Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma 1/2: The Truth and the Tempest ❯ A Terrible Mistake ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

[Author’s Note: The characters and setting herein- with the exception of one or two O.C.’s of my own design- are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. Special acknowledgement to The Immortal Shadow for assistance with translations which will be relevant in future chapters. I hope everyone is enjoying reading this as much as I’m enjoying writing it. Oh, and Merry Christmas!]

Ranma ½: The Truth and the Tempest

Chapter 4: A Terrible Mistake

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“You are unbelievable! I can’t stand you one bit, Ranma!” “Hey, I don’t have ta take that, you klutzy tomboy!” “Perverted BAKA!!” “That DOES it! You know what Akane, you can just walk home by yourself today, I’m OUTTA HERE!!!” “Fine!” “Fine!!” “FINE!!!”

Ranma sat on the park bench, replaying the ‘fight’ at the school gates in his mind over and over. They’d certainly gotten the reaction they wanted; other students had cleared a wide path for them as they shouted each other down, just before dashing off in separate directions. Akane had headed straight towards home, and he had made a right turn and wound a twisted trail to the park. Yep, everything had gone according to plan.

Except, of course, that now he felt pretty lousy. “Where is she?” he wondered aloud. “This is where I said; park bench by the tree, near the fountain… I hope she didn’t get held up by someone… or decide not to come after all.” He sighed, folding his arms over his chest. “Nah, she’ll be here… but then again… if that was an act, she’s better in theater than I gave her credit for. She really sounded pissed.” A shadow crossed his features. I just hope she wasn’t actually pissed. Things’re actually starting to look up between us, I don’t wanna wreck it… Light clouds began to pass over the afternoon sun.

A hand rested lightly on his shoulder. He opened his eyes, looking up towards the owner of the hand who was standing next to him with a soft smile on her face.

“You alright?” Akane asked as she sat down next to him, to his left.

Ranma shook himself out of his reverie and smiled back. “Yeah, now I am… I guess I was… well, I guess I was still kinda afraid you might’ve taken that argument too literally.”

Akane took his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. “You were the one who told me not to take it seriously, remember?” she said with a hint of a laugh. A moment later her smile dimmed a bit. “Though I must admit, after the way I was shouting earlier I was a little nervous I wouldn’t find you here… that maybe I’d actually hurt you again.”

Ranma sighed. “I know, I felt the same way. I know it’s almost second nature for us by now, but I really don’t want to do that again. I don’t want us to fight like that anymore, Akane.”

“Me too,” she replied. “The fact is, we shouldn’t have to fight just to keep up appearances; there has to be a better way.”

“That’s actually what I was hoping we could talk about.” Noting a questioning look in her eyes, he shifted his position on the bench to face her a bit better. There’s no way I’m gonna screw this up, he thought to himself.

“You know… what I told you last night… I’ve actually wanted to tell you for a long time now, but something was always getting in the way. Usually my own ego. I- I guess I just got so caught up in being ‘manly’ by hiding my emotions, that when it came down to it I just couldn’t say anything without messing up… just… I dunno… an’ without knowing how you felt about me, that made it a lot harder to actually say it. Maybe if I‘d stayed at home with Mom instead of being dragged away on Pop’s training trip, I might’a learned how to actually say what I feel instead of snapping at ya all the time.”

“Yeah… I know what you mean,” Akane sighed. “I was the same way for the longest time after my mom died… I was so alone, but Dad kept telling me I had to be strong, make her proud of me and not to let it drag me down. But… it was still really hard with her not there… so I took it out on whatever I could. Whether it was breaking cinder blocks… or getting into fights…” She looked up into his eyes. “But that’s still no excuse for the way I’ve acted around you. I want to stop being angry… I really do… and… I really hope we can put all the bad stuff behind us.”

“Me too… but it ain’t gonna be easy,” Ranma replied with a nod. “That’s actually the other reason why I hadn’t told you before… how I feel…” He straightened up. “I wasn’t just afraid of garbling my words, or that you’d reject me, though those were the two big reasons… the fact is, I was afraid if I said what I felt, I’d be putting you in danger. If word got out to Kodachi, Shampoo or Ukyo that I was falling for you, I was scared to death it’d turn into a free-for-all and… they’d try to hurt you… or worse…”

Akane blinked. “You mean that’s why you’d deny things between us so vehemently? You weren’t refusing me, you were trying to protect me?”

