By E-Type.
Herein lies the Disclaimer. I don't own any of the characters portrayed in this story, I just borrowed them for a little while. Their respective owners can have them back when I'm done. No money is going to be made off of this anyway. It takes time for me to write this series, since I'm trying to stick fairly close to what happened in the original story. As such I usually have to go back and watch the series again before every section that I write, so I can remember how the original series was done. It's kinda complicated, especially when there is so much time beween updates that I forget what happened next by the time I feel like writing it again. Oh well, hopefully I will get to a point when I can diverge off the main story line fairly quickly. Can anyone see the third eye opening to deal with one of Akane's mallets? Not pretty.
*knock knock*. Nabiki jumped up from the table and squealed. "Ooh, that must be Ranma!" She darted down the hallway toward the front entrance, Soun hot on his daughters heels. Akane and Kasumi looked at each other, wondering if it really was him.
The two of them blink in surprise when Nabiki and Soun come running back around the corner, frightened expressions on their face. Right behind them emerges a panda. Soun's other two daughters blanch at the sight, wondering how in the world a panda had gotten to their home. And knocked on the door.
"So, is this your friend?" Nabiki asked sarcastically. Soun fiercely shook his head in denial.
"Oh, I get it. Panda's just drop in all the time." She continued, her stress starting to show even through her impressive mask. That was when they heard a voice behind the panda.
"I told you to wait for me, Oyaji. Now look what you've done. Lemme talk to them until we get some hot water."
The panda moved to the side and a young man walked into view. He had black hair in a pig tail, piercing gray blue eyes, and was dressed in a red Chinese shirt and kung-fu pants, a bandanna covering his forehead.
"My name is Ranma Saotome and-OOF!" Soun had latched onto him, bawling his eyes out in joy.
Ranma looked down in bewilderment. This was the *owner* of the Tendo dojo? Ranma shook his head and walked over to where the three girls stood, acting as if he couldn't even tell Soun was hanging off of him. He somehow managed to bow gracefully and smile at them.
"Hi, I'm Ranma Saotome." He looked down at Soun briefly. "Uhh, sorry about this. You know what he's talking about?" Soun was babbling about the schools being united and what a perfect son in law he would make. Genma, having never told Ranma what they were doing at Soun's dojo, was nervously backing away from his son, hoping to either get some hot water and warn Soun not to say anything about the engagement, or to run and hide where his son couldn't beat him up. Genma could kill him again, like he had done to get him over here, but that usually just ended up with himself getting beaten by the end of it. One just couldn't keep up with somebody who's injuries healed back up within a couple minutes.
The three Tendo sisters gazed at Ranma speculatively. Nabiki had a gleam in her eye. This is what she had been hoping for! Kasumi was having similar thoughts. He certainly looked to be about her age, even though she had heard that he was 16 like Akane. There was something to his eyes that spoke of wisdom and suffering well beyond his years. The only thing that Akane could see was another boy. She was only glad he wasn't staring at her like all the other boys at school did. That just wouldn't have been good, especially with her father watching them. It amazed her what he could see through his tears.
Ranma shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed like they were all sizing him up as if to see if he would be worth their time. While he'd had a lot of girls do that, this was a slightly different look. This was more along the lines of 'could I live with him', instead of the usual 'could I get him in bed tonight'. It started making him suspicious of why his father wanted to come here so bad.
"So, what's your names?" He had a friendly smile on his face.
Nabiki tried to take charge, but was drowned out by her farther, who was suddenly standing stoically next to them, his eyes dry. "These are my daughters. Kasumi, she's 19." He indicated a tall woman with long brown hair in a ponytail coming over her shoulder. She wore a conservative dress that still somehow showed she was a mature woman. Her constant smile somehow grew brighter. Ranma smiled back.
Soun's hand moved right to point at the next girl. "Nabiki, age 17." A girl with short brown hair, slightly shorter than her older sister. Sharp brown eyes turned from an angry glare directed at her father to eager friendliness at Ranma. He was a bit leery of her. Something in her eyes warned him that he would have to earn her respect, anything short would be very uncomfortable. She wore a formal kimono that looked very fetching on her. He could tell she was a well developed girl, something he figured she took pride in. It was also obvious she wasn't a fighter. His smile was returned warmly. Apparently, she was also somewhat lonely. Ranma wondered why she would be without friends. Her looks alone should have gotten her a few admirers at least. Something to find out about later, he guessed.
Soun pointed to the second long haired girl, obviously the youngest. "My youngest daughter, Akane. She's 16." She was scowling, her eyes flashing dangerously. Ranma blinked at that. What had he done to make her mad at him? He hadn't even said a thing to her and she was already pissed about something. He really hoped she would lighten up, especially after she found out about his curse. Not to mention his father. He really wondered what he was going to do when Ukyo finally showed up again. He still couldn't believe that the chef was a girl and he was engaged to her. It was something he really didn't want to have to deal with, especially since he had already found someone. Not that he would tell his old man that, but there was no way he was going to be leaving her behind. Just so long as he could find her again, that is.
Finally, Soun finished the introductions. "Pick any one you want, and she'll be your new fiance." Soun was smiling in bliss, seeming unaware of anything except he was handing one of his daughters to Ranma, a boy that he knew absolutely nothing about except he was raised by Genma and had extensive martial arts training. How extensive he didn't even have the slightest inkling of. Neither did Genma, in fact. Much of what Ranma had learned recently was stuff that his parents would never believe. The simple fact that Genma was no longer even close to Ranma's league anymore just made the panda think he was a gifted instructor.
Ranma stared at Soun incredulously. "Fiance? When did one of them become my fiance?" He spluttered. He didn't have any idea that this would have happened *again*!
All three daughters blinked in surprise. "Ranma didn't know about the engagement?" They thought as one. "How come nobody told him?"
Ranma's eyes flashed dangerously, causing the sisters to draw back slightly. "Hey, Oyaji! Get back in here old man!" A wind sprang to life, swirling Ranma's hair and clothes around him, leaving everything else in the room undisturbed. Soun seemed rather taken aback by this, but managed to regain his fantasy world.
"So, which one shall you marry?" He asked, trying his best to ignore the impossible wind that had picked up.
Ranma turned his gaze upon the older man, wondering what was wrong with him. Surely this kind of thing didn't' happen all the time in this house, did it? A quick glance back at the girls confirmed it, no this was strange. Soun was just choosing to ignore it. Ranma shook his head. Some people just would not let go of an idea, no matter what. Soun seemed to be one of those people. He frowned at that. It was something that he really didn't need, especially when he still needed to find Ukyo and get everything cleared up there. It was just something that he didn't want to have to deal with right now, until he found Pai again at least. He was fairly certain he knew what his feelings were on the matter, but he would just have to ask his master and see what her's were for sure. She had hinted at them before she had disappeared, but she had never really told him outright. That was something that really got to him. He had been searching for her for this long, and he wasn't even sure if it was going to be worth it.
Ranma recalled her smiling face looking at him, her red eyes shining while her cute little fangs peeked out. Yes, she was worth it. Being immortal like they were sorta meant they would be together for some time to come, but Ranma always wondered what they did if the Sanjiyan and the Wu didn't get along with each other. Supposedly they would have somebody else join the party. But that didn't really mean anything for them. Immortality meant they would have long periods of time when there would be nobody but each other to have to talk to. No love was going to live as long as them, unless it was the Sanjiyan herself. Ranma prayed that she had been, and still was, in love with him. He really didn't want to have to spend the rest of forever with someone that didn't really want to spend the time with him.
