Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Crow 1/2:Dragons Rising ❯ Chapter Two: The End of Innocence ( Chapter 2 )

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

Chapter Two: The End of Innocence

Present Day...
Bitter cold winds blew the last remains of falls dead leaves across the graveyard, sending them dancing across the ground, flittering here and there like butterflies. The sky was dark, heavy, with only the flashes of lighting illuminating the late afternoon skies. The weather threatened a storm, and not just a small one, but a storm to be talked about for months to come. Those that looked back to this day would swear that this foul tempest seemed to herald the arrival of something, and they would not be wrong.

Almost as if it were a signal, thunder broke the silent stillness of the graves, and the rains came, pouring heavy, almost like one never-ending sheet of water. And through the rains, cut a blur of black, swooping in silently to land atop the head stone rest before a young man, dead a year to the day. It ignored the rain, and looked down at the sodden ground beneath it, and cawed. The sound of it cut through the roar of the rain, the crash of thunder, reaching an impossible volume, and cut through the very earth itself, to the one resting below.


His world was a never-ending swirl of memories, images of pain and loss. The world danced around him in an off kilter swirl, never quite coming into focus for more than a moment; just long enough to show him things he did not wish to know; the smell of blood, her anguished whimpers and the Kuno sibling's mad laughter, the sight of her being violated and him helpless to stop it, and the pain of his own death, as wooden sword caved in his skull and all coherent thought stopped. Yet the images carried on, even beyond his own death, and he lay there helpless, to even move or scream, held in his own private hell by sorrow.

Time held no meaning here, and what could have been an instant, or an eternity, passed. He drifted there, lost and alone, but for the first time, he felt another's presence. Among the images that came before him, a woman seemed to appear, walking slowly, form not blurring like everything else. She was young, pale skinned and thin. Her raven black hair spilled around her shoulders, and did not seem to move with her as she walked. Her cloths were simple, black tank top and baggy black pants, both so dark that they seemed to drink in the light. She carried an umbrella as if shielding herself from something, yet he could see nothing that would make her need it's protection. She moved to stand before him, kneeling down, and looking into his eyes, smiling.

"It isn't quite time for you to rest yet, Mr. Saotome. You need to find peace. And while I don't approve of doing it this way, there are forces at work beyond even Death's control. So I send you with my blessing. Just promise me you will not hurt anyone innocent, 'K?" Her voice was sweet, and friendly, making him almost smile at the sound of it. For the first time he could ever remember, he nodded his head, as if agreeing to do as she ask. He felt her reach up, and ruffle his hair. "Ok then. I will be seeing you later. For now, your ride is here."

The strange necklace she wore, like a cross with a loop at the top, began to glow faintly, humming with unknown power. The he felt himself seem to expand, filling with substance beyond misery, with life and power. He heard the cry then, a bird's call, high pitched and sharp, loud and seeming to echo throughout his little world. And within that harsh cry, he heard his name...Ranma...


Cologne looked up from where she was cooking, behind the bar of the Nekoheten. She felt the presence of...something; a force she had never, in three hundred years, felt. It was a combination of what felt like the very forces of creation, those of life and death. She found herself shivering uncontrollably, and she did not know why. She only knew that something was coming. Something bad...

Shampoo, looked over at her great-grandmother, looking worried. The woman looked as if she had just seen a ghost. Well, not that exactly, because they had all seen ghosts at one time or another, but something horrible, at the least. She quickly hurried over, and wrapped an arm around the very short, withered old marital-artist. "What wrong, great-grandmother? Something shampoo do to help?"

Cologne could only shake her head and shiver.


He had found the letter of challenge waiting in the bedroom he shared with his father and mother, where no one would normally be able to get to. Having read it, he knew who had placed it, the Kuno's pet ninja, Sansuke. The letter being there did not bother him, so much as the fact that it was addressed to Ranma Saotome, also know as the Pig-tailed girl. Somehow the two Kuno's had figured it out, and now wanted to punish him for his transgressions. He grinned. Even together, the two of them were not in his league any more. Not since Herb and later Saffron, at least. He dressed and hurried out to meet this challenge.


Deep under the Earth, something stirred, for the first time in over a year. Eyes opened in the darkness, and looked out across the images that flooded it's mind. There was a howl of rage and fury, which even through the half dozen feet to the surface, could be heard over the rain. The crow, cocked it's head again, and cawed once more.


The warehouse where the Kuno's had called him to fight at was dark and boarded up, in a part of town that NO one should be in after dark. They probably had a trap set for him inside, another one of their crazy ideas. He was just as unafraid as always.

He kicked the door in, sending it bouncing off the interior wall. It opened up into a view that sent cold chills down his spine, and fiery rage burning up his blood. Before him, lay the broken form of his fiancé, and the only girl he would ever truly love, despite his protests. Her dress had been cut away, and she lie there naked, Tatewaki Kuno removing himself from between her legs and turning to face Ranma, a smile on his lips, and a look of madness in his eyes. Kodachi lay beside Akane, one arm wrapped around her in a sisterly hug, the other drawing away a thin steel scalpel from the ruins of the left side of Akane's face. She looked at Ranma with a similar grin.

