Chapter 5 – Where’s Ranko?
By Paks
Disclaimer:
1) The characters and stories of Ranma 1/2, Sailor
Moon, and Tenchi Muyo
belong to their respective creators, and are used here without permission or
license.
2) No claims to the above copyright are made by the author of this work.
3) This work is for non-commercial use ONLY, and is produced for the enjoyment of
fans only.
4) This work is the expression of the author and the depiction of the Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi
Muyo characters herein are in no way represented to
be a part of Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi Muyo as depicted by the
original author and copyright holder(s).
Authors note: This story is set to be a mega-crossover, you have been warned.
**********
Ranko just taken one last look at her litter-mate
and the bad man before she bounded off into the forest, She was quite hungry
and wanted to find a snack before she curled up to take care of her wounds. Her
wounds were severe, with deep scratches and bite marks all over her legs and
torso. Shredded and bloody rags hung from her body, the viciousness of the
starving cats had proven too much. The most notable wound, however, was the
gaping tear where her throat should have been. Luckily, the jugular had not
been punctured, however the vocal chords were shredded beyond repair. Had she
been mentally capable of human speech at the moment, she may have been able to
simply gargle. It would be a miracle if she could ever speak again.
Finishing the bird that she had just caught, Ranko
dropped the bones as she bounded off to find a nice tree to sleep in. She
needed to clean her wounds before sleeping; the rags she wore were growing
stiff with dried blood. Unnoticed a slight glow of ki
surrounded her wounds as she instinctively channeled it to heal herself.
Finally finding a tree she quickly cleaned herself as a cat does and curled up
between two branches to sleep.
The following day Ranko still had not come out of
the neko-ken, although her wounds were noticeably
closing. She decided to return to the campsite where her litter-mate had
slept, only to find it abandoned. The cooling ash where the campfire had been
was covered in dirt, indicating that the campers were unlikely to return to the
site. Seeing that her litter-mate had left with the bad man and couldn’t come
and play, the wild girl bounded away in search of more food for the day.
This continued for days, with Ranko hunting, sleeping, and moving on. Eventually she forgot all about her litter-mate. The days become months, and the months became years. Ranko grew, it wasn’t long before her clothes disappeared completely. Never once did Ranko come out of the neko-ken. Her eyes remained feral, the eyes of a wild animal.
**********
It was after a number of years that a tanned, fit, and lean Ranko moved onto the property that was and is the Misaki shrine. Finding a rock overhang and a comfortable
looking cave, Ranko eyed the potential home
speculatively. Growling softly at the bars in her way she slashed them with her
ki claws, the iron bars fell into nicely sliced
pieces at her feet. Sniffing the air Ranko bounded
in, she sensed that the cave was occupied, but felt welcome and a slight easing
of loneliness in the air. Settling down to sleep, Ranko
purred in contentment.
Ryoko watched the strange little girl who had moved into her cave. She frowned slightly when she saw the scars covering the child’s body. Never had she seen such abuse committed against a child, at least not on this planet, and not within the seven-hundred years of her enforced confinement.
**********
Tenchi sighed as he once again swept the porch in
his grandfather’s shrine, it seemed that for the past
week the chores had not once let up. Remembering the night before, when he had
fallen blissfully into his bed after what seemed like an endless parade of
chores, he glanced wistfully in the direction of the cave. He still visited the
cave at every opportunity, opportunities that became rarer and rarer as he grew
older.
“Tenchi!” called Katsuhito
‘You may finish your chores as soon as you finish sweeping.”
The sixteen year old boy immediately began sweeping more quickly. His
thoughts on his meditation/study spot next to the cave. As his sweeping brought
him closer and closer to his grandfathers office, his thoughts turned towards
‘borrowing’ his grandfathers keys to explore the cave. Soon Tenchi
entered the office.
Placing his broom against the wall, Tenchi walked
over to his grandfather’s desk drawers and began to go through them. Going
through drawer after drawer he became more and more frustrated when he couldn’t
find the keys.
“Looking for these?” Katsuhito asked as he dangled
a set of keys in front of Tenchi’s nose.
Tenchi lunged for the keys while Katsuhito danced just beyond his reach. Placing the
keys inside his robe Katsuhito initiated some
sparring with Tenchi, Tenchi
on the other hand was just trying to get the keys to the cave. They continued
their impromptu sparring session until Tenchi stopped
and slumped against the wall.
“You’ll have to train harder before you can catch me Tenchi” laughed Katsuhito as he exited his office. When he left Tenchi turned around with a triumphant grin, the keys clenched between his teeth.
**********
Immediately after his grandfather left, Tenchi placed the keys in his pocket and headed to the cave. Anticipating having to unlock the cave himself, he was shocked to find neatly sliced pieces of iron bars scattered around the clearing. The bars had been to keep intruders out of the cave, and the legendary demon Ryoko in. What could have done this to iron bars? They were fairly thick and strong. So it was a very cautious Tenchi who approached the cave. Imagine his surprise and horror when a hissing blur streaked out of the cave to bowl him over.
**********
A small Ranma puffed and panted, feeling every
bruise received from sparring with his old man. It seemed Genma
had been holding back and had just decided to up the ante on his training. The
young boy hefted his old man higher over his head, Genma
simply sat on the log that his son was carrying eating a bowl of rice. As
wolves howled in the distance Ranma gritted his teeth
and tried to increase his pace. He would persevere with the old mans training
methods, and he would succeed. After all, he had to, or Ranko’s
death will have been for nothing.
Arriving at a shallow river, Ranma plunged in.