Genma finally walked back into the room. Upon seeing his son, and the wind that had picked up, not touching anything else in the room he realized that something had happened to set his superhumanly strong and quick son's temper off. He could guess what it was, they were at the Tendo dojo for only a couple reasons. One, Genma could leech off his old friend easily until his son married one of Tendo's daughters, then he would be a father in law and could live here all he wanted anyway. Two, once his son started teaching classes he could get himself rich living off his boys hard work, making everything that he had done over the past ten years to get him to this level of the art seem worthwhile. Third, since he was married already, all those other promises that he had made would fall through and he wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. It would be his son's fault. He had raised the boy to the best of his ability. He knew he would do the right thing and uphold the family honor. There was only one thing that Genma hadn't taken into consideration. He had never questioned how his son had gotten so incredibly good at the art and manipulating ki, or at least what looked like ki, over the fairly short period of time that the boy had vanished while they had been going to that junior high school. He just knew it was something that he had taught him that had finally taken root. That was when he had started to teach him the higher forms of the Saotome school of martial arts. Even the forbidden techniques, after Ranma had gotten him drunk and Genma had told him all about them. His mind seemed to come rather unglued whenever it was inundated with alcohol. Ranma had used that to his advantage several times. Unfortunately, he knew that others had used that same weakness for the same reason, or even worse ones than getting sealed martial arts techniques that Ranma knew he would need in the future after talking with Pai all that time. He only hoped he would have done enough by the time he found her and awoke her memories.
It was something he wouldn't be able to live without if he couldn't do it. Pai was someone special to him. Even three years later, he still felt the pain in his heart from leaving her behind. Well, she had told him to do it. But that still didn't make him feel any better. He knew one day Pai would somehow contact him and they would once again be reunited. But until that time he was just wandering around with his pop until he stumbled across her again. He hoped it would be soon.
Ranma spotted his old man and motioned for him to join the rest of the Tendo family. "So, what was this about me being engaged?" He demanded to know.
Genma started sweating a little. It had been over a year since he had been able to beat his son, unless he started unsealed deadly techniques. The boy wasn't human it seemed. How right he was.
Genma pushed aside his nervousness and put on a bold front. "It's a matter of honor, Ranma. Soun and I made an agreement that we would have our children marry when Kasumi was born. To have an heir to carry on the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, you must marry a Tendo and continue the line!"
He drew in another breath to continue his tirade but had it forcefully expelled when Ranma seemed to teleport forward, his fist buried in Genma's gut up to the elbow. He stepped back and let his father back down onto his feet. The bald martial artist struggled to remain standing, his gut slowly returning to its original shape.
All the Tendo's jaws hit the floor. They had never seen someone move that fast before. The wind was still swirling around him even though he had moved halfway across the room.
Ranma spoke in a growl. "Oyaji, I told you to leave all that behind you. Wasn't ruining Ukyo's life good enough? Now you have to go and try this. What honor do you really have left, old man? Does anyone else have any idea of how many different people you've cheated and sold me off to? Do you even think those three girls want to have anything to do with me?"
He glanced over at them. They had managed to pick their jaws off the floor and were staring at the two of them with growing amounts of shock and disgust evident. He knew he was making a bad impression with them, but he really couldn't think of a better way to get some answers from his old man. He was an accomplished liar.
Genma was starting to say something, but his son cut him off. "Since I'm the only one left with any honor I'll go along with it for now, but if none of them can handle me then you're going to call it off." Ranma raised his hand and clenched it into a fist, concentrating some of his power there. His arms started crackling with electricity, his eyes boring into his fathers. "Do I make myself clear?" His voice reverberated around the room, the power he controlled somehow portrayed in his vocal harmonics.
Ranma nodded once and sat back down at the table. He once again smiled pleasantly at the three sisters, this time they just stared it him, their eyes flicking back and forth between his face and arms.
***
Read the 38 manga volumes for everything that happens till the story resumes. . .NOW! ***
Ranma stood on the roof, wondering when he was going to get some clue that things were going to be going back to normal for Pai. All the things he had been through had made him a lot stronger, though he loved having powers in reserve for when he faced off against Cologne to end the mockery that was his engagement to Shampoo. He was not going to go and play second fiddle to a tribe of women who thought they were so much better than men. Then there was the Tendo sisters. He liked all three of them, but it was Pai that had gotten his heart back in Junior High, nothing had changed that. Kodachi he didn't even want to think about. Shampoo he was learning a few things from, she would tell him some of the Amazon secrets if he got her in a good mood. Ranma was very glad that was fairly easy to do. Shampoo had simple tastes, and was very grateful for any attention that he gave her. Apparently, that wasn't something that she ever got anywhere else but from him.
With nothing really left to do, Ranma was starting wonder where Pai was. He wondered if she might need some help, he would have hoped that he would have come across her by now. He knew that it was doubtful that she would just fall out of the sky into his lap, but he had been searching around the Tokyo area that Nerima was on the outskirts of and had yet to get any hint that somebody with her looks or a name resembling Pai was in the area.
Nabiki's head popped up above the roof line. "Hey, what're you thinking about up here?"
Ranma smiled at her, she always did seem to know where to find him. Must be something that she had picked up with all her other skills, how to read peoples thoughts as well as intentions. Ranma just hoped that he would be able to tell everyone his feelings before things got too out of hand.
"Just thinking about my past, Nabiki. Some things hopefully will stay there, others, I hope, will return to me." Nabiki didn't miss the longing in his voice. She knew there was somebody from his past that had already gotten to him. Nabiki just wondered who it was that had managed to do what none of the Tendo sisters had. Capture his attention. Akane had done an okay job of it at first, then it was Nabiki herself, and finally Kasumi had tried. While he had been friendly with them, nothing had progressed beyond that close friendship. It caused them no amount of annoyance that somebody had gotten to him first. There were things that they had seen that nobody else had any right to be able to do, even Ranma. Yet they had seen him do things that no person should have been able to do. Even Ryoga hadn't believed some of the things that had happened, and he was probably the most unwillingly well traveled person in the world.
"Sounds like that past is pretty important to you. Want to talk about it?" Nabiki asked, trying to look as innocent as possible.
Ranma looked at Nabiki for several moments, making her wonder if he had seen right through her and was just waiting for the right time to embarrass her in front of everybody. But Ranma didn't seem to be the type to do that, which really intrigued Nabiki, given that he didn't seem to have any scruples when he was engaged in a fight, but as soon as he was done he was the same considerate young man that had captured the hearts of several young women in the neighborhood.
"Her name is Pai, Nabiki. Now you know. I met her around the time I met Ryoga and she changed everything that I thought was true in the world, changed me into what I am now." He chuckled as Nabiki's eyes grew to three times their size when she realized who 'Pai' was in relation to him. "Sometimes I don't know if I should thank her or curse her for doing that too."
He returned his gaze to the surrounding sky, the stars twinkling as if nothing was wrong in the world. Ranma would sometimes agree with them while he rested on the roof. He was running out of places to look in the Tokyo area, he might have to move to a different part of Japan to continue his search. He had gotten used to having a roof over his head, but he would especially miss the company. At least the women. Most of the guys in the area were a little...over stressed. Ryoga more than most. Mousse had to learn when to calm down at all. Genma had to figure out how not to get in trouble. Just about every other guy in High School was way too hentai, especially with his curse to take into account.