“Well… more or less… I- I just didn’t want to see you get hurt by any of them, that’s all. Otherwise I woulda told them all to go pound sand a long time ago…”

“I always did wonder why you never did much about their advances,” Akane murmured with slight frown on her face. “I used to think you enjoyed the attention…”

Ranma sat up. “From them? No way. No. Way. In. Hell. Look who I’m dealing with- a psychotic gymnast with a chemistry fetish, an obsessive, mindless delivery girl and a former childhood friend that I always thought was a boy. There is no way I could care about them… ANY of them… the way I care about you.” He squeezed her hand gently, bringing a smile and a light blush to her face. “I swear to you, even Ukyo will only ever be a friend to me at best… though with the way she acted at the ceremony, I’m not so sure we’ll ever be as good friends as we used to be,” he added in a low voice. “In her case, I shoulda been able to tell her not to pursue me, but… I didn’t want to see her cry…”

“You… you didn’t want to hurt her feelings,” Akane said softly. “I guess I can understand that- she is a nice person, and she and I have gotten along pretty well when we weren’t fighting over you.”

“I didn’t really wanna hurt any of their feelings,” Ranma continued. “I just didn’t know how to get out of any of it, at least not honorably. Maybe it’s stupid, but I can’t bear to see any girl cry… Don’t get me wrong, when I see you cry it rips at me the worst…” He let his head fall forward. “I don’t really wanna hurt anybody, Akane… but I’m not gonna hurt you anymore by doing nothing. I’m tired of it all. And I won’t let any of those three hurt you when they find out how I feel.”

“You really think they’d come after me?”

“In a heartbeat.”

Akane nodded slowly, then straightened up a bit. “Well, so what if they do? I’m a martial artist myself, you know, I don’t think they’d pose that much of a problem.”

“Akane… they’d be a problem, and you know it as well as I do. They may not like each other, but they do share one common ground- they don’t like the idea of you as my fiancée.”

“Huh? What, you don’t think I’d be able to handle myself against them?” Ranma sighed, and Akane’s face fell. “You… you really don’t think I could defend myself, do you?” she said with a catch in her voice. He really does think I’m lousy at the Art…

“In a fair fight, bare handed, yes, I’d say you could stand off against any one of them- for a while at least,” Ranma said, causing her eyes to widen slightly. “But you gotta remember, each one of them has a particular weapon style… and none of them fight fair, not even Ukyo.” He smiled slightly, gently taking her hand again. “Listen… I’ve seen you in action. An’ to be honest… I think you’ve got incredible potential. I‘ve seen what you‘re capable of- but you just aren‘t using it as much as you could be. Hell, those times we fought off the Dojo Destroyer, or Natsume and Kurumi… once we got past our egos, we really kicked their butts, didn’t we?”

Akane gazed into his eyes in surprise. “Yeah… we did, didn’t we?” she said, smiling a bit. “But I’m still nowhere near as good as you are… and I guess I am a real klutz sometimes.” Her eyes began clouding again, and she looked away. “Not to mention the other things, like how I can’t swim… or my cooking…”

She felt a gentle pressure under her chin as he lifted her head back towards him. “Don’t talk like that. Didn’t you hear what I just said? I said you have potential… with a little work, hell, I think you could be just as good as- if not better than- any other fighter in Nerima.” He paused, then chuckled. “Maybe even as good as I am- but it won’t happen overnight.”

“You… you really think so?” she asked, a smile rapidly spreading across her face. “You think I could get better?”

He nodded. “I know it. I saw it earlier this morning; you’re a lot faster than you give yourself credit for. You just have some rough edges here and there that need work… and I do mean a lot of work… and I’m not tryin’ to make fun of you, I swear I’m not. You know it as well as I do.”

“Yeah… you’re right, I do know,” she said. “And I really do want to get better… not just for myself, either. At least, not anymore.” She smiled. “I want to help you get out of this mess. I want to do something for you for a change.”

“You… you do? You wanna help me?”

“Of course, baka,” she said with a giggle. “After what you told me last night, how could I not?” She took his hand and held it in her lap. “And I’m really glad you think I’ve got potential… but I don’t think it’ll be that easy to bring it out. I don’t know where to begin.”

“Well… if you want to help me, would you… um… be willing to… let me help you?” He swallowed hard. “I mean… I wanted to offer before, but… I wasn’t sure if you’d be offended if I did. An’ besides, after all the stupid jabs I’ve made about your skill, I guess I was scared you wouldn’t believe me.”

