Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )
[ 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: 6 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 382 | 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: 6 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 382 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. Bla bla bla.
Ashes: Damn fic! How dare you make me rewrite you 8 times!
Fic: *sweatdrop*
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
-----
Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days
Chapter 9
----
It rained.
In Nerima, it didn't only rain, it poured. Torrential sheets of
water pelted the earth, creating small lakes and rivers in the
cracked sidewalks. The rain was... painful. It wasn't because of
Ryouga's smaller body, but because of what it reminded him of.
He was a coward. If he had just told Akane, things wouldn't be
like this. If he'd had the courage to tell the truth and stop
pretending, he wouldn't be here right now. Ukyou wouldn't have
left...
He wished she had just hit him. Physical pain he could deal with.
It was like a brother almost. As long as he could remember there
had been pain, and he could deal with that. But... that look. Oh
man, that look she had given him...
He was nothing.
"Ryouga?"
He looked up to see Ukyou holding an umbrella over his small form.
Rain dripped down her face. Politely, she turned her head, closed
her eyes, and overturned a canteen onto his head. Ryouga felt the
warm water course down his body as the change occurred. Quickly as
possible he redressed, careful to stay underneath the umbrella.
After he was finished, he lifted the umbrella from Ukyou's grasp,
lightly brushing her fingertips with his own.
"Thanks," Ryouga whispered. He couldn't look up at her. Hell, he
didn't even deserve to look at her.
"Ryouga. Look at me."
Against his own will, his gaze shifted upward meeting her deep
brown eyes. Immediately, he wished he hadn't.
"Ow!" Someone pulling on your ear like that really hurt.
"How could you?" Her eyes blinked as a few stray water droplets
got entangled in her eyelashes. "Akane's never been my favorite
person but... Ryouga it's just wrong. Akane thinks of you as a
friend and... how can you lie to her like that? How could you
sleep in her bed?! That's sick! She trusted you! She thought you
were a good guy!"
"It's not like that! I never tried anything. Hell, I'd even turn
around when she changed her socks! It wasn't like that. I didn't
mean for it to... it just happened. It started as an accident
and... I couldn't get out of the grave I'd dug. I tried but--" The
rain started to soak through Ukyou's cloths, dripping down to
puddles at her feet. Concerned, Ryouga stepped close to her, using
the umbrella to cover them both.
"I thought she could love me ya know?" He laughed softly, the
expression sounded empty. He paused a moment to angrily wipe a few
stray tears from his cheeks. "I know she doesn't now. Maybe I knew
then, but I wanted to believe. Pitiful isn't it?"
"Yeah, sugar. It's pitiful to mistake friendship for love." Ukyou
grabbed the umbrella handle, helping him to support the weight, or
maybe to support her own weight. She wasn't sure.
"I didn't mean you." Ryouga sighed and stared at Ukyou in concern.
She was starting to shiver. It was ok for him to feel pain, he
deserved it. He'd probably go blow something up in a few minutes.
But, he didn't want to drag Ukyou down with him. She was
different, stronger. She didn't deserve to be hurt. Damn Saotome!
Feh, who was he kidding? He should be damned too! Damned for not
being able to do anything about it. Damned for not telling Akane.
Damn... damn everything damn it!
"Yeah whatever."
"It's not like I didn't try to tell her! Ranma would always--"
"Ranma knows too?!"
Whoops. Oh well, might as well drag Ranma down too. "Yeah, he
knows."
"What the fu--" Whoa, Ukyou could cuss like a sailor. "That
jackass! YOUR'RE BOTH JACKASSES! DID EVERYONE BUT ME AND AKANE
KNOW?!"
"No... most don't know. It's not something I flaunt around."
Unlike some people who flashed their chests to win fights and get
free food! "Shampoo knows. She tried to cook me once. Uh, Cologne
knows. I think Mousse knows. Mr. Saotome might know. I'm pretty
sure Mr. Tendo knows which is weird, ya know. I don't know about
Nabiki and Kasumi and uh--" Ahh! He said too much again! Stop
talking mouth! Stop!
"You... you..." Ukyou tensed up tightly for a long moment and then
sighed, letting it go. To hell with it. She was tired, tired of
fianc‚es, tired of curses, tired of fighting, tired of love, tired
of everything. She was sick of liars, secrets, and the whole damn
messed up town. All she had wanted was to have a successful
restaurant, get married, and have some kids. Was that too much to
ask? Hell no. She couldn't even have a friend without him turning
into a perverted liar who sleeps with girls as a little black pig.