He turned his gaze to the moon, wondering how many times he had gazed at like he was now while thinking about Pai, hoping that she was okay whatever had happened to her. There was just something about her that he couldn't get enough of. Something that no other girl stirred in him, no matter how much they tried. He felt a little sorry for them, but he knew that Pai would always have this hold on him, until they died together.
There was only one more school in the area that he hadn't checked for her yet. It was actually the closest one. He had started with the one farthest away and was working his way toward Nerima. He had figured that it would be easier to sneak out for longer periods of time when everybody in the household knew less about him. He had been right, the only person that had been aware he was leaving had been Kasumi because she awoke so early in the morning. Ranma had actually helped her on several occasions, especially if he didn't really have anything to do that day. Something about Kasumi just made him happy to be around her, even if he did consider himself engaged for real to somebody else. He realized that Kasumi would be his first choice if he had never met Pai. But, if he had never met her, would he be anything like what he had become? He doubted it, probably wouldn't even like Kasumi as much if he had continued with his father those years ago instead of running off with the three eyed alien when he had died for the first time. He smiled fondly at the memory. He hadn't thought anything would have been able to get him, but her bird had proved him wrong. It had taken some strange circumstances, but he had indeed been killed right there. It had done a lot to get his ego under control when he realized just how easy it was to die. That was when he found out how hard it was going to be to die again. He still wasn't sure how to react to that, he couldn't figure out which was worse, being able to die or not being able to die if one wanted to.
He stood suddenly and scooped Nabiki into his arms before jumping down to the ground below. She took it rather well, loosening her death grip on his neck quickly after he had placed her feet on the ground again.
She smiled up at him. "I always like it when you do that."
He smiled back. "That's why I do so."
Then she glared at him."Just tell me next time! I don't get to enjoy it if I'm scarred."
He chuckled at her. "I'll keep that in mind, Nabiki. Let's eat."
He turned and entered the house, dropping down at his place at the head of the table. The rest of the family showed up shortly, Genma and Soun having to be dragged away from their shogi board. Once they realized why they were being led away they jumped at the chance. Ranma shook his head at the men. He would have thought after all this time they would have found something better to do than play shogi all the time. Like train. Genma was always training him, he didn't understand why the old man never participated in any of it. He guessed he could understand why Soun never did any. If he was that emotional regularly, he would hate to see what would happen if he got a hold of a shi-shi hokkodan.
The small group ate in relative quiet, noticing Ranma's melancholy look and not wanting to provoke him. He smiled appreciatively at them, wanting them to know how much he appreciated their concern for him. The three sisters beamed at him, hoping he would someday come out of his subtle shell and open completely with them. They really hadn't minded all the chaos he had brought with him, they just knew he would be able to protect them from it. Ranma knew he could do it, too. There would come a time, he was sure, when more powerful beings would try and seek him out. He hoped by that time he would be able to find Pai and have her help him, but he also knew that he couldn't rely on anything like that if he wanted to survive in this plane long enough to get to kow her again.
After dinner Ranma was going over the finances with Nabiki in her room when he leaned back to give his eyes a break. He never could stare at columns of numbers for very long before he started to get a headache. Nabiki always would make fun of his hard head, but he knew she didn't mean it. Just like he didn't mean a lot of his teasing, unless he was in a fight.
His eyes were flicking around the room when he caught sight if a dirty magazine peeking out from underneath a stack of mail. He looked at her in wonderment for a moment before he snatched it from the stack and started to flip through it.
Nabiki of course recognized what it was and started to try and get it back. Ranma was just too fast, and no matter what she tried the pages would slip through her fingers before she could get a firm grip on them.
Suddenly he stopped, his eyes tripling in size. Nabiki finally grabbed half the magazine, but still couldn't confiscate it due to the fact that Ranma had frozen in place. Nabiki wondered at that. She leaned over his shoulder to see what he was looking at, thankful once again that he wasn't very tall.
A girl, smiling at the camera wearing a school uniform, with dark hair and dark red eyes. She somehow managed to portray innocence and exotic at the same time. Ranma knew who she was without even having to read her bio.
Ranma mouthed her name, not uttering a sound, hoping that Nabiki wouldn't be able to read his jaw. She just noticed how he had frozen, for she could read the name that was listed on the page.
"Pa-bo...?" She murmured. Another glance at Ranma revealed that he was starting to get over his shock at seeing her. Suddenly, she made a connection in her mind, a leap of faith, if you will.
"Is this the person that stole your heart already? Is this the girl that you've been trying to meet again since you've shown up?" Nabiki thought for sure that she had guessed right, and Ranma's reaction almost guaranteed that she was right.
"So," Nabiki continued, the gears in her mind whirring quickly. "Why did she have her picture in this magazine? Is she trying to get your attention for some reason? But why in this magazine, you'd never have looked at one of these things unless you had seen it in my room."
Ranma was wondering the same thing. He suspected there was something wrong with her, why she had never come back to him. There had to be a reason. That Tibetan monk had sure helped him a lot, but there were only so many things he could do while she was protected by dark energies.
Ranma gazed into the middle daughters swirling brown eyes, the intensity of his gaze making Nabiki think she might have really come at the wrong time to have brainstorms.
Finally, he spoke. "Yeah, Nabiki. That's her. Her name is Pai. She's apparently been brain washed into thinking that's who she is by creatures that you really don't want to know exist. Some of the things that you've seen show up here are nothing compared to what must be controlling her. She has one of the strongest wills I've ever seen, including Akane and myself." A smile brushed his lips as he recalled some of their early adventures, before he had really managed to control the powers associated with being a Wu and some of the Amazon techniques he had picked up from Cologne and her ever so helpful great granddaughter. Now he was confident he could stand by her side and help her with whatever it had been that required her to run off alone. It boggled his mind there was something powerful enough that it had worried her to the point of going off to take care of it herself, even when she knew that she was stronger when her Wu joined her in battle.
Now, he had a name and a face to go with her. It was just a matter of time before he went over to that school and introduced himself to her. He desperately hoped that she would remember who he was, or at least have an inkling of it. He didn't want to have to get to know her all over again. Be that as it may, he had some work to do before he left to go see her.
***
Ranma walked away from the Tendo dojo, his pack containing all of his possessions. A thin walking stick, topped with a carved inhuman head sporting 3 gems, twirled around him in intricate patterns he didn't even have to think about anymore. Always practicing, not even a conscious effort anymore.
The pig-tailed martial artist glanced over his shoulder at the three Tendo sisters forlornly watching him walk out of their lives. Or so they thought.
Ranma looked over his other shoulder and smirked at the panda that was straining to be released from the chains holding it. Ranma knew his old man would try and keep him there, so he had tied his Oyaji up the night before in order to keep him from stopping him. It wouldn't take the panda long to escape, but given that he didn't have any fingers it would take him that much longer to break free and chase after him. But it would be enough. Now all he had to do was go to Pai's school and talk with her. He hoped she remembered him. That monk he had run into said it would take a lot of work in order to get her memory back if she forgot it, given the powers involved.
