Ruroni Ranma

Part 8

The thing about a girl's hair...


Ranma stood calmly as Ryoga faced him again. The street fighter was
smiling. "Kasatetsu, the man you knew died in China."

"That doesn't matter to me, all that matters is the fact that I am your
strongest opponent!" screamed the boy as he charged again.

Ranma feinted away and slashed at the boy's side. Ryoga faltered and
turned creating a wide defensive arc with his metal umbrella. "Stop
playing around Battosai! Use the blade you're so famous for!" snarled
Ryoga angrily.


Akane froze and stared at the scene in shock. "He hasn't hit Ryoga yet!"

Nabiki looked at her sister and furrowed her brow in disbelief. "What
are you talking about? You saw him take the hit."

The girl shook her head. "Ranma hasn't touched him with the sword yet.
What's going on here?" The pair clashed again and a strange sound floated
over to Akane, it sounded like a strange vibration in the air almost. She
saw a flash of motion for a split second by the street fighter's gut.
"What?"


"I have to admit that hurts, but how long can you keep it up Ranma?"
snarled Ryoga as he rose from his knees and threw the umbrella again
followed by a volley of bandannas.

Ranma's expression didn't change as he turned around and faced him
again. "I can do this as long as I need too."

Kasatetsu merely smirked. "We'll see, I'll have you taking me seriously
enough before this ends!" He charged again but changed his tactics. As
soon as Ranma closed in on him he shifted his weight, stepped back away
from him, and opened the umbrella. 

Ranma jumped back dropping his fist to his side in pain. He pulled the
blade across his chest defensively and kept his distance. "Damn." He put
the sakabato back into the scabbard and changed his stance.

Ryoga smiled and stepped forward slowly. "That trick won't work now
Saotome, let's see what you've got!"

Ranma jumped into the air and Ryoga met him in the air. They exchanged
blows for a moment and passed each other, Kasatetsu spun around and threw
his umbrella at Ranma's back causing the boy to twist and avoid it. When
they landed Ranma had a strange smile on his face. "He's no match for me
in the air."


Akane gasped as she sat the events take place and finally put it
together. "He's been faking him out with the sword! He's not even using
it! It was so fast I didn't even see it!"

Nabiki glanced at her sister skeptically and turned her attention back
to the battle. If Ranma won, she would make a lot of money today. "He
does practice Anything Goes Akane, I think he can pull it off."

"That jerk! He's not even taking this seriously! If he had used the
sword from the beginning the fight would have been over by now!" snorted
Akane distastefully. 

"That boy could be hurt if he does that Akane, have you forgotten who he
really is already?" replied Nabiki carefully. Ranma had just grown much
more interesting to her. She smirked to herself when that silenced her
sister.


"Eat this! Cried Ryoga as he tore across the field and slammed his fist
into Ranma's chest after breaking out into a run as they landed again.
The boy flew across the field and slammed into a drinking fountain. Water
sprayed in every direction drenching all the spectators nearby.


Tatewaki Kuno stepped towards the crowd and frowned as he left the
school building and moved towards the field. "What is this? What is going
on here?" He pulled one of the male students over by his collar and shook
him for a moment.

"It's Battosai! He's returned from China! Some guy is fighting him!"
cried the boy nervously.

Kuno froze and stared at him. "Battosai? Here?" The boy nodded dumbly
and pointed towards the battle. Ryoga was standing calmly in the shower
and watching the rubble carefully. A figure slowly stood up from the
wreckage shrouded in a sheet of water with his head down.


Ryoga wasn't sure what to expect, he hadn't lost sight of Ranma, he was
standing directly in front of him, but his demeanor had changed suddenly.
"Are you prepared to finish this Saotome? Are you ready to take me
seriously?!"

The boy merely laughed, "I underestimated you Hibiki, my
congratulations." He looked up and stepped from the spray of water
drawing his sword slowly. "You said you wanted to face Battosai... so now
you face him."

Kasatetsu stepped back at what looked him in the eyes with a cold blue
eyed stare. "Wh-who?"

Ranma chuckled and never took her eyes off of him. "What's the matter
Hibiki? Never seen a girl before?"

"R-Ranma?" said the boy in complete shock.

"Close enough," replied the girl as she rushed forward and slashed at
him with an amazing speed. Ryoga took the blow dead in the forehead and
was knocked backwards. He managed to keep his on his feet and backed away
from the girl. He growled low and put his umbrella up defensively.

