Picking up the mostly unconscious Ranma in her arms, (it was easy with her strength) Kassy picked a direction at random and started heading down the way. “Hope this leads me to a stairwell...”
(------)
Kuno stood at the front of the building, decked in samurai gear. Full-plate armor, and a real sword. Yes, he was ready for the confrontation with the black-hearted sorcerer who would dare to defile the beautiful Cylutian Princess.
There was only one problem with his quest of divine justice...
“WHERE IS HE!?” Kuno shouted to the heavens. How DARE the black-hearted magus be late to his own reckoning?
“A problem, Kuno-chan?” Nabiki asked with her ever-present irritating smirk.
Gritting his teeth, Kuno looked over at Nabiki. “Where are the foul sorcerer and the fair princess!?” He asked in his most-commanding tone of voice. “The vile villain is going to make me late to class!”
Nabiki was used to Kuno’s rather violent mood swings and royal demands, so she ignored his tone of voice easily as she answered, “They were coming from the dojo last I heard. Though they probably were caught up by some of Ranma’s other acquaintances.”
“Darn those ruffian Chinese thugs!” Kuno shouted as he held his sword high. “Like all foreigners, they are not worthy to set foot upon the lands of the scion of the house of Kuno!”
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. “Do you really feel that way about foreigners, Kuno-chan?”
“Of course!” Kuno said as he crossed his arms over his chest superiorly, the pommel of his katana still gripped tightly in his right hand. “The filthy mongrels are not fit to lick the bottom of the shoes of us fine, upstanding Japanese of samurai heritage.” And yes, though he did not like to think about it, Nabiki Tendo WAS part of that samurai heritage. Which was the first and only reason he thought to go through her for most of his... ‘Extracurricular activities’.
The smirk on Nabiki's face was feral at this point. “Then why, Kuno-chan, are you interested in this ‘Cylutian Princess’ of yours? She clearly isn’t Japanese.” She knew Kuno wouldn’t care, but it was always fun to watch him sputter indignantly trying to come up with an answer.
Kuno opened his mouth to tell the mercenary Tendo his reasoning...
...And then his mouth shut with an audible ‘plop’.
“I thought so...” Nabiki snorted and started walking away. Whatever kept Ranma and Kassy she had to find out.
His face flushing red with embarrassment, Kuno turned from facing Nabiki quickly. “Regardless of the mistake the gods had given her to what her birth parents had been, she is still a princess. A true noble.” He looked up at the sky. “Worthy of a samurai to win her heart!”
“Or a dark sorcerer to enslave,” Nabiki finished and continued to walk a way, a satisfied smile on her face. That little comment would have Kuno on Ranma’s case the same way it did with Akane. That meant only more money for someone who knew how to exploit the situation. “I love manipulating people,” Nabiki whispered to herself.
(------)
Hiroshi was tensed up as the poor guy next to him looked like something akin to a skeleton in skin. “Yeesh. And all the guy did was slouch a little.”
As usual, it was another tense class role-call.
Ninomiya Hinako, currently in her adult form since she had just drained one of her students, frowned when she noticed her favorite delinquent wasn’t in the classroom yet. It wasn’t unusual of course, Ranma seemed to always be late, yet the new exchange student was late as well. This she could not allow. She turned her attention to one of the boys she usually saw around the pigtailed martial artist and leaned down to see him eye-to-eye. Normally this would have Daisuke drooling like an idiot at the sight of all that cleavage, but this was Hinako-sensei that was staring hard at him... “Daisuke-san, have you seen Saotome-san?”
“Uh, yeah, sorta..." Daisuke said. Okay. So just because he was staring death in the face didn’t mean he still didn't stare death in the breasts. “I was going to ask him about the new girl with him when he fell through the floor.”
Hinako blinked. In her experience that had never happened before. Fighting? Sure. Demons? Almost every week. Being swallowed by Earth? It was a first. “... I see.”
“Yeah,” Hiroshi added, as was normal when Daisuke said something. “And then the new girl jumped in after him.”
Of course, since Hiroshi had been ‘talking out of turn’ to help answer the teacher’s question, it earned him a quick chi draining.
Hinako nodded slowly nodded, feeling stronger and smiling as she realized she’d probably be in adult form for the rest of the morning, and decided to get on with class. Ranma would get to class with the new student. He always seemed to pull through.
(------)
Kassy groaned as she continued to carry Ranma down a long corridor. She stared hard at an abandoned school float which looked like a Hawaiian beach. “Damn it! I just passed that thing a good ten minutes ago! I must have gone in a circle!"
“Ugh...”
Shaking her head, the half-Salusian had started to go down the left to take opposite path, but stopped at the mumbling. “Ranma?”
The pigtailed martial artist opened his eyes slowly. When he felt he was in someone’s grasp old instincts activated themselves and he jumped away and at the ready. He could never know if he was trapped by Shampoo or Kodachi.
“H-hey!” Kassy shouted and stumbled back a little as Ranma literally launched himself from off her. She didn't know what surprised her more. That Ranma was awake, or that he had such strength still.
Ranma blinked when he realized it was Kassy that was holding him and he looked around in confusion. “What happened?”