"Oh look who has decided to join us finally, brother dear. He almost missed the show."

"Thou has surely be blessed by the fortunes, Ranma Saotome, to have arrived at such a fortuitous moment, to see my final reward in the pursuit of Akane Tendo." He lifted his bokken from where it lie on the floor beside him. "I have tasted the very fruits of heaven, foul Saotome, and would offer you a taste before your most timely demise."

Ranma was not listening to anything coming out of Kuno's mouth; instead, rushing across the cold stone floor, the only thoughts racing through his head now were simple. Killing Kodachi and Kuno. There was nothing else. It was only through years of training, and shear instinct that he dodged the combined attacks of Mousse and Shampoo, who had been waiting in the shadows for him to strike. He only saw the two of them as obstacles in the path of his vengeance.


His fists reached up, and began to pound into the top of the coffin, driving into it with more force than they had ever held before. With every strike, the whole box shook, and shivered. Wood splintered; cracking loudly, and dirt began to slide in through the cracks. But his mind only saw what was held before it, and only heard the calls of the bird above.


In the end, Ranma had not been beaten. In fact, he had them against the ropes, fighting like a mad man. It was not a single blow that felted the Great Ranma Saotome, nor new special technique. In the end it was simple words.

"Dearest Ranma, if you don't stop right this instant, I will kill her." He had no doubt that Kodachi would, given what she had already shown herself capable of. He honestly had no choice.

It did not take them long to bind him hand and foot, using strong shackles. And he knelt beside the table where Akane lay, moaning weakly, and bleeding profusely. She had not moved since Ranma had first seen her.

Kodachi still lay beside her, running a hand over Akane's body, tracing the curves like a lover would. "It was a shame she would not just come quietly. Shampoo and I had to break her back to get her to stop fighting."

Ranma turned his head to look over at Shampoo, who was forced to look away by the hate she saw there. In his mind, he marked them off, each to die, at the first chance he got. No matter what happened to him. "If this is your sick idea to get me to marry you, shampoo, you have succeeded in part. I do want you. Dead. How could you think that I would ever accept you after this?
How?"

She shook her head weakly, tears sliding down her cheeks, and walked away, trying her best to hide from his gaze. Mousse however, got angry. Ranma had no chance to dodge before the short staff struck him in the back of the head, sending him sprawling. The duck boy, knelt down beside Ranma, and lifted his head by the hair. "NEVER SPEAK TO SHAMPOO LIKE THAT."

Ranma ignored him, instead looking at the Kunos. "Let her go. Call for help and get her out of here. After that, I will do what ever you want."

Kuno motioned for Mousse to raise Ranma back to his knees, and he did, then stepping back to watch. The eldest Kuno watched Ranma for a very long while, his eyes never blinking. "You will do anything to save her won't you?"

Ranma nodded. "Whatever it takes."

"Beg. If you can do it well enough to satisfy me, then I will forget that Akane allowed my misconceptions about you to continue. She will leave here, alive." He crossed his arms and smiled down at him. Ranma felt suddenly sure that he would not live to make it out of this. Just as long as Akane did. A single tear fell down his cheek, and he looked up at his rival, and begged. He poured his heart and soul out, letting them all know just why she needed to live, why she deserved to live. And in the end, it did not prove to be enough.


He pounded against the coffin lid now, delivering hundreds of punches in mere seconds, and it shattered like ice under a hammer. Hundreds of pounds of dirt collapse upon him, but he struggled on, fighting to reach the surface, to escape the torments that came to him trapped down here. His Ki began to focus itself, building into an attack...


Happosai looked up from the balcony he had been sneaking up onto, fully intent upon entering the house and pilfering all the unmentionables from inside. So distracted by thoughts of silky little lovelies, he had not noticed the odd surge of spiritual energy, till it had almost reached it's peak. Upon noticing it, he turned slowly, targeting it's source easily.


"So. Another one of you enters the world. Guess it is about time, considering how boring it has been lately. Ever since Ranma died..." His mind stared at the possible connection. His death had certainly been bad enough. Could it really be?

The lightning flashed twice rapidly, only the merest flicker between flashes, but from the end of the first, to the beginning of the second, Happosai had moved, faster than anyone ever believed was possible, even Cologne. The only sign he had been there was a large round bag, left open, rain soaking the undergarments inside.


He had never gotten to speak another word, for Kuno had broken his jaw with one quick swipe of his wooden Katana, scoffing that the dog before him was so low, that it couldn't even beg properly. After that, things had broken down into a drawn out argument. Kuno had not partaken in it, instead returning to his defilement of Akane. Ranma, fighting to rise, managed to get back upon his knees, when the fighting stopped.

