Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ State of Ours ❯ ch14 ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A new chapter after years waiting,  health, time an PC related delays factored with minor form of writing blocks caused delays.

A mild depression caused by PC issues that cost me multiple chapters on various stories, including several new stories in their entirety.

1223123

The air was heavy with the promise of rain as the heat stayed high in the dark of the night. Clouds covered most of the few stars whose lights were strong enough to be visible in the night sky through the over illumination of the cities artificial light scape. The heat and mugginess of the day had rolled into the night and the city was experiencing a rare quiet that was only infrequently disturbed by the inescapable sounds of human existence and interaction.

One corner of the city was even more quiet then the rest, the silence only broken by the odd barking dog or music and voices from the rare opening door followed by the sound of said door slamming closed behind the entrant or departing figure. Only a handful of businesses remained open at the late hour and only one was interest to the figure making his way through the lonely streets.

The figure reached his destination and paused, taking in the shoddy décor and mismatched construction of the front entrance. With a sigh, he moved forward and entered the bar, willing to be almost anywhere but his present location at the moment.

The noise silenced as he paused inside the entrance, the crowd inside turning to look at the newcomer. A hint of surprise went through the gathered throng recognized the figure. A bouncer made to approach the entrant, but was waved off by his employer who left the bar and approached the figure himself.

Mr. Saotome, how can I help you? You do know that you are not supposed to be here, you are under age and if an officer found you we could both be arrested.

Ranma sighed again and looked around, grimacing as he took note of the other men and few women in the bar. I'm looking for the old man, he was supposed to be home tonight for mom's burial, but the cowardly old bastard never showed.

Ah, I see. Sadly, your father has not been here this evening. In fact, he has not been here for two weeks. He skipped out on his bill and has not back to pay it.

Shaking his head in disgust, Ranma stopped looking around to focus on the owner, Mr. Nagomo. Has Mr Tendo been here? He and pop left together this afternoon.

Tendo has not been by in two weeks either. Nagomo stated calmly. Though his daughter was by this morning to pay the invoice I sent her for his last visit.  Such a kind, gentle girl, that Kasumi. It's a shame she hasn't married and had her own family yet.

A sound reached his ears and Ranma's body tensed as his ears twitched. There was a clattering from one of the upstairs back rooms that the local high end martial artists often used as a secondary entrance to the bar. That particular room hosted several questionable games of chance, though usually not on a Thursday. The sound continued for a moment before the door burst open and out came a boisterous cry.

SWEETO! cackled a tiny figure that burst through the entrance, a kerchief tied over his eyes in a poor attempt to hide the features of the wrinkled old prune that exploded into the room, lugging a huge sack easily three times his size behind him. The tiny figure was followed by a middle age man of fair stature and thin frame wearing a brown gi and a pink kerchief that did nothing to hide his thick moustache. That thin figure was followed by a giant mask wearing panda carrying a second bag on it's shoulder.

Ranma swore under his breath as he (and everyone else in the room) recognized the trio. Happosai. he growled, a low rumble in his voice leaking through.

A feral grin crossed his face, causing the barman to pale and back away. Here was a chance for Ranma to let loose some of the rage and sorrow he had been suffering since his mother's death. "Gimme some cold water." he ordered.

Being no one's fool, Nagomo hastily gestured for one of the staff to bring some water. A waitress scurried out from the bar, bringing the cool liquid bottle with her. Ranma took it, opened and poured it on himself, transforming once more into his red-haired chesty female self. Though Happosai had been rather well behaved in recent weeks, it was clear from the cries outside that he was returning to his old tricks and Ranma now had an excuse to lash out with her pent up frustrations.

The red head turned into a streak as she nearly flew from the bar, then took to the roofs to track the sounds of Happosai's pillaging. The screams were fading to the west, heading towards the school grounds. Ranma let her aura loose and started roof hopping towards the old bastard, eager to let loose with all her new found strength. She once again thanked the Kami for bringing Akane into her life. Without her lover, she might have mentally remained a child forever thanks to her idiotic father's torture and therefore never been able to reach her full potential. Now it was time to see just what her new awareness and control could do to the perverted old master.

%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%

"Are you sure about doing this, grandfather?" Kasumi asked as she and her sisters let out cries of anger and shame to attract Ranma's attention.

