasumi started, and turned towards Ranko.
"Ack!" Ranko took a step back involuntarily.
Kasumi stared in her general direction. "Akane..."
"Yeah, Sis?"
"I'm not sure, but...I think I just saw something." She raised a hand
to her lips. "Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving in
midair."
"Maybe she can kinda see me, after all." Ranko studied the older girl.
Akane walked towards Ranko, and stared at her hard.
"What?" Ranko looked behind her, then back to Akane. "What's up,
Akane?"
"I think you're right, Kasumi." Akane turned back to Kasumi. "I saw
it, too."
"What do you think it is? Another demon?"
"No...I think it's a lonely ghost, of a long-dead girl."
Ranko blinked.
"Nothing to worry about, Sis...I don't think she's dangerous. Just
treat her as another freeloading house guest."
"Hey!"
"Oh..." Kasumi smiled. "At least this one, we don't have to feed."
"Oh, man." Ranko threw her hands in the air. "No respect around here
at all!"
- - - - -
"I'm tellin' ya, Ranma, it was seriously weird." Ranko was pacing the
inside of the dojo. "It was like she could almost see me, if I snuck up
on her or somethin'."
Ranma considered. "Maybe she's one of them medium types."
"Heh." Ranko smirked. "And here I always thought Kasumi was rare."
"You know what I mean, dolt!" Ranma shook his head. "Maybe she can see
spirits."
"Maybe." Ranko frowned. "But she only saw me twice, and it was more
like she...Ya know how we feel when someone's watching us?"
"Yeah."
"It was like that. She had the feelin' that I was there, but she
couldn't really see me."
Ranma nodded. "So it's just me an' the Tomboy."
"Guess so."
"Probably, I can see ya because I'm your other half. And Akane...well,
she was there the first time we did this, so maybe that's why she can
see ya."
"Maybe." Ranko considered. "I'm gonna go for a walk."
"Where to?" Ranma jumped to his feet."
"Just out and about. Maybe to the school and back." Ranko turned and
walked to the dojo door. "It might be just you and Akane, or maybe
there're other people...I want to see if anyone else can see me. Tell
Akane I'll be back in an hour or two."
"Want me to come with?"
"No." Ranko grinned. "If Kuno can see both of us, he might go kinda
snaky."
- - - - -
A redheaded Japanese girl, walking through the streets of Nerima while
wearing a black kimono and carrying a polearm, would normally draw some
attention. But anyone who crossed Ranko's path seemed to look straight
through her.
"I could get used to this." She watched Kuno wander straight past her,
his eyes never leaving his path. She ran to catch up with him, jumped
out in front of the samurai wannabe, waving her hands. She had to
backpedal quickly, as he didn't slow at all. She stepped to the side,
let him walk past.
"Kuno!" She yelled his name as loud as she could.
Kuno paused.
-He heard me?-
The kendoist's lips curved in a smile. "Ah, my pigtail Goddess' lovely
voice. Forever it haunts my imagination, whispering its words of love
and devotion."
"Ick." Ranko shivered. "So even doin' everythin' but slappin' him, and
he still only thinks it's his imagination." She turned, and stomped
away from him. "And he has a sick imagination."
She glanced up, to see three more people approaching. Two she
recognized: Hiroshi and Daisuke. Not precisely friends, but the
closest to such that she had. The third, a younger boy, maybe ten years
old, she didn't recognize. She fell into step with them, noting again
that she went completely unobserved.
"The only problem is, Hiro, that he'd pound us into goo for even
imagining such things."
"I know." Hiroshi nodded. "But, hell. Who can help imagining? You
gotta admit, Ranma's hotter in girl form than the rest of the female
student body."
"And what a body!" Daisuke laughed. "I'd love to get just one hand,
just a finger, down that--"
Ranko gritted her teeth, and launched a punch at the back of Daisuke's
head.
"Ow!" Daisuke pitched forward, tumbling to an ungraceful heap on the
pavement.
"Huh? You trip?"
"No, something hit the back of my head." Daisuke stood up carefully,
rubbing the back of his head. He glanced around, puzzled. "Felt like a
baseball, or a brick, or something...I don't see anything, though."
"Maybe it was Ranma."
Ranko blinked, and stepped back.
