[Ranma][FanFic] The Bet - Featherbrite's Tale 2b
MetroAnime
Featherbrite's Tale, the Bet. Rough version
by Gregg Sharp based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char
Metro...@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/greggsharp/index.html
2b: A New Challenge (ANC again)
--------------------------Tendo-ke, Nerima---------
Akane couldn't sleep. The reason for
this was not the algebra homework she'd failed to
complete, nor the English test the next day.
It was an unfamiliar feeling. Guilt. She'd
been nasty to this Ranma since the beginning. At
first it was because here was some new boy. She
hated boys, they'd never given her any reason to
think they had any value whatsoever.
Still, he'd been fairly kind and more mature
than the rest of the boys she'd known. Though the
talk about invisible faeries (his father denied there was
anything of the sort) and his curse freaked her out,
she realized that it wasn't _completely_ Ranma's
fault. He'd been dragged around without any friends
or family, so it was only natural that he was a little
weird.
Okay, make that a lot weird.
Still, there was something about him that
just set her on edge. Maybe it was what Nabiki said
it was, that for once a boy had actually ignored her.
Akane dismissed the thought after a moment. Despite
what Nabiki had been hinting, Akane knew she didn't
suffer from pride.
Then there had been that music at lunch,
and she'd felt regret since then. She actually had a
lot in common with Ranma. Loss, and loneliness, and
she'd felt the same alone-within-a-crowd that the
song had seemed to whisper to her.
Akane got honest with herself in the manner
that some people managed to do in the state between
wakefulness and a sleep that wouldn't come. The reason
she disliked him wasn't that he was a freak of nature
that set her teeth on edge (though his cursed form
did that) or that he was capable of doing things she
couldn't (though she resented him for that.)
Akane could admit it to herself, though
if she were fully awake she'd have denied the whole
thing as ludicrous. She had found Ranma attractive
from the start. He was good looking, well built, good
at the martial arts, had a sense of humor and honesty,
and was much more desirable than the hormone crazed
BOYS she had to fight every morning.
"First halfway decent guy to show up in
Furinkan, and he's not only a freak but he chooses
Nabiki. NABIKI! Over me." Akane stared at the ceiling,
not particularly aware that she was whispering aloud.
"Why? I can't have Doctor Tofu, and now this
freak chooses Nabiki. Why not me?"
A sound at her window, like a tapping,
brought Akane to full wakefulness. Akane rose
from her bed, trying to figure out who could be
up at this hour.
Akane found herself looking into eyes the
color of fresh blood before she knew she was in
danger.
----------------------Kuno mansion, Nerima-------------
"Sasuke!"
"Here, Master Kuno!"
"Don't do that!" Kuno got his
heart back under control with some effort. If
he didn't know better, he'd have thought the
bucktoothed ninja enjoyed popping out of
nowhere and startling him.
"Sorry, Master Kuno."
"Have you located what I have
asked for?"
"I have had to request its
manufacture, Master. It will be ready for
tomorrow's battle!"
"Excellent." Kuno didn't even
bother looking at his underling. He was
too busy contemplating the glorious battle
that lay before him tomorrow. "Tomorrow,
my winged elf maid, tomorrow you shall be
mine!"
Kuno's laugh echoed outside the
Kuno Estate the way properly done maniacal
laughter is supposed to.
-----------------Tendo-ke, Nerima-------------
Ranma was awake, and if he had
been in yousei form would have been hovering
near the ceiling in agitation.
The outer layer of wards were not
very powerful. Imps or gremlins would be stopped,
but otherwise it was just a warning system. Those
warnings had gone off as Something broke through.
The wards outside the house itself were
rather stronger and more specialized. These were
specifically wards against supernatural evil. If
something broke through those, there was some
serious trouble. There wasn't the sensation of some
supernatural evil breaking through those, however.
