Permanent
Part 30
Darkness within...
Keiko stood with the help of her sword as the demon stood over her. Her
dress was torn and tattered as the huge green thing laughed at her
horribly.
"Foolish little girl, you can not stand against me!"
"Damn!" she muttered as she swayed on her feet and held the sword in a
defensive position. Her power was dwindling rapidly for reasons she could
not explain as she stared the thing down angrily. "I'll fight you to the
end monster?" she cried at the thing as she stood defiantly before it.
The creature merely stepped forward and found she was unable to move
much, a perfect target. "Little fool, your energy is spent! Now you
belong to me. I never thought it would be so simple to defeat the mighty
Keiko; the most powerful of all demon hunters on this world."
"Just a little closer," thought the girl with an angry snarl appearing
on her face. As the thing moved forward she jumped up and came down
slashing at its face. The thing caught the blade easily and tossed the
sword away behind it before grabbing her by the neck and squeezing.
Keiko stared the thing straight in its eyes and smiled darkly. "Go ahead
and kill me then."
The monster showed its fangs in what could have been a smile. "Foolish
girl, you know it won't be that easy for you."
Her eyes went wide as she felt things start to wrap themselves around
her legs and arms. Something moved up her chest under her shirt and
grabbed her breast roughly as another one moved towards her face in the
same manner. "No!" She closed her eyes and struggled weakly.
The creature howled in pain suddenly and the tentacles pulled back away
from her dropping her to the ground. Keiko never hit the ground. She
found herself cupped protectively in someone's arms and opened her eyes.
In front of her the demon screamed in agony as a glowing white paper
burned the middle of its back. The boy holding her gently placed her on
the ground and turned to smile at the thing.
"You should be more careful Keiko," he chuckled slightly and faced the
thing again. "Aku ryo tai san."
The light from the paper suddenly became a pillar of light and the
creature screamed in rage and agony as it seemed to disintegrate into the
burning light that surrounded it.
Keiko stared at the boy and blushed. He was dressed in a dark blue
school uniform and had a long ponytail that almost met the center of his
back. His features where soft and handsome. He looked at her for a moment
and started to walk away wordlessly. "Wait!"
He turned to face her and smirked. "What is it?"
"Um, thank you for saving me...again," she looked at the ground and
played with the dirt with her toes.
"You should be more careful, your powers are growing weaker by the day.
You need to find out why," he turned away from her again and was about to
jump away.
She nodded and reached her hand out tentatively. "At least tell me your
name!"
The boy turned and smiled at her again. "Ukyo." With that he vanished
into the shadows again.
Keiko simply watched the shadow for a long moment before falling to her
knees. "Wai!" Two large hearts seemed to appear in her eyes as she said
this. She paused and looked down at her, the torn dress didn't leave
anything to the imagination. "Ohmygod! He's seen me naked!" She blushed
profusely and sighed. "Not that I mind."
Elsewhere in Tokyo, a girl sat listening in to the entire conversation
over a set of headphones with a sick look on her face. "That idiot, she
almost got herself killed and worse and she's dreaming about a boy."
"Auska! I can still hear you ya know!" scolded an angry voice over the
other end of the line.
"Maybe that will teach you not to throw expensive equipment off the
sides of roofs!" retorted the girl smartly.
"I said I was sorry didn't I?" snapped the girl on the other end.
"That guy is right though, this thing with your powers has to be
addressed."
Keiko nodded grimly. "I'll bet anything that Akane demon has something
to do with it."
Akane Tendo stood on the roof of the Tendo home and sighed. Gosunkugi
had given her a charm to help disguise her demonic blood and if anything
the attacks had gotten worse. "This is getting out of hand." She sat down
to watch the sunrise and sighed. "What am I gonna do?" A light sound on
the other side of the roof caught her attention and she smiled.
"Hello Kuno, how are things?"
"Akane, I just came by to see how the charm was working," replied the
boy gently. She could hear him ruffling his wings nervously behind her.
"It doesn't work very well. In fact, I think the attacks have gotten
worse," replied the girl simply.
"How unfortunate," said the boy as he sat down next to her and stared at
the sky as it changed colors slowly.
"You're telling me? I'm afraid I might be forced to kill one of them
soon. I'm doing all right now, but..." she trailed off and remembered the
battle with Keiko only a week before.
"If things keep escalating this way..." finished Kuno with a nod. "Do
not worry Akane, things should go our way soon."
"I hope you're right," agreed the girl nervously.
Ryoga Hibiki stood at the door to the Cat Caf� with Mousse sitting next
to him on the steps. The cat was currently licking himself clean and
Ryoga simply watched with mild interest.
"I don't see how you can do that. It's gross," he commented after a
moment as Mousse paid attention to his more personal areas.
The cat looked up at him and pushed its tiny glasses up its nose.
"Niyou"
"Whatever," replied the former lost boy as he glanced up the street and
blinked.
Hikaru Gosunkugi was walking down the street with a book under his arm.
Ryoga lifted his arm and waved to him. "Hey, what's up! I haven't seen
you in a while."
