Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: ashez2ashes 
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Mystery / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.18.2001 | Updated On: 11.07.2004 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 562 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Mystery / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.18.2001 | Updated On: 11.07.2004 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.7K | Visits: 562 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2. If I did, I'd be getting paid and chapters would come much more quickly. ^_-
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
----
Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days
Chapter 15
----
"Gaaaaaaah!"
Where was it? Something had just grabbed his shoulder! He was REALLY getting tired of supernatural forces messing with him! Why couldn't the evil ghosts or demons or whatever they were just be upfront with him? Why couldn't they just walk up and go 'Hello Mr. Ryouga would you like to fight to the death now?'
He could TOTALLY deal with that. But nooooOooo they had to speak inside his head and grab him in the darkness. Stupid bastards! Oh he was gonna kick whatever it was ass and then he'd hit him and kickhiminthefaceandsteponhisballsandbreakalofhisarmsandripouthisteethand--< br />
"Gah." Blood pressure. Rising. He. Needed. To. Breathe.
Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
Ryouga paused.
That sounded sorta perverted...
Gah! Stupid teenaged hormones! He had to get it together! Ok. Breathing normal. Blood pressure not sky rocketing. Aneurysm not imminent.
So where was that creepy thing that had grabbed his shoulder? He glanced around the area.
Nothing on the left.
Nothing on the right.
But he could still sense someone at the edge of his vision, watching. The wind blew softly, whistling through cracks in the walls.
Ryouga glanced down at the glass shards strewn about the dirt. A dozen broken images of himself stared back at him like a low budget fun house. He almost didn't recognize himself for a moment, unaccustomed to seeing the scar running down his eye.
He turned and glanced at the statue. Heh, the old carving had the same cut running down its stone face...
How had the mirror shattered? He had been facing it and then... it was like it jumped into his hands. Or had his hand reach for it?
Ryouga had no idea which was the truth. In fact, he really had no idea what was going on lately at all. It was like whoever was in charge of the universe had lost his or her outline to the world, and had just been winging everything for the past couple of months. But even with all of the current chaos, he was sure of one thing.
He was SO not going to clean the basement today.
Well, this little excursion to his house seemed to have turned up nothing, except a creepy ass statue and cobwebs on places of his body that cobwebs should never be. And why wasn't there at least a giant spider demon to justify the cobwebs? That'd be way cooler than some stupid mirror thing. He was sure all of the stuff meant SOMETHING, but he had no idea what. He appreciated the signs, but he needed some REALLY obvious ones. A bright neon sign maybe. Visions with Cliff Notes. Or even a "Curses for Dummies" book. Couldn't the universe just give him a br--
He paused.
The wind stopped whispering.
And reappeared as a dozen screaming voices inside his head.
'tHrIcE cuRsEd... he PrOmIseD 30 gENeraTiOns aGo... nOtHinG coMeS fOr FReE... SAKura LoNG TeRM HealtH FaCilItY... fAtHer liED...'
The voice paused.
'btW, tHeRe Is gOiNg tO bE a fIRe IN tHaT bLUe houSE dOWn tHE sTreet nExt tO THe cOnvIenCe sToRe, yOu MiGhT wAnt tO gO Do sOMEthIng abOuT tHAt laTeR.'
And then, like an afterthought...
'eVeRYthIng cOmEs bAcK evEnTuaLlY... EVERYTHING...'
As if that wasn't enough while his brain still felt like it was getting grated like Swiss cheese, his vision was graying along the edges like a burnt film reel... He was gently sinking downward, away from his body. Which was bad, since he didn't want to go anywhere out of his body, let alone in the downward direction.
Finally, Ryouga couldn't hold on anymore and lost his foothold in reality, falling into oblivion... The last thing he heard before darkness overtook him was the voices whispering...
'eVeRythIng...'
----
Time: 4:00pm
Location: Furinken High school
Mission 2: Procure normal high school friends
Ukyou stood in the midst of the semi-annual Furinken School Club Fair, feeling her previous confidence start to ebb away. All around her students milled about from booth to booth signing up for everything from soccer to martial arts ping pong.
She gulped and clenched her fists. This was no time to chicken out! She was on a mission! Besides, she had to get this done and then go back to her table to see if anyone turned in their surveys.
