“I must say,” said Meia, as she and Ranma walked down a commercial section of Babylon 5, “that your past is both better and worse than my own.”
Ranma nodded, not showing any indifference to the fact he had a woman on his arm. “It is the same; we both got tired of what we were doing, and strove to make it better.”
She nodded, pausing with him for a bit as they looked at some wears in a shop window. “Then why do I get the feeling you didn’t tell me everything?”
“Because I didn’t,” he admitted without pause. “Trust me; some things are better off not being told.”
“Secrets for my protection ... or yours?”
“Both,” he smirked.
She shook her head a bit, looking at him, his eyes. He had been the first one to reach her during training, to help her through her shell, through the shadow that had engulfed her since the deaths of her parents. He was the only one to hear her truly laugh, truly enjoy herself. He knew her dark past, her trials and tribulations.
And he didn’t flinch. He didn’t harass her, call her a frigid bitch, or any other of a hundred names she had grown up listening to, an orphan of the War.
That made him ... special ... to her. He was a comrade, a friend. She had so few of those.
He was someone whom she knew she could always trust, who would fight till the end for her, and never give up on her.
True, the same could be said for the others. They had all trained together, fought together, and were even lucky enough to be stationed together.
But Ranma was different, and not just because of his curse. He made her not want to die. He made the impossible seem within grasp.
He was ... special ... in that he could inspire others.
He also inspired several bar fights, some of which were not only public record, but had made them legends among the other academy students.
And he was ... growling? “Ranma?”
She almost flinched when she saw his eyes. They weren’t the kind blue eyes she had grown fond of.
They were cold eyes, and they were focused on one man.
Neko-Ranma was the name given the cat-like personality that had been created within Ranma Saotome as a result of the Nekoken incident. Despite several attempts by psychiatrists, the two would not merge. But they had been successful in relieving the mental state necessary to allow it to take over.
Ranma no longer had a fear of cats.
Normally, that condition alone would have had him booted from the Earth Forces.
But when he engaged in combat, the Neko-Ranma personality acted like a secondary processor for all stimuli. In other words, he processed things faster at a certain point of stress. Granted, he could be near feral in battle, but never to the point of forgetting who allies were and who enemies were.
Neko-Ranma never forgot.
He never forgot ... him.
When Ranma had been younger, many foul smelling humans had tried to hurt him. They tried to put something in there that Neko-Ranma didn’t like.
So Neko-Ranma destroyed the foul toy they had put in there with him.
And then he attacked the foul men.
The foul men hadn’t suspected Neko-Ranma would defend Ranma, would wake up, would fight.
They learned they were wrong.
The foul smelling thing was very bad, Neko-Ranma knew that. He knew that the foul smelling men were worse.
It had been the first time he had killed, before that stupid pigeon man.
But there had been one there that didn’t smell foul. She reminded Neko-Ranma of something ... warm, a smile surrounded by red hair.
So Neko-Ranma let the warm lady live, as well as the man who smelled the worst.
But he did give them a message: if he ever smelled the foul man ever again ... he would join his teammates.
And that day was today.
Alfred Bester slowly made his way to the Command Section, in order to deliver his ‘orders’ to explain his stay on the station.
Truth be told, he’d rather not be here, not with ... him here.
“Hello, Besterrrrr.”
The Psicop paled, slowly turning to see the one man he had been assigned to scan, and the one mundane he truly feared. “Hello, Mr. Saotome.”
“I warrrrrrned you, Besterrrrr,” he smirked, as his hands began to glow. “I warrrrrrned you what would happen if I saw you again.” By this time, his pupils had become mere slits, arcs of power washed over his body, causing the nearby crowd to panic.
“Now, Saotome,” he tried to start, hoping to save his life.
“Mōko Takabisha!”
The chi attack slammed into the man, knocking him through the window of a restaurant.
Meia could only stare in shock, witnessing what her friend had just done, and not having a clue how he had done so.
“I keep my worrrrrd, Besterrrrrr,” growled Ranma, as he flicked his hands, causing red claws to sprout forth. “Today, you die!”
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by The Demented Redhead
(Posted Tue, 02 Jan 2007 07:42)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.