Ranma knew, though, that as soon as he saw her he would probably glomp onto her like Shampoo had done so many times to him. He grinned at the image, *Ranma* actually glomping onto someone. If anybody from Nerima saw that they would probably faint, or attack him and demand to know what he had done with the real Ranma. He could even tell them that a woman named Pai had taken him, on several levels no less.
Ranma started chuckling to himself. He certainly never thought like that when he was with the Tendo's, he sure was happy he was getting out of there. It seemed to suck his mental capacity down. Ranma blinked when he realized that. Was that why Soun and Genma were like they were? Because they couldn't help it? So how had Nabiki overcome that particular quark of the Tendo home? She must have a massive shell she resides in to keep her intellect with a force that strong inhibiting them. Ranma just hoped that he would never have to run into whatever it was that could create a mind altering field that large for that long. It would be a unpleasant fight. If Pai was with him, he didn't doubt that he would be able to take whoever it was down. But with only himself, he knew he could fall prey to mind bending spells. It's hard to erect mental defenses when there's a spear or claw pierced through one's stomach.
Ranma had, of course, come to this realization after experiencing it. Nothing he ever learned came the easy way. Of course, that meant that he would just keep getting stronger and stronger. Ranma couldn't figure out if it was a curse or a blessing. He tended to lean towards curse. But it sure made things interesting. Now, off to find his woman.
* * *
Pa-bo and her two friends stood on the second floor of a mall, giggling to each other as they looked at an incredibly beautiful photo of a couple holding each other on a beach, the sunset behind them while they gazed into each others eyes.
The three school girls sighed in romantic bliss. One straightened, her hands clasped below her chin, stars in her eyes. "Oh, I can just imagine if that was me!"
The second girl on the other side of Pai went into the same position. "Then, as the sun sets, he holds me close..."
Pa-bo now copies her two friends, her eyes going all kawaii. "And whispers in my ear..." All three join in now. "I love you."
The girls jump up and down while hugging, squeals of girlish delight bursting forth. After a few moments they seem to realize that they were in a public place and stopped, standing nonchalantly with their hands scratching the backs of their heads. Pa-bo laughed nervously. That was their cue, and the three girls beat a hasty retreat, quietly giggling to themselves in embarrassment.
Makoto looked around after they had gotten away. She spotted a magazine stand featuring a certain hentai book that Ranma had seen earlier. She turned and looked at her friend, a mischievous grin on her face.
"Hoping to get some attention, Pa-bo?" She pointed at the magazine, wondering if they would all get it.
Pa-bo blushed beat red, hoping that her other friend wouldn't notice. Wishful thinking on her part, Minako had a sixth sense for these kinds of things. Of course she would know all about it.
"Yeah, Pa-bo. You even took your picture in the school uniform. Now you're going to be getting people all over looking at you, and know what school you go to."
Her two friends laughed gaily. Looping their arms around her own they started dragging Pa-bo farther into the mall. The three girls rounded a corner and noticed a strikingly good looking young man sitting on the ground, leaning on some railing. In his hands was the magazine.
Opened to THAT page. At that moment the pig tailed youth looked up, right at them. All three girls seemed to lose themselves in those swirling blue orbs. He dropped the magazine and stood, taking a tentative step toward them.
"Pai?" Pa-bo shook her head, wondering why that name sounded so familiar. He suddenly seemed to just appear before the three girls, his hands resting on her shoulders. His eyes stared into her own, as if searching for something.
Pa-bo stared back, watching the hope that shone in his eyes crumble into the greatest pain and sorrow she had ever seen. 'My god, what happened to him?' She thought. Then the windows in his eyes seemed to close, becoming dull and almost lifeless.
The other two girls were starting to react to the fact that the two of them had been staring at each other for a while, and the fact he seemed to have suddenly gotten incredibly depressed.
Pa-bo suddenly found herself enveloped in an incredible hug, his hard body pressing warmly against her own. Just before she was about to react somewhat violently to being hugged like that in public by a stranger, no matter how good it felt, he broke off suddenly, apologizing profusely. All three girls just stood there dazed, not knowing how to react to something like that.
Pa-bo, still remembering the look of pain in is eyes decided to finally get her mouth in gear. "Who's Pai?"
The boy just stared at her for several more moments, as if studying her. This time she read sorrow swirling in those blue depths. "Pai...Pai was very special to me. I've been looking for her for the past four years," Suddenly he was holding the magazine that everyone remembered him dropping earlier, pointing at the picture of Pa-bo. "and this is what she looks like."
Everybody's eyes widened at that. Four years ago would have been at the time of her accident. Could he be a connection to her missing memories? Did they even want those memories if they had been buried away so far? None of the girls were sure of the answers.
Pa-bo seemed to have been stunned speechless by the implications, but her friends came to her rescue. "So, you knew her before her....accident?" Minako queried.
Ranma shook himself out of his stupor, trying to get himself back under control now that he was finally standing in front of Pai again. "Oh, sorry. My name's Ranma Saotome." He bowed to the ladies, unconsciously doing it so gracefully it made them catch their breath in their throat. "Yes, I knew her before something happened to her. What type of accident was it, exactly?"
Everybody looked at him strangely, as if he should have known that already. Minako spoke up. "She was in a car accident, her family died instantly and Pa-bo lost her memories." The young girl peered at him intently. "If you're so interested in her shouldn't you have known what happened to her?"
Ranma stared back at her. "If I had known what had happened to her I wouldn't have been searching for her the last four years, would I?"
"Erm, I guess not."
Ranma glanced around, trying to sense any supernatural energies which might be trying to spy on them. He couldn't feel anything, even when he started accessing his full power, but that didn't always mean anything. There were a lot of creatures which outclassed him as far as magic went. That was the Sanjiyan's job. What he was trying to get her to do again, but without her memories it was going to take a while to get both of herselves back.
"I'll tell you all you want to know about life before the accident, but it's a really long story, and I'd rather not do it here." Maybe he could jog her memory, but he doubted it would be that easy.
Pa-bo looked at him for a long moment, thinking, while her two friends looked back and forth between the two, noting to themselves how handsome he looked
"Alright," Pa-bo said. "You can come over now and explain some things." She glanced over at the other girls, wondering if they would want to come along or not.
Realizing what that look was both of them blurted out. "We'll come along too!" Ranma and Pa-bo nodded before she started out in the lead, heading down a somewhat narrow street. Suddenly Ranma stopped and looked all around him briefly before his face clouded over in anger. Everybody looked at him in wonder.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!" Echoed through the landscape. The three girls looked at him in fear now, wondering what they had gotten themselves into. The wall that they were walking next to shattered, a human sized hole forming from the rubble. A rather large man charged through. He wore a yellow shirt, striped bandanna and a huge backpack. His fist was cocked back ready to strike.
Ranma held up a hand and concentrated. The fanged boy stopped in mid charge, a wind only around him whipping his clothes into a frenzy. The girls stared at Ranma in shock, now really wondering what they had gotten themselves into. This wasn't what they had thought Pa-bo's former life was like.
"Ryoga, I told you not to attack me anymore. Why are you doing this?"
"How could you leave Akane behind you cad?!" Everyone could see his large muscles straining against whatever was holding him back, but he hadn't budged an inch since Ranma had raised his hand.
"I told her when I first met her that I already had someone, I told all of them that I already had someone. Why are you complaining about his? You were trying to work up the courage to ask her on a date last I knew." Ranma stated.
