A stampede of motion brought many of the people present to face the speaker. She was a tall, young-seeming woman dressed as miko from the warring states period, even before that. There was a sinister look to her face as she watched over the people that had come to face it.
"Who the hell are you?" Ranma demanded angrily.
"Are you the one that is doing this?" Akane demanded.
"'Doing?'" the woman said, smiling. "What do you mean 'doing?' It is already done."
"Yeah," Akane said. "Well you ain't doing it anymore."
"Akane, wait, don't!" Nabiki called out, but it was too late.
She charged forward and grabbed hold of the apparent miko and tossed her across the yard into a wall. She landed in a limp pile, her head smashed unnatural against her shoulders.
"Oh kami, I think I killed her," Akane whispered.
"Akane!" Nabiki shrieked. "She could have told us how to undo this!"
"There will be no undoing," the woman's voice declared as she stood up and cricked her head back into proper position.
"How..." Akane gasped.
"She's already dead," Ranma said, coolly. The woman smiled and turned to face her.
"Very good, child," the...creature said. "I think some explanations are in order. So that you might understand your fate and cease these hopeless resistances, amusing as they are."
"Who a...were you?" Nabiki asked.
"That is unimportant," the dead miko said. "But to satisfy your curiousity, you can speak to Kagome Higurashi of the Sunset Shrine. In fact you might want to anyway as she and her friends are the reason for your plight."
The dead woman brushed herself off before continuing to speak to the Tendos and Ranma.
"Wait, is it you or her that did this?" Soun demanded angrily.
"Yes," the woman said enigmatically. "You see, she has taken what was mine, everything that was mine. So...I have arranged to overturn her accomplishments. Long ago, demons and creatures of magic were regular sights upon this world. But Kagome and her compatriots helped to chang that. The demons that lorded over mortals are long gone, and most even refuse to believe in their existence. The creatures that remain or few and more mortal than demon these days. Even the most powerful is afraid to show his true face. This will change."
"How," Akane asked.
"You've seen it twice already," the woman said. "And in four hours, you will see it again. Perhaps one of you two will be next." She looked toward Ranma and Akane. "Perhaps it will be in one of the other countries around the world. Who knows at this point."
"Oh kami," Nabiki said, paling as she realized what was happening.
"You begin to see," the undead creature said. "You see, there was an item of power, of good and evil in conflict. The Jewel of Four Souls."
"And it was shattered by a girl and a man with demon blood, scattering it's power across Japan," Soun said. "But it's parts were collected and the problem was resolved centuries ago by the same pair and..."
"Yes, Kagome," the woman said. "The thing they forgot was, that she is a time traveller and some of the shards she collected from this time. When they completed the Jewel...they did not consider that there were extra pieces of it lying around, such as the one I used for this spell."
"Get on with it," Ranma growled, clinching his fist.
"What is, oh my!" Kasumi gasped as she staggered outside, the post-transformation haze clearing away.
"I traveled the world," the dead miko said. "I tracked the demons that remained behind, tame and toothless weaklings that sought friendship with you mortals. I took their blood and bathed the Shikon shard in it before reducing it to powder. And then I traveled the world again, seeking devil hunters, heroes, half-breeds, warriors and adventurers, all those that helped make the world safe for mortals. And each one I found took a shard into themselves."
"And that's what's changed Nabiki and Kasumi," Ranma demanded.
"Yes," the woman said. "Once every shard I prepared took root in a girl, and every such girl had reached the age of adulthood, then it would start. Every four hours for a year, another girl will change into a creature of the mythos of her blood. You will breed, the urge will come, and you will breed true for all your nigh ageless existence, no half-breeds from you. Even if none of the original generation turn against the human race, the human race will turn against them. The war between demon and mortal will begin again. And Kagome will watch everything she fought for fly away as blood and pain are spilled on all sides!"
"Wait," Ranma said. "You said I'd change...I'm not a..."
"Yes," the woman said, turning toward Ranma evily. "I was so close this time and then you were born. I waited, and all the remaining shards were born into females. All but you. So I took steps. Your father is easily manipulated and Jusenkyo is remarkable. Sometime in the next year, spawn of heroes, you'll be female forever more. And you too will have the desire to bear children...and you will see those children corrupted by their power or slaughtered by mortals...and you will retaliate."
She smiled evily and lifted off into the air.
"Enjoy your future, children," she called out shrilly. "Fight well and long!" And then she vanished into a puff of smoke and a cackling laugh.
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(Posted Sat, 07 Jun 2003 17:02)
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