The ancient tin figure let out a sigh and put away his pipe as he sensed a flare of ki moving rapidly towards them. "It needs to be done, Kasumi-chan. Despite your sisters best efforts to help Ranma through this situation, Ranma needs to release his anger not just deflect it with sex. It's starting to poison his ki. If he doesn't expunge his emotions soon, he will become as badly out of control as Taro or Ryoga. And I am the only one capable of taking his attacks and not being destroyed by his rage. Your father's are too weak willed and broken by Nodaka's death to be of any use and I wouldn't trust any of the few others that could match Ranma's skill and strength to not try  anything foolish."

Kasumi sighed, knowing that the old man was right in his assessments. In spite of Akane's extremely enthusiastic attempts to distract Ranma,  even Nabiki was starting to express distress over Ranma's closed off and mercurial behaviour. One moment he would be smiling and joking, and the next snapping t every one, or worse, storm off to hid alone and cry herself to sleep.

"Please be careful, grandfather. Ranma is hurting and has not had a real challenge since the surgery. He might not have as fine control over his ki attacks as he normally would."

"I am certain that he doesn't, and that is why I need to be the one to do this. I am largely to blame for much of the problems in his life and I need to find a way to make some meagre amends for my actions."

Nabiki stopped screaming out as she caught sight of a flare of blue light moving rapidly towards them. "Hey, 'kane, time to get out of here. Lover girl is coming and even I can feel how pissed she is right now."

Akane turned to her sister and nodded. "Just imagine if you were ki sensitive. I'm getting some over flow and starting to get angry myself." She hesitated a moment then turned to Happy. "Don't get killed. Once the anger is gone, Ranma wouldn't be able to handle learning she'd killed you."

Happy nodded, being as serious as she'd ever seen him. "Get yourself and your sisters to a safe distance, Akane. This will not be pretty. I might have to hurt Ranma to get her to let herself truly release her repressed emotions." Happy paused. "I hope that I get chance to teach the both of you some of the techniques I've been withholding. None of my previous students were worthy of learning my most powerful skills. Skills that make what the Amazons share look like child play. neither of our fathers had the stability to be trusted with those techniques. Thanks to you, and if this works, Ranma will be, and you will as well."

Akane smiled at the old man, before wrapping an arm around each of her sisters and leaping off into the night sky, heading away from the school and towards their home. As much as she wanted to see the upcoming fight, the old perve as right. It was too dangerous to be so close to the action. Luckily, Nabiki had enough hidden camera's set up around the school grounds that the could watch some of the battle at home. For as long as the camera's lasted anyway.

#$%#$%#$%#$%$#%#$%#$%#$%

A frown crossed Ranma's face as she neared the school. The cries and screams of vengeance and outrage had died out and for  a moment, she thought she could feel the familiar touch of her fiancee's ki. The faint flicker vanished though so she put thoughts of Akane out of her mind and began to make a loose plan of attack. 'First thing, slice the bag of panties so he drops them. Then a backhand-knee thrust-follow up elbow combo to knock him back. After that while he's off balance and stuttering about 'his babies' a double ki blast to cause some early damage. At that point he should toss a happodaikaran so I knock them into the sky and a little umisenken to go invisible and yamasenken to pound some sense into the perve. After that see what happens.' she gathered her ki into her legs to cushion her landing and to make a dramatic entrance cracking the cement of the sidewalk.

The next 30 seconds went as the red head planned, though she received a couple of powerful blows for her trouble. This served only to increase her anger levels, as the old perve had struck those blows to the sides of her breasts, managing to cop a few feels at the same time. "Happosai!! You picked the wrong time to go back to your perverted ways." she screamed as she held an offensive stance, not willing to show how much the old master's strikes had hurt, especially considering that to do so would mean rubbing at the soreness to get feeling back. And as far as she was concerned, only Akane was allowed to see her rub any part of herself and even then, only in their bedroom.

Happosai's face took on a look of shock and he pulled something out of hidden space. "Is it that time of the month already? I could have sworn it was the 12th, not the 18th."

Confusion flickered over Ranma's face before her rage again spiked. "You filthy bastard. I am going to pop you like a zit." With that she launched herself forward, moving seamlessly into a silent rendition of the chestnut fist with both hands and feet, staying airborne for over a minute of the attack. To her mounting disbelief, the old panty thief managed to dodge or block her four limbs using his pipe to strike at Ranma's undefended core. Landing she threw herself into a series of back flips to get some distance. As she came to a stop this time, she took a more defensive stance, unbelieving that as fast as she was moving, which was faster then she'd ever managed before, the old man has still managed to block her. At a slower speed she'd usually managed to defeat him before. "What? How did you get so fast? I've beaten you before my surgery when I was only about 2/3rds as fast as I just attacked."

