Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Bound to Stay ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

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“Blah, blah, blah” - indicates Japanese speech

“Yada, yada, yada” - indicates the use of Maranian Language (one of the ancient demon languages which is usually used in most spells and rituals)

# Nerima, Tokyo, Earth # - indicates locations

/Hmmm…/ - indicates thoughts

 

 

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Bound to Stay by Kalissa

 

 

Chapter 3

 

Ranma cursed, he has been chasing this Reaper for more then two hours now and every time he got close enough, the fucker opened a new portal and teleported to another dimention. This routine started to annoy him and an annoyed Ranma was never a good thing for ones health. He knew that Reapers were the elite in Hell, but this individual demon was truly something else, his skills with interdimentional travel were truly amazing. This time though Ranma managed to follow his prey through his own (demon's) portal.

 

The inevitable in this circumstances overload (the portal was made specifically for the Reaper only) caused the portal to explode that in turn gave a slight disorientation to the travelers. Ranma was quick to regain his senses and mask his presence to avoid being detected by the demon and thus leaving said demon without the opportunity to open another portal in time to escape. The explosion left him on top of some fence hidden by the trees he had time to study his current location without the possibility of him being discovered. The survey of his surroundings told Ranma that he was in some kind of school. The place had a three-story building and a big courtyard in the middle of which was standing the dazed Reaper.

 

Something caught Ranma's attention at the edge of his senses. After concentrating on the felling Ranma stiffened, the Dragonlines of this world felt familiar to him but he just couldn't remember or understand why. Not finding the answer, he shrugged it off as unimportant and instead he proceeded to concentrate on the current target of his latest mission.

 

/`Current target of the mission'/ the phrase repeated itself in his head /Who would've thought that I will so offhandedly say those words? When have I became so coldhearted and uncaring towards the fulfilling of my contacts and eliminating my `targets'? / a stray thought entered his mind /When you finally understood that it is the only way to survive in the universe. /was the answer to his question that came from the rational part of him.

 

A coldhearted killer, a Bounty Hunter, the best of the Hell Hounds those were his names now. Very few still remembered his real name and used it most knew him as the Dragon a merciless warrior without equals. /My childish dream had finally come true but at what price? / he thought to himself. Even after countless millennia that he had lived through, in all the dimensions that he had been to, he had never allowed himself to forget WHERE he came from and WHO he was in his human life.

 

Yes, human… it has been so long since he ceased to be one. /And all of this only because Happosai decided that he can play Kami and make me a ronin without a soulbond to my own homeworld. / As a consequence now Ranma had no means to find his homeworld except for searching through all of the existing dimensions for the right one an idea which he abandoned soon after learning their number. Therefore, he decided to adapt to his new life like he always had done before and here he is now preparing to kill a Reaper right in the middle of the school full of students that were staring at the demon which had finally regained his senses and started a killing spree among the teens.

 

Not giving the demon a chance to slaughter more people, Ranma flexed his right hand preparing to use one of his favorite elemental attacks. During his travels he acquired quite a lot of rather /unusual/ skills that were very difficult to master especially when they contradicted with the ones he'd already possessed, the ability to control different elements to a minor degree is one of them. (If anything bigger was needed it could be always done with a spell.) He channeled his magic, (a little something he had to learn how to do in order to survive in this specific period of his life) willing a lightning bolt to appear in his hand and then threw it towards his target while leaping to the school's roof to gain a better range for his next attack.

 

Ranma wasn't expecting to hit the demon so the fact that the Reaper avoided his attack didn't come as a great surprise. While in the air and heading for school he saw his target trying to back away and out of his reach, so he flipped in midair and sent another bolt towards his target saying

“Oh no, you don't shithead.” Mere moments later he landed on the school's roof “You've had your fun making me chase you around now I'll have mine ripping your head of.” His current emotions never displayed on his face (That was a weakness and he couldn't allow himself to show one in front of a possible enemy, hence kipping an emotionless mask most of the time.) and his voice was as cold as ice.

 

Reaper's furious growl that answered his statement made Ranma realise how frustrating mast it be for a said demon, once highly respected in the Hell's society to be a prey and have such a persistent hunter at that. The last thought brought out a chuckle. / How amusing! I should've realized it sooner, could've played on his nerves some more. /came a satisfied thought. After all his annoyance never left him and Ranma was full set to get back at the demon for the earlier chase. Looking at the possibilities, he decided on making the Reaper dance for a while.

“Show Time!” He said with an evil smirk of a maniac gracing his features and proceeded to throw lightning bolts altering in generating them between his right and left hands leaving the Reaper with no other choice but to dodge.