Her mission would not be derailed!
Sitting a few feet from her was her quarry. The small group of girls was huddled behind a pink colored booth, decorated to look like cake icing... The three aproned young ladies chatted excitedly to themselves in highs squeaky pitched voices peppered with lots of giggling.
This was the big time. High pitched giggles. Pink stuff. There was no turning back now. It was do or die! ...right?
Ukyou wiped her sweaty palms off on her skirt.
What was she worried about? It was just a cooking club. She was a professional chef. People paid money to eat the food she prepared. There was no reason for her to be worried about a little cooking club.
Yeah! Why was she worrying about a rinky-dinky cooking club? Even if those pink aprons looked awfully girly... She had abandoned her womanhood for so long, would she be able to connect with normal girls? Would she be able to talk about normal girl stuff? Would they think she was weird? Would they even let her join the club? What if--
Ukyou shook her head violently. She had to stop all these 'what ifs' and just get the damn thing over with already! The second step in operation "rose colored high school life" was at hand!
The nervous okonomiyaki chef smoothed out her hair, straightened her uniform, and stomped off to the cooking club's table.
The three girls looked up and fell suddenly silent at her approach. Ukyou couldn't help thinking they looked a little bit like deer caught in the headlights... or Ryouga caught in headlights.
"Is this the sign up for the cooking club? I'd--"
The girls burst into motion.
"Oh my gosh! Ukyou wants to join our club!" Girl One jumped up from her seat, knocking over the sign up sheet.
"Ukyou, like in, Ukyou from Ucchans?!" Girl Two grabbed the sign up sheet from the ground and shoved it into Ukyou's face.
"Wow, A real restaurant owner!" Girl Three began to cry tears of joy.
Ukyou winced inwardly. These were good reactions ... right?
Girl One jumped up and down excitedly and aimed a puppy dog expression in her direction. "You're going to join? Oh please, join!"
"Uh... yes?"
"OOoOOOOOooOOOO!" the girls cries of happiness became a single squeal that eventually reached a pitch only dogs could hear.
Ukyou wasn't sure what happened next, but it involved lots of hugs, pink clothing, ribbons, someone threatening to give her a makeover, cakes, and something about a secret handshake?
Time of Mission completion: 4:03pm
Objective: Complete.
Mission 2: ... successful?
----
There are lots of things Ryouga would like to be doing on a Monday afternoon. Slowly coming to consciousness was very low on the list. Unsurprisingly, coming to consciousness on top of a sharp pointy rock was even lower on the list. And slowly coming to consciousness on a sharp pointy rock as a spectator in a 14th century Japan flashback was so low on the list that whoever made the list needed to join a union, 'cause it was just too damn long.
Ryouga gingerly lifted himself upright and gazed out at the horizon.
Fireflies dotted the midnight air, coming to life suddenly with a soft green-ish glow, and then disappearing into the night. Clouds drifted by the full moon, creating brief shadows. The humid air smelled like fried meat.
Ryouga wiped the sweat from his brow and cursed under his breathe. He'd read enough bad manga in his spare time to know what was going on. Either he had went back in time, he said a silent prayer to whoever was listening that this was not the case (at least he had been no where near Tokyo Tower), or he was having a flashback.
Considering the mysterious presence he could feel hovering over his shoulder just out of sight, he figured the latter was probably true.
Beneath him, at the bottom of a grassy hill, lay a sprawling village enclosed in a high stone wall. He could see small dot-like people rushing about like ants. On the outskirts, peasant shaped dots busied themselves preparing for... something. What did feudal peasants do in their spare time? Well, other than die in large numbers...
At a bit of a loss, Ryouga walked down from his vantage point and attempted to get one of the peasants to notice him.
At the bottom, he paused as several barrels of rice rolled through him (literally) followed by a gaggle of laughing children.
"So let me guess..." Ryouga addressed the inky dark presence hovering just slightly out of the corner of his eye. "This is one of those, no one can see and hear me deals? Can't affect the past, bla bla bla?"
No reply came.
Feh, whatta bastard; all hovering on the edge of his consciousness, acting as if he was the Ghost of Christmas Past or something. Stupid poser.
Ryouga stepped through the village gates and past the surprisingly not mal-nourished and plague infested peasants, and into the main square.
