Cologne rushed forward, worry crowding her senses. Happosai had tricked them all, and now Ranma could very well be paying the price. He knew that she’d teach him the Hiryu Shoten Ha technique, counted on it, in fact. The bastard had gone through all this, just to get a shot at the perfect girl.
There were many pressure points and moxibustions that would help this along. By the end, Ranma wouldn’t remember her own name, much less that she was supposed to be a he!
Frantically, she leapt into the battle zone, dreading what she would find, and then finding her expectations shattered!
Instead of poor Ranma-chan servicing the demented old bastard, brainwashed out of her mind, she instead found the poor girl, curled up in the fetal position . . . next to a small, bloody, shredded body that bore some resemblance to Happosai.
As she landed, she took in other details. Ranma-chan was covered in blood not of her own. Happosai, on the other hand, looked like he was mauled by a wild animal or two.
On a deeper level, she could sense a dark energy that seemed to be twisted around Ranma’s ki, one that had left traces on Happi’s wounds.
She also noticed what was wrong with said ki. Her worst fears were realized. Happi had managed to lay a lust enhancing moxibustion on the boy-turned-girl. If it was one that she was familiar with, she’d be able to remove it. However, if it was one unknown to her . . .
There were a number of other points hit as well, but the formation wasn’t complete, and if handled correctly, the mental chains the pervert had crafted would not hold long enough to matter.
Quickly, Cologne grabbed the redhead, and ran back to the Tendo Dojo.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Ranma gasped internally. The Darkness disliked having ignorant hosts, so it did its best to implant the gist of it into Ranma’s head. What was problematic was that this was not like its normal hosts.
This was a man, who was also a woman. There were mystic connotations to having a male host. Thus, this one was to have a few . . . exceptions . . . coming to it.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
By the time Akane and the other members of the NWC made it back to the Dojo, Cologne was waiting for them. “Ranma is up in Akane’s bedroom, just now waking up. He has yet to tell me what has gone on, but I’m afraid that Happi managed to do something to her before he died.”
“The Master died?” Soun and Genma asked, intrigued and elated. However, the look the old hag gave them quelled them into silence. As everyone sat down around the table, she went on. “I believe that when Happi knocked us away, he tried to do something to Ranma. Somehow, through his exhaustion, Ranma managed to unleash an attack that killed Happi.”
“So the boy was holding some sort of special technique from me, eh? Oh, the shame! Such an ungrateful child . . . “
“It’s not something that can be taught.”
Everyone turned around to find Ranma stumbling down the stairs. She was wearing one of Akane’s robes, but the wide eyed look in her eye kept the tomboy from complaining.
“What do you mean, boy?” Genma snapped.
Ranma stayed silent for a moment. Finally, he said, “It calls itself The Darkness, and says it was summoned into my body right before you decided to do the N-Neko Ken training. It killed the pervert . . . “
The entire table watched Ranma, stunned. Normally, Ranma was near unflappable. This stunned, dazed state it was in . . . it wasn’t what they were used to. Finally, Nabiki, of all people, got up, walked over to Ranma, and then grabbed her into a hug.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the redhead was sobbing into her shoulder, the three fiancés would have been jealous.
Finally, Ranma managed to get a hold of herself. Gently letting go of Nabiki, she sat down to continue her tale.
“The Darkness used to possess an Italian Family, leaping from father to son at the moment of conception,” he rattled off, as if reciting something that was told to him. “His last host died without leaving an heir, and the Darkness was left in the abyss. Sometime after that, Pops here tried a summoning ceremony, not thinking about what he was supposed to summon. After it seemed to fail, he went back to the Neko Ken. When Happosai tried to do whatever he wanted to do with me, The Darkness decided that it would help me . . . if I became its host.”
The group broke into miscellaneous noise, but Cologne managed to shut them up with a few hard knocks of her staff against the table. “So what exactly does this mean?”
Ranma sighed, curling into herself. “The Darkness works on its own.” She then chuckled morosely, “It also has a working knowledge of sex, it seems.” When everyone gave her odd looks, she added, “Hey, do you honestly think Pops would have left me in school long enough to attend a Sex Ed class?” Face faults ensued.
By the time everyone righted themselves, Ranma was moving on with his explanation. “The moment one of my male sperm implants onto a woman’s egg, I’m dead. Doesn’t matter where, doesn’t matter when, it’ll just happen, and the Darkness will immediately leap from me to him. Birth control may help prevent this, but the Darkness has a will of its own, if it wants to be born again, it will be born again.”