"Great-Grandmother!"

"What is occurring here? What has happened to Ranma?" The matriarch for the Chinese Amazon clan had entered through a back door, balancing precariously atop her walking/fighting staff. Her aura suggested great displeasure. Ranma continued to struggle against the restraints. He heard Cologne approaching the three arguing teenagers, and hoped that the old hag was going to end all of this right now. His hopes were dashed. "Samurai, I told you Ranma was not to be harmed, and that the Tendo girl could be done with as you wished, AFTER Ranma had agreed to marry Shampoo. Now he will be most disagreeable. Well, nothing to do about it really. Finish her off, and lets get Ranma out to the transportation you have provided. We must be gone before anyone suspects anything." With that, Ranma slumped down, finally excepting defeat.

Kuno surprised him, when he removed himself from Akane, retied his pants, and hefted up his weapon. "Alas, old one, this can not be. For you see, I have at my very feet the most despised and hated demon, Ranma Saotome. I shall not let my sole chance to slay this foul brigand go unfulfilled."

Cologne's eyes narrowed. "You would be ill advised to try, little one, for you are not even half the warrior Son-in-Law is, and I will kill you for the attempt."

"Then let us see..."

The world became a confusing place, all in the span of a few seconds. Kuno brought his sword around in a fast blur, aimed for Ranma's head. Cologne had plenty of time to move and deflect the attack, had she not had to suddenly knock aside a trio of thrown weapons. Kodachi, Mousse, and the Kuno family's ninja, who even she had not felt, launched a stream of weapons at her. The sword managed to connect, even while she watched, and it sickened her to watch such a strong, talented young man die, his brains and blood spraying across the ground. As soon as the stroke was done, her attackers ceased.

Her eyes narrowed, but there was nothing to do about it now. She lowered herself from the staff, and readied into a fighting stance. She felt Shampoo do the same, beside her. None of the others would be leaving here alive.

The sudden explosion of the wall beside both groups startled everyone, however she was the only one to truly recognize what had happened. It was the Breaking Point, which meant Ryoga. Another wild card into the fray. What even she did not expect was everyone who accompanied him. Genma and Soun, that schoolteacher Hinako, that damned brat Ukyo, even Happosai, who was a real surprise, and definitely changed the odds against all present.

Deciding to use this to their advantage, Cologne raised her staff and pointed to the other group. "Quickly! I could not save Ranma, but perhaps we can still save young Tendo!" And she threw herself into the fight...


His hands closed around something, there in the dark, and closed around it almost on instinct. Thrusting his hands forward, item in hand he unleashed his Ki attack, the Mouko Takabisha. The blast tore through the very Earth, blasting him free. Now, with the sky bared above him, the rains came upon him unhindered, and he felt his body shift, and change. And for the first time, she paid it no mind. It was part of who and what she was, and it did not really matter if she were a boy or a girl, so long as he could still do what had to be done.

Climbing slowly from the wet soil, she slid a few times, but used the thing in her hand, which she now recognized as a red bamboo umbrella, to leverage herself up. It took a very short while for her to drag herself free, and once out, she lay there, feeling something very much like being tired, but not the tired of the body, tiredness in the soul. Her body felt like it could go on forever, but her spirit felt like simply lying here, in the cold, wet mud and grass till the end came again.

She would have lain there too, had it not been for the bird. It landed upon the grass before her eyes and cawed in it's ear splitting fashion. She swatted at it with out much effort, and it somehow hopped up into the air, and landed upon her arm. She raised her head, and looked deeply into it's eyes. Suddenly she felt an impulse to follow where the bird went. Normally she would have ignored such a silly idea, but her she could remember nothing beyond the pain, and the sense of loss. She nodded faintly, as if the bird had told her to follow, and the crow leapt into the air and flew north. She rose, leaning on the umbrella, and moved after, slowly stumbling along.

Their trek through the rainy night passed slowly for the girl. Her time sense still had not returned. For what could have been minutes, or hours, passed, and still she walked, following the black bird as it moved ahead, and cawed to lead her on, to some unknown destination.

It was with great relief and surprise that she found the bird sitting upon a shop sign, waiting for her to arrive, instead of taking flight to the next stop. The bird looked into the shop, watching someone working behind the shops countertop grill, and she looked in as well. Something about the woman inside, with her long black hair, and the tight, if a little odd, uniform she wore. She almost felt like she should know her. Without knowing why, she moved forward, opened the door, which the bell attached jingled merrily, and stepped inside.

The girl looked up, smiling. "Sorry, we are closed for business already. Would you mind coming back tomorrow?" But when she caught site of whom it was standing in her entrance, she froze.

Her mouth worked independently of her mind, and spoke on reflex. "Hey Ucchan. Sorry about this..." Then promptly the redhead collapsed upon the cold tile floor of the restaurant, and for the life of her, Ukyo Kuonji could not say that she did not feel the exact same way....

End of Chapter Two