Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Knight of Shadow ❯ Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction… ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma½, The Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen (as minor its part is), Inu-Yasha... or whatever else there might end up in this fic. That's simple enough isn't it... ^_^; ...and if it isn't? Well, I could mention that I improved the bear traps with poison coating and upgraded the shotgun into a flamethrower. Good for roasting those slippery buggers; lawyers...

Dialog:"…"

Thoughts: are like this.

Warnings: Blood, death and cheap lives...

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The Knight of Shadow

Chapter 3 - Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction…

By: Azrael's Wing

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It was a place of shadows, a den for those who dwell in darkness. Deep within that darkness, the goddess of assassins, Xian il Shin'igami, suddenly convulsed in agony when a headache size of metaphorical Mt. Everest, Mt. Fuji and Kilimanjaro thrown together struck at her. It took few moments for her to figure out what the hell was going on, with the gremlins banging at her head disturbing her, but soon enough she realized source of her pain. It was the connection to her ascendant, its automatic danger screaming like a fire-alarm next to a erupting volcano.

A brief moment of concentration allowed her to focus on him; mentally looking into what the hell was going on where-ever Ranma was at this moment. It really shouldn't be anything that bad, now should it? Unfortunately, as soon as her mind had looked deep enough, it became clear to her that she had severely underestimated Ranma's ability to get in trouble.

Now, even though that miscalculation would definitely be fixed in the future, she would still have quite a dilemma in her hands. How in hell would she ensure that Ranma would come out of this mess even remotely in a single piece… considering that this time his opponent was a feline demon lord in throes a berserker rage? It truly was days like this that made her think deep thoughts; like why in the hell had she agreed to become a god of any sort…

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Through his life, Ranma had faced some rude awakenings, most of them either from hands of his father or from his of so loving fiancé. Never before however had he woken up like this. He was bleeding from countless cuts and wounds, his intestines barely staying within his stomach, and lying on top of a bloody corpse of a naked cat demon of some sort. If he'd only live through this mess, he'd definitely have a stories to impress people with…

It took a few moments for him to figure out what exactly had woken him up, as scrambled as his brain was at the moment, and as soon as he did figure it out, he wished that he hadn't. The source of his discomfort, aside from not so mint condition of his mangled body, was his `bed'. Going through the throes of quite rigorous rigor mortis, it made quite clear to him that he was laying on top a naked MALE cat demon.

As the things were, they couldn't get much worse. As much as he tried, he could barely move his limbs and as he lied there, he could feel his life-force slowly seeping away through his bleeding guts. It was unlikely that anyone would come to his aid in a place like this. It was feared for obvious reasons, and any of those to come around would be more than happy to just put him out of his misery and loot his still warm corpse.

Deep in his now sluggish thoughts, Ranma suddenly felt something try take over his body, forcing it to act against his own will. Trying to fight against it he tried to force his body to resist, his mind was deeply disturbed by this sudden compulsion to move. Suddenly though, he heard a faintly familiar voice in his head, saying that he should simply trust… her? While he couldn't recognize the voice in the state he was in, it did feel faintly familiar, familiar and safe enough that in the end he did give in to it and where-ever it would lead voluntarily.

As soon as he let loose of his will his body felt a sudden burst of energy, the alien will collecting his last dregs of life-force into a final desperate movement. A move that to his great surprise had him assault the body he was lying on, plunging his hands deep into the chest of the beast. There they grabbed something soft and warm and ripped it off, bringing it out from its chest and in front of him in all its gruesome glory.

If Ranma had had any kind of control for his limbs, he would have dropped the item in disgust, as what he saw was bloody heart of the demon lying under him. Now however, having relinquished his free will for the moment, his arms brought the blood dripping hunk of flesh to his mouth. Able only to watch and gibber within his mind, he saw part of it disappear into his mouth. As he felt his jaw chew the meat and his tongue taste its burning blood, the only thing that kept his sanity going was somewhat soothing voice inside his mind, telling him to relax and accept the gift, whatever that would mean.

…how in hell could this be a gift of any kind? Ranma thought just before unimaginable torrent of pain encompassed his whole body. His blood was boiling in his veins, his brain full of hellfire demanding to be released from its confinement. As his body went through its metamorphosis he tried to hold on to his fleeting consciousness, but he could only do so for few moments before his mind and body both gave up. When the blessed oblivion began to take him he faintly wondered what would come out this suffering of his, but then even that spark of thought left him, leaving behind only darkness.