"But you haven't seen the way her heart breaks every time she thinks of you, or the way Kasumi looses her smile when she starts missing you. How could you be so heartless?"
Ranma is rubbing the bridge of his nose while still presenting his palm toward the bandanna'd boy. "It's called missing a friend, Ryoga. I'm sorry to hear that you've never experienced it. I miss them too, but I'm doing something that's very important to me and they will have to wait until I've finished it. Then, hopefully, I can visit everybody regularly."
Ryoga just glared at him, but considering he wasn't saying anything everybody realized that Ranma had finally gotten through to him. "Now, Ryoga, since I don't know how you manage to keep finding me I guess I'll just have to send you on your way again." Ryoga blinked in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened in fear.
He quickly turned around and headed back through the wall he had emerged from. "No no! That's fine, I can get myself lost just fine. Wait! I mean...uh...*sigh*. Which way to the Tendo dojo?"
Ranma pointed over his shoulder in the opposite way in which Nerima really was. Ryoga nodded, turned in the direction Ranma had pointed, and promptly ran through the hole again, heading in the right direction. Weather he would actually show up would depend on the weather patterns a wind sheer, but he had a better than average chance.
Ranma turned back to the girls and smiled, causing their hearts to flutter. He had no idea how easily he could get himself in trouble with a smile like that, but it was probably better that he didn't know, because then he would never smile. "Well, let's head over to your house and get this figured out, shall we."
Everybody nodded and they were on their way again.
Getting close to home the girls were walking just in front of Ranma, quietly chatting amongst themselves. Ranma could hear them, even though they were talking under the threshold for human hearing. Martial arts and being a Wu gave him a lot of diverse skills. Just as Pa-bo and her friends turned a corner in front of him Ranma heard the sound of an engine revving from behind.
He jumped in the air and looked over his shoulder at a rather large black luxury car as it blasted under him, going over where he had been standing. Ranma's eyes narrowed in annoyance. He really didn't want to have another strange occurrence happen while he was on his way to Pa-bo's house. That would probably ruin any chance he had of setting things right with her, even though he was still unsure of how he was going to do that in the first place. But for now he had to take care of this apparently possessed car before something bad happened.
Having heard the squealing tires the girls came back around the corner. Since Pa-bo was the first one when she saw the barreling toward her she knew she was going to have to get out of the way, but sh she also knew that the two girls behind her would get in her way. Decision made Pa-bo dove forward, just managing to clear the car before it took her legs off.
Ranma, diving through the air toward the girls changed course slightly since Pa-bo had saved herself. Passing over her position Ranma took the opportunity to say some kind words to her. He was unsure if she had actually heard him with everything else going on, but he was still glad he said them while on his way over her head.
He touched down right in front of the two girls, the car only a few feet from them. He wrapped an arm around their waists and jumped, only rising five feet off the ground, but moving about fifteen feet forward. Putting them back on their feet Ranma back flipped to where Pa-bo was, hoping that the car hadn't tried to make a u-turn and hit the girl after missing him.
Indeed, it was about halfway around now, with Pa-bo still on her knees from the dive, obviously not expecting someone to turn around and try and hit her again. If she only knew that there wasn't anybody actually in the car...actually, Ranma couldn't figure out if it would be a good or bad thing if she knew.
Ranma somehow managed to sigh while leaping through the air again to pick her up and get her away from the thing. He reached her easily before the car did, the metal beast not even having completed the u-turn when Ranma landed next to Pa-bo.
Since this was only one girl, and a special girl at that, Ranma decided to not just pick her up by the waist, but to go for the full on 'damsel in distress' carry that he preferred. He waited the couple seconds until she had straightened from her position on all fours before sweeping her off her knees, gently cradling her in his strong arms. That also brought her head up to his shoulder; naturally, she looked over it.
To see the car having completed it's turn and spinning its rear tires in an effort to get to them before another jump rendered them inaccessible. Ranma spotted an alley on the other side of the street that looked like it would be the perfect place to loose the car. He jumped across the street and halfway down the alley, his legs compressing on his landing, not letting Pa-bo feel any of the extreme g forces that had just been exerted.
He jumped again to the side, taking the time to smile reassuringly at the frightened young girl before back flipping into the middle of the alley again. If Ranma had been paying a little more attention he would have noticed that the alley curved behind him before turning into a dead end. He just assumed that it had an outlet.
The car by now had also gotten into the alley, was in fact just clearing the entrance and revving up to have another go at the martial artist. Ranma knew that it was going to hound them until it either crashed and couldn't move anymore or he got rid of the possession on it. He figured that it would be better to get rid of the possession than cause massive property damage, especially since Pa-bo was with him and might want to see if there was somebody in the car that needed help. Ranma didn't want to have to explain some of the things that were happening around her until he had at least gained her trust. Some things just can't be said to girls out of the blue that they have no idea you've known them for a while and already fallen in love with them.
Seeing Pa-bo stay over to the other side of the alley Ranma figured that the car would just go after him. He was right, the car had jerked to his side of the alley almost instantly. Ranma brought his aura up, the blue energy gently swirling around him while he concentrated his energies. Pa-bo stood transfixed at the awesome display, but that car just kept coming. Finally the girl noticed that it was once again heading right for the cute young man, but this time he didn't seem to be doing anything to get out of the way.
Pa-bo let out a shriek of dismay, knowing that he was going get hit this time, for he didn't seem to be paying any attention to the car. Ranma raised his hands then, right palm facing the car, left hand gripping his right wrist as if bracing it. A white glow now formed around his arms briefly before firing out in a beam of white light. It hit the cars windshield and seemed to refract off it for several moments before it shot out the rear window, tainted with black swirls in the once pure white beam.
By the time the beam had cut off the car was only a couple feet from Ranma, but he just put both his hands out and caught the grille, his feet sliding backwards through the pavement while he slowed the large instrument of death. Had this been a regular alley Ranma would have succeeded perfectly in his subduing of the car. Unfortunately, this alley was not only curved, it had a dead end that Ranma hadn't seen and had not idea was there.
A kick against the wall had turned both car and man in the alley enough to get around the bend, and the car was getting close to stopping when the unexpected for Ranma happened. He was about to hit a wall that he had no idea was there.
Pa-bo had just come around the bend herself to see what was going to happen when she noticed the wall behind him, and the fact that he wasn't slowing down anywhere near fast enough to stop before the concrete..
"RANMA!" She shouted as she dashed toward him. To do what she didn't know, she just wished she could help him some how. This strange boy that just seemed to be right for her, that she felt a connection to even when she 'knew' she had never seen him before in her life. Closing her eyes, both to keep from seeing what was to come and to concentrate her energies, Pa-bo let loose a scream that would have done any woman proud.
This time, however, the result from that scream wasn't a knight in shining armor or any permutations thereof. Pa-bo felt something was going on, knew that there was something strange going to happen right underneath her, but for some reason she couldn't move, she couldn't even think about moving, it just didn't seem to be the right thing to do. Something large and white appeared below her right then, through the pavement that she was standing on. It looked like a large somewhat flattened ball with a 12 foot tail on one end and a mouth housing an eye on the other. It was also big enough to seat four or five people on its back comfortably.
