Mara's left eye twitched as she heard the rookie demon call her a 'tomboy' again. "You know, you've got a lot of nerve..." She frowned rather dangerously.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ranma asked in genuine confusion.
Shaking her head, Mara sighed in disbelief. "You've called me a 'tomboy' so many times, I lost frikin' count, you know."
Ranma shrugged it off as unimportant. "Say, why can't I beat people up like I used to? I almost didn't rescue this girl from being raped just an hour ago."
At those words, Mara's eye started twitching again, going at a fast clip. "You... WHAT!?" She yelled rather dangerously.
Ranma frowned. "I couldn't beat up those assholes like I wanted."
"ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?" The demoness screamed. Mara slapped herself on the face. "Never mind, you are..." Shaking her head, Mara started Ranma in the eyes. "Look, rookie, you're a demon now! You do not; I repeat, DO NOT go around rescuing people!!!"
Ranma stared right back. "And why the hell not? If I see someone that can't fight back in trouble I sure as hell will interfere." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Only person I wouldn't rescue in that position would be you, I guess."
At the speed Mara's eye twitched, if it went any faster, it would cause her eyelashes to catch fire. "Now look here, asshole, I can give you three good reasons why you can't help humans on your own free will." Mara said. "Hell, most demons would know why!"
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "What are those?"
Staring Ranma in the eyes still, Mara lifted her fist. She raised her index finger. "First of all, we cannot simply help humans of our own physical means. They have to ASK for our help." Mara then raised her middle along with her index finger. "That is usually because we need to set up a sort of 'deal.' We can't go helping humans for free you know." Raising her ring-finger along with the other two, Mara then added. "And three, it's just too much good karma. That'll weaken your demonic powers something wicked and just set you off-balance."
Ranma blinked. "What are you talking about? I actually felt stronger after doing it."
Looking at Ranma seriously, Mara asked him. "What did you do to help her?"
Ranma shrugged. "Nothing much. Just beat the crap out of one of them. The others were too afraid to do much."
Smirking, Mara nodded her head. "Figures. You did it again, Ranma..." She then chuckled bitterly. "You sure know how to raise hell..."
Ranma blinked in confusion. "What did I do?"
Still smirking, Mara explained. "Whenever our actions cause us to do something that'll spread fear, destruction, or general chaos, it gives us some more bad karma which will strengthen us..." She started to giggle sinisterly. "I can't wait to see what your actions will cause this town."
Ranma continued to look confused. Sure, he'd gotten the answers he needed as to why he couldn't move to rescue the girl, yet at the same time Mara's words confused him even more.
"Whatever... Can we go to Nerima now, oh drunken one?"
Mara smirked. "Seems someone wants to get this party started..." She then leaned forward and poked him in the chest. "And what're you talking about, I'm not drunk..." Mara then smirked and her hand which was poking Ranma then moved around behind him, sliding down his pants once more. "If anything, I'm playful."
Ranma started to sweat but, to his credit, he didn't bolt like so many times before. "... Whatever. Let's just go."
Blinking her eyes, Mara didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed that the rookie didn't flee like last time. "Whatever." She mumbled as she took her hands out of his pants.
Ranma gave a silent sigh of relief and nodded. "So let's get going already."
"Sure..." Mara then smirked a little as a thought came to her. "You sure you don't want to spend time in that motel planning first?"
Ranma blinked in confusion. "We can plan just fine here, you know?"
She then walked back to a booth and picked up a bottle of sake that had been on the pile of seemingly empty ones. "Then let's get planning. Come on, I don't have all night!"
The pigtailed demon stared at Mara strangely. "Right now I want to go somewhere. Planning can come after that, you know?"
Mara nodded. "Fine, fine..." She stood up from the booth, a bottle of sake in each hand.
"... You really are into this drinking stuff."
Mara smirked. "Part power supply, part addiction, all fun."
"Whatever. Let's go." Ranma rolled his eyes and walked out of the bar.
---
"This is it." Ranma said somberly, staring at the empty warehouse. Both he and Mara were standing at the entrance.
Mara yawned and stretched her arms a bit. "What about it?" The trip to Nerima, while not hard for a demon of her status, did drain her energy somewhat. Aside from the fact Ranma still didn't learn how to teleport on his own.
Ranma walked a few steps forward and stared down. "Even after two years..." He was looking at the chalk drawing of a human body. The kind of drawing the police do when finding a corpse.
"Aaaaaaah..." Mara mumbled in understanding.
"I came here to witness Ukyo meet a challenge. Some weird fast-food guy challenged her to a duel." Ranma explained. "We arrived and her opponent was already here, hiding in those shadows." He pointed with his finger at a shadowed corner. "Things seemed weird from the beginning. Why a duel in secret if it was about who was the best making food?" Ranma shook his head. "I was too stupid, though. Too trusting..."
Looking at the spot, Mara nodded her head. She looked around the warehouse and frowned. "And let me guess. The first strike hit you from there, right?" She asked as she pointed down the warehouse.
Ranma nodded. "Yeah. There was a third person here waiting for me already. He was always good at hiding his presence and sneaking up on me. Ukyo turned towards me and smiled, then I felt a blow to the small of my back. My legs went out from under me."
The demon shuddered. "I made a mistake then... I didn't kill Ukyo with my chi blast, holding back on it. I didn't want to deal with killing again. The first time was too hard and I considered Ukyo my friend." He sighed deeply. "I thought this was just another ploy to get me married to her. Not..." Ranma trailed off.
Mara frowned. "If you had you could have at least taken one of them with you..."
Ranma nodded with a frown. "Yeah. But I didn't. After that the shock of discovering the third person, the supposed challenger, paralyzed me. They laughed at me as Ukyo's spatula imbedded itself in my back. While the pain was great at first, it faded faster than the pain I went through in one of my usual fights. Then everything turned black. All that was left was the laughter... MOCKING ME!" Ranma bellowed and shot an energy blast at the corner where his first attacker came from. The wall exploded outwards messily. The flying debris hit and seriously wounded some pedestrians. Neither Ranma nor Mara noticed.
The pigtailed demon was shaking in fury by now. Feelings he'd been thriving on coming to the fore with a vengeance. In fact a battle aura filled with hate surrounded his shaking body.
Mara frowned. "Hey, hey, save some of that for your revenge!" She reprimanded seriously as she was already taking a pack of cigarettes from seemingly out of nowhere.
Ranma visibly calmed down and waved her off, taking out his own pack of cigarettes. "I'm fine. Just need to work off some frustrations."
Mara blinked; surprised that Ranma had a pack on him already. "You're catching on. But be careful. You don't want to attract any unwanted attention just yet..." She smiled cruelly. "At least not until you take your revenge."
"Yeah, yeah." Ranma light his cigarette and took a drag from it. "Let's go." For what he had planned he wanted to be with his full reserves to avoid any surprises.
"So where to first?" Mara asked with a smirk.
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(Posted Fri, 04 Jun 2004 03:39)
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