"Yeah, could be...even imagining things like that could get me hurt."
Daisuke's eyes glazed over again. "If only we could convince him to
wear a school uniform...cold water would wreck the shirt in a hurry--"
Ranko spun on her heel and marched away, before she was forced to give
into the urge to draw the nagimaki and get medieval on Daisuke. She had
gone perhaps ten steps before she realized that the little boy was
walking with her.
She turned, and glanced down at him. He was painfully thin, and very
pale. Perhaps the oddest thing about him, though, was the short length
of chain protruding from his chest.
He smiled shyly at her. "You can see me, can't you?"
"Yeah." She leaned over a bit. "How come you can see me?"
"We're ghosts, aren't we?"
"Guess so." Ranko stood again, and glanced around. "There many ghosts
around here?"
"Yes. Not as many as there are people." He looked more closely at
her. "You don't have a chain."
"Hm?" She glanced down at her chest. "No, I don't."
"No chain--you're one of them!"
His eyes widened, and he turned and bolted down the street. Ranko
watched as he ran straight through Hiroshi, then turned down a corner
and was lost from sight.
"One of -them-?" She shrugged, then looked around. "Ghosts, eh?"
- - - - -
Elsewhere in the district, a small, black-haired girl paused as her
pager went off.
The pager was in direct contradiction to the rest of her. Kimono, straw
zori sandals, and katana did not mix with the pager. But she drew the
pager from her obi, and considered it, then leaped from the street to
the telephone pole.
- - - - -
Dusk had fallen; Ranko picked up her pace. She wasn't worried about
street crime - she could crush any mugger like a bug - but she'd been
gone for almost an hour, and she didn't want Akane getting worried about
her.
She'd seen several other ghosts; like herself, they walked among the
citizens of Nerima, completely unnoticed by the living. Now that night
was falling, they were more obviously transparent, as though the light
was being drawn out of them as well as from the sky.
Fewer living people were around; most were heading in for the night.
She paused, however, as she saw Gosunkugi mooching along the street.
"Damn...if anyone else is likely to see me, it's him."
She ducked behind a telephone pole, hoping it provided enough cover.
Gosunkugi didn't seem to notice her, but meandered past the pole,
muttering under his breath.
"...evil spirits around..."
"Hm?"
She slipped out, and drew level with him. He had an unlit candle in one
hand and a hand-written charm in the other, toying with them
absentmindedly.
"I can feel them...evil..."
Ranko smirked. "Dunno why I was worried."
Gosunkugi stopped. Ranko blinked, and glanced over at him.
He was staring right at her.
"Evil spirit..." He dropped the charm, fumbled for his lighter, and lit
the candle. He held it high, and took a step towards her.
"Evil one, begone!" He waved the candle in her general vicinity. "I
see you, shade! Return to the pits of hell!"
"Oh, great." She backpedalled, anxious to get out of the light cast by
the candle.
"Begone!" He stopped, and sighed. "That's the third one this week...I
really need to learn how to do a proper exorcism..." He waved a skinny
fist towards her, then turned and stumped down the sidewalk.
Ranko watched him go, puzzled. "Damn. He seemed almost competent."
She frowned. "That candle...It seemed like he could see me in its
light..."
She paused, at the sound of running feet.
Ahead of her was the young boy that she'd seen shadowing Hiroshi and
Daisuke. He was running as though his life depended on it.
"Hey, kid, what--"
He tore past her, not slowing down at all. She watched him run off.
"Odd. Wonder what he--"
The air was split by an unearthly howl. Ranko felt her skin roughen
with goosepimples, actually felt each individual hair on her head rise
up, and she turned to look down the street.
She wished she hadn't.
The shadowy form, stalking methodically towards her, would have been
three meters tall save for its hunched over posture. The massive
fingers that brushed the pavement on each step sported five-centimeter
claws. Moonlight shone clearly through the empty hole in its body, and
gleamed off the pale, bonelike mask that covered is misshapen head.
"What in the name of..." The momentarily paralysis lifted, and she
snapped into a ready position. "That's what he was runnin' from!"
The creature lifted its head, and howled again, a cry of hunger and
pain.
"That far, no further." Ranko's scowl deepened.