Brightly colored paper lanterns, lined the street. The balls of covered light danced as a soft summer wind blew. Streamers of silk hung from window to window, connecting the narrow street and adding to the chaos. Vendors sold sticks of meat and tea from all sides. Nearby, someone was pounding a large drum, making his teeth rattle with every boom.
What kind of place in feudal Japan had so much silk they could waste it on dozens and dozens of banners? And if that wasn't weird enough the festival goers gave him chills. The masked patrons moved with an ethereal quality. It was as if they were underwater; smooth, deliberate, and inhumanly graceful.
Cautiously, the time displaced martial artist inched closer to a booth of patrons.
"I do not lie to you my lady; I was born from a peach." A large burly hulk of a man, took a long swig from his sake bottle. "My mother and father were quite surprised." The burly man burst into raucous laughter, knocking over a large broad sword by his side.
His companion, a beautiful woman wearing a long red feathered cloak looked on in disgust. "This is why I never come down here anymore."
Ryouga left them and continued walking through the street, hearing snippets of conversation as he passed.
"I could have stayed in that cave forever had I not been tricked--
"If someone had just said, "Mr. Turtle, the pebble is not your baby I could ha--
"And that is when I killed the giant centipede."
"I don't neow about that--"
Was that the cat ghost that had possessed him that one time? He thought he had seen a flash of white fur but it was already gone in the crowd. Ryouga could have sworn it was him...
"Oh, Ameratsu-sama that's amazing."
The crowd flowed through him like water as he walked.
"Yamamoto-kun tell us the story of when you founded--"
"All one-eyed ninja are calling themselves Jubei these days. Disposing of the impostors is becoming troublesome."
Ryouga paused wanting to hear that one, but the man with the eye patch man had already disappeared into the crowd.
Gradually, the sounds of the crowd faded into an inaudible mumble as Ryouga found himself at the end of the path. Faint shadows criss-crossed the cobblestone street and then sank into the cracked surface. In front of him, a weather beaten archway straddled wide stone steps. The steps seemed to stretch on endlessly into the sky. He hesitated in the gloom, half expecting a neon exit sign to light up in the distance.
Ryouga had a bad feeling about this. This place just screamed trouble, even worse than the time he'd wandered into that infectious disease lab. They really should label those jars more clearly... But maybe this path would lead to answers? The cult, the visions, his family's underground shrine; they all had to be connected somehow.
Well, he really had no choice. He had to see what lay ahead. Hopefully the explanation would involve color graphs and charts otherwise he still might not get it.
Funny how dropping out of school came back to haunt you later...
After taking a deep breath, he started up the staircase and reached the top in less than a minute. A shrine stood before him, seemingly balanced on a lake. The roof was bright red with an elegant curve to the edge. The building's foundation was raised on stilts above the water giving the appearance of a resting swan. A faint yellow glow leaked from the paper door.
Beneath Ryouga's feet, the stone ground became a mosaic of a red dragon...
Finally, he reached the shrine and walked through the paper door.
Spicy incense smoke burned Ryouga's nose.
The inner shrine was simple and plain, with a roped off section in the center. Small broken dragon statues sat in the center on a blanket of red clothe. The cut down the middle of the dragon was smooth and clean. The far side of the room was shrouded in darkness.
"Welcome." A young priestess stepped out of the shadows. Her red and white robes swished as she stepped toward the warrior. Her face was obscured by a carefully crafted cat mask. The fangs on her mask glinted silver in the faint moonlight. Long brown hair fell down her back. She carried a wooden staff with bells attached to it in her right hand.
"Eh?" Ryouga took a step back. Could she see him?!
Footsteps echoed behind him.
"Greetings priestess."
Ryouga turned around and froze in shock. Standing in front of him was a mirror image of himself. His doppelganger was dressed in sparse armor, somewhere between a ninja and a samurai. Long unruly bangs fell into his eyes. The warrior crouched low on the ground; his warrior army creaked as he sat on his knees.
"Why have you come here?" The masked priestess stopped in front of the crouched warrior.
"I need to be stronger."
Ryouga raised an eyebrow. Uh oh...
The warrior bowed his head. "I have traveled far to come here. Please, forgive my insolence at arriving at such a special occasion."