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Ranma's second awakening wasn't nearly as difficult as the first one for some strange reason. In fact, instead being gutted like a fish he felt better than fine. His wounds had healed mysteriously and his fatigue was gone as well. All that remained was a strange feeling of chill within him, and instinctively he knew that it had nothing to do with the state of his clothes or the cold looking cave he was in. Then, suddenly Ranma realized something.

"Wait a moment… How can I now see in this place? There isn't any light around, and last time I woke up it was pitch black in here. What the hell has happened to me?" Ranma wondered absently as he rose from top of the body he was on and took first real look at his surroundings.

The first his eyes noticed was naturally the body of whomever or whatever had assaulted him. Seeing it really the first time, or at least as far as he could remember that is, it was at the same time a quite curious and gruesome sight. Aside from the gaping bloody hole where its heart should have been, it wasn't exactly a sight he'd like see anyway due its obviously feline nature, or at least that's what he should have thought. Now however his ever-present phobia cats was curiously absent, making him wonder what other changes might have his strange dinner have caused.

This in mind, Ranma absently wiped his mouth with back of his hand, cleaning it from the half dried blood. This act however made him aware of another change within him as his lips pressed slightly into his teeth. Apprehensively probing his teeth with his tongue he confirmed the obvious and somewhat disturbing fact. Now this was certainly something unexpected.

Hold on! Since when exactly have I have had fangs in my mouth!?

Taking another quick look at the dead and demonic humanoid at his feet, he noticed the obvious feline characteristics on it. As it was naked, he could see that its body was covered in fine white fur, and both its hands and legs ended to dangerous looking claws. These things however were a minor concern to him, mainly because he would have definitely felt if he'd been covered it fur, and longer nails weren't probably that big a deal compared to rest of the package. Or at least I'd like to think so…

No, what concerned him most was its face. The mouth revealed two rows of sharp fangs, and the wide open eyes were bright yellow with vertical slits in its pupils. Now that was disturbing, for he wouldn't like to fend of raging mobs with sickles and pitchforks in the near future. As this thought passed through his mind, he briefly wondered why he wasn't bothered to any greater extent about this. It was as if his emotions were somehow dulled or something. Was it simply because of shock, or was there another more insidious reason for it?

However, that fleeting thought was pushed aside the moment he saw a pool of water next to the entrance. It would certainly be able to show him whatever external changes there might be on him. Nearly leaping there in one jump, Ranma was both eager and apprehensive in taking a look at whatever changes he might have. Finally, pushing all the fears aside he finally took a look.

The vision that greeted him wasn't nearly as bad that he had feared, but it wasn't that great news for him either. For most part his face was still quite human, but there were some troublesome changes in it nonetheless. His new pair of fangs was least of his problems, as they could be hidden easily enough, and his eyes weren't that much different. Even though they had small slits in them and glowed in dark wasn't that big deal. At least they were still the same color. The strange symbol of half-moon on his forehead was even less of a problem from his point of view. No, it was his ears that were the problem. Specifically the fact that they were now black and white furry triangles situated on top his head.

Oh great, now I look like a catboy from those manga Akane and Nabiki used to read. How in a world am I supposed to hide those things? I don't think the locals would appreciate those things, as cute as girls in my time might find them…

Absently splashing a bit of cold water on himself, he decided to take a look at himself as a girl. The result was mostly same, though there was a little detail that was somewhat worse from his point of view, and that was the color of her ears.

Just wonderful… I'm even cuter as a pink eared catgirl I suppose. This just keeps getting better and better!

Heating some water with his chi, he turned himself back and started looking for something to cover his head with. He took a closer look at what the cave held, and finally he noticed that at the furthest corner from the entrance there seemed to be an opening of some sort, leading further into the cavern. Eager to find something of use out of this mess Ranma went to investigate it, thus finding what apparently were the personal chambers of the cave's now deceased occupant.

It wasn't anything special, far from it. In fact, it seemed that whatever sanity that demon might have once possessed, it had lost it quite a while ago. The room might once have been well enough made, for a cavern that is, but now it was a clear testament for chaos.

The furs used as mattress stank and were stained with blood and ichor, the sturdy chest in the corner was filled with trinkets and trash. Looking through the mess, he eventually found a white robe made of strange material crumbled in one pile of trash. As picked it up and dusted it off, a handful of strange looking sticks fell from its folds. Ranma quickly tried it on; delighted by the fact that it had a hood.

Great! Now at least I don't have to worry about those things showing up all the time. Hm? What are these things, `cause they don't look like ordinary sticks to me?