But hey, what was Ryouga to her? Her debt was probably repaid
already. Hell, he'd even denounced her debt to him several times.
So what was he to her?
Nothing.
She didn't care what happened to him. No she didn't care at all.
"Ukyou, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Are you going to tell Akane?"
No she didn't care one bit. Natta. Zilch. Zippo.
"I don't know... probably not."
Nope that look of grief stricken pain wasn't bothering her one
bit.
"T-thank you. I wouldn't blame you if you did. It's what I
deserve, but... please don't hurt Akane. I know you probably hate
her, but she isn't a bad person. She doesn't deserve for my
cowardice to cause her pain. It'll hurt Ranma too ya know...
just... please don't tell her. Nothing good can really come of it.
Please?"
Awwwww, damn it. That bothered her a bit.
"Whatever. I won't. But that doesn't mean I'm not mad at you! Just-
-Gah! Forget it!" She threw her hands up in frustration. She
wasn't going to deal with this. Not now. She was tired, she was
going to go home, eat some ice cream, and go to bed. She'd deal
with life in the morning.
Leaving the sanctuary of the umbrella, she turned and walked into
the rain. Ryouga watched her begin to walk away. She waved her
hand in a dismissive manner without looking back. "I'm going
home."
Ryouga winced as if he'd been slapped. Ukyou sneezed in the
distance, shivering slightly from the rain. She was going to get
sick if she walked all the way in the rain.
Silently, Ryouga jogged up to her and shielded her with his
umbrella.
"I said I was going home." Ukyou glared at him. Ryouga averted his
eyes, opting to stare at the pattern of cracks that encompassed
the sidewalk.
"Fine. Hate me. Just... use the umbrella ok?"
Ukyou's eyes softened a bit.
Twenty minutes later, Ukyou stood behind the threshold of her
restaurant watching Ryouga disappear into the night. She sighed
and stood silently for a moment.
"Idiot, I don't hate you." She closed the door and walked back
into her restaurant. There had better be some ice-cream in the
fridge...
----
Being alone forever. The possibility had never felt real until
now. Before, there was always a destination after the long
journey, somewhere to look forward to. He had always believed deep
inside that eventually, he would find someone, somewhere. He had
clung to that small hope.
Not anymore.
He knew the truth. He could die a lonely old man in some cold dark
house. Heh, or more likely a ditch. He could live the rest of his
life alone. Alone... again. Forever alone. The thought was...
terrifying.
And also made him glow quite a bit.
Boom!
Ryouga closed his umbrella and sat it on the top of his pack as
his Shi Shi Hodokan died down. From the look of the clouds, the
rain had stopped for the night. Nerima's weather patterns were
often erratic at best. One moment it would seem like you would
need to build an ark, the next second the rain vanished.
Sighing, Ryouga made sure to walk around the crater he had created
moments before. The park had needed a new lake anyway.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Ryouga kicked down a trashcan, sending the ruined
piece of metal into his newly formed lake. Damn him! Ranma Saotome
would never have to worry about being alone! Ranma had what, like
three hundred fianc‚es? Why the hell did he have to take the one
he was in love with? Stingy bastard! Out of all those girls, he
had to choose the only one that Ryouga was in love with?! Heaven
help him, he better take care of her or Ryouga promised to himself
that he would make Saotome wish he had never been born.
...even more than he usually did.
Ryouga walked over to a bench that had survived his rein of
terror, and sank into the wooden frame. What was the point of it
all? Life was a farce. You were given this wonderful gift of life,
only to realize there's a warranty, limited terms of service, no
damn refunds, and about to be repossessed at anytime.
Ryouga wiped the cold sweat off his brow. His life was nothing.
What did he have? His parents were lost... literally and
figuratively. He had a junior high level education. He wasn't good
for anything but fighting, and he couldn't even be the best at
that.
Ranma was better than him at everything, except maybe manners and
even then it was iffy. Ranma didn't have to worry about being
alone... no. Ranma went to school. He had an inheritance of a
dojo, a future. Ranma would notice those two people in the bushes
that were about to attack him right off. Ranma would--
Shit.
Ryouga threw himself to the ground as something collided into the
bench he had been sitting in moments before. The last surviving
piece of park equipment shattered into tiny splinters. He rolled
with his fall, landing back on his feet, and turned toward his
attackers.
He raised an eyebrow. What the--?
A man and a woman stood in front of him, covered head to toe in
black. They nearly blended into the night shadows. Thin jagged
scars crisscrossed their faces, too deliberate to be accidental.