It rose through the asphalt, lifting Pa-bo up into the air on its back. Ranma was somewhat startled by this turn of events, which kept him from detecting the wall that stood behind him. Until he hit it. Not expecting to encounter any more resistance Ranma was totally unprepared. His arms collapsed while the hood of the car impacted his gut, compressing his internal organs beyond anything they had a right to survive.
Pa-bo meanwhile was in hysterics, never having even thought that something like this could happen. She started feeling dizzy as the world tilted, then looked down, wondering what had happened to the young man. She looked down just in time to see him imbed into the wall, bending over onto the hood for a moment before coughing up a rather large amount of blood.
He then straightened and shoved the car away harder than it had hit him before looking up in search of her. "Pa-bo!" He shouted somehow, even though she knew that most of his insides must have been rearranged in a most unpleasant way. Unable to deal with it anymore she let loose a primal scream of fear and confusion, echoed in perfectly empathy by the beast she was riding, before falling into a dead faint.
"PAI!!"
Pa-bo bolted upright, her eyes snapping open, leaving sleep behind. And the dreams.
She glanced around, recognizing the room she was in as her own, but not feeling comfortable in it. The dolls that had been a comfort to her on most occasions now seemed to stare at her as if disappointed. Unable to take it anymore she jumped up and wrapped herself in a robe before dashing from the room, heading toward the faint voices she heard coming from another part of the house.
She saw the light shining under the door and slid it open, stopping in the entryway. Staring at Ranma. Who now that she thought about it should be dead. There was no way he could have survived that car accident, yet there he was, talking and laughing nervously as her two friends seemed to be sitting closer to him than was necessary. For some reason that didn't sit well with Pa-bo, though for the life of her she wouldn't be able to remember why she had that feeling.
Everybody in the room seemed to notice her standing there at the same time. All conversation stopped as every eye in the room stared at her, not sure if they should express concern or gratitude that she was joining them for the evening. They decided to express gratitude.
"Pa-bo, I'm really glad to see that you're awake. I wasn't sure how long you were going to be out after hearing what happened to you!" Makoto enthused, zipping over to the smaller girl and wrapping her arm around her shoulders.
Pa-bo smiled, the concern radiating from her best friend a soothing balm for her frayed nerves. It even prevented her from thinking about the fact Ranma had been hit by a speeding car and puked up some of his innards.
Though that wasn't a concern for Ranma, it would be for just about everybody else in the world. The conversation rolled around for several minutes, everybody expressing their concern for her. It filled Pa-bo with a warm fuzzy feeling that she couldn't get enough of.
Eventually they were all seated around the room on the couches. Strange furniture to find in a Japanese home, but they were apparently used to hosting foreigners, who didn't know how to sit on the floor without hurting something. The customer is always right, of course.
After some time of idle conversation everybody's attention turned toward Ranma, asking him some questions about his past and his skills as a martial artist. Eventually Ranma was able to turn the conversation towards something that he was interested in. Namely, Pa-bo.
"So, how did you get here Pa-bo? What happened to your parents?" Ranma inquired.
"If you like her so much how come you don't know anything about her?" One of Pa-bo's friends asked.
"I wouldn't have had to search for her for 3 years if I knew what had happened to her, don't you think?"
"Oh, right. Heh, heh, sorry."
"So, what did happen?" Ranma wanted to know.
Her two grandparents took over the conversation. "Poor girl, it's so sad. Three years ago she was driving along with her entire family when they got in an unbelievable car accident that ended up with Pa-bo losing a lot of her memories and without her parents."
The two older folk comforted each other for several long minutes while Pa-bo just sat and brooded, trying to get some memories to surface of events before the accident. Once again to no avail. No matter how hard she tried there was nothing that she could do that would allow her even the briefest hint as to what was locked away inside her head, and it caused her no end of aggravation. The doctors hadn't tried very hard to get her to remember once they realized how well the memories were buried. Pa-bo herself wasn't trying all that hard recently either, having discovered what a wonderful life she was leading with her friends and remaining family. But still, sometimes a feeling would tickle at the back of her mind and not leave her alone that this wasn't what was supposed to be going on, there were more things that she should have been doing. But it was just a fleeting feeling, easily ignored in the happiness that was her day to day life.
Now somebody had shown up and disrupted it all, making things seem strange and frightening. Yet, for some reason, she almost welcomed it, like it was a return to what was right, no matter how wrong that sounded. Now her parents were saying something that she got the distinct impression she should be paying attention to.
"Why don't you two girls stay the night here? It's much to late to be sending you home now, and we won't have friends of Pa-bo running around in the middle of the night." Pa-bo's grandmother was saying.
As the two teenage girls were easily talked into staying the night her grandfather turned toward the strange man that had saved her shook his hand, another western thing that they had picked up.
"Why don't you stay the night here too? Can't have the man who saved our little girl out on the street at night. Stay here, you'd be an honored guest." He spoke sincerely.
The pig-tailed youth seemed to be somewhat hesitant to accept the offer, but he did in the end, leaving Pa-bo standing there blinking. She knew she should have been paying attention, now she was having a sleepover and she didn't have anything prepared.
Pa-bo just looked at him, a hard, steady gaze, wondering about him, replaying that memory in minds eye of Ranma being squished against the wall, before pitching forward on the hood of the car and retching blood, obviously from internal bleeding and who knew what else. Yet, here the same boy was standing before her not more than a couple hours later perfectly healthy. Strange indeed.
She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts and went to get ready for bed, her girlfriends joining her up the stairs, commenting quietly to themselves on how cute Pa-bo's house guest was. Pa-bo herself tried to ignore the talk, but she did have to agree with them. He was pretty cute. Not that she would actually admit it to any of them, she was too suspicious at the moment.
Pa-bo sighed and got herself ready for bed, donning one of her more modest sleep wear since they had a male guest. She lay on her bed watching her two friends quickly fall to sleep, not even managing to stay up very late and have their usual girl talk. Pa-bo, however, was restless, never able to find a comfortable position on her bed, despite how comfy it usually was.
She gazed around her room, trying to find comfort in the many small faces of her grandparents dolls smiling down at her from the shelves overhead. Strangely, or perhaps not so, given recent events, they only managed to unnerve her more. It almost seemed like they were watching her, waiting for her to go to sleep, or something preposterous like that. Nevertheless, Pa-bo knew she wasn't going to be getting any sleep anytime soon. With a dissatisfied grunt she swung her legs out of bed and quietly crept out to the patio behind the house, a rather large wooden structure that wrapped around the second story where the bedrooms were and provided a wonderful place to have conversations or to just be alone and do some star gazing.
This time, however, when she stepped out from behind the sliding door she spied Ranma leaning against the railing, looking up at the constellations with an unreadable expression on his face. She almost ran back inside, but something about him just seemed to call her forth. She was trying desperately to think of something to talk with him about when it suddenly hit her. He knew her from before she had her accident, he should be able to help her, hopefully, to unlock her memories.
With something on the tip of her tongue Pa-bo stepped out and joined him on the rail, wondering how lost in thought he was.
"The stars are sure bright out here, aren't they." She said.
Ranma jumped and spun around to face her, several expression passing across his face faster than she could read them. He settled on a cheerful smile. "Yeah, I've always liked looking at the stars. Especially out in places like this, away from the city lights."