Taking a closer look at them, he realized that they were not sticks at all but instead broken pieces of arrows. Looking at them close enough, he could still see bloodstains on the tips… and what was that foul stench? Poison?

I guess that explains why it was so aggressive, or perhaps insane would be a better word. Whatever poison those villagers must have used, it sure isn't anything I know of. That monster… no, I guess I can't call you a monster anymore, for I'm somewhat like you as well now. Heh, it seems you'll get your revenge on the villagers after all, as I have my own bone to pick with them now. Rest in piece, whatever… whoever you were.

These morbid thought in his mind Ranma left the room, leaving its stench of decay behind. Searching for a moment, he found backpack lying on the ground. Thankfully it was still mostly intact, with only small tears in its fabric. Still, something was missing… As distasteful as he found it, Ranma took a hold of the corpse and turned it around, revealing his family blade lying in puddle of blood. He picked it and its sheath up and brought them to the pool of water, eager to rid them of the filth they were covered in.

Surprisingly, even though he cleaned them up as well as he could, their previous color did not return. Instead, the blade and sheath remained as crimson as the demonic blood they had been bathed in, as if they had drawn some essence of the blood inside themselves. However, it still seemed to just an ordinary weapon otherwise, only colored differently. Seeing this, Ranma just shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't the first or the strangest thing to have happened to him so far, in fact far from it. It was just another change on a long road made of them that had begun even before Xian il Shin'igami had given him the choice to become whatever he was becoming.

I wonder what I'll be at the end of it, and how this fits in it all. No doubt my change has something to do with my strange state of mind, because I don't think I'd normally be calm about so drastic changes. Hmm, perhaps Cologne's scrolls have something relevant in them…

This in mind Ranma pulled the robe tighter over his body and lifted the hood over his head. Throwing the backpack over his shoulder and attaching the blade on his hip he was ready to go. Moving out of the cave he noticed that it wasn't even morning yet, but he didn't really care. The most dangerous thing in the woods was dead, and he really needed a bath. All that blood and sweat was starting to smell badly to his nose, as sensitive it seemed to be now.

If I remember right, there was a stream near the village. I can use that, because at this hour villagers aren't likely to notice me. After that, I have some reading to do.

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The sun was slowly rising, but that meant nothing to the cat eared sitting within shade of a tree. He had been reading scrolls and books found in Cologne's box for hours now, but with his weak Chinese he hadn't gained much of information so far. He figured that he was now a demon or half-demon of some sort and had tried to find something about them, but killing methods weren't exactly what he was looking for, as useful as they might be in the future.

From what other information there was, he now knew that was supposed to have something called youki inside him now. Some kind of demonic version of chi he would guess, and that half-demons were called hanyou or something like that. No much to go on by…

"Damn it, this really isn't helping me that much. I wish these things would happen with a manual or something, because this is starting to piss me off. I guess I'll have to do something about this, but what…"

Suddenly his ears picked a faintly familiar coming his way. It was that innkeeper that had lead him to that cave, and it seemed he wasn't alone. Still pissed of at him, he nonetheless remained hidden and decided to listen on to their conversation.

"…and I'm telling you, it's worth the risk. Either the thing's asleep after a good dinner or dead. Either way we have a chance to profit from this."

"Yeah right, like the last time with those arrows of yours? It only got worse after that!"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault those arrows didn't work like the witch said."

"You weren't the one that lost an eye in that mess, remember!?"

"Calm down! I admit that didn't go too well, but now things are different. If that guy has killed the beast, he surely isn't in too good condition. If so, we can take him down by surprise. And if not? We'll get the money from Saionji-sama for a job well done anyway. So don't worry.

"Yeah, yeah… Hope you're right."

All this was of course heard by Ranma who at this point was quite pissed of. Now, that emotion seemed to come far more naturally to him. He didn't know why, but he didn't really care that much either. It was time to take care of some business.

Oh, I'm going to enjoy taking care of these two, but I guess I'll have to question one of them to find out who's this Saionji-sama of theirs. Better keep that in mind. Well, here goes nothing…

Until now, Ranma had had no chance to use his new and improved body in battle, so what happened next was somewhat unexpected all to all three of them. As he leaped from behind a tree, he intended just to knock one of them senseless from behind. What happened however was somewhat different.

When his punch separated the other man's head from his shoulders along with a nice piece of spine, he realized that his changes apparently went much deeper than he had expected.

What the fuck!? It wasn't supposed to do that! That isn't supposed be even possible. What kind of a boost did that heart give me? If want that other guy alive, I'll need to think this over.