The slender cuts swept from forehead to chin in graceful arcs like
a mad painter's brush. The woman sneered, in what had once been a
pretty face. A long ebony hair fell across her shoulders. A whip
swayed from side to side, dangling playfully from her palm. The
moonlight reflected off of several jagged pieces of metal on the
whip, creating a slight strobe light effect. Her companion towered
over her at nearly seven feet tall. He carried a club with similar
pieces of jagged metal embedded into it, only larger and sharper.
It was the kind of thing that was made to stab someone in the
skull with.
Either those were more evil cult guys, or an S&M convention had
just let out downtown.
In one fluid motion, Ryouga dropped his pack, and fell into a
fighting position. His umbrella was useless. His original one was
still stuck in the side door of that semi. His new one wouldn't be
able to stand up to 'stab you in the forehead' kinda clubs.
Then the woman did something she really shouldn't have been able
to do--
She giggled.
"Hello!" She smiled like a version of Kasumi that had been dragged
through the bowels of hell and enjoyed every minute of it. "How
are you today?"
How was he today?! What kind of damn question was that?!
She tilted her head to the side in an expression of innocence that
had no right to be on her sadistically scarred face. "Is it all
right if we kill you?"
All right? ...oooooookay.
"Um no it's not." Ryouga sidestepped to his right a few feet,
trying to get distance between himself and his... what the hell
were they to him anyway? Polite cultist attackers?
The creepy cultist chic pouted. Her companion shook his head
sadly, and grinned, revealing sharpened teeth. In fact, all his
teeth came to points. Ah hell. That was definitely of the ungood.
The crazy girl giggled again. "Oh my. That just will not do.
Orders and all. No hard feelings all righty?"
The two exploded into motion.
That big guy shouldn't have been able to move that fast. Ryouga
lost sight of the woman as the large guy lunged. He ducked the
first wild swing of the club and the ensuing punch. The big guy
flicked a piece of glass at Ryouga suddenly in the flurry of
motion. The small piece imbedded into his thigh, but he paid it no
notice. It was easy enough. This was the testing part. The smaller
of the two was hanging back, evaluating him. Heh, there wouldn't
be any need for that. This fight was going to end... NOW.
Ryouga grabbed the large guy's hand, smashing him in the forehead
with his own club. There it was done. One down, one to--
The man stood his ground, looking up at Ryouga with twin puncture
wounds on his forehead. Two small trickles of blood ran down his
forehead and into his eyes. "Heh. Heh. Heh. Heh." His laughing
came out as jagged gasps. His grin spread wider as he dropped his
voice to a whisper. "Do it again."
Riiiiight. Because bleeding was SO much fun.
A black shadow appeared suddenly at the edge of Ryouga's vision.
It instantly shot out a whip. Ryouga ducked at the last moment,
feeling the whip cut the air above him with a snap. He stood up
quickly--
And immediately regretted it as the larger man in front of him
caught the whip and slammed it into his neck. Colors that weren't
normally part of the spectrum flashed across his eyes as he
slammed into the ground. As a last desperate measure, he pulled a
trump card.
"BAKSAI TENKETSU!"
The Cultists were flung violently away. Ryouga gasped desperately
for breath as debris and dust rained from overhead. He forced down
a gagging reflex from the dirt he had accidentally inhaled. The
sharp bits of rock flying through the air were inconsequential.
Coughing several times, he rolled backwards onto his feet. His
face darkened as he felt dark emotions welling up within him.
He was more than pissed. So they wanted to kill him? Fine, that's
ok. Hit him with their sharp jagged little weapons? Good for them.
Terrorize the local populace? Have at it.
But no one... ABSOLUTLEY NO ONE... CLOTHESLINES RYOUGA HIBIKI!
Silently, he slid a few bandannas from his forehead and began to
twirl them. The big guy was getting up. How nice. A large
lumbering target to pummel into the ground. Hopefully, he already
made peace with whatever Gods he believed in.
Before the man could take a step near him, the air was already
alive with dozens of buzzing bandannas. The park was filled with
the low buzzing sound, like a hoard of killer bees. With a flick
of his wrist, Ryouga sent them airborne.
The man smirked and dodged a few of the bandannas, letting some
rip his clothing. They were such small things. Pitiful really.
"Is this all you have for me? So disappoint--" He was cut off as
Ryouga jumped through the cloud of yellow and black cloth, his own
body chi canceling out the bandannas. The cultist doubled backward
and Ryouga grabbed a handful of the guy's hair on the way down,
letting gravity do his work for him.