Both the room Ranma occupied, and the
room Nabiki occupied had another layer. This last
layer was subtle, hidden, and only meant to give
the occupant a few extra moments of warning.
It was this last layer that had gone off,
a silent alarm that Something Wicked This Way
Comes. That it had apparently gotten through the
second layer was indication to Ranma that this
was not one of the mindless Thyngs of faerie, nor
even a bog-imp such as the "spider" that had
been ready to devour Featherbrite all those years
ago. This was therefore Evil and Intelligent.
Ranma kicked his father awake then
made a hand signal where the panda could see it.
Genma immediately came awake without his usual
grumpiness and far more quickly. He had been the
one who had taught Ranma the shinobi hand signals
years ago.
Danger. Intruder. Nearby. Ranma's hands
stopped as the door to the room began to slide open.
----------------------------
Nabiki awoke immediately at the sounds of
a fight going on. Wondering what could be this bad at
3am, the groggy teenager stuck her head out her door
and wondered if she were still dreaming.
Hissing like a monitor lizard, Akane hefted
Genma in his giant panda form over her head and
threw him down the stairs like a rag doll.
Ranma did a spinning kick to Akane's
head that should have torn her younger sister's
head off but just caused Akane to stagger slightly.
Ranma used the opportunity to apply
an Octopus hold to the berserk teenager. "Nabiki,"
Ranma managed as Akane tried to dislodge him.
"Get <urk> a spirit ward. <Ak> Hurry!"
Nabiki froze as she got a look at Akane's
face. Maybe it was the bared fangs, maybe it was
the glowing red eyes, maybe it was just the way she
kept slamming the struggling Ranma into and through
the walls. She didn't think that was her sister after all.(1)
Nabiki just barely registered Kasumi moving
forward and slapping something against Akane's forehead.
Whatever it was had to be hot because smoke immediately
started pouring up and Akane HOWLED.
It wasn't until after Akane had collapsed and
a shaking Ranma was leaning against the wall that
Nabiki saw what Kasumi had in her hand. A silver cross.
"WHAT was that?"
"Vampiric possession." Ranma tried to catch
his breath.
"Vampires," Nabiki managed. "Well, I suppose
if curses, faerie, and the like exist, I shouldn't be TOO
surprised. Why did it come here? Why Akane?"
"I don't know," answered Ranma honestly.
"Why Akane? I'm not sure, and speculating would be
pointless. Oh, thanks, Kasumi."
"How do you know about vampires, anyway?
Is this one who followed you?" Nabiki was shaking and
scared and didn't like either condition.
"No. My faerie companion introduced me to
one once during a night I was being music trained. He
isn't a bad sort, though, and would NEVER do this sort
of thing."
"A nice vampire?" Kasumi stated, apparently
not noticing at how Ranma had stared at her nightgown
before turning away flushed. It was just her way of
repeating things to indicate that she understood.
"Yeah, whoever or whatever attacked, I'm
sure it wasn't Geoffery. He's wandering Japan looking
for a cure." Ranma sighed and looked at the damage.
"Guess I better get started fixing all this."
Nabiki hesitated before kneeling down
next to her sister. One hiss or gleam of red though,
and she'd be doing a credible imitation of a gazelle.
She brushed the hair back from Akane's neck and
stared at the two wounds revealed there.
"I'll need to reinforce the wards, and
if Kasumi can buy extra garlic, we can keep this
from going any further." Ranma's gaze met
Nabiki's over the prone Akane.
"Oh dear," summed up Kasumi.
---------------Shinjuku, Tokyo---------------
Vladimir entered his lair and scowled
at the surroundings. So close, he'd been so close.
If he could drink the blood of a faerie, and use the
wings and body in the Dark Arts, then his long
plan could be completed.
"Soon, soon, I shall have my vengeance
against you, Dmitri Maximov!"
The vampire entered his coffin to rest.
Tomorrow he had to feed again on Akane Tendo,
and then he'd be able to get past the wards and
get the blood and body of the faerie.