The boy turned to look at him and smiled nervously. "Uh, yeah. I've been
kind of busy."
"Really? I guess I have too. How have you..." Ryoga trailed off and
looked at the ground in surprise. "What's with the weird shadow?"
Gosunkugi blinked and stared at him in shock. "Uh, I messed up a spell.
Still haven't figured out how to make it go away."
The other boy nodded and looked him up and down. "Really? You look...
different."
"Really? How so?" laughed the sorcerer nervously.
"I'm not sure, you just do," Ryoga could tell something was strange
about the boy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
"Umm, thanks I guess..." said the boy as he lifted his arm to wave
goodbye and dropped the books he was carrying in the process. "Damn, I
forgot I've only got the one arm..."
This caught Ryoga by surprise as well. "How could he forget something
like that?" He kept his thoughts to himself as the boy wandered off.
Once Gosunkugi was out of sight he turned to walk into the restaurant. A
soft mew stopped him. Ryoga looked down at the cat and smirked. "I'm not
sure, but something is up."
Gosunkugi shook of the strange nervousness that had come over him while
talking to Ryoga; "What was that about? I wonder why he's the only one
who's noticed this strange shadow so far? I'll have to be careful around
him." He blinked and stopped walking for a moment. "Why would I need to
be careful around him?" He couldn't think of a single reason. "Still, it
might be a good idea anyway..."
Genma Saotome sat peacefully in a field of bamboo shoots. He raised his
arm and plucked down another one of the plants and began to chew lazily.
He had been this way for almost two weeks now, hiding out from his son.
Now he had only to wait a short while longer while the boy forgot about
whatever it was that made him so angry recently. He froze when a familiar
voice came from behind him.
"Hello Pop."
Genma Saotome started to scream desperately as he charged forward away
from the voice. He froze when he ran directly into the path of a very
familiar redhead.
"You don't really think you can hide from me do you?" the girl gave him
a small smile and the animal fell back onto its seat.
"Growf."
Cologne sat across from Ranma and her father as the girl interrogated
him mercilessly. The animal howled in pain from time to time from the
shocks she kept giving him. It had started out civil enough, but
deteriorated rapidly when Genma refused to give a satisfactory answer on
why the girl had been so angry with him.
"Her own father, it's inhuman!" gasped Ko li in horror as she sat down
next to the woman.
Talcum smiled to herself as she her seat opposite her. "Stupid man get
what deserve. Is lazy male anyway."
"I'm quite proud of her," agreed Cologne.
About a half-hour later Ranma glared at the smoking form of her father
as he lay passed out on the ground. She cursed in frustration and turned
away. This was more than her father just not wanting to tell her, he
would have broken down long before this occurred if it was that simply.
She couldn't even take the memory from his mind, it was a dangerous
procedure to try; but she was getting desperate. Something was hiding
Ukyo Kuonji's past from her, something powerful. She wanted to know who
and why.
She balled her hands up into fists as she realized that she had the
opportunity to ask, and didn't. Somehow she had forgotten about the
question. She could feel the magical pull trying to make her forget about
even being curious about her. "Ucchan... what's going on here?"
Outside the Cat Caf� a cloaked figure stood on the rooftop of the
opposite building. Long golden locks of hair flowed from his hood as he
stared at the building in front of him coolly. "Ranma Saotome, you could
interfere with my plans. I think I need to distract you." He chuckled to
himself as he turned away. "I think I have just the thing..."
The next day Ranma stood at the gates of Furinkan as she did everyday.
Beside her Akane stood relatively quietly as the walked together into the
crowd of students. Not much had happened on school grounds since those
first days when Ranma had shown up. Kuno was under his tree, and Ryoga
was walking a short distance behind the two girls.
"How are things going Akane?" said Ranma as they converged with Kuno
under the tree.
"Well enough at home. I'm having some rough nights though," commented
the girl with a heavy sigh.
Ranma raised her eyebrow and frowned. "Rough nights? Those magical girls
are still giving you trouble?"
"It's getting worse," commented Ryoga darkly. Akane nodded and moved
closer to the boy's side.
"I'm getting worried," she said quietly.
"And no one thought to tell me about this?" snorted Ranma indignantly.
"Don't worry Akane, I think I can get you some help."
The girl blinked and stared at her in shock. "Uh, thanks?"
"Ryoga, you're going out with her tonight," said Ranma coolly.
The former lost boy hung his head and groaned. "Yes ma'am."
Ranma furrowed her brow slightly at this, but let it pass. She blinked
and looked around. "Has anyone seen Gosunkugi around? I haven't seen him
in weeks. He must be done with those books I gave him now." She blushed
slightly, she had been so busy lately that she had almost forgotten about
the boy and his progress.
She paused when Ryoga looked surprised and shook his head. "Hazy...I
remember something..." he muttered to himself.
Ranma reached out her hand and frowned deeply at what she found.
"Another protection spell? On who? This is a big one too..."
"Hey armpit girl!" said a cheerful looking girl in a high school uniform
as she ran up to Kara. She was currently waiting on her companions inside
a secret underground base that rested under a pizza parlor.