Akane blinked. Did he just offer to train me? What am I saying, of course he did! He does believe in me after all… She smiled. “I… I’d like that, Ranma. I’d like that a lot. That means a whole lot to me…” A thought passed her mind and her expression became serious again. “Does this mean you’re actually going to spar with me instead of just dodging all the time?”

Ranma sighed. The dull throb behind his eyes was returning, but he ignored it. “I know you don’t like it when I do that, Akane… but I don’t think I could bring myself to actually hit you… you know I hate to see you hurting, especially when it’s my doing.” He looked up. “I’ll figure somethin’ out, though… and at the same time I’ll try an’ help you with your problem areas instead of just criticizing ya. I won’t lie to ya, it’s gonna take time and a lot of patience, but it’ll be well worth it.”

“I sure hope so… Thank you, Ranma. Thank you so much.”

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“There he is. Just ahead, on the bench.” Ryoga growled. “Can’t see who he’s talking to, though…” He and Shingen stood just outside the park gate, just out of sight. It had taken them a considerable amount of time to get there; once they had discovered Ranma had left school heading for the park, Ryoga had tried to lead them there and had taken a few unnecessary side streets. Shingen had finally taken over and practically dragged Ryoga to the park. “For all I know he’s probably chatting up some girl,” Ryoga continued. If he is, I’m really gonna bean him good. Why the hell can’t he treat Akane better after what they went through? And Daisuke said they had ANOTHER shouting match before they left! I’m gonna teach him some sensibility if it’s the last thing I do…

“I don’t see why you insisted on coming along so vehemently,” said Shingen as he tightened his fingerless gloves. “You’ve already said you faced it before and lost, there’s no real reason to get involved.” On top of that, I’m not in any mood to be babysitting you if there’s a shapeshifter involved. This could get messy in a big hurry.

“Oh, believe me, this is something I’ve been waiting a long time for…” Ryoga replied, cupping a hand to his ear. “Ssshhh, I think I can hear something.”

“…it’ll be tough, I know, but one way or another we’re gonna sort this out. An’ not just with one fiancée- all of them. You know I don’t want anyone else in my life but you…”

That bastard!!! Ryoga thought to himself. He’s found another girl and wants to dump ALL his fiancées for her?!? That… that means… he’s gonna leave Akane behind, and after he saved her too… HOW DARE HE!!! “That does it,” he snarled, standing up from his crouch. “Time to make him pay.”

A gloved hand restrained him. “Hibiki, back off. This isn’t your fight, this is something you can’t handle right now. You’ve done your share of alerting me to its presence, so just stay out of this one. Let me…” He got no further as Ryoga broke free of his grasp and barreled into the park.

“RANMA, YOU’RE A DEAD MAN!!!” he screamed, flipping his umbrella off his back. “You think you can just prance around, doing whatever the hell you want, without a thought in the world towards…”

“Ryoga? What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ranma shot back as he jumped up from the bench. Akane followed suit, a bewildered look on her face at the exact same instant Ryoga rounded the tree. Just then he caught sight of the two of them and drummed his feet to a rapid halt. The fury on his face twisted for a second, then collapsed into sheer astonishment.

“A… AKANE???” he gasped. He… he was talking with her the whole time? It wasn’t someone else? He… he was actually being civil towards… oh no… I didn’t want her to be around when I… and that so-called ‘Hunter’ is right out… dammit, this isn’t how I planned it! What do I… His train of thought was rapidly cut short by the impact of a silk-wrapped object to the back of his head, causing his eyes to bulge briefly and his knees to give way, followed by his body splaying itself across the ground. Behind him, Shingen stood quietly in a loose stance, the long silk bundle in his right hand.

Akane stared for a second, then shook herself back to attention. “Wha… what was that all about?” She glanced up at the new arrival, who was gazing at the two of them with emotionless eyes. “Who are you? And what did you just do to Ryoga?”

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Shingen replied as he knelt and grasped Ryoga by the shoulders, pulling him aside and setting him against another tree. “Just a light tap; he’ll be out cold for a few minutes or so, nothing more. I didn’t want him interfering.” He straightened up, turning back to face them.

“Interfering?” Ranma queried. “Interfering with what? And who the hell are ya anyway?”

Shingen leveled an icy glare in Ranma’s direction. “You are the one they call ‘Ranma’, correct?” he asked.