"I don't care if you are him or not. This looks like fun." He laughed to
himself for a moment but stopped cold when his umbrella fell in half in
his hands. The top portion hit the ground with a metallic thud. He threw
the rest of the weapon to the ground and put up his fists. "I think I
might be in trouble..."

Ranma jumped up and back as a huge number of bandannas suddenly filled
the air. She bat a few of them away and spun into a back kick that took
the boy in his face. Ryoga was pushed into the ground head first and
rolled away barely managing to dodge one of his own projectiles.


Akane watched in awe as the battle moved up and down the field closer to
where she was and gasped. Ranma had just changed in front of everyone!

Nabiki was busy screaming at her lackeys. "Who the hell is that? Find
out! Get these bets changed, anyone who bet on Ranma is working with the
girl now! Put out the word, I don't want any loss of profits because of
this! Damn!"


Kuno stared at the scene in shock. A strange man was facing off against
a red haired woman. His gaze fell on Ryoga and he sucked in a quick
breath. "This is Battosai? How could such a noble and honorable man...
perhaps he is in love with this woman? Yes that must be the truth! He has
chosen to face her in honorable combat to win her hand!" 

The students around him were buzzing with conversation. 

"Who the hell is this girl?" 

"I don't know, but she's as good as Ranma!" cried one of the boys
excitedly.

"Who are you kidding? She's better than him!" countered the girl next to
him proudly.

Kuno was lost in thought. "As with my own quest. I must help Battosai
win the object of his affections. Such is the way of the samurai."


Ryoga was in trouble and he knew it, he was getting short on projectiles
and his weapon was in pieces on the ground over a hundred yards away.
Ranma seemed tireless and moved in closer with each passing moment.
Finally the girl seemed to have enough and jumped into the air towards
him as he spun the last few spare bandannas in his hand. "Damn!"

"Ryuukansen!" cried Ranma as blows rained down on her opponent from the
impossibly fast moving blade. Ryoga fell to the ground with a dull thud
out cold. The rags spinning in his hand flew about erratically in every
direction cutting a wide path through the crowd. She turned back towards
the crowd and froze in fear almost instantly.


Nabiki took a step back as the fight ended. Thanks to her quick work
most of the bets had been turned over to her favor, but the girl was
still an unknown factor. "Who the hell is that?"

"Battosai," replied Akane simply with a strangely calm look crossing her
face for a moment. It fell away when she saw the girl in question charge
forward towards her with the blade still drawn. 

"Akane!" cried Ranma as she dove forward through the air far to fast for
the girl to react. 

Akane felt the air blow by her head followed by a strange noise that
seemed to pass by her for a moment as the girl shoved her aside slightly.
She had instinctively fallen to her knees and covered her head
defensively. After a moment she blinked and waited a split second longer
before looking up. Ranma was standing in front of her with the blade held
at an angle in an underhanded block; two bandannas were wrapped around
the edge of the sword. 

"What the?" cried Nabiki in shock as she stared the new girl down. 

Ranma ignored her and looked down at Akane. "You should be more aware,
these things are dangerous."

The girl could do nothing but nod dumbly as she looked up at her savior
in shock. "T-thank you..."

The red head winked at her and turned away moving back towards her
fallen opponent. "Anytime."


Ryoga Hibiki simply lay still on the ground for a long moment. He slowly
opened his eyes and saw the figure standing over him with a strangely
satisfied smile on her face. "You did well. I do hope you have that out
of your system now."

He sat up and shook his head. "What hit me?... Oh yeah, you did." With
that said he staggered to his feet and retrieved a few of his bandannas
and the broken weapon from the ground staggering across the field.
Moments later he had his traveling bag tossed over his shoulder and was
looking off in the sunset dramatically. "We'll meet again Saotome."

Nabiki walked over to him after a few moments and coughed into her hand.
"Aren't you supposed to walk off into the sunset now or something?"

"I would, but it hurts too much to move right now," replied the boy with
his back still towards her.

"Who the heck are you anyway? Where's Ranma?" said one of the boys that
had gathered in the small, but steadily growing, crowd.

The red head merely smiled at him. "Someone who is best forgotten. A
phantom who should have died already." She put the sakabato across her
shoulder before walking away towards the gates of Furinkan.

"Who?" said another boy in confusion.