Pa-bo nodded, her eyes sweeping across the sky to settle once again on Ranma. The smile still on his face brought such a warm feeling to her heart, got her feeling so fuzzy inside she couldn't understand it. It made her want to trust him implicitly, as if they had been friends forever. Perhaps more than friends.
"So, what do you do for a living?" Pa-bo asked, trying to keep the conversation alive.
"Ahh, I guess you could say I help people in need. I just wander around pretty much and, if somebody is having problems I can deal with, I will for whatever money they might be able to pay me."
His star gazing companion nodded. "Doesn't sound like you can make much money that way."
"Enough to get by."
Another small break in their dialog followed as Pa-bo thought about what he might have been doing as a way of helping people. Ranma broke the silence this time.
"That looks like a good gang you have there." He said, thinking of Dawn and Ken-ken cheering Pa-bo up.
"Gang?" She questioned, the words striking a familiar chord within her, feeling as if memories were trying to surface, but wouldn't.
"Yeah, you know; a group of friends, your gang..." He trailed off as he recalled his own, such as it was. Ryoga, trying to kill him, though he spent more time with him than anybody. Pai, the one he had spent the most time with, who was his gang by and large until she was forcefully separated from him.
He mumbled to himself, but, in the quiet of the night, it carried clearly to where Pa-bo stood beside him. "Though my gang was only you, Pai..."
She jerked as if slapped, a startled look on her face. Ranma turned to her in concern. "Something wrong, Pa-bo?"
She took a step back from him and glared for all she was worth. "You knew me from before the accident, don't you! You can help me get my memories back! Why didn't you say anything?"
Ranma winced. "Because, somebody blocked you're memories! I have to find out how and why before I can do anything about it!"
"Well, you can at least tell me about it! Surely you remember enough to give me some idea of what I was like before the accident."
"Well...that is..."
She rounded on him again before he managed to dig himself into a pit. "What do you mean my memories are being blocked? Why would somebody want to block my memories?! I'm just a regular girl, there's nothing special about me!"
"That's where you're wrong, Pai. There is an underworld, a dark underworld that is trying to keep you from getting back in it. You were a part of that underworld, not the darkness, but the resurgent light. You were doing your best to stop what others were planning on doing to over throw the world. In the middle of that you got stopped. That's why I'm doing what I do for a living. I try and help those people that are still being affected by what they don't understand. I fight demons for a living."
His speech was affecting her, but not the way he had wanted. "NO! That can't be true! There's no such things as demons! I'm just an ordinary girl, I'm not in control of demons, that can't be!"
They glared at each other a moment, trying to get the other to back down and admit they were wrong.
Pa-bo finally looked away. "Why did you have to come here? All you've done is brought chaos into my life. I'm happy the way I am."
Ranma stared at her. "Haven't you felt it? Felt something, something that wasn't right? This is what I'm talking about, that something is the darkworld looking over your shoulder, making sure things go the way they want and not the way you want. You're grandparents, your friends, they all are in some way controlled by this dark power."
Pa-bo's face turned purple with rage. "Don't you talk that way about my grandparents!" She hauled back and slapped him across the face, leaving a hand print across his cheek.
"Pa-bo, I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but you have to realize that this can't go on. They're going to go after you no matter what you try and do. Those scars you have on your forehead, those aren't natural. I'm sure you've noticed you've lost two of them. Don't you think that seems a little strange in light of what else has been going on? Somebody shows up, strange things start happening, you get feelings you've ever had before, and two of your scars are gone. I'm telling you the truth, there are things out there trying to keep you from finding out your own truth, trying to keep you here where you won't be a problem for their plans." He said it with such conviction that Pa-bo found herself believing him against her will. Especially with that warm feeing that was flowing through her when he was looking into her eyes with such strength and spirit.
He paused a moment to gaze at her, causing her cheeks to tinge pink slightly. Suddenly Ranma reached forward and grabbed Pa-bo, pulling her up against his firm chest, making her cheeks turn strawberry from the contact. When she looked up into his face she grew a little concerned, especially after hearing what he said.
"I was careless, they know I'm here."
A faint whistling noise became noticeable, causing both of them to look up. Four bodies were hurtling toward them at great speed. Pa-bo let out a strangled gasp and stared wide eyed. Ranma, still having an arm around her, jumped to the side and rolled around the woman in his arms so he was facing the gaping hole in the deck the hurtling bodies had made.
One rose up from below, performing a hand stand on the edge of the hole and centering its balance, letting the two humans recognize it for what it was. Pa-bo seemed rather startled when she recognized her Grandfathers mannequins right before it bent its elbows and launched itself at them. Ranma jumped to the side again, landing on the edge of the deck, a trembling Pa-bo held against his front. They suddenly tumbled forward when a small teddy bear thumped into his back.
With a startled yelp Ranma flipped around in the air. Pa-bo suddenly found herself being cradled by a powerful set of arms, their steel hard muscles belying the gentle grasp on her body. With a soft thump the two landed on the ground. Ranma let his cargo slide down his front to land on her own feet before he had to whisper i her ear a warning.
"Pa-bo, whatever you do, don't try and help me. I can't be beaten, so don't worry about me."
She looked at him with questioning eyes, her want of clarification obvious. "I can't die, so I'll be fine. Watch out now, and make sure you get away when you can."
With that he pushed her forward. She let out a startled screech, since she was heading right toward one of the animated dummies that had attacked them earlier. It swing its arm out to clothesline her but she had the presence of mind to duck under the blow, her hair getting ruffled by how close she cut it. Ranma's smirk was going full blast behind her, but she was too concerned with stumbling away from the center of the action to really notice.
Pa-bo heard a loud thump behind her, but ignored it until she was at the edge of the clearing, leaning against a tree at the start of the forested area. Once there she turned and tried to get her breath back, really noticing Ranma's movements for the first time.
What she saw took her breath away. One of the four life size dolls was flying backwards through the air, its head having been knocked off. Pa-bo was about to shout a warning, as another plastic bad guy was sneaking up behind him when he dropped into a squat and brought his arm up over his head, easily blocking the overhead strike and holding up the weight of the possessed mannequin.
Ranma spun and snapped a kick out across the dummies head, causing it to separate from its shoulders and fly off a couple feet before being held back by the strings holding the entire thing together. The force of the blow also knocked it into the air and back a good ten feet to land in a pile, arms akimbo, head out at arms length.
Another dummy came in, swinging its arms in a gross parody of punches. Ranma slithered out of their way, his body twisting into what looked like impossible positions while his feet stayed relatively steady. After three strikes the cloth covered minion overextended a roundhouse punch and spun around backwards from the momentum. The pig-tailed martial artist brought his leg up vertical and held it there for a moment, showing off since Pa-bo was watching, before bringing it down as hard as he could across the things neck.
His foot passed through the joint as if it wasn't even there. A second later the head rolled away on the grass, the string having been cut that held the pieces together, thanks to Ranma's use of his ki.
Another dummy jumped at him from behind, but Ranma back flipped over it and landed kneeling on the things shoulders. A quick Amagurikan reduced most of its upper body to a powder, the lower half dropping lifelessly to the ground like its supposed to.
The fourth one jump kicked Ranma's head. Before the foot connected with face, though, Ranma grabbed the calf and flipped the heavy mannequin over his head, cratering the ground when it impacted. Ranma stepped back, knowing that wasn't enough to do it in.