Happosai casually whipped out a hand and displayed his long pipe. "I know. You're getting better and faster then I ever thought you would. Maybe with a few more brain surgeries you'll be my match. But I am 300years old, and you are nothing more then a babe in the woods." A wicked grin crossed the old man's face as he suddenly appeared attached to Ranma's chest, motor-boating the large fleshy mounds while happily releasing his feared war cry "Sweeto!!!"

Ranma's face twitched as she suddenly found herself the object of Happy's lusty actions. Her arm came up slowly, shaking with tension before it came down on the bald head of the master molester. The blow struck with the force of a naval bombardment gun, slamming into the earth below her feet with enough force to form a crater 8 feet deep and 16 feet across. Unfortunately for Ranma's peace of mind, the master moved from her chest to straddle her back now fondling her buttocks as the shock wave of the attack spread outwards before dissipating. Ranma just started to register the change in position and the failure of her attack when the master was back on her chest, this time managing to unbutton and open her shirt, exposing her charms to the cool night wind.

Happosai leapt back, pulling the piece of cloth with him. In spite of his intentions for this fight, centuries of perverted instincts caused his to be distracted by the pair of beautifully bouncing globes as the red head was frozen for a second before her light aura turned massive and changed from blue of confidence to red of rage. "I'll kill you!!!!" she screamed before restarting the attack.

For 15 minutes the pair duelled across the fields of Furinkin. In under 2 minutes, the stands of the soccer field were dust, in 5, the surface of the field was so cratered, potholed and turned it could pass for the surface of the moon as no signs of grass or painted lines remained. The goals had been turned to metal confetti by a series of vacuum blades out of the Saotome sealed techniques. The newly erected 30foot statue of Principal Kuno was turned into gravel as Ranma showed he had picked up the breaking point by osmosis from watching Ryoga use it so often.

Though he was hiding it, Happosai was nearing his limits. While it was true that he more raw power and skill then Ranma, it was also that a lot of that had to go to just maintaining his life. The issue with living to be 300 years old is that it took a lot of ki to fuel the body to surpass the natural decline of the physical body as you aged and neared the upper limit of human life expectancy. This fact was one of the closely guarded secrets of the Amazons and other elders who reached the levels of Happosai and Ku Lon. It was the reason why the elders were all about the size of preteen children. They had to sacrifice some of their bodies physical features in order to be able to maintain their life forces. Too much energy would be required to keep one in the same physical state as the were in the prime of life. Happy himself during his youth had towered over most Asian men, being nearly 6 and a half feet tall and looking like an Olympic model.

As years turned to decades and decades turned to centuries, the advanced ki adapts allowed some degradation or regression in their physical size and started storing key in an object or objects of power. Ku Lon used her staff and pipe, Happy used his pipe as well, but had developed a method of extracting small amounts of ki through the theft of women's undergarments. It wasn't the pretties themselves, but the connection the owner made with the objects that bound their ki to it that he was able to siphon. And the more strongly they felt about the object the stronger the connection.

Through his many years of life, he had learned that women felt most connected to their under things when they were being stolen(preferably off a pretty young woman-he was still a pervert after all). Being a male, and perverted to boot, he got the most energy by stealing it from women, especially when he could get a little perverted action glomping and stripping them to increase their anger at him and therefore their connection to the under wear. Contrary to belief, he could steal energy from men(he could even steal if from animals or plant life) but it was a more draining and complicated process for him and his victims.

As the fight continued, Ranma's power continued to grow, while Happosai recognized that his levels were dropping. He knew that it was time to pull out his ending card. He would not last much longer at this level of power use, and Ranma's body wasn't strong enough to withstand the power that was beginning to go wild inside himself.

Bracing himself, he knocked the girl aside and backed away while making sure to look as calm and at ease as always. "Is that all you have, girl? No wonder that slut mother of yourself offed herself. Such a weak pathetic little girl for a woman who deserved a strong healthy son."

Every thing seemed to pause for a moment as the words struck the red head worse then a physical blow. The wind died down and there was silence as the red head's aura flickered out as shock, grief and a myriad of other emotions crossed her face. Eventually her face set in such rigid planes that artists and sculptors the world over paused in a moment of unknown lamentation that the perfect slate expression was lost forever.

The air started to warm, a gentle breeze started up. Ranma's hair started floating in the breeze and a faint glow formed around her. The glow started gaining in intensity and seemed to pulse as it grew. Within seconds, Ranma was surrounded in a ten foot diameter glow of fire engine red. To an outside observer, she would seem to be standing in the middle of a ball of red flame the size of a bread truck.