The priestess laughed hollowly. "They have endless years of festivals to look forward to. More than we could even imagine. I doubt they have even noticed your presence."
"Is it true?" The warrior glanced up, his eyes gleaming. "Can you grant me power?"
"I can grant you the power to fell trees with your bare hands, to walk from sea to sea without resting, you can be stronger than fifty men... but it will come with a price."
By the manic gleam in his doppelganger’s eye, Ryouga could tell he had been won over by "fell trees with your bare hands" before she even got to the 'strength of fifty men' deal. Hell, by the time she had finished, there was a slight line of drool running down the warrior's chin. This couldn't be good. He half expected the priestess to whip out a magic calligraphy pen.
"Be warned. Any kind of magical exchange requires a price. The more serious the exchange, the more drastic the price. And this..." Ryouga could have sworn she was deliberately pausing for dramatic effect. "Will require a VERY high price indeed."
The warrior’s eyes focused slightly. "The price cannot be my life or my soul. Anything else is yours."
Ryouga felt like slapping the guy. That moron! He was SO going to get screwed on this deal! This was way too open ended. So what if she didn't steal your soul or kill you? She might cut off your arms and legs. Then what would he do with the strength of fifty men?
Or... Ryouga gulped. She could cut off something REALLY important. Forget losing your soul, this guy needed to get his priorities straight.
"Before you decide, let me show you something." The priestess walked over to the broken dragon statue, picked the piece up, and handed it to the warrior.
"But what is...?"
"Grasp it with both hands." She folded his hands around the statue. "And see."
The warrior jolted as if an electric current was running through his body, his eyes widened, and his body began to tremble. He shivered silently for several minutes, eyes staring forward; seeing, yet not seeing. Until finally, he looked up and stared at the spot Ryouga was standing--And SAW Ryouga.
Gazes locked across time; identical green eyes connected in a moment that felt separate from time. Finally, the warrior broke away.
"I'm sorry."
Wait a minute! He could see him! Ryouga tried to lunge forward, but his feet felt rooted to the spot. He tried to scream, to cry out, to say ANYTHING but he had been struck mute.
The warrior ripped his head toward the priestess. "I accept your terms."
Ryouga screamed silently in frustration. What the hell was going on! DAMN IT! Why couldn't he say anything?! Move! Move! God damn body move!
The priestess nodded. "So be it." She raised her staff high above her head.
Ryouga froze and sucked in this breathe.
Light flashed.
The priestess and warrior stayed still and silent for several seconds. Ryouga listened to his breathe, unable to make any other sounds. Finally, after a few moments stretched out over a lifetime the warrior looked up from his kneeling position and opened his hands.
The statue had disappeared. A trickle of blood ran down his eye.
Was that it? Ryouga had really expecting more, like maybe summoning a demon or opening a portal to the spirit realm or... Ryouga wasn't sure, maybe something should have been set on fire. Fire always made things look more dramatic.
"That's it?" The warrior wiped the droplet of blood from his eye with the tip of his thumb. "You're not going to... cut anything off? Or at the very least, ring your bells?"
The priestess flicked her staff casually, jingling the bells slightly. "Satisfied?" She paused. "But if you really want something cut off..."
"No! That is all right." He stood up. "Please excuse me for a moment. I need to relieve--" He blushed. "Excuse me." He walked briskly out of the room.
The priestess smiled softly once the warrior was out of reach. "Both parts in the same night... heh. Goodbye Ushinatte-sama."
Ryouga heard, with a sickening feeling in his gut, the warrior muttering to himself outside.
"The shrine was just here. Where am I now?"
The scene changed.
He was suddenly back in his basement, staring upwards into a large hole.
Well, that told him... SOMETHING. He could have really used some nice colorful graphs and charts though.
----
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
Note: A couple people asked if this was going to be an Inuyasha crossover. The answer is... not really. I just like throwing in little Easter egg crossovers for the hell of it. I know this chapter is short, but after trying to think up something else to put in it for a month and coming up with nothing, I decided to just release it.
Next Chapter: Ukyou proceeds with her perfect high school life plan. And Ryouga, armed with his dad's address book, goes on a quest to discover his place in the universe and the mysteries that have been plaguing him. But more importantly, he takes a survey. ^_^
Oh yeah, and Ranma's going to be in it... probably.
