[Ranma][Fanfic][Dark] Butaga

[Jai...@zippo.com]

A challenge was issued by one of the members of the Church of the
Black Rose: in honor of the anniversary of the publish date of Dracula,
write a vampire story, using characters in Ranma 1/2 (though not
necessarily the Goddess), starting writing on the first of October (a new
moon) and posting on the 31st of October (another new moon). This is my
submission. I do hope you like it...

Butaga[1]

by Jai-kun

The meal, such as it was, was finished. Neither plate had been touched,
as neither had the appetite to complete dinner.

*The beast rose silently, demandingly, but was pushed down again...
{no... not the right time...} but the beast was insistent.*

Ryouga looked up, smiling slightly, but unable to hide his nervousness,
the sweating NEED inside him. Today. Today he'd quell that need.

Akari looked at him, her Ryouga-sama, the man it seemed she had
been waiting for for all of her existence. Oh, she knew he loved another,
but he'd grow out of that. She'd been waiting far too long to be stopped
by some crush of convenience.

She walked to him. "What is it, Ryouga-sama?" She smiled, bent
near him, crouching to look into his eyes. "You seem..." she licked her
lips, "nervous."

*The beast raged. SO CLOSE! There it was, a source of nourishment,
of life's blood, so CLOSE, and still being restrained! It had been too
long, it needed to feed, and to feed NOW!*

Ryouga practically leapt from his chair, turning his back, clenching
his fists, trembling with obvious restraint. "Akari... I... I..."

She leaned closer...

*The monster raged. {SO CLOSE!! STRIKE! Give yourself the blood
you crave!} Resistance was almost impossible*

He whirled on her, taking her in arms she suddenly realized could
crush her, his eyes wide, his mouth open slightly, the fangs gleaming
slightly in the light of the room. Akari swallowed thickly. "Y-yes,
Ryouga-sama?

*Barely, slowly, the monster was driven back, snarling, and the
mind unclouded*

Ryouga's smile softened. "I lo-"

"Akari!"

*The beast rushed back. The old man could not see...*

They parted rapidly, blushing as the old man bustled up, tears in
his eyes. "More are missing, Akari! More of them are gone!"

Ryouga regarded the old man curiously. "More what?"

Akari hugged her grandfather. "Oh, no!" She turned shining eyes on
Ryouga. "Someone has been kidnapping our pigs, Ryouga-sama!" she turned
away, covering her face. "We never see the monster, never know where the
darlings are taken, but for weeks pigs have gone missing! More and more,
lately!" She sobbed into her hands in grief.

Ryouga looked at her, put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Akari-chan, it will be OK..."

The grandfather regarded them, still trembling in fear and anger.
"The fool let tracks this time! I've seen which way he dragged the pigs!"

Akari's head snapped up. "You have? Oh, where?!"

The old man looked coldly out the window, toward the edge of the
farm. "To the old cave..."

* * * * *

"The old cave?"

Akari nodded, not looking at him. "We found it when I was a little
girl. It's been on the edges o this farm for centuries, I think." Her face
was pinched and clouded, and she looked down, as if the weight of losing
her prized swine was slowly crushing her.

Ryouga followed closely, both to offer protection and to keep from
getting lost. Before long, they came to the cliff wall that housed the
cave.

The hole was dark, and the wind blew from the south. Ryouga pulled
his umbrella from his backpack. "Akari, stay here."

Akari looked up at him, and graced him with a small, sad smile.
"Nonsense, Ryouga-sama. I've come this far, and we don't know how deep the
cavern goes..."

Ryouga waged an inner war with his fears. "It could be
dangerous..."

Akari cut him off by entering the cave. "We have to find out..."

As they stepped in, they were assaulted by the smell. Sickly sweet,
smelling vaguely and sickly sweet, but mostly of copper and rust. It got
stronger as they went further, invading their senses as they tried not to
pay attention. Ryouga had smelled this before, and he didn't like what it
meant.

It was the scent of blood.

*With the scent fresh in the air, the beast raged again, barely held in
check. {TAKE IT! TAKE IT AND BE DONE!}*

Akari looked more pinched, tenser as they went further. There was
a light ahead, maybe he could leave her there and go on. So far the cave
hadn't branched.

They rounded the corner, and the sight before Ryouga's eyes nearly
toppled him in it's gruesomeness.

A dozen pigs' bodies, hanging from stalactites and the cavern walls,
upside down. Their snouts pointed toward the ground.

Ryouga spun, trying to keep Akari from seeing the sight, but he was too
late. She stared, transfixed, pale and wide-eyed.

"R-Ryouga... sama... what...?"

Ryouga left her, himself transfixed, teeth on edge with the site.
He noticed first that there were no decayed or decaying bodies, only these
semi fresh ones.