The energy started swirling and heaving as the red head silently went into a series of hand and foot motions to settle into a pose familiar to her enemies as the gathering point for the moko takabisha. The red energy of Ranma's rage started condensing into a ball between her spread hands as her eyes lit from within by a matching red burn. The air crackled, breaking the silence as a deep angry growl started within the slim form.

'This is going hurt.' Happosai thought as he pumped his ki into an invisible barrier around himself.

"DIE HAPPOSAI!!!" the red head roared as she thrust her arms forwards, sending the deadly energy screaming towards the diminutive form. The ball burst into a 10 foot thick beam of solid red energy, flying forwards in a solid streak of light.

At first when the beam reached Happy, there was nothing but a slight flash as it met the barrier the old man had raised. The beam continued to flow against the barrier, both a light show and a physical manifestation. So powerful was the beam and the barrier, that the beam started pushing Happosai backwards, causing a trench to be dug up in the soft surface of the field.

A minute passed and the energy continued to flow from the red head. Within the bubble formed by his barrier, Happy started sweating as he was forced to use ever increasing amounts of ki to maintain his protective support. Instead of dwindling, Ranma's power was continuing to grow, and Happosai felt real concern not only for himself but for his student and the surrounding city. At this point, the energy Ranma was unleashing was so far out of his control that if Happosai made the wrong move or simply dodged the beam, it would continued onwards until it made contact with something and exploded with the force of multi-ton explosions. He wasn't sure if it would match the power of an atomic bomb, but it would certainly be powerful enough to level Nerima and possibly cause major damage to Tokyo itself.

There was only one chance. He had to redirect the flow into the sky, away from the city. Hopefully there were no planes over head nor any important satelittes above Nerima at the moment.

Taking out a coin, he concentrated as much energy as he could into the metal. Words would not reach the girl, who's own energy had now burned off her clothes and who was now floating a few inches off the ground completely naked as she directed the energy towards Happy. At this moment Happy had 2 reasons to be pleased at his stature. First it would allow his attack to succeed, and second, he was now at eye level with a most pleasing sight that he would hold in his memory forever.

Taking a breath and preparing to move quickly his hand flashed out and the metal flew from his hands. Moving at speeds just below hyper-sonic, the coin crossed the now hundred foot space between the combatants in less then the blink of an eye. Reached the red head it struck her wrist and exploded, the force strong enough to cause her hands, and the stream of deadly energy flowing from them to arc skyward. Before the pain of the strike and explosion had time to reach through the cloud of red filling her head, several pinpricks struck multiple points and then all she knew was darkness.

@#$@#$@#$@#$

Happosai looked down at the unconscious form of the naked red head and for the first time felt no inclination to perversion. He pulled her shirt from his hidden space and covered her as the sky light up in a massive red blast. His eyes drifted up to stare into the endless dark as he felt the unfamiliar strain of physical and ki exhaustion. He had used far more of his energy then he had thought he would with his barrier, and he knew that he would likely never be able to fully recover from this battle. He turned his heads as he felt several familiar auras approaching.

Around him several forms landed, one blue haired one streaking to the girl laying in the tilled earth. The girls eyes streamed as she gathered her lover and looked at him with fear and sorrow filling her face. "Is Ranma alright? Did it work?" she asked of the haggard old man.

Happy painfully pulled his pipe and lit it with a match as he didn't have the ki to spare. He took a few restorative puffs before answering. "With any luck, he purged the worst of it and will now be able to work through the rest in a more normal and healthy manner." He looked the too over, his face taking on a serious mask. "He will need you now as much as he ever has. Do not let him down."

Akane's face took on a concerned look as she gazed at the old man. It was finally reaching her how tired and exhausted the old man looked. He'd never looked so . . . so weak before. "Are you OK, Happosai?" she asked as her natural compassion started filling her even as she lifted her barely covered fiancee into her arms. She ignored the two male figures standing to one side who's noses erupted in blood as they fell to their backs after getting flashed by the movement.

Happy sighed and took a few more puffs. "Ranma took a lot more out of me then I thought. The amount of energy he was releasing . . . if he had tried to hold that in much longer it would have been  .. . well let's just say that Nerima would have made Nagasaki and Hiroshima look like firecrackers."

Blinks and shivers passed through the forms of the various observers. Ku Lon's eyes narrowed as she took a second look at her old rival/lover. "Happy what did you do to yourself?" she asked in horrors as her ki sense showed her the twisted and burned out pathways of Happosai's ki channels.

Happosai shrugged his tiny shoulders. "I did what I had to do to save my heir and his chosen home. I regret nothing, save that events that started by my actions lead to all these foolish situations. If not for me, it is likely none of this would have happened and Ranma would have grown up with a loving, sane mother without having to undergo the trials he has been put through."