The cultist's body slammed into the ground, shattering rock and
uplifting dirt, then fell instantly still. Ryouga turned his back
to the newly formed lake.
Ah, nothing like bashing someone's head in to cheer a guy up.
The guy was out for real this time, there had been this sickening
crunching sound. Did he kill him? He hoped he didn't kill him...
maimed sure. But kill? His thoughts were cut off as the whip
lashed out at him again from his right. He barely brought his hand
up in time.
Ryouga felt sharp pieces of glass pierce his skin as the whip
wound around his forearm. Pinpricks of pain ripped through his
brain. The whip tightened, cutting into his flesh like small
teeth. But it was nothing. They could do nothing to him that he
hadn't already experienced.
But it still hurt like hell.
His hand wrapped around the whip deliberately, ignoring the
searing pain igniting in his palms and pulled--
And it would have sent the assailant flying through the air quite
nicely if the cult member hadn't attacked with her OTHER whip.
Mousse must have been giving lessons. The other whip swung out and
locked both of his arms together.
"No Fair!"
The crazed girl exploded into giggles again. "Fair? I suppose I
could make it more... "fair" for you." She smiled slyly.
"Whatever." Ryouga dropped to his back unexpectedly and flung her
over his head using the ropes. Instead of the expected impact into
the tree behind him, she kicked off the wall and landed behind
him.
A plan suddenly came to him. This whole "plan" feeling was rather
new, but who knows? Maybe it could work.
"Is this fairer?" She wrapped her arms around his neck, trapping
his arms behind his back. His shoulder ligaments pulled in
directions they weren't meant to go. Before he could even twitch a
muscle his felt the cold bite of metal against his neck. He
glanced down and saw a small slender knife pointed at his jugular.
"See? Isn't this better, sweetheart? Now my arms are busy too."
"Let me go, or I'll kill you." Ryouga was barely able to keep his
voice even. He wasn't fast, and he had never been fast. There was
no way he could get to the knife before she slit his throat. Heh,
it was funny really. Even with all the training he had gone
through, he could still die if someone slit his throat, just like
everyone else.
"Tee hee. But that's my line." The knife tip made small circles on
his throat near his pulse. Ryouga involuntarily shivered.
"Let go." Unlike, Ranma, Ryouga had no qualms about hitting girl
fighters. After all, Ranma had never been a little pig in the
hands of Azusa. Ugh, Ryouga shivered. Just at the thought of her
name he felt a new wave of depression hit him. USEFUL
depression...
The psycho seemed to get a kick out of that. "Well gee, why?"
It was hard to breathe...just like that time with the collar...
"SHISHI HOUDOKAN!"
He remembered in the fleeting second as he saw a large wave rise
above his head that he had been directly behind his new lake. Then
his world was engulfed into oblivion.
He awoke later. He didn't know how much later, the moon was a bit
farther into the night sky. His small body bobbed up and down in
the moonlit lake. He glared at the stars for a moment, in his
normal hatred for life. Apparently, he had just traded one curse
for another. Why couldn't he trade the stupid pig one instead? Why
was he here anyway? Oh yeah. That evil cult thing. Rrrrrright. He
numbly rolled over and swam to the nearest shore. Everything was
numb; his body, his mind... everything. The Shi Shi Hodokan did
that. Took away the pain. Heh, also took away the happiness too.
But he didn't have much to be happy about lying in the mud as a
pig in some park on the outskirts of Nerima. But well... Oh well.
It didn't matter.
He expertly trotted to his pack and pulled his thermos of warm
water out of his pack with his teeth. A few minutes later, he was
human again.
The knife happy one was long gone. Crimson droplets littered the
ground. Whoever's blood it was, Ryouga didn't know. It was most
likely a little of each. The bigger guy's body still lay on the
ground. He walked over and squinted at him in the darkness. The
guy was still breathing... well whatta ya know. He wasn't a
murderer. Check one box in the 'things that didn't completely
suck' category.
Ryouga scowled at the darkness in the distance. The forest on the
edge of his vision seemed to stretch on forever. He sighed and
lightly kicked the unconscious body of the big bulky cult guy.
Great. Just FREAKIN great. He would have to mark this day on the
calendar and celebrate it every year. He bent down in the ground
and picked up the end of a small, nearly translucent piece of
thread. Now that's a first. His plan actually worked. Either that,
or the psycho actually wanted him to find her. Maybe he should try
this whole 'using his brain thing' more often.
Leaving the other guy behind (someone would _probably_ find him),
he began to follow the unraveled string. He didn't begin to notice
the gray lining around the edge of his vision for quite awhile...