He didn't realize how much like his
ancient foe he had become.
----------Forest Of Silence, Faerie Realm----------
Holly, a hamadryad Second Class, woke
with a frown. She checked the calendar and realized
it had been 1,237 years 4 months and three days since
she'd had a lover.
This was not acceptable. People had been
telling her that she was working herself into a rut, but
she hadn't quite realized how MUCH of a rut. Even
with the "live for the moment" mentality of the typical
faerie-born, she was aware of seasons much in the
manner of mortal days.
Tapping her feet, the hamadryad considered
her possibilities. There was that satyr she'd met while
she was hanging out with the Princess. Of course, one
could usually count on a satyr for a quick frolic. They
were not really that good, in her experience, at much of
anything.
There was Oberon, but the King Of Faerie was
said to be jaded beyond belief and only something truly
different could arouse his interest. There was that dashing
young cherry tree spirit, but he was a bit inept and clumsy.
He also went off on odd quests for no real reason.
Holly briefly toyed with one of the denizens of
Jade or the (more often bad as opposed to evil) demons of
Makai. Many of the Makai were consummate masters of the
Carnal Arts, skilled artisans of their craft. They also tended
to be boring, petty, and cruel. Jade had a lot of variety, but
the people there tended to be a bit snooty towards a mere
dryad or even a hamadryad.
That left a) a mortal lover, or b) a female faerie.
Holly preferred male lovers, providing one could be found
that had more than one outlet of creativity. There were times
both before and after, that she liked to talk. A strange habit
of hers, she knew, but there it was.
She smiled slowly. She knew now what she wanted
at the moment, and it was company. Conversation, a diversion
from the usual routine of the Realm. She wondered if Featherbrite
was around.
--------------Tendo-ke, Nerima---------------------------
Kasumi was up, as was usual, before
the sunrise. She'd gotten a little less sleep than
normal, undead showing up in the middle of the
night having that effect, and was hoping the rest
of the day was calm enough that a nap could
actually be scheduled.
A six inch faerie entering through an
open window dispelled that idea.
Kasumi hoped that Ranma would be
able to put together that mixing bowl again.
Featherbrite noted that this girl's eyes
were tracking her, and allowed herself to be drawn
from the reunion with Ranma.
"Oh, you must be Ranma's imaginary friend."
Kasumi remembered Genma's talks about that. Ranma
denied that the friend in question was imaginary. If she
could see the little creature, then Ranma obviously had
a very good imagination.
Featherbrite used her abilities to pass through
the woman's almost nonexistant mental defenses and gave
a sigh that would have been accompanied by a big
sweatdrop if she weren't so tiny. A couple of temporary fixes
seemed to be indicated. This girl was so polite that she just
accepted what that horrible Genma had told her, almost
without a second thought.
The faerie checked and found that this girl actually
found Ranma attractive! Not that she'd ever do anything about
it because of some odd barriers she'd put over her behavior, and
some other things the faerie wasn't exactly sure about. Ranma
insisted that tweaking someone's mind was wrong, but surely
a few corrections here and there would be ok.
"Genma is mistaken. He is not very clever." Featherbrite
put a little extra power into the words. "I am invisible to many. You
can see me."
Kasumi nodded. Yes, she had noticed that Mister Saotome
was missing a few bricks from the load. A few donuts shy of a dozen.
The elevator didn't quite reach the top floor, in his case.
Featherbrite looked this girl over, inside and out, and
immediately labelled her "Candidate #2" as far as THAT went. She'd
find Ranma first, then get a sleeping Shampoo off the roof. The
sooner she got someone to start sleeping with Ranma, the sooner
she'd be able to get the damn panda's influence over Ranma diluted.
Finding Ranma asleep, Featherbrite decided that this was
a VERY good idea and found her own place to sleep.