Ranma: probably?!
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
----
Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days
Chapter 15
----
"Gaaaaaaah!"
Where was it? Something had just grabbed his shoulder! He was REALLY getting tired of supernatural forces messing with him! Why couldn't the evil ghosts or demons or whatever they were just be upfront with him? Why couldn't they just walk up and go 'Hello Mr. Ryouga would you like to fight to the death now?'
He could TOTALLY deal with that. But nooooOooo they had to speak inside his head and grab him in the darkness. Stupid bastards! Oh he was gonna kick whatever it was ass and then he'd hit him and kickhiminthefaceandsteponhisballsandbreakalofhisarmsandripouthisteethand--< br />
"Gah." Blood pressure. Rising. He. Needed. To. Breathe.
Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
Ryouga paused.
That sounded sorta perverted...
Gah! Stupid teenaged hormones! He had to get it together! Ok. Breathing normal. Blood pressure not sky rocketing. Aneurysm not imminent.
So where was that creepy thing that had grabbed his shoulder? He glanced around the area.
Nothing on the left.
Nothing on the right.
But he could still sense someone at the edge of his vision, watching. The wind blew softly, whistling through cracks in the walls.
Ryouga glanced down at the glass shards strewn about the dirt. A dozen broken images of himself stared back at him like a low budget fun house. He almost didn't recognize himself for a moment, unaccustomed to seeing the scar running down his eye.
He turned and glanced at the statue. Heh, the old carving had the same cut running down its stone face...
How had the mirror shattered? He had been facing it and then... it was like it jumped into his hands. Or had his hand reach for it?
Ryouga had no idea which was the truth. In fact, he really had no idea what was going on lately at all. It was like whoever was in charge of the universe had lost his or her outline to the world, and had just been winging everything for the past couple of months. But even with all of the current chaos, he was sure of one thing.
He was SO not going to clean the basement today.
Well, this little excursion to his house seemed to have turned up nothing, except a creepy ass statue and cobwebs on places of his body that cobwebs should never be. And why wasn't there at least a giant spider demon to justify the cobwebs? That'd be way cooler than some stupid mirror thing. He was sure all of the stuff meant SOMETHING, but he had no idea what. He appreciated the signs, but he needed some REALLY obvious ones. A bright neon sign maybe. Visions with Cliff Notes. Or even a "Curses for Dummies" book. Couldn't the universe just give him a br--
He paused.
The wind stopped whispering.
And reappeared as a dozen screaming voices inside his head.
'tHrIcE cuRsEd... he PrOmIseD 30 gENeraTiOns aGo... nOtHinG coMeS fOr FReE... SAKura LoNG TeRM HealtH FaCilItY... fAtHer liED...'
The voice paused.
'btW, tHeRe Is gOiNg tO bE a fIRe IN tHaT bLUe houSE dOWn tHE sTreet nExt tO THe cOnvIenCe sToRe, yOu MiGhT wAnt tO gO Do sOMEthIng abOuT tHAt laTeR.'
And then, like an afterthought...
'eVeRYthIng cOmEs bAcK evEnTuaLlY... EVERYTHING...'
As if that wasn't enough while his brain still felt like it was getting grated like Swiss cheese, his vision was graying along the edges like a burnt film reel... He was gently sinking downward, away from his body. Which was bad, since he didn't want to go anywhere out of his body, let alone in the downward direction.
Finally, Ryouga couldn't hold on anymore and lost his foothold in reality, falling into oblivion... The last thing he heard before darkness overtook him was the voices whispering...
'eVeRythIng...'
----
Time: 4:00pm
Location: Furinken High school
Mission 2: Procure normal high school friends
Ukyou stood in the midst of the semi-annual Furinken School Club Fair, feeling her previous confidence start to ebb away. All around her students milled about from booth to booth signing up for everything from soccer to martial arts ping pong.
She gulped and clenched her fists. This was no time to chicken out! She was on a mission! Besides, she had to get this done and then go back to her table to see if anyone turned in their surveys.
Her mission would not be derailed!