“You passed out after we fell down here,” Kassy explained to him. Of course, she had no idea where ‘here’ was currently.
Ranma frowned. “I didn’t pass out! I was just... Uh... Saving strength to get us out. Yeah!”
Kassy gave Ranma a flat stare. “Sure...” She said slowly. “Then please, do be kind and get us out.”
Ranma smirked confidently and looked up at the ceiling. He cracked his knuckles and started to concentrate on his feelings of confidence, which to others was plain ego. Just as his hands started to glow his brain caught up with what he was doing and he turned to Kassy, his eyes glowing as well. “Um... We’re the same place we fell down, right?”
“Uh, not really,” The girl admitted, embarrassed. “I started walking while carrying you, hoping to find a way out...” She winced, feeling really guilty. “I think I got us lost.”
Ranma sighed and lowered his hands, the glow vanishing. “There’s no way I’m blasting my way up. I could hurt someone.”
“Sorry...” Kassy said, feeling low. “That’s my fault.”
“Nah,” Ranma shrugged it off and resumed walking down the dark halls, his hands behind the back of his head. “I’m always caught in some mess or another. It was about time I got lost underground.”
Kassy raised an eyebrow to THAT comment. “Okay... So, what kind of messes have you been in?” She asked, walking beside him once Ranma chose a direction and began following it.
Ranma smirked. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” Kassy said. “If it’s anything even HALF near the weirdness my parents or any of their friends went through, I’ll believe it.”
Ranma shrugged and decided to tell Kassy of his usual fights from the time he arrived in Nerima, being careful to avoid talking about Jusendo of course. It wasn’t hard to figure Ranma was hiding something, since he went to great detail about all his fights except that particular one.
Overall, even with that last story being held back, Kassy was grateful for the stories. It made the time pass by much quicker, and much more bearable. “You know, I’m beginning to think that everyone I know is a martial artists in some way or another.”
“Really? Cool! It would be boring if it wasn’t like that.” Ranma couldn’t imagine his life without fighting and being surrounded by more fighters. While sometimes it was hard, it was also the only thing that kept him alive.
Kassy smiled at Ranma, and decided to try and return the favor. “Yep. There’s my grandmother, Anna, who’s the fabled ‘Red Ninja’. Mom’s really, really strong and Dad’s had a little ninja training. There’s my uncle Ricky, who has ‘mad ninja skillz’. And there’s my ‘auntie’ Ichikoo who’s considered the best kunoichi of the Ichinohei and Rivalsan clans. And ‘uncie’ Lendo is pretty good with his katana. And can’t forget my mom’s brother, uncle Kalen, who is pretty damn good with a sword as he is a wooden spoon,” She giggled. “And you wouldn't believe my great-grandfather Yamata Ichinohei. That guy’s a pure mountain of muscle...” And her smile widened more. “And that’s just the fighters in my family.”
Ranma smirked confidently as he turned around a dark corner. “I’ll have to spar with them sometime.” He frowned when he found it was so dark he couldn’t see and lifted a hand in front. Pretty soon a small sphere of light was perched atop it as he continued walking. “This place is big.”
Kassy whistled a bit. “Wow. Neat chi trick.”
“I learned it in under a week by myself,” Ranma couldn’t help but boast. As he did Kassy could see the sphere pulse and become stronger.
Kassy nodded her head, VERY used to this. “Confidence, eh?” She smirked a little. “Auntie Ichi used to be very good with that. Buy she now prefers just pure chi.”
Ranma frowned. “Pure chi? It can be done?”
“Yeah,” Kassy said. “Great-grandpa’s been doing it for years, longer before auntie Ichi was starting to use chi,” She said as she continued to follow Ranma. “It was one of the reasons why Great-grandpa originally wanted auntie Ichi to marry my dad instead of my mom. She thought being married might humble her and bring down her pride a few pegs, making her a more stable future leader for the Ichinohei Ninja Clan.”
“Uh huh,” Ranma mumbled not paying that much attention to what Kassy was saying. He was more concerned with this pure chi thing he just heard. He had the part about using his emotions down, no problem, but a blast that didn’t require him to feel would come in handy. Especially coupled with the Hi Ryu Shoten Ha! “Maybe with the soul of ice...” He continued to mumble as he walked, hardly paying attention to Kassy.
Kassy pouted a bit. It didn’t take her long to realize Ranma had stopped listening to her. “Sorry to bore you about my family,” She said with a huff of indignation.
“Uh huh.” Ranma nodded to himself and turned around another corner. Whenever he got thinking about a new technique or training method he always got like this.
Kassy rolled her eyes. God, she hated when people got narrow-minded like this. Then again... “And then my grandmother wore a pink tutu and developed the dreaded Ballerina Swan Attack Dance”.
“Uh huh,” Ranma nodded again. “That’s a powerful technique.”
“And while she was conjuring that technique, I sold your soul to the devil for half a donut,” Kassy said, giving Ranma a flat stare.
“That’s good...”
Kassy’s eye twitched. “And then the moon men conquered Japan so they could have more cheese.”