----
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
Ashes: Damn fic! How dare you make me rewrite you 8 times!
Fic: *sweatdrop*
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/
-----
Lost Days Lamenting Lost Days
Chapter 9
----
It rained.
In Nerima, it didn't only rain, it poured. Torrential sheets of
water pelted the earth, creating small lakes and rivers in the
cracked sidewalks. The rain was... painful. It wasn't because of
Ryouga's smaller body, but because of what it reminded him of.
He was a coward. If he had just told Akane, things wouldn't be
like this. If he'd had the courage to tell the truth and stop
pretending, he wouldn't be here right now. Ukyou wouldn't have
left...
He wished she had just hit him. Physical pain he could deal with.
It was like a brother almost. As long as he could remember there
had been pain, and he could deal with that. But... that look. Oh
man, that look she had given him...
He was nothing.
"Ryouga?"
He looked up to see Ukyou holding an umbrella over his small form.
Rain dripped down her face. Politely, she turned her head, closed
her eyes, and overturned a canteen onto his head. Ryouga felt the
warm water course down his body as the change occurred. Quickly as
possible he redressed, careful to stay underneath the umbrella.
After he was finished, he lifted the umbrella from Ukyou's grasp,
lightly brushing her fingertips with his own.
"Thanks," Ryouga whispered. He couldn't look up at her. Hell, he
didn't even deserve to look at her.
"Ryouga. Look at me."
Against his own will, his gaze shifted upward meeting her deep
brown eyes. Immediately, he wished he hadn't.
"Ow!" Someone pulling on your ear like that really hurt.
"How could you?" Her eyes blinked as a few stray water droplets
got entangled in her eyelashes. "Akane's never been my favorite
person but... Ryouga it's just wrong. Akane thinks of you as a
friend and... how can you lie to her like that? How could you
sleep in her bed?! That's sick! She trusted you! She thought you
were a good guy!"
"It's not like that! I never tried anything. Hell, I'd even turn
around when she changed her socks! It wasn't like that. I didn't
mean for it to... it just happened. It started as an accident
and... I couldn't get out of the grave I'd dug. I tried but--" The
rain started to soak through Ukyou's cloths, dripping down to
puddles at her feet. Concerned, Ryouga stepped close to her, using
the umbrella to cover them both.
"I thought she could love me ya know?" He laughed softly, the
expression sounded empty. He paused a moment to angrily wipe a few
stray tears from his cheeks. "I know she doesn't now. Maybe I knew
then, but I wanted to believe. Pitiful isn't it?"
"Yeah, sugar. It's pitiful to mistake friendship for love." Ukyou
grabbed the umbrella handle, helping him to support the weight, or
maybe to support her own weight. She wasn't sure.
"I didn't mean you." Ryouga sighed and stared at Ukyou in concern.
She was starting to shiver. It was ok for him to feel pain, he
deserved it. He'd probably go blow something up in a few minutes.
But, he didn't want to drag Ukyou down with him. She was
different, stronger. She didn't deserve to be hurt. Damn Saotome!
Feh, who was he kidding? He should be damned too! Damned for not
being able to do anything about it. Damned for not telling Akane.
Damn... damn everything damn it!
"Yeah whatever."
"It's not like I didn't try to tell her! Ranma would always--"
"Ranma knows too?!"
Whoops. Oh well, might as well drag Ranma down too. "Yeah, he
knows."
"What the fu--" Whoa, Ukyou could cuss like a sailor. "That
jackass! YOUR'RE BOTH JACKASSES! DID EVERYONE BUT ME AND AKANE
KNOW?!"
"No... most don't know. It's not something I flaunt around."
Unlike some people who flashed their chests to win fights and get
free food! "Shampoo knows. She tried to cook me once. Uh, Cologne
knows. I think Mousse knows. Mr. Saotome might know. I'm pretty
sure Mr. Tendo knows which is weird, ya know. I don't know about
Nabiki and Kasumi and uh--" Ahh! He said too much again! Stop
talking mouth! Stop!
"You... you..." Ukyou tensed up tightly for a long moment and then
sighed, letting it go. To hell with it. She was tired, tired of
fianc‚es, tired of curses, tired of fighting, tired of love, tired
of everything. She was sick of liars, secrets, and the whole damn
messed up town. All she had wanted was to have a successful
restaurant, get married, and have some kids. Was that too much to
ask? Hell no. She couldn't even have a friend without him turning
into a perverted liar who sleeps with girls as a little black pig.
But hey, what was Ryouga to her? Her debt was probably repaid
already. Hell, he'd even denounced her debt to him several times.