Holding his father high above him, he began to wade out into the river. When he
reached the middle the water was just below his nose if he tilted his head up
slightly. The wolves began to arrive on the bank that he had just left, they
began pacing and yapping in frustration as they smelt Genma,
and saw him in the middle of the river. Carefully controlling his breathing, Ranma once more hefted Genma, the
log, and his seeming never ending supply of rice.
“Where to next pops?” Asked Ranma as he waded out of the river, his father still high
above his head.
“It’s not your place to ask boy, you still have
years of training ahead of you before you reach my level. You need to become a
man amongst men, just like me.” Genma stated this in
a superior lecturing tone. Finishing off the rice in his bow and slipping it
away he commanded his son, “now you can put me down.”
Gritting his teeth in frustration, Ranma put his
father down. Glad that he did not have to watch the last morsels of rice
disappear, his stomach still growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten yet
today. Despite his many bruises he won an increasing number of fights against Genma, but wondered how long it would be before the old man
upped the ante again, or indeed how many times he could up the ante. Sighing he
remembered that there was nothing for him but the art now. His sister was dead.
His mother was also, or wouldn’t they have at least visited her before swimming
to
**********
Haruka looked at her new school, an elite academy,
her mother wanted her to perform well academically so “#$#$# couldn’t take
advantage of her”. Something she had witnessed going to an all boys school. Her
friend Ryoga never behaved like that, although he was
still a stubborn jerk, but the majority of the guys at her old school did. She
cringed at what happened to that poor girl who had the misfortune of passing
the school last month.
Tugging at the collar of her boys uniform, there was no way she was going to wear one of those fuku things; she squared her shoulders and heated towards the entrance. This would be her school for the next few years, and she had to make the most of it. Maybe she could indulge in her passion for racing here, there was sure to be a club.
**********
Tenchi was surprised to find himself bowled over
by a very naked young girl. Although she wasn’t quite developed enough to cause
him a nosebleed yet, it was still disconcerting to have a naked person sitting
on you. Stunned into inaction, Tenchi simply lay
there with a purring, naked girl sitting on him.
Ranko had just detected an intruder heading
towards her cave. Strangely enough the one she shared the cave with didn’t seem
concerned, but anticipated this persons arrival?
Deciding to defend her territory she began hissing and ran out to meet the
intruder head on. Bowling over the intruder she sniffed him in the fashion of a
cat. Sensing that he too was a sibling she stopped hissing confused. This one
was not the one that she had left with the bad man so many years ago. So she
perched on top of him, curled up and began to purr, perhaps this sibling would
give her a game.
Eventually Tenchi came out of his stupor and took
stock of his position. An obviously crazy girl was sitting on him. Her
craziness was established by the fact that she was sitting on him and purring, she was also naked and had very tangled, dirty red
hair. She was very young, but must have been abused by the fact that she had
multiple scars all over her body and she had obviously been living alone for a
very long time.
Not sure what to do in this situation, Tenchi decided to ask his grandfather. Gently dislodging the girl, who mewed at him questioningly he tried to get up. He headed straight down to see his grandfather, his left eyes twitching as the girl started to follow him.
**********
Arriving at his grandfathers office, a cat crazed Ranko
trailing behind him, he noticed his grandfather kneeling at the table sipping
tea.
“You have improved Tenchi, are you here to
continue your training?” he asked calmly as he sipped his tea.
However, with Ranko’s entrance into his office he
began to choke. Recognising the neko-ken
training instantly, he gave Tenchi his full
attention.
“Where did you find this girl Tenchi?” his calm
demeanor was gone, all seriousness now, Katsuhito’s
gaze rested squarely on Tenchi.
“She was in the demon cave, grandpa” answered Tenchi
distractedly; Ranko was rubbing up against him trying
to get his attention. “What’s with her?”
“How did she get in the cave when it was barred and locked?” asked Katsuhito, ignoring Tenchi’s
question.
“I found the bars in pieces scattered around the clearing near the cave.”
“Listen carefully Tenchi,” Katsuhito
spoke softly but urgently “that girl is very dangerous right now, don’t anger
her under any circumstances.”
“Why grandpa, what’s wrong with her?” Tenchi
repeated his earlier question worriedly.
“Because some fool has trained her in the neko-ken,
she is probably the one who cut the bars on the demon cave.”
“What’s the neko-ken grandpa?” Tenchi
was scratching behind Ranko’s ears, eliciting a
cacophony of purrs from the cat girl.
“It’s an ancient martial arts technique. It has been banned for three
reasons: first, it drives the trainee permanently insane; second, it is
potentially fatal to both the trainee and the trainer; and finally, the insane
trainee may become a nearly unstoppable killing machine.”
Tenchi paled at that, and glanced down at Ranko who was demanding more petting. Katsuhito
was worried, the last time he had faced a neko-ken fighter he had had to kill the child. He had
arrived too late, only to find the whole village already in ruins.
“She seems to trust you Tenchi, see if you can get
her in some clean clothes. We can’t have a naked wild child running around, it would be bad for our image.”
Tenchi coaxed Ranko into
the back of the shrine. Finding bathing supplies and some spare temple robes, Tenchi wondered how he was going to get this child into the
clothes clean. Ironically he decided to name her ‘Ranko’
as he led her to the bathroom to fulfill his grandfathers
request.
**********
Authors note:
I decided to stop the chapter here in the interests of getting it out. A big
thank you goes to everyone who has reviewed this story and given me ideas. Keep
them coming. I am really meddling with the timelines here – I hope it works. Ranma, Ranko, Ryoga
and Ukyo are the same age as the outers. The inners are a year or less behind. Tenchi is of course five years older.
Updated: 13/08/04 for sp and grammar