He `played' like that for a good ten minutes before getting board and deciding to finish what was started so far from here more then two hours ago. He hopped down from the roof with a grace of a cat landing without a sound.

“Let's finish this. I have more important things to do than spend my whole day playing around with you.” His words were carefully chosen; he knew that the suggestion that this was a mere game for him would wound the demon's ego.

This time though he received a reply that surprised and angered him a great deal, granted it didn't show itself on his face.

“If my spirit will be doomed to stay in this forsaken hole of a word for three decades gods are my witnesses I'll make sure you'll keep me company!”

/Now that wasn't a slightest bit amusing. / thought Ranma /Fuck it all! I never failed a mission in my life and this won't be an exception! / anger colored his mental voice / And if this fucker really can live up to his promise then I'll just enjoy a thirty-year long vacation, it won't be my longest stay in some shitty world, and after all, nothing can compare to being turned into a panther for one hundred years, and as a punishment for an innocent (at his biased opinion) joke at that. / Without further musings, he conjured two vacuum blades and engaged himself in a fight.

 

The Reaper was a fighter of a great skill; Ranma had to give his full attention to the fight in order to win. Of course he could have just fried the demon, he knew so many different ways to do that, but where's the fun in that? However, even then getting into demons defenses was not a simple task and when he finally found an opening and drove his sword (vacuum blade) into Reaper's heart Ranma was covered in sweat and panting from the heavy workout. It's been a while since he had lost himself in a fight like this; most of the people capable to do that to him were his friends and a sparring match no matter how brutal can never compare to the real life and death fight.

 

Ranma was returned to reality by the demons voice

“Shastem autori quotell by the power of Rakshase you will stay in this world as long as my soul does Etaeru cuot with the power of gods I bind you Dragon.”

Surprisingly he wasn't angry at the demon. In the short time that he spent with the Reaper, he gained Ranma's respect as a fighter, so he treated demon's last will with respect and acceptance.

 

Ranma watched as life left the body of the demon and then steeling himself he took out a dragger from his sub-pocket. To finish what was started he needed to do only one more thing…

 

This specific dragger wasn't meant for fighting though. Its beauty was breathtaking. The dragger was made of pure silver crafted by the best and strengthened by magic it was unbreakable. It had a wild horse with its front legs raised in the air as if in strike embedded on its handle and a Chinese styled dragon running down its blade on both sides of it, both were made out of black onyx with blood-red rubies as their eyes.

 

The dragger served as an ID of a kind, every Hunter had one to identify them. It was charged with person's ki and magical aura, thus making each of them unique. It was also used during the creation of a contract in those cases when a Hunter chose to bind him/herself with one. When a Hunter completes a mission, they use this dragger to leave their personal `signature' on the body.

 

Ranma neared the Reaper and with the words “The contract has been fulfilled.” With one mighty swipe, he drove the dragger into demon's body, which then dissolved into a thin air only to appear in the office of his latest employer a mere moments later.

 

His honorarium was already materializing in his sub-space pocket where he tended to keep most of his belongings; it is convenient to keep anything you may need within hands reach, moreover with him spending most of his time traveling. Ranma was being able to create his sup-space pocket using one of the lost dimentions as a storage base, so pretty much he had a whole word worth of space. (If one were to look inside, they would see an endless orange sky with floating islands spread throughout it with Ranma's belongings piled on top of them.)

 

Ranma was startled by the crowd's loud gasps. The fact that students were watching the fight hadn't registered in his mind up until now, and when he instinctively looked up to see the source of the sound, he received a shock of a lifetime. There among the shocked students was standing Nabiki, one of the many people that he had lost any hope to see again. At first Ranma thought that she was just another look-alike but the recognition that had briefly shown in her eyes proved that it really was her. At that moment only one thought registered in his mind / I'm… Home… /

 

Ranma was only dimly aware of his fiancées voices, all his attention focused on the simple fact of their presence. When the ability to comprehend anything but that simple fact finally returned to him he noticed that he was being squashed between an overly exited Shampoo and equally as exited Ukyo. Both girls were rattling non-stop about some nonsense and trying to get his attention by pressing their generous curves into him, while at the same time shooting each other killer looks. Then Ranma saw Akane who was standing a few feet away while going on and on with her famous `Ranma you baka pervert' speech in her full battle aura mode and was getting ready to ponder him face first into the ground with that giant mallet of hers.

 

Tired from the fight and mentally exhausted by the shocking revelation, a girl trouble was the last thing Ranma wanted to deal with. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down and resisting the urge to just throw them off of him, Ranma slowly and as calmly as he could said

“Get. Off. Of. Me.”

 

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