"what grandmother and old pervert talking of? What pervert do to Shampoo airen?" a growl from blue haired girl shook the Chinese girl and she rephrased her words. "Shampoo mean former airen, violent girl keep unworthy pervert." she stated with a sniff, though there was a clear hint of longing in her words. Every one knew that despite the public disbanding of the Kiss of Marriage and Kiss of Death, Shampoo still had a strong desire to if not wed Ranma, to at least possess the boy for a few nights. She might not want him for a life partner, but his power and skill would make for strong additions to the tribe if she'd managed to seduce a few children out of him.

"I used up all of my stored ki and had to draw in some from well, Ranma herself during the fight. It burned out a lot of the ki path in my body." he paused for a moment to again puff on the pipe, feeling a slight increase in his general strength and power. "I won't be able to channel as much ki as I did before the fight and will no longer be able to draw ki out of women and their panties anymore."

There was a moment of quiet as those gathered contemplated the results of the old mans words. "So does that mean no more perving?" Nabiki asked as she stood next to her sisters, Kasumi having joined Akane in supporting Ranma's unconscious form after draping a blanket over the girl.

Happy let out a cackle at the girl's questions. "Oh, I'll still peep and spy on you pretties, but the days of stealing panties is over. No, stealing and fondling is over unless one of you young pretties takes pity on an old man in his last remaining years."

Ku Lon sighed. "Oh, Happy. What did you do?" she asked again.

Happy turned to his fellow tri-centenarian. "I did what i had to, Ku Lon." A small smile came to his face and those that hadn't been around had a faint glimpse of the man Happosai had been during his prime, a man who had drawn the attention of the most powerful amazon of her generation. "I still have a few years left, but now my time is measured. I don't regret it, wife, but I do regret having to leave you so long ago. Now my body will stabilize and i will start to age. I likely have at least 10 years before I'll pass, maybe as many as 15."

Tears in her eyes, the ancient warrior dropped to the ground from her staff and for the first time in 2 centuries embraced her husband. "Happy, what are you going to do?"

Returning the embrace for a moment, he turned to face the duo of heir to the school he had started. "I have plenty to do, wife. I have 2 true heirs worthy of my knowledge to teach and watch begin their lives. Hopefully they won't fall into the pitfalls that we surrendered to oh so long ago."

Ku Lon allowed a faint smile to come to her face as she too beheld the pair of lovers. She would never have believed the fullness of the love that had bloomed between the pair given their history, but after learning of Ranma's injuries and how they had affected his development she had reconsidered and seen the signs that had marked their growing connection. "Let us hope the next few months are less stressful for them. The true tests are coming now that their childhoods have ended."

Happy looked to the west, knowing that there were still powerful obstructions to the pair happiness lurking in the darkness. "For now, we have peace. With Akane's support, Ranma will become stronger for his mother's actions. Let us hope that he becomes strong enough to face what ever might come. The world is changing and people like us are fading away. Ranma, with Akane at his side, is the last hope for our paths to continue. Too much has changed in the world, Ku Lon. There are more people and more powerful and advanced technology, yet people seem less real. Less connected then ever. They need a spark to reawaken the true strength of spirit that resides in them. To reconnect them to the spirit of the world before it is broken and lost forever."

Leaning on the woman who'd been his all and adversary for more year then he cared to remember, the pair followed the procession lead by the blue haired beauty carrying her love towards their home. Behind the pair of lovers come their sister, both of blood and love. The rest of the procession contained allies and enemies, those who loved and hated at various times one or both of the leading couple. For though they would dispute it and argue it till they left in a huff, the ties that bound them were not those of hate, but those of love.

And in the end, love would always emerge triumphant, if one would only open themselves and allow that love in their lives.

$%#$%$%#

AN:
Okay, so it took a long time to finish. A lot of effort and attempts were made. Health, work, computer and many issue caused the delays and I thank everyone for sticking with me while I got to a point where I was again inspired to continue my work, as well as physically and mentally able to do so. 7 computers died on me while working on this and my other stories, I lost entire chapters from each of my stories, and this is the 4th time I had started this chapter. In fact when I first started, it was going to be one of Neko's Mate's chapters but as it started growing, it became clear that what was coming out was state of ours.

This ends the series, not really where I was planning, but the words started flowing and I had to follow. It seemed a natural place to end this story. Perhaps some day my muse will have me continue further adventures in this adaptation. For now, I look forward to hearing from my readers, and to continue some of my other works.