[Episode 24386] [Episode 24386]When he heard the gunshots, however, he quickly thanked his stars that he had been drawn away.
****
It had looked like a fairly routine situation. Nothing out of the ordinary for Ayako. As a roving devil hunter she saw devils on a more day to day schedule than her cousin did, though her cousin got more than her fair share of family nuissances.
Her great-grandmother might have called them threats and enemies, but she called them nuissances. Though she'd have to take them a lot more seriously in the future. Provided she survived of course.
She didn't see that happening though.
"This is why I'm the greatest enemy you're family has ever had, Miss Mano," the possessed human said with a smile as he shouldered the gun. "Your kind have a great propensity for sensing magical attacks, but you've never picked up the trick of looking for more mundane threats."
Ayako glared up at the devil in the skin of a dead human and tried to get to her feet to fight it. But her legs wouldn't respond, probably because of the bullet that had severed her spine.
At the corner of her vision she could see Azusa (Azusa II, that is) lying unconscious, her life blood spreading out onto the ground, barely breathing.
"It always works," the devil continued, playing at preparing his gun. "Send a minor devil in to attract you, distract you, that is, weight for a shot and take it. No spells, no powers, nothing to trigger your supernatural senses, just a simple arrow or...bullet, and then you're dead or helpless."
Ayako just growled defiantly and lashed out weakly with her fading soul whip, the devil just batted it away. And continued smiling.
"Goodbye, Devil Hunter," it said, starting to shed it's human disguise as it reached out to crush her with its own claws, chuckling as it did so.
Which was about when something big and furry slammed into it. The devil flew backwards across the seen, followed by what ever had slammed into it.
Ayako didn't see much of the fight, weakening quickly.
The next thing she saw was a furry semi-canine face looking into hers with concern.
"Hey, are you all right?" Ranma asked, Ayako could have punched him if she wasn't so weak.
"Werewolf," she muttered, wearily.
"Uh, yeah," the man said.
"Bite me," she said.
"What?" Ranma said, aghast. "But that'll..."
"Bite, Azusa first," Ayako said, taking a breath. "I'll last longer."
"But..." Ranma said.
"Do it, or we die," she insisted. "No time for hospitals."
"Okay," Ranma said.
First he shifted to the younger girl's side, she was about fifteen it seemed. He could only barely hear her heart beating, but at least she was still alive. He only hesitated a moment before sinking his teeth into her leg.
Quickly enough the fur began to spread across her body, her heart beat strengthened, and her body began to heal and grow. Certain that it had worked, he moved to the first girl and bit her quickly too.
Ayako grunted in pain as the teeth sank into her and then the warmth of the change began to spread over her.
Ranma felt his "little wolf" start to act up again, but strangely enough, there was no sudden overwhelming urge to take the young woman right then and there...it was more of an "it can wait...shortly" feeling. This was because neither of these two girls had been in Nabiki's mind when she made the wish, so their was no compulsion towards them, but Ranma didn't know that.
"Help me up," Ayako said, and her werewolf did so. "I think I'll be fine soon. Can you take Azusa too?" She glanced to the girl and noted that she had grown to around 6'6". She hadn't looked at herself yet, but she wasn't much shorter than their rescuer.
"Yeah," Ranma said reluctantly.
"Good," Ayako said. "Now get us to some place private, quickly."
"Err, why?" Ranma asked. His latest addition to the pack gave him a "you know what I'm talking about" glare.
"As if I can't see and now smell what you want," she said. "Well I want it too, and probably Azusa. But I don't want it on national TV."
"Huh?" Ranma asked. Then he looked and saw the film crew that had apparently been taping his fight with that....thing... "Ah...man."
He started running off with the two girls.
****
"Nabiki!" Ranma started as he rushed into the room, still holding Azusa. The younger was awake and clinging to her savior in a manner quite like Shampoo had at times. Ayako was walking under her own power now, and insisting on not being treated like an invalid. "Umm do you think..."
"Saw the news, Ranma," she said. "My room's free."
"Thank you," Ayako said, and then proceeded to grab Ranma and pull him along. "Come on 'dear' show us the way."
"Pushy type, isn't she?" Nabiki asked as they led the room.
"She seems to have had a bad day," Kasumi noted. "By the way, should we have warned them that Akane's in there?"
"They'll figure it out quickly enough," Nabiki said. "Good idea their, sis."
"Really," Kasumi said. "I didn't actually mean to bite her...she just sort of startled me. Grabbing me from behind like that and throwing me across the room."
It was in the grabbing that Akane had gotten bit, grabbing Kasumi, who she had thought to be a dangerous monster, around the head and accidentally stuff her arm into Kasumi's mouth. After transforming she had wanted to go find Ranma, but Kasumi and Nabiki had convinced her to stay in Nabiki's room and wait for them to send him up.
"Yeah, well it saves a lot of problems," Nabiki said. "Or at least, one problem...now...about the other three...how to keep them from collecting a lot of silver and gunning for us."
"What the!?" Ranma called out from upstairs.
"See, I told you they'd find Akane," Nabiki told Kasumi.
"Oh, Ranma is so manly."
Nabiki looked around in confusion.
"I thought Auntie Saotome went to the store...."
"She did," Kasumi answered. "But somebody needed to say it."
"Sis, you're weird," Nabiki said.
****
Ranma's only shred of self control seemed to vanish as soon as he was in the same room with Akane, not to mention two other werewolves that he could smell were fertile.
What proceeded was probably quite easily guessed.
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(Posted Sat, 15 Feb 2003 21:07)
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