So what was he to her?
Nothing.
She didn't care what happened to him. No she didn't care at all.
"Ukyou, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Are you going to tell Akane?"
No she didn't care one bit. Natta. Zilch. Zippo.
"I don't know... probably not."
Nope that look of grief stricken pain wasn't bothering her one
bit.
"T-thank you. I wouldn't blame you if you did. It's what I
deserve, but... please don't hurt Akane. I know you probably hate
her, but she isn't a bad person. She doesn't deserve for my
cowardice to cause her pain. It'll hurt Ranma too ya know...
just... please don't tell her. Nothing good can really come of it.
Please?"
Awwwww, damn it. That bothered her a bit.
"Whatever. I won't. But that doesn't mean I'm not mad at you! Just-
-Gah! Forget it!" She threw her hands up in frustration. She
wasn't going to deal with this. Not now. She was tired, she was
going to go home, eat some ice cream, and go to bed. She'd deal
with life in the morning.
Leaving the sanctuary of the umbrella, she turned and walked into
the rain. Ryouga watched her begin to walk away. She waved her
hand in a dismissive manner without looking back. "I'm going
home."
Ryouga winced as if he'd been slapped. Ukyou sneezed in the
distance, shivering slightly from the rain. She was going to get
sick if she walked all the way in the rain.
Silently, Ryouga jogged up to her and shielded her with his
umbrella.
"I said I was going home." Ukyou glared at him. Ryouga averted his
eyes, opting to stare at the pattern of cracks that encompassed
the sidewalk.
"Fine. Hate me. Just... use the umbrella ok?"
Ukyou's eyes softened a bit.
Twenty minutes later, Ukyou stood behind the threshold of her
restaurant watching Ryouga disappear into the night. She sighed
and stood silently for a moment.
"Idiot, I don't hate you." She closed the door and walked back
into her restaurant. There had better be some ice-cream in the
fridge...
----
Being alone forever. The possibility had never felt real until
now. Before, there was always a destination after the long
journey, somewhere to look forward to. He had always believed deep
inside that eventually, he would find someone, somewhere. He had
clung to that small hope.
Not anymore.
He knew the truth. He could die a lonely old man in some cold dark
house. Heh, or more likely a ditch. He could live the rest of his
life alone. Alone... again. Forever alone. The thought was...
terrifying.
And also made him glow quite a bit.
Boom!
Ryouga closed his umbrella and sat it on the top of his pack as
his Shi Shi Hodokan died down. From the look of the clouds, the
rain had stopped for the night. Nerima's weather patterns were
often erratic at best. One moment it would seem like you would
need to build an ark, the next second the rain vanished.
Sighing, Ryouga made sure to walk around the crater he had created
moments before. The park had needed a new lake anyway.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!" Ryouga kicked down a trashcan, sending the ruined
piece of metal into his newly formed lake. Damn him! Ranma Saotome
would never have to worry about being alone! Ranma had what, like
three hundred fianc‚es? Why the hell did he have to take the one
he was in love with? Stingy bastard! Out of all those girls, he
had to choose the only one that Ryouga was in love with?! Heaven
help him, he better take care of her or Ryouga promised to himself
that he would make Saotome wish he had never been born.
...even more than he usually did.
Ryouga walked over to a bench that had survived his rein of
terror, and sank into the wooden frame. What was the point of it
all? Life was a farce. You were given this wonderful gift of life,
only to realize there's a warranty, limited terms of service, no
damn refunds, and about to be repossessed at anytime.
Ryouga wiped the cold sweat off his brow. His life was nothing.
What did he have? His parents were lost... literally and
figuratively. He had a junior high level education. He wasn't good
for anything but fighting, and he couldn't even be the best at
that.
Ranma was better than him at everything, except maybe manners and
even then it was iffy. Ranma didn't have to worry about being
alone... no. Ranma went to school. He had an inheritance of a
dojo, a future. Ranma would notice those two people in the bushes
that were about to attack him right off. Ranma would--
Shit.
Ryouga threw himself to the ground as something collided into the
bench he had been sitting in moments before. The last surviving
piece of park equipment shattered into tiny splinters. He rolled
with his fall, landing back on his feet, and turned toward his
attackers.
He raised an eyebrow. What the--?
A man and a woman stood in front of him, covered head to toe in
black. They nearly blended into the night shadows. Thin jagged
scars crisscrossed their faces, too deliberate to be accidental.
