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| Part Eleven: The Death of a Poet | ||||||||||
| By Richard LeBlanc | ||||||||||
| Ranma hesitantly backed away as Kuno slowly advanced. Talon laughed at the plight as he resumed his efforts of dealing with his other attackers. | ||||||||||
| "Kuno - I don't want to fight you - not here and not like this," Ranma stated. | ||||||||||
| "You will fight pigtailed girl - or you will die," Kuno replied flatly. Ranma sighed as she shook her head. She knew that Kuno was being used. And although she was used to beating on Kuno like a punching bag - she did not enjoy the prospect of hurting him under these circumstances. | ||||||||||
| "Then - I'm sorry it has to be this way," Ranma said as she took on a defensive stance. Kuno raced in to put his foe down. Ranma dodged his sword strikes and landed dozens of kicks to pressure points on his body. Kuno staggered back and fell to the floor. | ||||||||||
| "Nicely done - but - I can tell you were holding back," Talon mused. Ranma tensed up as she watched Kuno twitch and slowly get back up. | ||||||||||
| "It will take more than a few kicks to best me pigtailed girl," he stated seriously. Ranma hesitantly backed away. There was no pain in the eyes of the foe he had knocked down. His mind flashed back to when Ryoga had learned the breaking point technique - how nothing could keep him down. | ||||||||||
| "Then I guess I will have to hit you a little harder then," Ranma retorted as she used the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken on Kuno. Focusing every hit on one spot. The swordsman staggered as he doubled over. Ranma hopped back - hoping that this time the persistent pest would stay down. | ||||||||||
| "You still don't seem to get it Ranma dear. This isn't a challenge. This isn't a contest. This is a fight," Talon remarked. Ranma almost went cross-eyed as she watched Kuno rise up yet again. "If you want to waste your time playing yo-yo - go ahead. But if you want to get to me - I am behind him. Why do you hesitate Ranma? I thought you hated me?" Talon mocked. | ||||||||||
| "Oh - believe me I do," Ranma retorted. | ||||||||||
| "Then come and get me. All you need do is kill the foolish boy," Talon mocked. Ranma was going to reply when Kuno raced at her. Before she could block - Kuno hit her with his weapon dozens of times. "Well - kill him if you can that is," he added. Ranma staggered to her knees as she looked up at Kuno. He pointed his weapon at her - as if daring her to strike. | ||||||||||
| "If I hold back - he'll kill me before I even get close to dealing with Talon," she muttered as she rolled backwards and hopped up to her feet. She closed her eyes - blocked out the pain and realized - what she had to do. "I'm sorry Kuno - it is either you or me here," she added as she took on a defensive stance. | ||||||||||
| "Prepare to meet your god pigtailed girl," Kuno said as he raced at her. Ranma studied each rapid movement of her foe's wooden sword. In a blur of motion she leaped up - rolled in the air over the thrusting weapon - kicked Kuno hard in the face - then landed on the other side. Kuno staggered back - but showed no pain. | ||||||||||
| "Will nothing register with you?" Ranma remarked in disbelief. | ||||||||||
| "Death will - but I am wagering that you are learning that the hard way," Talon mocked - keeping his attackers entertained. Ranma groaned - as she watched as Kuno began to take on an offensive stance. | ||||||||||
| "Forgive me for what I must do pigtailed girl," Kuno stated flatly. Ranma blinked as she watched each movement that Kuno made. It was then that she sighed and realized something that she had overlooked before. | ||||||||||
| "Damn you Talon," Ranma muttered as Kuno attacked. Ranma clapped her hands together trapping his weapon. She then flipped herself around the wooden sword and landed a devastating kick to Kuno's jaw. A sickening cracking noise sounded. All of the fighting stopped for a moment as they watched Kuno falling limply to the floor. Ranma dropped the weapon and knelt down beside the man she had killed. Kuno's eyes fluttered open as he focused on Ranma. | ||||||||||
| "I see an angel," he muttered tiredly. A smile crept across Ranma's face - the look that was on his face before was gone. The man that was before her dying was free. "Forgive me pigtailed goddess - I failed," Kuno slurred as he died. | ||||||||||
| "Well stuck Ranma - the poor fool never knew what hit him," Talon remarked. Ranma blocked out the sound of his voice and looked at the man that she had just struck down. A part of her knew that he was most likely dead as soon as Talon struck him. But a part of her had to wonder if she had killed him. | ||||||||||
| "Nice try Talon," she muttered as she slowly got up. | ||||||||||
| "What do you mean?" he asked innocently as he kicked Mousse away. | ||||||||||
| "I don't know how - but I know that he died the second you zapped him. There is no other way that he could have taken what he did and not feel pain," she stated seriously. Her mind then flashed back to the spirits she had faced on the way there to rescue Akane. | ||||||||||
| "The things that a tortured youth will do to sate her stained conscience. All I did was use a special technique to ensnare him. Mine was not the blow that struck the fool boy dead - it was your attacks that did that," he reassured. | ||||||||||
| "And why would I believe anything you say? It wouldn't be beneath you to try to use such a tactic to demoralize me or make me careless," Ranma pointed out. Talon quietly laughed as he danced around the attackers that were trying to kill him. | ||||||||||
| "She learns! I was wondering when you would catch on to that. This is Anything goes remember? Rules as you know them do not apply. Everything - everyone is a potential weapon," he stated as he ducked - allowing Genma and Soun to hit each other. "Now that you see what you are up against child - do you still wish to face me?" he asked seriously. | ||||||||||
| Ranma glared at Talon as she took on an offensive stance. | ||||||||||
| "I wouldn't have it any other way," she retorted. A smile crept across Talon's face as the four adversaries got ready to go another round with him. | ||||||||||
| To Be Continued... | ||||||||||