Sitting a few feet from her was her quarry. The small group of girls was huddled behind a pink colored booth, decorated to look like cake icing... The three aproned young ladies chatted excitedly to themselves in highs squeaky pitched voices peppered with lots of giggling.
This was the big time. High pitched giggles. Pink stuff. There was no turning back now. It was do or die! ...right?
Ukyou wiped her sweaty palms off on her skirt.
What was she worried about? It was just a cooking club. She was a professional chef. People paid money to eat the food she prepared. There was no reason for her to be worried about a little cooking club.
Yeah! Why was she worrying about a rinky-dinky cooking club? Even if those pink aprons looked awfully girly... She had abandoned her womanhood for so long, would she be able to connect with normal girls? Would she be able to talk about normal girl stuff? Would they think she was weird? Would they even let her join the club? What if--
Ukyou shook her head violently. She had to stop all these 'what ifs' and just get the damn thing over with already! The second step in operation "rose colored high school life" was at hand!
The nervous okonomiyaki chef smoothed out her hair, straightened her uniform, and stomped off to the cooking club's table.
The three girls looked up and fell suddenly silent at her approach. Ukyou couldn't help thinking they looked a little bit like deer caught in the headlights... or Ryouga caught in headlights.
"Is this the sign up for the cooking club? I'd--"
The girls burst into motion.
"Oh my gosh! Ukyou wants to join our club!" Girl One jumped up from her seat, knocking over the sign up sheet.
"Ukyou, like in, Ukyou from Ucchans?!" Girl Two grabbed the sign up sheet from the ground and shoved it into Ukyou's face.
"Wow, A real restaurant owner!" Girl Three began to cry tears of joy.
Ukyou winced inwardly. These were good reactions ... right?
Girl One jumped up and down excitedly and aimed a puppy dog expression in her direction. "You're going to join? Oh please, join!"
"Uh... yes?"
"OOoOOOOOooOOOO!" the girls cries of happiness became a single squeal that eventually reached a pitch only dogs could hear.
Ukyou wasn't sure what happened next, but it involved lots of hugs, pink clothing, ribbons, someone threatening to give her a makeover, cakes, and something about a secret handshake?
Time of Mission completion: 4:03pm
Objective: Complete.
Mission 2: ... successful?
----
There are lots of things Ryouga would like to be doing on a Monday afternoon. Slowly coming to consciousness was very low on the list. Unsurprisingly, coming to consciousness on top of a sharp pointy rock was even lower on the list. And slowly coming to consciousness on a sharp pointy rock as a spectator in a 14th century Japan flashback was so low on the list that whoever made the list needed to join a union, 'cause it was just too damn long.
Ryouga gingerly lifted himself upright and gazed out at the horizon.
Fireflies dotted the midnight air, coming to life suddenly with a soft green-ish glow, and then disappearing into the night. Clouds drifted by the full moon, creating brief shadows. The humid air smelled like fried meat.
Ryouga wiped the sweat from his brow and cursed under his breathe. He'd read enough bad manga in his spare time to know what was going on. Either he had went back in time, he said a silent prayer to whoever was listening that this was not the case (at least he had been no where near Tokyo Tower), or he was having a flashback.
Considering the mysterious presence he could feel hovering over his shoulder just out of sight, he figured the latter was probably true.
Beneath him, at the bottom of a grassy hill, lay a sprawling village enclosed in a high stone wall. He could see small dot-like people rushing about like ants. On the outskirts, peasant shaped dots busied themselves preparing for... something. What did feudal peasants do in their spare time? Well, other than die in large numbers...
At a bit of a loss, Ryouga walked down from his vantage point and attempted to get one of the peasants to notice him.
At the bottom, he paused as several barrels of rice rolled through him (literally) followed by a gaggle of laughing children.
"So let me guess..." Ryouga addressed the inky dark presence hovering just slightly out of the corner of his eye. "This is one of those, no one can see and hear me deals? Can't affect the past, bla bla bla?"
No reply came.
Feh, whatta bastard; all hovering on the edge of his consciousness, acting as if he was the Ghost of Christmas Past or something. Stupid poser.
Ryouga stepped through the village gates and past the surprisingly not mal-nourished and plague infested peasants, and into the main square.