Sure enough, a second later the thing rose from its hastily made grave and started advancing once again, arms hanging loosely at its side. Ranma scowled at it and decided to just get rid of the thing. "Kajin Raju Dan!" Was the cry. The result of his attack was a crossed blade of vacuum that bisected the creature in an x shape centered in the chest.
It seemed to stand there in surprise for a second before falling to pieces. Ranma looked over at Pa-bo and smirked. He saw her mouth the words "So... cool...." before something hit him in the back.
Ranma rolled forward, then back onto his feet, fist lashing out in a backhand to send whatever it was away from his person. The move was wasted, as his attacker was floating about five feet away from him. It was a teddy bear. A cute little brown teddy bear that had just ripped it's stitched mouth open into an evil grin and was laughing manaically. The glowing red eyes also helped dispel the cute image, along with the ripped material forming the mouth, giving it the appearance of fangs. Unsure of what to make of this Ranma settled back into his basic stance, waiting for the bear to make the first move.
The bear dove at Ranma with surprising quickness, mouth open to bite him. Ranma back flipped, one leg extended to bash the stuffed toy in the chin and send it spiraling up into the air. As soon as his feet touched the ground again the son of Genma launched himself skywards and caught up to the still out of sorts plush toy. Ranma clasped his hands together and brought them up over his head, holding them there until he and the bear stopped their upward arc. As they sat in freefall, the moment in time when one neither rose or descended, Ranma brought his hands down and hit the creature in the back with such force it exploded in a shower of stuffing, the legs and a few bits of the arms the only pieces still intact. The pig-tailed martial artist landed lightly amidst a shower of fluffy cotton, his smirk still present.
"Pa-bo, I know I'm the best, but you should've tried to find some shelter instead of watching me, since I don't think it would be a good idea to try and go back to your grandparents house at the moment." Ranma's smirk decreased slightly as he realized his lame attempt to lighten the situation hadn't done a thing.
No, actually it did do something. It got Pa-bo angry. "What do you mean we wouldn't want to go back there? Just because those mannequin's were attacking? You took care of those, it should be safe now, right? Right?!"
Ranma realized that he was dealing with a rather panicked girl that wasn't entirely sure of what was going on around her. He couldn't blame her for trying to get things to go back to the way they were, but he knew that it wasn't going to happen. Now, how to tell her that without getting himself slapped. "Pai, don't you see? Those were your Grandparents mannequins. If they were being used against us, they must already have gotten the old couple. I don't think they knew what they were doing this entire time, since all this was obviously made just to hold you in. You're not who you think you are, Pa-bo, and I wish there was some way I could convince you of this, but I can't think of anything at the moment."
Pa-bo was starting to get a little visibly hysterical. "What do you mean my Grandparents were already taken care of? They haven't ever done anything like whatever just happened, it couldn't have affected them!"
"It's all been arranged. Your Grandparents, the story of the car crash, your friends. It's all been set up to keep you from finding out who you really are! I've been searching for you for 4 years now, I refuse to let those demon bastards get the last of you!"
A resounding smack was heard through the sudden quiet of the forest they were in, just outside the clearing surrounding the house of the doll makers. Pa-bo retracted her arm from the slap, silent tears spilling down her cheeks. "Don't talk about my friends and family like that, Ranma. They mean the world to me." Ranma shivered at the coldness in her voice.
"I'm sorry Pai, but its the truth, no matter how much you may want to deny it. Just like some of my curses, they can't be undone no matter how much you ignore the problem." Ranma's regret at having to tell her that shone through in his quiet voice.
Pa-bo turned and started walking, not really caring where she was going, just to get away from the lies that man was spouting off. Ranma was beside her again a few moments later, his mouth open to try and convince her of what he was saying. She didn't want to hear it anymore and gave him a hard shove away from her. At that exact same moment Ranma's foot fell into a depression in the ground several inches deep that had been perfectly covered by grass, throwing his balance completely off. Combined with his unwilling companions push sent him sideways through the air for a short distance until his head impacted with a rock, the sickening crack of flesh against stone making Pa-bo spin around faster than she had ever done in her life, that she remembered.
Her eyes widened in horror at what she had done, the chances of it happening simply mind boggling. Pa-bo rushed to Ranma's side, reached out to cradle his head in her lap, but drawing back sharply when blood started to drip down the stone he was still propped against. "Oh, Ranma! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that, please don't be dead. I can't believe I did that. How could he have gone flying like that, I'm not that strong. I'M SORRY I'm sorry I'msorryI'msorry, please be alright." The tears were once again falling freely from her eyes, though no sobs escaped. A sudden laugh behind her made the Sanjiyan spin once more, wondering who could possibly be laughing at seeing somebody hit their head on a rock and die.
For some reason Pa-bo couldn't fathom she wasn't too surprised to see another mannequin standing on top of the house, easily visible through the few small trees separating them. This one, however, was female, had blonde hair, a painted on face, and was fully clothed in a pink dress with white frills. The laugh sounded again, distinctly evil this time, as the fake woman slowly spun around in a pirouette, as if she was a blown up version of the little princesses in young girls jewelry boxes. It finished its last spin and stood regarding the young schoolgirl. Right before Pa-bo opened her mouth the mannequin started talking.
"It is not yet time for you, little one. Return, and all shall be as you remembered. Isn't happiness what you want out of life? Weren't you happy, living as Pa-bo, normal school girl, with normal friends Ken-ken and Dawn, with normal Grandparents? You want to go back to that, don't you."
Pa-bo sat next to Ranma in stunned disbelief. Wasn't that what Ranma had been telling her the entire time? That nothing she knew was real, that it had all been arranged for her to keep her from doing something? She didn't want to believe it and was shaking her head back and forth, trying to will the evil doll from her sight. A voice spoke up at her side, startling her again.
"I told you that this had happened, Pai. Now do you believe me?" Ranma said from his position against the rock, now obviously conscious. She shrunk down next to him, her eyes shinning with concern.
"You're not badly hurt, are you?" " She inquired. "I saw some blood when you first landed, but it seems to have cleared up now."
Ranma waved her away and sat up, though a happy smile played across his lips when he didn't thing she could see his face. "I'm fine, Pai. Remember I said I can't lose, so there really isn't a need to be concerned about me."
Pa-bo folded her arms across her chest and looked like she was about to launch into a very sarcastic tirade when Ranma continued. "But I appreciate it anyway. Thank you, for caring." Pa-bo's mouth clacked shut and she stared at him for a few seconds until a slight blush crept across her face, happy at his words.
A thump was heard behind them, and the two seemed to realize they had forgotten all about the head mannequin chick during their little interchange. Ranma quickly stood, taking a step in front of his girl, though she didn't know it yet, determined to keep the evil thing away from her. If she got her powers back he would probably just sit back and enjoy the show, but he had to earn his keep now, and having finally caught up with his elusive, forgetful girlfriend he had not intention of failing.
The large doll stood from her crouch, having jumped down from the roof. She smirked at the two of them and slowly walked forward, her clothes and hair being rustled by the gentle breeze, giving the entire thing a sureal look. Ranma spoke first.
"So you're the thing behind all this. Funny, you're just a doll yourself." Ranma's most annoying smirk was once again on his face.
The fake human stopped a short distance away and regarded them, the only indication that she had heard Ranma's words the scowl that showhow now adorned her painted face.
End for now.
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