“Too dangerous. Maybe with the snakes...”
Kassy’s eye twitched... Lots.
However, she soon calmed down, and smiled a mischievous grin. Transforming to her Salusian form, Kassy hugged Ranma from behind, her tail wrapping around both their bodies. “And then to save the world we had to repulse the moon men by making some hot, sweet lovin’,” She whispered huskily into his ear.
THAT got Ranma out of his stupor. “Uh...” His eyes opened wide and he shuddered at the feel of Kassy’s fur on his neck. He looked down and he blushed brightly when he caught sight of her arms. Immediate reaction to the situation... Body freezing in place with a panicked look, soldier standing up in attention.
“Ranma...” Kassy whispered, kissing his ear lightly.
A struggled was taking place in Ranma's mind. Two factions fought for dominance. One was trying to convince him to take the skunkgirl and do what Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo had all been trying to do to him. That was his libido. The other was telling him to bolt as soon as he could. That was his self-preservation instinct.
“Ranma...” Kassy whispered again, giggling this time. “Now that I got your attention, think you can try to look for a way out of here instead of thinking of ways to use martial arts techniques?”
“Uh...” Came Ranma’s highly intelligent response, the boy still caught in his inner debacle.
Pouting a bit, after being a bit put-off by Ranma further, Kassy let go of the pigtailed baka, shifting back to her human form. “Fine, fine. I’LL search for a way out.” She then once again started to walk, gaining some distance ahead of Ranma.
“All that fur...” Ranma mumbled before his eyes glazed over completely and his chi sphere turned from bright blue to a multicolored mass. There was still the blue of confidence, but now there was the yellow of excitement, and the... Pink of love...
Of course, Ranma being Ranma it couldn’t be that simple. There were other colors too, showing Ranma’s confused and somewhat crazed thoughts right now. Only problem with that was that the sphere was growing and becoming unstable.
Noticing the brightness appearing behind her, Kassy turned quickly. “Ranma!?” She called out in surprise. “What are you doing!?”
“Heh heh heh. Fur...” He laughed before the sphere exploded in his hand.
Kassy raised her arms quickly to protect her eyes from the flash of light. Hopefully this wouldn’t hurt.
Much...
Ranma was sent flying back and crashed against and through a wall, the front of his shirt completely incinerated and his chest showing some pretty serious burns.
The elderly man, the proprietor of the school store, Toramasa Kobayakawa, stared down at the pig-tailed mass who had landed on the front desk. “You’re gonna be fixin’ that wall, young one.”
“Ugh...” Ranma groaned as he fought to keep consciousness. That blast was strong as hell, especially considering its small size.
“Ranma?” Kassy asked as she walked past the hole in the wall and into the school store. She was a bit dirtier from the dust kicked up by the explosion, and the sleeves of her shirt were destroyed, but she otherwise appeared mostly unharmed.
“You okay?” Ranma groaned out as he sat up, he examined his chest and grimaced in pain. It would take days for him to heal this much damage.
“I’m fine!” Kassy said as she rushed up to Ranma. “But you, you’re hurt!”
“What?” Toramasa asked. “This, hurt?” He laughed a little. “You obviously don’t know Ranma,” He said as he pat his hand down on Ranma’s chest.
Ranma ignored the pain in his chest and turned a frown at the man. “How do you know about me?”
Toramasa chuckled. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already. I know everything that goes on in this school.”
“Please, sir,” Kassy started, “Can you get him some first aide?” She looked at him pleadingly. "Please?”
Ranma frowned in concentration for a moment. He wasn’t very good at remembering people, Ryoga being the prime example. His eyes widened then. “I know you!”
Toramasa smiled a little. “You do now, do you?”
“Sorry,” The pigtailed martial artist chuckled nervously and jumped to his feet. He stretched and looked down at his chest. “Damn. I liked this shirt,” He obviously wasn’t worried about his first degree burns.
Kassy pouted and looked at Ranma's chest, inspecting it worriedly. “Shoot, we need to get you proper medical attention.” She looked up at Ranma with sad eyes. “Ranma, I’m so, SO sorry.”
“Huh. What for?” Ranma asked starting to panic. Danger he could handle, hurting girls he could not.
Kassy frowned. “You obviously got hurt because of me,” She said. “You shouldn’t try to impress me,” She told him. After all, she knew how much he liked martial arts. She figured he was trying to do something along the lines of what she had told him about her aunt Ichikoo.
Toramasa smiled a little at the scene before him. “Girl, if you need to get him some medical attention, just take Ranma upstairs to the nurse’s office,” He said.
“I don’t need no doctor!” Ranma shouted and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m fine.”
Kassy stumbled back a little. “For someone who just got hurt, you’re very energetic.”
Ranma snorted. “This is nothing. I’ve taken a lot worse fighting decrepit old women.” And it was true. Cologne was a lot stronger than a chi blast, even a strong one like this.
Kassy nodded her head slowly. Yeesh. It sounded like Ranma got into trouble like this often.
“Hey, this isn’t your option Akane! This is reserved for Something Else, and more importantly, STEAM!!!”
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(Posted Mon, 26 Jul 2004 22:37)
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