By now the innkeeper had seen what had happened to his friend, and was dealing with the situation quite logically. Technically that would mean that he was running like forces of Hell itself were after him. When you think about that, he was pretty much right about that. That however didn't help him too much when Ranma appeared besides him grabbing him by his shoulder. Still unused to the overwhelming power he now possessed, that simple move was enough to shatter the shoulder in dozens of places and causing the man to collapse in the ground like a sack of wet flour.

"Now would you stay put for moment? I do have a question I'd like to ask from you. If you answer well enough, I just might let you go. However, if you don't answer… well, the things might become little painful for you, if you know what I mean." Ranma said to the man, all the while smiling peacefully at him.

"Wh-h-h-at do y-you want t-to k-know?" The man stuttered, clearly afraid of his life and possessing a spine of a jellyfish.

"Just tell me who and where is the man you call Saionji-sama?"

"I c-can't t-tell you. H-he'd k-kill me f-for s-sure!"

Well now, it seems like he has a bit of spine in him at least. I doubt that it'll last though.

"I'm not asking, I'm demanding. And by the way… you can die only once, but suffering can go on and on." Ranma said as he stepped on the prone man's knee slightly and started to ad pressure.

Soon only things heard nearby were painful screams and frantic babble of the man questioned. It didn't take for him to find out all that there was to know, and in the end it was an easy decision finish him of while he was revealing some dirty secrets from his childhood. Only a surprised look in the man's eyes remained as his head fell next to the rest of the body.

"I told you that I might let you go, but there are some crimes which should not go unpunished. Be glad I gave you a quick death instead of the end you'd deserve." That said, Ranma cleaned the blade with rag and then threw the rag away. It was comforting in truly twisted way, that as much of a monster he now might, there still were those who as humans could be much worse than he could ever imagine being. This in mind, Ranma started to make his way towards the building described to him by the man he had just killed.

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It was still early in the morning when the dosing guards of Saionji's mansion lost their heads. There was no warning, no call for surrender. There was simply the act of execution and silent satisfaction. The door was cut of by its hinges, and those inside had little to no warning all when death came.

Those deemed guiltless enough could run away, but those with weapons were as good as dead, their bodies simply unaware of the fact at the moment. Eventually the building was empty of life, aside from one room that is. The door to Saionji's chamber was still unopened, and he still hadn't seen the man himself amongst his followers.

The door was apparently unlocked and with a great care Ranma pushed it open and peeked inside. That look might have become his last, were not for his new demonic senses. The sound of the moving blade and the air pressure warned him enough, and he dodged the blade barely by stepping back. After a moment the man himself appeared, clad only in his nightclothes and bearing his sword. As Ranma was still wearing his new robe with the hood hiding his face, it was logical that Saionji would ask for his identity… and so he did.

"Who are you stranger? An assassin? Who ever hired you for this job, I'm sure I can make you a better offer." Saionji said, looking at his opponent warily. Suddenly he moved like a viper and struck at Ranma who barely managed to block the strike.

"I'm no assassin for hire, and you couldn't buy with any sum. This is somewhat personal, aside from punishing you for all the suffering you've caused." Shit, he's good. Probably better than I am by a long shot, with a sword at least. Only reason I'm still alive is because of my new abilities and luck.

"Personal you say? I don't recall ever meeting someone like you, and what this about some so-called crimes of mine. Where-ever did you hear or those?" Saionji asked, then dodged and made another lightning quick strike at his opponent.

"Oh, a little toady of yours told many things, after I motivated him suitably of course. Don't worry, he's not alive anymore… not that you'll need to worry about anything much longer." Damn, that was close! I'll need to do something soon or else I'll be dead. If only I could control these new reflexes better…

"Who was this informant of yours?" This time there was some heat Saionji's voice, making his anger noticeable as cool as he was acting. He clearly didn't appreciate traitors, even dead ones. That heat could be seen in his attacks as well. They were faster and stronger, but they were also much sloppier. Giving openings and making mistakes.

"I don't know what his name was. He was an innkeeper in here though. Does that help a bit?" I don't know if this is for better or worse. Then again, any mistakes from this guy would be heaven sent. Now if only he'd give me an opening.

"Now I know who you are! You're the 'Demon' Ranma!" Saionji exclaimed in shock and halted his attack in mid-strike, removing only the hood from Ranma's head.

There!

Suddenly Ranma was right in front of the man, thus preventing either of them using their swords. "Yes, you got that right. However, thanks to your meddling I'm now truly the demon they say I am. I hope you appreciate irony of this," Ranma said archly, giving Saionji a look at his appearance.