The slender cuts swept from forehead to chin in graceful arcs like
a mad painter's brush. The woman sneered, in what had once been a
pretty face. A long ebony hair fell across her shoulders. A whip
swayed from side to side, dangling playfully from her palm. The
moonlight reflected off of several jagged pieces of metal on the
whip, creating a slight strobe light effect. Her companion towered
over her at nearly seven feet tall. He carried a club with similar
pieces of jagged metal embedded into it, only larger and sharper.
It was the kind of thing that was made to stab someone in the
skull with.
Either those were more evil cult guys, or an S&M convention had
just let out downtown.
In one fluid motion, Ryouga dropped his pack, and fell into a
fighting position. His umbrella was useless. His original one was
still stuck in the side door of that semi. His new one wouldn't be
able to stand up to 'stab you in the forehead' kinda clubs.
Then the woman did something she really shouldn't have been able
to do--
She giggled.
"Hello!" She smiled like a version of Kasumi that had been dragged
through the bowels of hell and enjoyed every minute of it. "How
are you today?"
How was he today?! What kind of damn question was that?!
She tilted her head to the side in an expression of innocence that
had no right to be on her sadistically scarred face. "Is it all
right if we kill you?"
All right? ...oooooookay.
"Um no it's not." Ryouga sidestepped to his right a few feet,
trying to get distance between himself and his... what the hell
were they to him anyway? Polite cultist attackers?
The creepy cultist chic pouted. Her companion shook his head
sadly, and grinned, revealing sharpened teeth. In fact, all his
teeth came to points. Ah hell. That was definitely of the ungood.
The crazy girl giggled again. "Oh my. That just will not do.
Orders and all. No hard feelings all righty?"
The two exploded into motion.
That big guy shouldn't have been able to move that fast. Ryouga
lost sight of the woman as the large guy lunged. He ducked the
first wild swing of the club and the ensuing punch. The big guy
flicked a piece of glass at Ryouga suddenly in the flurry of
motion. The small piece imbedded into his thigh, but he paid it no
notice. It was easy enough. This was the testing part. The smaller
of the two was hanging back, evaluating him. Heh, there wouldn't
be any need for that. This fight was going to end... NOW.
Ryouga grabbed the large guy's hand, smashing him in the forehead
with his own club. There it was done. One down, one to--
The man stood his ground, looking up at Ryouga with twin puncture
wounds on his forehead. Two small trickles of blood ran down his
forehead and into his eyes. "Heh. Heh. Heh. Heh." His laughing
came out as jagged gasps. His grin spread wider as he dropped his
voice to a whisper. "Do it again."
Riiiiight. Because bleeding was SO much fun.
A black shadow appeared suddenly at the edge of Ryouga's vision.
It instantly shot out a whip. Ryouga ducked at the last moment,
feeling the whip cut the air above him with a snap. He stood up
quickly--
And immediately regretted it as the larger man in front of him
caught the whip and slammed it into his neck. Colors that weren't
normally part of the spectrum flashed across his eyes as he
slammed into the ground. As a last desperate measure, he pulled a
trump card.
"BAKSAI TENKETSU!"
The Cultists were flung violently away. Ryouga gasped desperately
for breath as debris and dust rained from overhead. He forced down
a gagging reflex from the dirt he had accidentally inhaled. The
sharp bits of rock flying through the air were inconsequential.
Coughing several times, he rolled backwards onto his feet. His
face darkened as he felt dark emotions welling up within him.
He was more than pissed. So they wanted to kill him? Fine, that's
ok. Hit him with their sharp jagged little weapons? Good for them.
Terrorize the local populace? Have at it.
But no one... ABSOLUTLEY NO ONE... CLOTHESLINES RYOUGA HIBIKI!
Silently, he slid a few bandannas from his forehead and began to
twirl them. The big guy was getting up. How nice. A large
lumbering target to pummel into the ground. Hopefully, he already
made peace with whatever Gods he believed in.
Before the man could take a step near him, the air was already
alive with dozens of buzzing bandannas. The park was filled with
the low buzzing sound, like a hoard of killer bees. With a flick
of his wrist, Ryouga sent them airborne.
The man smirked and dodged a few of the bandannas, letting some
rip his clothing. They were such small things. Pitiful really.
"Is this all you have for me? So disappoint--" He was cut off as
Ryouga jumped through the cloud of yellow and black cloth, his own
body chi canceling out the bandannas. The cultist doubled backward
and Ryouga grabbed a handful of the guy's hair on the way down,
letting gravity do his work for him.
The cultist's body slammed into the ground, shattering rock and
uplifting dirt, then fell instantly still. Ryouga turned his back
to the newly formed lake.