“What if your first child is a girl?” Kasumi asked.
“That may happen, and the Darkness will just stick with me if it does, but if it really wants to pass on, it has ways to ensure that it happens.”
Silence reigned for a bit, but Cologne broke it by saying, “The Elders will have to hear about this. Most likely, though, they will probably break the Kiss of Marriage.”
“But Great Grandmother . . . “
“They will not want something passed on that will only elevate the power of the males of the tribe. It is unfortunate, but most of the Elders are still stuck on how males are weak and foolish. The Darkness will not be welcome in our tribe.”
As Shampoo wilted (and Mousse rejoiced), Ukyo asked, “But what does that mean for us?”
“It means that for now, the Fiancé War is over,” Ranma softly whispered.
This lit off a chaotic war of shouting, but Ranma’s shrill voice, laden with repressed tears, shot them all down. “Do really want me dead? DO ANY OF YOU REALLY WANT ME TO DIE LIKE THAT?!? The very moment I have sex with someone, even if it was my wedding night, I WILL DIE! GET IT? I don’t want to die . . . I still haven’t mastered the Art yet . . . I haven’t even managed to fulfill my dream . . . I’m too young to die!”
Again, Ranma resorted to crying on Nabiki’s shoulder as the full impact hit the rest of the group. As this happened, Akane finally realized whose shoulder the redhead was crying into. However, the Mercenary Girl pre-empted this. “Ranma needed someone to talk to a while back concerning some issues that were in his life, namely the fact that everyone and their mother wanted something from him. I needed some extra muscle for a few of my business deals. It’s more of a mutually beneficial agreement than a business deal, but it’s helped us to become friends. If you have issues with this, just think of it as me returning the favor.”
Akane was flummoxed, which wasn’t helping her temper. “What do you mean, returning the favor?”
Both Nabiki and Ranma tensed, but Kasumi stepped in front of them with a frown. “Does anyone really know what Nabiki has to do to keep food on the table? I am sworn to secrecy on some of it, and the rest is kept from me for plausible deniability, but Nabiki has done so much for this house that it isn’t funny. If Ranma-kun is helping her, then let it be.”
No one said anything more on this subject.
Finally, Ranma managed to regain control, and Nabiki took over. “All right, Ranma-kun, tell me everything this ‘Darkness’ told you. Every contract has a loophole, so with a little luck . . . “
“It’s already told me the loopholes.”
Nabiki stopped, stunned. “It . . . told you the loopholes?”
Ranma nodded morosely. “Yeah, but . . . none of them are workable.”
“Well, tell me what they are, and we’ll work around them, OK?” Nabiki said kindly, stunning everyone who heard them. Many were wondering how far this ‘agreement’ went.
Ranma sighed, “The Darkness is part of a balance of three powers. The other two represent light and neutrality. The Angelus, who represents light, tends to completely take over their hosts until they die, while the other comes as a weapon, the Witchblade, which leaves the host with its free will intact. Both can only possess girls. If I were to have a child with one of them, the Darkness may decide to twist the balance, leaving me alive without jumping ship. Problem is, the Angelus is out to kill me, while the Witchblade has been lost for centuries.”
The rest of the NWC listened closely, as Nabiki patiently waited for Ranma to continue.
“The other option is that the Darkness can only actively travel from Father to Son. However, when it took control of my body to kill Happosai, it told me that I could also passively transfer it to one of my sons, without it killing me.”
The rest of the group let out a yell, save for the Amazons, who had already given up their rights to Ranma. “Now Ranchan and I can get married proper!” Ukyo rejoiced.
“What!” Akane screeched at this.
The Panda and the Human Fountain were too busy celebrating to comment.
However, noise quickly returned to silence when Ranma started shaking her head like crazy, “No, NO! None of you are listening! In order to do the move passively, The Darkness would have to take its time. It can’t do it all at once, and in order to do it, the baby would have to be very close to me for a while . . . “
As Ranma petered out, Nabiki asked, “How long, Ranma?”
At first, Ranma wouldn’t answer, she just began rocking from side to side, holding herself. Finally, she said, “Nine months . . . “
“It would have to be inside of me for nine months . . . “
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(Posted Tue, 18 May 2010 01:51)
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