The creature lowered its head, staring balefully at her, then with
astonishing speed, leaped forwards and backhanded her across the
street. She rolled, regaining her feet, and leaped towards it.
Her foot smashed directly into its ribs, but she might as well have hit
a brick wall. Almost casually, the monster backhanded her again. This
time, she turned it into a flip, landing lightly on her feet.
The creature turned, and began lumbering directly towards her again.
"Enough of this crap. Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"
She leaped inside its guard, delivering a rapid-fire string of punches
into its abdomen. Again, it felt like she was hitting something
completely unyielding. The creature kicked, catching her leg, and one
claw slashed across her robes, tearing them badly. She winced; any
closer, and it would have torn her badly as well.
She leaped away, and the creature continued to trudge heavily towards
her.
"I'm not hurtin' it. It took my best attack, and kept on comin'." She
reached back almost automatically, and readied the nagimaki. "I'm gonna
have to use this..."
- - - - -
Atop a telephone pole, the small, black-haired girl watched the battle
silently. One hand tightened reflexively on her katana.
-Shaolan...-
- - - - -
Ranko brought the nagimaki down into the ready position, and scowled.
"Come on, you big ugly--"
The creature moved, again with the unexpected speed. She parried its
claw-rake with the glaive, and severed three fingers. The creature
roared with pain. She grinned, pressed her advantage, and leaped past
it, slashing a leg as she moved.
Again the creature howled. Ranko touched down, leaped into the air as a
massive paw slammed into the pavement where she'd just been standing.
She was in a dojo.
She blinked, and looked around.
It wasn't the Tendo dojo; the iroha were in Chinese characters, not
Japanese, and the shrine was missing. She heard the rumbling purr of a
kitten, and forced herself not to look for its source.
"You need to target the mask."
She turned, to see another redheaded girl.
No, to see -herself-. As she was in spirit form...a redhead with long
hair, much longer than her own, but with the same scar, the same robes,
and the same nagimaki.
"Strike the mask. It is the only way to defeat it."
The creature roared again, and she rolled to the side, dodging another
rake. She slashed down, severing the tendons across the back of its
hand.
"Target the mask, eh?"
The beast seemed to know her target; one arm was raised, ready to parry
a leap attack. She dodged inward, spinning to slash the knee; as the
creature moved to counterattack, she leaped straight up.
The nagimaki passed through the bone mask as though through air, cutting
straight through the creature's skull and out the top. She landed, the
nagimaki finding its way effortlessly to its scabbard, and watched as
the creature dissolved into a spray of black mist.
- - - - -
The black-haired girl shook her head.
-I don't have time to follow her...but I can't doubt that my Captain
will send someone to watch her.-
She leaped to the next telephone pole, continuing her mission.
- - - - -
"Ranko!" Akane dashed forward as the Redhead staggered into the dojo.
"So tired..."
"What happened?"
Ranko collapsed forward, and Akane caught her.
"'Kane...I saw ghosts...I fought one, a really nasty one..."
"There's blood on your glaive."
"I know...not mine." She smiled weakly. "I'm not hurt, though it was a
close one."
Akane stared pointedly at the rip in her robe.
"I know...close." She tried to pull herself upright, failed. "But I'm
so tired..."
"Ranma!"
"Yeah, Akane." Ranma reached down, picked up the smaller girl, and held
her close to his body.
There was a shimmer, and she vanished. Ranma collapsed to the floor.
"Ranma!"
"I'm okay...just dizzy." He sat up slowly. "I've been in a helluva
fight."
"With what?"
"I don't know exactly." He shuddered. "But it was definitely a bad
guy."
"What did she--"
"I split it in half with my nagimaki." He grinned, almost a predatory
snarl. "He won't be botherin' anyone else."
"So why was she--"
"I used up all my energy." Ranma looked down at his hands, flexed them
into fists. "I guess I can only stay away for so long, and that time is
shortened if I get into a fight."
"Oh."
"So I came back here, to recharge." Ranma glanced up. "You keep sayin'
'she', but ya gotta remember, Akane...once we come back together...it's
all me."
- - - - -
Author's Note:
If you missed Chapter One, it's on my web site. The link is below.
--
Homepage: http://www.tailkinker.net
ICQ: 66022322
eMail: groves_ca at yahoo.co.uk
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