Ah, nothing like bashing someone's head in to cheer a guy up.
The guy was out for real this time, there had been this sickening
crunching sound. Did he kill him? He hoped he didn't kill him...
maimed sure. But kill? His thoughts were cut off as the whip
lashed out at him again from his right. He barely brought his hand
up in time.
Ryouga felt sharp pieces of glass pierce his skin as the whip
wound around his forearm. Pinpricks of pain ripped through his
brain. The whip tightened, cutting into his flesh like small
teeth. But it was nothing. They could do nothing to him that he
hadn't already experienced.
But it still hurt like hell.
His hand wrapped around the whip deliberately, ignoring the
searing pain igniting in his palms and pulled--
And it would have sent the assailant flying through the air quite
nicely if the cult member hadn't attacked with her OTHER whip.
Mousse must have been giving lessons. The other whip swung out and
locked both of his arms together.
"No Fair!"
The crazed girl exploded into giggles again. "Fair? I suppose I
could make it more... "fair" for you." She smiled slyly.
"Whatever." Ryouga dropped to his back unexpectedly and flung her
over his head using the ropes. Instead of the expected impact into
the tree behind him, she kicked off the wall and landed behind
him.
A plan suddenly came to him. This whole "plan" feeling was rather
new, but who knows? Maybe it could work.
"Is this fairer?" She wrapped her arms around his neck, trapping
his arms behind his back. His shoulder ligaments pulled in
directions they weren't meant to go. Before he could even twitch a
muscle his felt the cold bite of metal against his neck. He
glanced down and saw a small slender knife pointed at his jugular.
"See? Isn't this better, sweetheart? Now my arms are busy too."
"Let me go, or I'll kill you." Ryouga was barely able to keep his
voice even. He wasn't fast, and he had never been fast. There was
no way he could get to the knife before she slit his throat. Heh,
it was funny really. Even with all the training he had gone
through, he could still die if someone slit his throat, just like
everyone else.
"Tee hee. But that's my line." The knife tip made small circles on
his throat near his pulse. Ryouga involuntarily shivered.
"Let go." Unlike, Ranma, Ryouga had no qualms about hitting girl
fighters. After all, Ranma had never been a little pig in the
hands of Azusa. Ugh, Ryouga shivered. Just at the thought of her
name he felt a new wave of depression hit him. USEFUL
depression...
The psycho seemed to get a kick out of that. "Well gee, why?"
It was hard to breathe...just like that time with the collar...
"SHISHI HOUDOKAN!"
He remembered in the fleeting second as he saw a large wave rise
above his head that he had been directly behind his new lake. Then
his world was engulfed into oblivion.
He awoke later. He didn't know how much later, the moon was a bit
farther into the night sky. His small body bobbed up and down in
the moonlit lake. He glared at the stars for a moment, in his
normal hatred for life. Apparently, he had just traded one curse
for another. Why couldn't he trade the stupid pig one instead? Why
was he here anyway? Oh yeah. That evil cult thing. Rrrrrright. He
numbly rolled over and swam to the nearest shore. Everything was
numb; his body, his mind... everything. The Shi Shi Hodokan did
that. Took away the pain. Heh, also took away the happiness too.
But he didn't have much to be happy about lying in the mud as a
pig in some park on the outskirts of Nerima. But well... Oh well.
It didn't matter.
He expertly trotted to his pack and pulled his thermos of warm
water out of his pack with his teeth. A few minutes later, he was
human again.
The knife happy one was long gone. Crimson droplets littered the
ground. Whoever's blood it was, Ryouga didn't know. It was most
likely a little of each. The bigger guy's body still lay on the
ground. He walked over and squinted at him in the darkness. The
guy was still breathing... well whatta ya know. He wasn't a
murderer. Check one box in the 'things that didn't completely
suck' category.
Ryouga scowled at the darkness in the distance. The forest on the
edge of his vision seemed to stretch on forever. He sighed and
lightly kicked the unconscious body of the big bulky cult guy.
Great. Just FREAKIN great. He would have to mark this day on the
calendar and celebrate it every year. He bent down in the ground
and picked up the end of a small, nearly translucent piece of
thread. Now that's a first. His plan actually worked. Either that,
or the psycho actually wanted him to find her. Maybe he should try
this whole 'using his brain thing' more often.
Leaving the other guy behind (someone would _probably_ find him),
he began to follow the unraveled string. He didn't begin to notice
the gray lining around the edge of his vision for quite awhile...
----
Contact Info:
ashez2ashes@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/ashez2ashes/