“Uh… yeah, that’s me.” I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

“Shingen, of the House of Yamashira.” His hand slid to the ties holding the silk sheath in place, flipping them open rapidly. A quick tug and the wrapping whipped away, revealing the ebony staff and sheathed blade of his naginata. The gold runes along the staff shone brightly in the afternoon sunlight; he twirled the weapon and yanked the scabbard off of the blade. Adopting a loose staff-fighter’s stance, he glared at Ranma once more. “Pray the spirits of hell are capable of mercy, for I will show you none myself, demon.”

“Ex- excuse me??” Ranma stammered, wide-eyed. Akane blinked, an exhausted look on her face. “Oh, great… is this another person from your past come for revenge or something, Ranma?” she groaned.

“Don’t look at me, I’ve never seen this guy before!!” he retorted. “Hey, what’s the deal? What’d I ever do to you?”

Shingen’s eyes narrowed. Evasive. Just like most demons would be once confronted. His perception shifted slightly, causing him to wince. Still can’t get a clear look at his aura, though. “I hold no personal vendetta against you in particular, shapeshifter,” he said, “only that which all Hunters have against your kind. I will not permit you to remain on this plane and contribute to the chaos stream any longer.”

“Wait a second… shapeshifter? Where’d that come from?”

“Are you denying that this is not your sole form, demon? You have the capacity to masquerade as a female, do you not?”

Ranma stared. “Well… yeah, sorta, but where’d you hear about…”

“Then my source was telling the truth,” Shingen said with ice in his voice. “Girl, you’d better get out of here; I don’t want any more innocents caught up in this.”

“What? What makes you think you can order me around when you’re threatening him like that?” Akane shot back angrily. “This isn’t funny, you know! You come in here out of the blue, call him a demon and tell me to get away? I swear, you’re as bad as Kuno is!”

“I said, get out of the way. You have no idea what you’re standing next to.”

Akane bristled. “I know damn well WHO I’m standing next to, thank you very much! I’m standing next to someone I care for a lot, and I know he cares for me! We were just trying to sort things out between us before you and Ryoga barged in on us!”

So the shapeshifter’s begun manipulating the heart of a woman… typical. “This has gone on long enough. Demon, prepare yourself.” He raised the naginata in one hand and began to swing it back and forth in wide circles. The circles began slow at first, but gradually built up speed until the staff and blade became a blur. Loud whirring sounds echoed through the park as the polearm slashed through the air. Ranma instinctively brought his hands up, bracing himself while trying to read Shingen’s moves. “Akane… maybe you’d better move aside a bit; I don’t like the looks of this an’ I don’t want you getting hurt…” was all he managed to say before Shingen did something unexpected. He hurled the naginata up into the air as hard as he could, twirling end over end higher than one might have thought possible. The next second, Shingen sprinted forward in a blur and launched into a flurry of punches at Ranma’s head and chest. Ranma snapped to attention and began blocking punches as rapidly as he could, discovering very quickly that it wasn’t an easy task. Not only was Shingen punching hard, he was punching efficiently and fast, hardly any wasted motion at all. Damn, this guy’s good… really good!!! Knuckles cracked against forearms and open palms for a few seconds before Shingen ducked and spun in a circle, sweeping at Ranma’s feet with his left leg. He jumped over the sweep easily- and then winced in pain as Shingen spun again and drove his right heel into his right side. Ranma hit the pavement just as Shingen ducked in and smashed his right fist across his face, knocking him to the ground.

Shingen pulled back and straightened up, raising his open right hand up to the sky. Without looking, he caught his rapidly descending naginata and lowered it blade-first towards Ranma. “You seem keen to make this hard on yourself,” he said calmly. “Though I will grant, you’re faster than I thought you’d be, demon.”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!” Ranma shouted as he scrambled to his feet, adopting his preferred loose stance.

“What would you have me call you, then? Shapeshifter? Monster? It’s all the same to me.” He twirled his polearm once, then lunged to resume the battle. Ranma jumped in as well, and the two descended into a flurry of motion, bare fists versus bladed staff. This time, Ranma was better prepared, but still had his hands full blocking the rapid strikes and couldn’t get in any of his own. Three times he came dangerously close to being cut by Shingen’s blade, while the butt of the staff was cracking his limbs so hard he thought his bones would bruise.