As soon as he noticed the half moon symbol and the ears, Saionji took a step back with a look of fear upon his face. Then suddenly he tried to swing his blade in a desperate attempt to cut Ranma down. Seeing this, Ranma raised his free hand and launched a vacuum blade from his hand in point black range. Or he tried to anyway. However, instead of the expected blade of emptiness, a jagged blast of darkness shot forth from his hand, eviscerating his opponent while hurting slightly his own arm as well.

"What the hell was that?! Definitely not a vacuum blade, that's for sure. Damn, I have to find out what's going on with this body. Too bad you can't tell me what freaked you so much. I'd say you knew lot more about demons than you should have. I wonder…? Nah, I guess it doesn't matter anymore," Ranma said to himself, looking at the former human now decorating a room wall in several pieces.

Searching Saionji's room, Ranma found several interesting scrolls on shelves. Amongst them were many concerning demonology or such, too many to this to by just a coincident. However, whatever plans Saionji might have had, they were now laid to rest permanently. He took those scrolls that looked interesting and the money he was owned. He had no real need for the money earned by their way, he'd rather go hungry.

Finally, he noticed that there was a strange lever on the wall. For a while he simply wondered what it would do, but eventually his curiosity got better of him and he pulled it.

A rumbling sound could be heard from the main room, a sound of something heavy moving. Returning to the main room, he immediately saw what was different. In one corner there was now a hole in the ground. He could see a stairway leading two floors down, his eyes piercing through the darkness. Still curious, he went down there, but at the same time dreaded what he would possible find there. At the bottom he found a torch and lit it, and the vision that greeted him was just as bad as he had feared.

There were pens in there, but instead of animals there were humans held within them. There were men, women and even some children… some perhaps from this village, but most of them simply travelers.

Keeping his anger barely in check, Ranma shattered the locks with a single wipe of his hand. At least his strength would of use for something positive. However, even though the gates were open and the people free to go, none of them dared to move an inch. Then again, as Ranma all but covered in blood, his face showing the ears and markings, they could hardly be blamed for their fear. Even he realized that, as sad look come to his face. He turned around and left the cellar, confident that the people could now leave on their own now that the lock were gone and the route open.

Feeling satisfied but strangely sad at same time, Ranma left the house and the village. Those few villagers that he met fled as soon as they saw him, allowing him to leave easily enough. Eventually he reached the same stream he had bathed in previously. Feeling and smelling the blood on him, he cleaned himself once again before continuing on. Deciding to follow the stream for the time being, he traveled for hours until he saw something strange in the horizon.

There was apparently was a heated battle going on, but as far as he could tell, none of the participant were humans. They were all… demons?

TBC…

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Weird ideas 1

It was a place of shadows, a den for those who dwelled in darkness. Deep within that darkness, the goddess of assassins, Xian il Shin'igami, suddenly convulsed in agony when a headache size of metaphorical Mt. Everest, Mt. Fuji and Kilimanjaro thrown together struck at her. This sudden pain had also the unfortunate side-effect of making her swear like a sailor with a three day hangover, and accidentally caused the lord of the assassin's guild to fatally choke on the sugar coated pretzel, thus giving the man his just desserts.

Weird ideas 2

Deciding that some extra profanity wouldn't be amiss in a situation like this, she let loose a volley of acidic words in languages best left unknown to mortal ears. In fact, this exuberant fit of rage almost made her accidentally summon Tniskarri, the patron demon of sexual diseases from its lair in the seventh circle of hell to do her bidding.

Fortunately for the sanity of almost anyone related though, she managed to interrupt that errant summoning of hers. Thanks to that, she only managed to just give the said demon a case of incredible flatulence as it continued to bugger its unfortunate victims. Now the buggering would just happen in the tune of `Hymn of the Satanic Empire' by Anton LaVey, played by numerous orifices best left unsaid.

Weird ideas 3

At first he didn't believe his eyes, as sharp as they now were, but eventually he had to accept that whatever there was, it was no hallucination. What he was seeing was a huge metallic half sphere rising from the ground like some gigantic nail!

Once he got next to it, the only thing he could say was, "What the…?"

AN: It's done, I'm too tired. Good night…

- Azrael's Wing

"Proper capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse."

Then a vampire appeared. Buffy did slay it. Slay it she did. Did it she slay. Because she could. Could she because. In her heart she knew that she was meant to neigh.. I mean slay.

Bring me (the prisoner/my servant/my lover), naked and bound!

Togo nin (i vandor/vuirenen/velethen), lanc a naud!