On closer examination, he saw that they were all...

"...drained of blood." The words came out in a whisper. He heard
the ragged, hissing breath from behind him, and turned, pale in the horror
and nausea

He looked at her, his... his beautiful ranch girl, his gentle
peace from the torment of loving Akane, and was filled with terror. In
her place was this crouching, graceful creature, her eyes glowing red, her
eye teeth long and curved and pointed.

"Akari?! Akari-chan"

She was crouched, but weeping, her fingers curled into hooks, panting,
her tiny frame heaving.

"I can't control it any longer, Ryouga-sama... The hunger is so strong!
The pigs were enough for a while, but... there's only so much sustenance
they can give!"

Blood red tears streaked her eyes, and she crouched, half doubling
over with pain, and half preparing to spring.

Ryouga tensed, but it was too late, she was on him, and her
strength!

Before he could think more, he was raised, against the wall, looking
down into her glowing eyes, watching with a strange fascination the blood
red tears flow down her cheeks. He was dead... he knew it, but he
wouldn't die alone.

Her voice shook as she lowered him. "Ryouga-sama... forgive me...
I can't stop it..." She closed her eyes, opening her mouth wide, wider,
her fangs gleaming before she struck, piercing the coratid artery smoothly
and allowing the blood to flow between her lips and into her hungry,
greedy mouth.

The feeling struck Ryouga, of ecstasy, of love, of sorrow. The
transfer of images, of knowledge was overwhelming, and his mind drank as
she drank of him, his lifeblood and her knowledge flowing between each
other like a conduit.

He could see all, know all in a tumbling of images and sensations
and emotion that threatened to overwhelm him even before death did. He
could see that she had been transformed centuries ago by an ancient
westerner, that the superstitions surrounding vampires were for the most
part wild speculation and fantasy, and that they could pass as a normal
human being easily, being of both the mystical and spiritual plane. He
could see that she had been plagued of dreams of a strong man and a black
piglet, see that the man, that Ryouga, was who she knew as her soul-mate.
He could see that she loathed the taking of human blood, and had turned to
animals, but realized too late that this source would not give enough
sustenance to appease the craving inside her. And he knew she didn't want
to live, not without him, not knowing SHE killed him. He knew this,
suddenly, clearly.

His hand, unfrozen, guided by their mutual will, reached down, pulled
his belt from his waist, and snapped it into the rigid blade he had used
long ago, the one he'd sworn never to use again after nearly killing Akane
with it.

"No, Akari-chan...forgive me..."

He was nearly drained completely, but he managed to coax the last
of his strength and ki into his arm to make the swift slashing motion that
removed the beautiful head from her slim shoulders.

She fell, the head detaching from his neck and rolling slightly
away, facing towards him and the light of the evening sun.

Ryouga slumped, fell on his side, his body fighting the coldness
one last time, looking at her face... There was a slight smile there, and
he, too, smiled as his head hit the ground and lay still, a stream of
crimson blood making its way from her headless body to his lifeless
mouth... and entering it.

* * * * *

The hole was dug, and the head put in, covered with rice and cherry
blossoms from outside. The body was buried further back into the cave. No
one would be the wiser, and all they would ever find in this cave would be
the rotting corpses of dead pigs.

He picked up his sack and looked back one last time, noticing the
sun setting in the west by his shadow against the back of the cave.

"Rest in peace, Beloved..."

He straightened the sack and walked away, wandering as usual, but
knowing he must now avoid this place with all his might.

His eyes glowed and fangs, large and pointed, grew to touch his bottom
lip.

There was still the old man to consider. He knew Akari's secret.
That knowledge must die.

And Hibiki Ryouga hungered.

[1] Butaga is Japanese for Pig-fang (This is taken from the Fanfic "Here's
Uma", in which Ryouga and Akari's son is named Butaga. The translation given
there is as seen above. Gomen if it's wrong.)

Yes, it is true, that IS the sun behind Ryouga. There are many different
stories about the effects of certain things on vampires. I basically took my
definition of vampires from L.J. Smith's Dark World series.

I'd like to thank The BRML, and especially Paul Herring, for giving this
opportunity to expand my horizons.

I'd especially like to thank Tzigane for her continued support and gushing.
Yes, we of the mutual admiration society MUST stick together!

Thank you to San-chan, Kim, Sarah, and Jessica for telling me how wonderful
this story was (even though I thought it lacked), both before and after I
finished it.

Last but not least, thank YOU for reading, and liking... or not liking... or
not caring... OK, Who's writing my notes?!

Jai-kun -- king of the... ummm... FORMER king of the Happyfic.

Questions and Comments accepted at jasonll...@unn.unisys.com.