Why is this happening? Akane thought to herself as she backed away from the conflagration. What is this Shingen person attacking Ranma for… and why does he keep calling him a demon? He doesn’t look like one of Saffron’s minions, and he sure doesn’t act like one of the Amazons, so why? Gods, can’t we ever have a moment of peace? She backed up against a nearby tree- which a dazed Ryoga was still convalescing under- and stared at the fight in silence.

“You’re good,” Ranma gasped, jumping away from Shingen’s latest fury to catch his breath. “Real good, in fact… but there’s no way I’m gonna let you beat me before I beat an explanation out of you.” He breathed hard, glancing at the bruises forming on his forearms before returning his gaze to his perfectly calm opponent. He isn’t even winded yet, he thought. I knew I had a bad feeling ‘bout this…

“I’ll admit it, you’re better than I thought you would be,” came the reply. He’s much stronger than I would’ve expected of a shapeshifter… and faster, too. Better get serious. “I haven’t had a good warm-up like this in a long time- but now the fun is over, demon.” He swung his weapon back, a golden-yellow aura enveloping his arms and the blade of the naginata as he did so. Suddenly his form blurred, bursting across the pavement and closing the distance between them. “SEKKAI KATTO SUTORAIKI!!!” he bellowed as the blade came down in a wide arc. Ranma drove his heels into the ground and pushed backwards mere microseconds before the blade smashed into the ground, gouging a massive furrow more than nine feet long and well over a foot deep. Chunks of concrete and debris peppered the area with the force of a shotgun blast, and Ranma winced as several stones dug into his shins.

“Oh gods! Ranma!” Akane hollered in a worried tone, more out of instinct than anything else. That move could’ve cut both his legs off if he hadn’t dodged! Gods help us, this Shingen guy isn’t just trying to beat Ranma, he’s trying to kill him!!!

Ranma scowled, regaining his footing as Shingen lunged through the waning cloud of dust, naginata in hand. “Okay, you asked for it now, you moron! This is what ya get for calling me a demon; KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!!” Ranma’s fists became a blur as he darted in, striking hundreds of times in rapid succession. He began to smile as he felt his fists started connecting, but then his smile faltered. Shingen had raised both arms in a cross over his chest, and the pentagram sigils on the backs of his gloves were glowing white-hot. It was then that Ranma noticed there was a massive translucent disk of ki, shining gold with eldritch symbols burning within, directly between the two fighters. He’s creating a ki shield! My punches aren’t getting through at all!!! he thought frantically. His eyes began to grow wide in uncertainty… and grew wider still as Shingen suddenly dropped the shield, grabbed Ranma by the wrist and hurled him across the park. He collided with the perimeter wall and stood there weakly for a second, stunned and breathing hard.

Akane was staring in shock. “Why are you doing this?” she shouted- or tried to shout, as the words didn’t seem to want to carry. “Stop this! Do you even have any good reason to do this to him?” Dammit, I’ve got to do something… but knowing Ranma and that blasted sense of honor he has, he’d hate it if I yanked him out of the fight! Maybe if I joined in, he wouldn’t mind as much, but then he’d want to protect me and wind up getting hurt even worse! What do I do? She knelt and started shaking Ryoga gently. “Ryoga, wake up! Ranma’s in big trouble and I don’t know how he’s gonna get out of it! I know you two don’t always get along, but we could really use that brute strength of yours now…” Ryoga didn’t reply, but remained lolling next to the trees in a total daze.

“Still have some fight left in you, shapeshifter?” Shingen mused, jamming the blade of his naginata into the ground and digging six runic throwing darts out of his jacket. “Impressive, but ultimately futile.” Still, this is no ordinary demon. He moves and reacts too much like his current form… a hanyou, perhaps? And for that matter, why hasn’t he altered forms to suit the battle? He should be capable… The thought coursed through his mind for a moment before he shrugged it off, flinging the darts towards Ranma with the force of a nail gun. Ranma had just enough time to regain his senses and tumble to the right as the metal slivers embedded themselves in the wall.

“I’ll show you futile!!” Ranma roared as he dashed in again, launching an all-out combination of punches and kicks that seemed to want to rival his previous speed. Shingen blocked, weaved and dodged as fast as possible, but eventually began backing away, his ice-cold expression never changing. He’s giving ground now, thought Ranma as he connected with two successive low kicks and a spinning backfist, eliciting a wince of irritation from his opponent. If I just keep this up, I can wear him down!