"She said she's a ghost," offered another boy.

"She was being dramatic you twit!" cried the girl next to him.

Akane moved towards the front of the crowd and smiled at the slowly
fading figure that moved down the street. "So, that was Battosai..."

Ryoga stood thinking and watched the sun slowly sink into the horizon.
"I've failed. I couldn't beat him." She seemed to melt away into the
light as he watched her. "The legend of Kasatetsu ends here. I can no
longer live as a street fighter, my honor will not permit it. One day I
will become strong enough to face him again, then perhaps I can go on as
before..." His contemplation was interrupted by a soft cough.

Kuno stood next to the boy with a serious face. "I have always respected
you. I am to understand you wish to take this woman and defeat her?"

Ryoga blinked and looked at him for a moment before nodding his head.
"Of course."

"Perhaps I can be of some service? I am a master of such manipulations,"
said the boy proudly. 

Ryoga frowned and remained standing as he was. "I don't need your help
to defeat her."

"I would not dream of interfering with such an honorable battle. I would
help you win her though."

Ryoga looked at him again and sighed. "What do you mean?"

"One who has lived in battle for so long cannot comprehend such things
as beauty and life. I will help you understand these things so that you
can capture her forever and leave her weak against your powers," said
Kuno dramatically.

"What? What the hell are you talking about?" snorted Ryoga in
embarrassed confusion.

"I will help you win this pigtailed goddess."

"I don't want to go out with her you twit!" screamed Ryoga.

Kuno smiled and walked away from the scene. "How odd, such a brave man
as Battosai would be so incredibly shy."


Nabiki collected the last of her bets and turned around. The sky was
dark and her profits were high, just the way she liked things at this
time. She was surprised to see Ryoga still standing there. He seemed deep
in thought as she walked up to him. "You're still here?"

He blinked and looked at her, seeming to come out of his trance. "I've
got a lot to think about."

"Oh come on. It can't possibly hurt that much can it?" snorted Nabiki
lazily as she turned and walked away.

Ryoga turned a deep red and looked away from her. "Shut up! It does all
right?"


Yuriko sat down next to Ranma at the table and sighed after she finished
her evening session with Akane in the dojo. "Did anything interesting
happen today?"

"That Hibiki boy showed up today," replied Ranma simply.

"Damn! I missed it!" cried the girl in disappointment. 

"Watch your mouth!" screamed Akane as Yuriko found an elbow planted in
her head suddenly.

"Hey! That hurts old woman!" screamed the girl as she rubbed the spot
protectively. Akane ignored her and sipped lazily at the tea Kasumi had
made for them.

Nabiki blinked and stood up from the floor where she had been reading a
magazine. "Say, where did you go anyway Saotome? And who was that girl?
She looked an awful lot like you."

"Oro?" Ranma laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I uh..."

"She called herself Battosai. You've met him or her before, is that her?
How does she know you? For that matter how does she know Akane?" Nabiki
found her mind going into overdrive with the amount of questions it
suddenly generated. "Do you have a sister or something?"

Ranma looked at the girl helplessly and then glanced at the television
behind her for a moment before a knowing smile crossed his face. He
pointed at his nose with his finger and winked at her. "Now that... is a
secret."

"You realize that I hate you," grumbled Nabiki as she looked him in the
eyes. "Akane? You're going to tell me aren't you?" She turned around and
found her sister examining the ceiling tiles above her head quite
carefully.

"I'm going to find out you know. It's only a matter of time," said the
girl as she stood up angrily and stomped away from them. "I don't care
what I have to do to find out either."

"You'd better be careful Ranma, she means that," said Akane quietly. 

The boy looked at her and then towards Soun, who was trying very hard to
disappear behind his newspaper. "Oro?" He hung his head and sighed. "Just
two more weeks..."


TBC...

Another Chapter of this finished! Woo hoo!

Next time: Ryoga deals with Kuno, who thinks he's Battosai, and Ranma
and Akane have their own problems to deal with; in the form of one
insanely curious Nabiki Tendo.

For those of you wondering where I've been... Well, I was job hunting so
I didn't have much time for fanfic writing. I'm working at the best
possible place for a proficient writer of fiction to work. A car
dealership, after all, I'm good at making stuff up ne? Unfortunately this
will cut down on my productivity quite a bit as I won't have the free
time I used to. Oh well, the price you pay for more money.

Until next time! Ja ne!