---------------------------------------
"Okay Saotome," Nabiki licked nervous lips. "I'm
ready." Silently she added that she _hoped_ she was ready.
Ranma scooped Nabiki up in her arms. "Okay, now
what?"
"How high up can you go?" Nabiki tried not to
think about the stomach flipflop sensation of freefall. They were
only a foot above the ground, and she had a squeeze bottle of
cold water in case (somehow) they ran into hot water during
the flight.
"What are you two doing?" Akane came out, holding
her head and looking like she'd just gone two rounds with a
world class martial artist.
"I'm going for a ride, Akane. He's my iinazuke, after all,
and it's only fair to find out what all he can do. Even if he's a she
at the moment." Nabiki turned to look at Ranma. "Now, Ranma,
let's find out."
Akane watched as the two figures shot up into the air,
quickly becoming specks in the distance. "Baka..." Akane's
voice broke on the last syllable. She wasn't sure if she was
referring to Nabiki or Ranma. Not that she was jealous, mind you.
Kasumi dried a plate and looked skyward. "How nice.
Do you suppose Ranma's little friend is still asleep in his room?"
Akane gave Kasumi an odd look. "Little friend? Kasumi,
are you feeling all right? Mister Saotome said that it was all just
Ranma's imagination."
"Mister Saotome is a few cards short of a full deck."
Kasumi watched as the tiny speck made a ninety degree turn
and passed behind a cloud. "He's a few fries short of a Happy
Meal. Not running on all cylinders. A few holes under par."
Akane stared and wondered exactly what was going
on. Deciding she was too tired to care at this point, Akane went
back into the house to finish getting ready for school.
Kasumi merely felt a pang of envy, quickly suppressed,
and decided to see if Ranma's little friend was ok.
---------------------------------------
Nabiki decided she would not squeal, she would not
faint, she would NOT do anything to indicate that she was
viewing the entire experience as anything but a scientific
experiment. She was having a very hard time with this.
After looking down at teeny-tiny roads and the
tops of clouds, Nabiki had realized that they had stopped
climbing in altitude because the air was getting thin. Not that
Ranma-yousei's wings beat or had anything like a surface to
air ratio that would have supported them. Because much
further up would have been difficult to breathe.
As far as speed went, she had trouble figuring out
the details. Her watch indicated that they had traveled the
one kilometer from the ice cream parlor to Furinkan high in
less than ten seconds. That indicated, Nabiki did the numbers
in her head, 6km per minute or a top speed via Air Ranma of
roughly 360kph.
She noted that while weightless and blithely ignoring
several important physical laws, it was NOT effortless. When
the two of them arrived at Furinkan, Ranma was quite winded.
Regaining her footing, Nabiki nodded at Ranma.
"Well, that was interesting. I think that I might have a few
ideas how we can make use of that flight talent of yours."
"Whatever you say, Nabiki. I need to find some
hot water before classes start."
Akane arrived and looked around. Everyone was
paying attention to Nabiki and Ranma? Nobody had noticed
that she was here? It wasn't like she felt well this morning
anyway. She decided to be happy about this turn of events,
rather than resent the way everyone was ignoring her arrival.
"Ah, winged goddess, how your presence shines
like the morning sun itself. Truly, you must be a wild spirit.
Let my heart tame you, that you may accept the jesses of
my love."
Almost everyone was staring at Kuno now.
"Uh, Kuno. What the heck are you talking
about?"
"I come prepared to capture your heart, with
this." Kuno pulled the manriki-gusari out and threw it
in one motion.
Nabiki stared in horror, the moment seeming
to be in slow motion as she noted the steel had sleeves
of some dark metal on the links.
"What kind of lame attack is this," Ranma
asked as she reached out to snatch the weapon out
of the air.
-------------------------------------
(1)- based on scenes from TOS, Nabiki is not what
one would call a morning person. It takes her awhile
to bring the higher functions on line.
Next: Another New Complication. we'll see you there.