He didn’t notice the smirk until it was too late. “Let me show you a true punch,” Shingen said in a low voice, ducking in as waves of golden ki began to vibrate around his clenched right fist. “JINRAI TEKKEN!!!” The fist shot forward, driving into Ranma’s midsection with a crash akin to a sonic boom.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment; agonizing pain shot through his gut as wave upon wave of ki energy blasted through him. Every breath in his lungs rapidly exited, forced out against his will. His eyes refused to close, forced open in total shock… and the next second, he was colliding heavily with the tree he had been sitting under in the first place. His and Akane’s book bags fell off the bench as he collapsed to his knees, gasping for air and holding his stomach in anguish.

“No… oh gods, no…” Akane whispered as Shingen yanked his weapon out of the ground and approached Ranma once again, who was now struggling to stand up with a faint trickle of blood running down the corner of his mouth.

“It’s over now, demon.” The tall fighter spun his polearm once, then drew the weapon back. “May your passage cleanse the world and bring order where there was once chaos.” Ranma glared upwards as Shingen approached, his mind racing to come up with a solution.

He… he’s just as fast as me, and his techniques are like nothing I’ve ever seen before… He grunted as he managed to regain a standing position, ignoring the fire in his stomach and the ache behind his eyes. He isn’t even trying that hard or getting worked up, either. It’s like this stuff is second nature to him… not even angry… and if he’s not enraged, I can’t use the Hiryu Shoten Ha… Suddenly he caught sight of the naginata’s silver blade sweeping forward. Desperately he planted his feet and pushed backwards and to the side, but collided with the tree just as the blade tore a wicked gouge into his left side. He gasped and dropped to his knees, blood running down his side in a slow cascade that turned part of his red Chinese shirt a darker shade of crimson.

“RANMA!!! NO!!!” Akane screamed as she sprang up and dashed into the midst of the two fighters, jamming her elbow into the gut of a very startled Shingen as she did so. She threw herself defensively over Ranma’s body, tearing off a piece of her dress and pressing it frantically against his wound. “Oh gods, this can’t be happening! I’m not going to let it end like this!” she whimpered, looking closer and noticing that, thankfully, the gash wasn’t as deep as it had first appeared and no vitals had been damaged. She knew he’d gotten hurt like this before and pulled through, but actually seeing it happen tore her heart to pieces. “I’m not gonna let him take you away from me,” she cried, tears flowing like water. “If he wants to kill you, he’s gonna have to go through me first!”

Shingen had made no move as she had darted in, and still refused to move. His eyes were wide with surprise… and not just because of her interference. In the brief instant his blade had connected with Ranma’s abdomen, something had ebbed away from him and power began to course through him as it had before his journey to China… and his aura sight had returned, albeit weakly. He had immediately rejoiced that the backlash he had suffered was draining away, but was then shocked by several things hitting him at once.

He hasn’t changed forms once during our entire battle. He moves too much like a human…

Blood… there’s blood on my blade! Red blood… not the white ichors that burst from a demon when they are cut…

His aura… I can see his aura now, though it’s still very fuzzy… He gasped.

That’s not a demonic aura! Even fuzzy, I can still tell demon auras apart, and that’s not one of them! Then that means… that means I’ve been fighting another human all this time? Not a demon at all, but a fellow human being? And… and I would have killed him too, if I had continued and used my full power…

He let his naginata slip and clatter to the ground beside him. “Dear gods… what have I done?”

To Be Continued…

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Author’s Note 12/20/04: Things are getting complicated for Ranma now, especially after being faced by someone his apparent equal- though with a different skill suite. And now, some of what has been featured herein.
Sekkai Katto Sutoraiki: Stone Cutting Force Strike, a ki-driven technique for finding chinks in even the toughest armor. By focusing ki energy into the edge of one’s weapon, one can cleave through stone and even steel as if it were jelly.
Jinrai Tekken: Thunderclap fist. Unlike Ranma’s Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, this is a single strike that utilizes ki vibrations to deliver waves of destructive power into one’s target. Can easily shatter stone or bypass armor; could very easily kill a normal human being if used at full force. Remember, though, Ranma is far from a normal human being.
I won’t bother translating the moves Ranma uses; those aren’t of my own design. Acknowledgement for translations belongs to The Immortal Shadow. Please send reviews, and if you like this story, spread the word; I’d like as many readers as possible!
-Neon RoninConverting /tmp/phpahgMNR to /dev/stdout