Brightly colored paper lanterns, lined the street. The balls of covered light danced as a soft summer wind blew. Streamers of silk hung from window to window, connecting the narrow street and adding to the chaos. Vendors sold sticks of meat and tea from all sides. Nearby, someone was pounding a large drum, making his teeth rattle with every boom.
What kind of place in feudal Japan had so much silk they could waste it on dozens and dozens of banners? And if that wasn't weird enough the festival goers gave him chills. The masked patrons moved with an ethereal quality. It was as if they were underwater; smooth, deliberate, and inhumanly graceful.
Cautiously, the time displaced martial artist inched closer to a booth of patrons.
"I do not lie to you my lady; I was born from a peach." A large burly hulk of a man, took a long swig from his sake bottle. "My mother and father were quite surprised." The burly man burst into raucous laughter, knocking over a large broad sword by his side.
His companion, a beautiful woman wearing a long red feathered cloak looked on in disgust. "This is why I never come down here anymore."
Ryouga left them and continued walking through the street, hearing snippets of conversation as he passed.
"I could have stayed in that cave forever had I not been tricked--
"If someone had just said, "Mr. Turtle, the pebble is not your baby I could ha--
"And that is when I killed the giant centipede."
"I don't neow about that--"
Was that the cat ghost that had possessed him that one time? He thought he had seen a flash of white fur but it was already gone in the crowd. Ryouga could have sworn it was him...
"Oh, Ameratsu-sama that's amazing."
The crowd flowed through him like water as he walked.
"Yamamoto-kun tell us the story of when you founded--"
"All one-eyed ninja are calling themselves Jubei these days. Disposing of the impostors is becoming troublesome."
Ryouga paused wanting to hear that one, but the man with the eye patch man had already disappeared into the crowd.
Gradually, the sounds of the crowd faded into an inaudible mumble as Ryouga found himself at the end of the path. Faint shadows criss-crossed the cobblestone street and then sank into the cracked surface. In front of him, a weather beaten archway straddled wide stone steps. The steps seemed to stretch on endlessly into the sky. He hesitated in the gloom, half expecting a neon exit sign to light up in the distance.
Ryouga had a bad feeling about this. This place just screamed trouble, even worse than the time he'd wandered into that infectious disease lab. They really should label those jars more clearly... But maybe this path would lead to answers? The cult, the visions, his family's underground shrine; they all had to be connected somehow.
Well, he really had no choice. He had to see what lay ahead. Hopefully the explanation would involve color graphs and charts otherwise he still might not get it.
Funny how dropping out of school came back to haunt you later...
After taking a deep breath, he started up the staircase and reached the top in less than a minute. A shrine stood before him, seemingly balanced on a lake. The roof was bright red with an elegant curve to the edge. The building's foundation was raised on stilts above the water giving the appearance of a resting swan. A faint yellow glow leaked from the paper door.
Beneath Ryouga's feet, the stone ground became a mosaic of a red dragon...
Finally, he reached the shrine and walked through the paper door.
Spicy incense smoke burned Ryouga's nose.
The inner shrine was simple and plain, with a roped off section in the center. Small broken dragon statues sat in the center on a blanket of red clothe. The cut down the middle of the dragon was smooth and clean. The far side of the room was shrouded in darkness.
"Welcome." A young priestess stepped out of the shadows. Her red and white robes swished as she stepped toward the warrior. Her face was obscured by a carefully crafted cat mask. The fangs on her mask glinted silver in the faint moonlight. Long brown hair fell down her back. She carried a wooden staff with bells attached to it in her right hand.
"Eh?" Ryouga took a step back. Could she see him?!
Footsteps echoed behind him.
"Greetings priestess."
Ryouga turned around and froze in shock. Standing in front of him was a mirror image of himself. His doppelganger was dressed in sparse armor, somewhere between a ninja and a samurai. Long unruly bangs fell into his eyes. The warrior crouched low on the ground; his warrior army creaked as he sat on his knees.
"Why have you come here?" The masked priestess stopped in front of the crouched warrior.
"I need to be stronger."
Ryouga raised an eyebrow. Uh oh...
The warrior bowed his head. "I have traveled far to come here. Please, forgive my insolence at arriving at such a special occasion."
The priestess laughed hollowly. "They have endless years of festivals to look forward to. More than we could even imagine. I doubt they have even noticed your presence."