"Stop calling me that Umi! It's Sailor Betelgeuse!" snapped the girl
angrily.
"Whatever, I've got better things to do than sit around talking about
brain dead youma," snorted the shorthaired girl in reply.
The longhaired blonde who entered behind her frowned. "But, Stella said
it was important!"
"Well, it had better be miss no name," agreed the girl with long dark
hair who followed in behind the other girls.
"Waaahhhh! You're so mean Tsuki! It's not my fault no one named my
star!" the girl promptly fell into a fit of tears there on the ground.
"Hurry up and apologize so we can get this over with, there's a cute guy
upstairs," said the voice of the final team member who had just entered
at that moment. She had long blonde hair done up in ponytails.
"Sorry, Rei," snorted the girl indifferently.
"Ok!" chimed the blonde cheerfully.
"That's enough, this is serious work tonight girls," said the small pink
rodent who appeared in the room suddenly.
"Hey Stella, what's up?" asked the lead girl.
"Hikari, pay close attention. Our target tonight is very dangerous," the
animal clicked a few buttons on a keypad and frowned. An image of Akane
Tendo holding Keiko over the edge of a roof appeared on screen.
"Hey! It's that girl!" gasped Hikari in shock.
"Yes. Her name is Akane Tendo; she's a powerful demon. Strong enough to
defeat the demon hunter known as Keiko." The animal nodded to itself
solemnly.
"Defeat Keiko?" gasped Umi in shock.
"She survived, another demon hunter managed to pull her out in time. Her
powers are slowly deteriorating though. We believe this demon has
something to do with it. That's why she must be destroyed." The animal
sighed and hung its head down low.
"Kami! A demon that can drain a magical girl? That's impossible!"
snapped Hikari.
"Apparently not, and she's not regaining her powers according to the
report I was given. They are slowly fading away." The animal gave the
girls a hard glare and turned to face them. "You absolutely must be
prepared, this is not something we take lightly."
The girls in the room filed out the door slowly and went about their
day. That night they would converge at the usual spot and begin the hunt.
Keiko glared at herself in the mirror. The sword was in her hand and she
glared deeply into her own eyes. "I must destroy her." Her hatred boiled
up inside her; she could see it in the deep glassy pools of blue staring
back at her. She felt the power drain from her body again and almost fell
forward.
Terror crossed her features as she stabilized herself with the blade and
stared into the mirror again. "I've got to hurry. I can still beat her,
but soon..."
Outside the window a familiar golden haired figure stood shrouded in the
shadows. He gave a heavy sigh and shook his head gently as a look of
mournful sorrow crossed his features. "My child, you still do not
understand."
Far, far away...
The polar ice caps shifted and groaned as the ocean beat on them
mercilessly. Chunks of ice fell away into the sea floating away from the
violent edge of the frozen walls that stretched for miles in every
direction.
If one listened closely as one of the larger icebergs floated by it
could be said that the sound of laughter could be heard. A faint cruel
sound, yet somehow strangely familiar.
Ranma Saotome sat upright in bed as a cold sweat covered her body. She
gasped for breath and stared at the wall blankly as the dream ended.
"He's coming," she gasped.
"Who's coming?" said a familiar voice from behind her. Ranma turned her
head and saw Talcum sitting behind her with a worried look on her face.
"No one, just a bad dream," said the redhead as she relaxed slightly.
The amazon moved close and put her arm around her. "Is very bad dream?"
"Bad enough to wake you up?" said Ranma wryly as the look of fear
vanished from her features almost instantaneously.
"Could not sleep," replied the girl with a shrug. She kissed Ranma on
the cheek lightly. "Is going to be ok?"
The ponytailed girl nodded her head grimly as the Amazon gave her a
small squeeze and released her from the hug she had her trapped in.
Talcum paused and looked back at Ranma again. The girl was watching her
leave quietly. "Ranma?"
"Yeah?" said the redhead quietly.
Talcum slowly turned around and walked forward. She moved down to her
knees and sat in front of the girl for a long moment. "I..."
"Is something wrong?" said Ranma as she raised her eyebrow slightly. She
was more than a little uncomfortable with the situation.
"Wo ai ni!" muttered the Amazon as she pushed herself forward into
Ranma's arms and kissed her deeply. They fell to the ground as Talcum put
her tongue into the shocked girl's mouth.
The ponytailed girl shoved gently upward breaking the kiss with a
shocked and embarrassed look on her face. "What the? We can't...uh..."
The amazon ignored her and forced herself down again kissing Ranma
fiercely. This time, there was no resistance.
TBC...
Next time: Magical Girl Explosion!
Notes: Yes folks, I've been hinting at this for a while now if you
didn't notice. Talcum was in fact, created for this role. You'll see
Cologne and Ko li making little comments that hint towards this
throughout the whole series.
The magical girl storyline is about to come to a head, and it leads into
a story that involves Gosunkugi as well.
If you've been paying attention you should know what the deal with the
iceberg is, and there's another very nasty surprise for Ranma on the way.
Something that our golden haired friend has cooked up to keep her busy
and out of his hair. It just might work too!
Until next time!
Ja!