"Is it true?" The warrior glanced up, his eyes gleaming. "Can you grant me power?"
"I can grant you the power to fell trees with your bare hands, to walk from sea to sea without resting, you can be stronger than fifty men... but it will come with a price."
By the manic gleam in his doppelganger’s eye, Ryouga could tell he had been won over by "fell trees with your bare hands" before she even got to the 'strength of fifty men' deal. Hell, by the time she had finished, there was a slight line of drool running down the warrior's chin. This couldn't be good. He half expected the priestess to whip out a magic calligraphy pen.
"Be warned. Any kind of magical exchange requires a price. The more serious the exchange, the more drastic the price. And this..." Ryouga could have sworn she was deliberately pausing for dramatic effect. "Will require a VERY high price indeed."
The warrior’s eyes focused slightly. "The price cannot be my life or my soul. Anything else is yours."
Ryouga felt like slapping the guy. That moron! He was SO going to get screwed on this deal! This was way too open ended. So what if she didn't steal your soul or kill you? She might cut off your arms and legs. Then what would he do with the strength of fifty men?
Or... Ryouga gulped. She could cut off something REALLY important. Forget losing your soul, this guy needed to get his priorities straight.
"Before you decide, let me show you something." The priestess walked over to the broken dragon statue, picked the piece up, and handed it to the warrior.
"But what is...?"
"Grasp it with both hands." She folded his hands around the statue. "And see."
The warrior jolted as if an electric current was running through his body, his eyes widened, and his body began to tremble. He shivered silently for several minutes, eyes staring forward; seeing, yet not seeing. Until finally, he looked up and stared at the spot Ryouga was standing--And SAW Ryouga.
Gazes locked across time; identical green eyes connected in a moment that felt separate from time. Finally, the warrior broke away.
"I'm sorry."
Wait a minute! He could see him! Ryouga tried to lunge forward, but his feet felt rooted to the spot. He tried to scream, to cry out, to say ANYTHING but he had been struck mute.
The warrior ripped his head toward the priestess. "I accept your terms."
Ryouga screamed silently in frustration. What the hell was going on! DAMN IT! Why couldn't he say anything?! Move! Move! God damn body move!
The priestess nodded. "So be it." She raised her staff high above her head.
Ryouga froze and sucked in this breathe.
Light flashed.
The priestess and warrior stayed still and silent for several seconds. Ryouga listened to his breathe, unable to make any other sounds. Finally, after a few moments stretched out over a lifetime the warrior looked up from his kneeling position and opened his hands.
The statue had disappeared. A trickle of blood ran down his eye.
Was that it? Ryouga had really expecting more, like maybe summoning a demon or opening a portal to the spirit realm or... Ryouga wasn't sure, maybe something should have been set on fire. Fire always made things look more dramatic.
"That's it?" The warrior wiped the droplet of blood from his eye with the tip of his thumb. "You're not going to... cut anything off? Or at the very least, ring your bells?"
The priestess flicked her staff casually, jingling the bells slightly. "Satisfied?" She paused. "But if you really want something cut off..."
"No! That is all right." He stood up. "Please excuse me for a moment. I need to relieve--" He blushed. "Excuse me." He walked briskly out of the room.
The priestess smiled softly once the warrior was out of reach. "Both parts in the same night... heh. Goodbye Ushinatte-sama."
Ryouga heard, with a sickening feeling in his gut, the warrior muttering to himself outside.
"The shrine was just here. Where am I now?"
The scene changed.
He was suddenly back in his basement, staring upwards into a large hole.
Well, that told him... SOMETHING. He could have really used some nice colorful graphs and charts though.
----
Contact Info:
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Note: A couple people asked if this was going to be an Inuyasha crossover. The answer is... not really. I just like throwing in little Easter egg crossovers for the hell of it. I know this chapter is short, but after trying to think up something else to put in it for a month and coming up with nothing, I decided to just release it.
Next Chapter: Ukyou proceeds with her perfect high school life plan. And Ryouga, armed with his dad's address book, goes on a quest to discover his place in the universe and the mysteries that have been plaguing him. But more importantly, he takes a survey. ^_^
Oh yeah, and Ranma's going to be in it... probably.
Ranma: probably?!