"Ronald Johnston Jr." ***PROLOGUE*** Soun Tendo stares nervously at the go board before him. A hint of sweat appears on his wrinkled brow as he tries to figure out the problem before him. He sits there and stares at the board as a rather smug looking Genma Saotome sits right across from him, beckoning him to make his next move. "What's the delay Tendo?" Asks Genma, "Are you going to continue to play the game or aren't you?" "I'm just trying to decide on where to put my piece." "Just admit it Tendo, I won this game." "Not yet you haven't!" Replies a defiant Soun Tendo as he slams down his black go piece. "Take that!" Genma's jaw hits the ground as he realizes that Soun had found the one place that would turn the game to his favor. "Now who's in trouble?" Asks a now rather confident Soun as he crosses his arm in triumph. Genma stares worriedly at the go board. Soun believing that the game is as good as his, turns his attention towards the window and looks outside. The sun had set hours ago and the full moon was already up in the night sky. Genma looks up from the board and notices that Soun has turned his attention away from the game. A sly smile appears on his face as a plan forms in his head. "Thinking about Ranma and Akane?" Asks Genma as he reaches for the pieces on the board. "Yes I am." A concerned look comes across Soun's face. "I'm wondering how their date is going." "After all the trouble we went through to get them to go, it better be going good. Especially with all that money you spent on the ring that you gave to Ranma so he could give to Akane." Soun nods back in response. He closes his eyes and pictures the ring he gave Ranma. It was a simple gold ring with two entwined hearts on it. A single small diamond was set in center of both of the hearts. Soun smiles because it wasn't the ring itself that was expensive. The ring was the same exact ring that he gave to his wife when he propsed to her. All he did was adjust the ring to fit Akane. The part that made it cost him was that he was giving a piece of his wife away. The thought of Ranma losing it before he gave it to Akane sent shivers down his spine. "Maybe we should go and check on them." "But father," replies Kasumi as she enters the room with a pot of tea, "You both promised that you wouldn't spy on them if they went on this date." "Yes Kasumi, I remember." Soun raises his empty tea cup for Kasumi to fill. Kasumi fills her father's cup and Genma's cup as well. When she finishes she sits down next to her father and puts the teapot down. She places a comforting hand on her worried father's shoulder. "Don't worry father. You know that Ranma would never allow something to happen to Akane. How many times has Ranma saved Akane from being married to someone else or saved her from a fight." Kasumi's words seem to be working as the concerned look slowly leaves Soun's face. "Even though Akane and Ranma won't admit to it, they do love each other." Soun places his hand onto Kasumi's. "You're right Kasumi dear." "Yes father, I know." The three of them sit there in complete silence until the sound of ringing phone breaks the silence. "I'll get it father." Kasumi remove her hand, picks up the teapot and then leaves to answer the ringing phone. Soun looks back towards a smiling Genma. "Well Saotome, are you going to play the game or what!" Genma pick up a piece and happily places it onto the board. Soun's eyes nearly jump out of their sockets when he looks at the board. "I don't remember those pieces being th......" The sound of shattering ceramic seems to echo throughout the house, disturbing Genma and Soun from their game. "Kasumi......" They rush out of the room and run down the hallway towards the phone. When they get there they see a pale Kasumi with a broken teapot next to her feet as she slowly hangs the phone up. "Kasumi who was that?" Asks her worried father. It takes Kasumi a few moments to regain her composure. "It..... It..... It was Dr. Tofu calling from the hospital. Something has happened to Akane and Ranma. We need to go to the hospital." The trio quickly grab thier jackets and leave the house. As they leave, they fail to spot a single crow resting itself on the wall next to the exit. The crow cocks it's head and watches them as they scurry off down the street. When they disappear out of sight, the crow spreads it's wings and takes off into the seemingly endless night. *************** Writer's opening thoughts: The Crow, what an excellent movie. By that I mean the first one, not the second one. Don't get me wrong, the second movie wasn't as bad as some people claim. I admit that it's a bit weaker than the first one but I'm not here to debated that. I'm here to annouce my new fanfic. As you can probally guess by now, it's based on the crow movie/comic series. I put in a few scenes from both of the movies, mainly because I lost my only copy of the crow graphic novel. The book was completly differnt than the movie anyways. Enough with the chit-chat and let me get on with the story. RTJ One last thing: ***DISCLAIMER*** RANMA 1/2 IS COPYRIGHT OF: RUMIKO TAKAHASHI, VIZ COMMUNICATIONS, SHOGAKUKAN INC. KITTY FILM & PONY CANYON THE CROW IS COPYRIGHT OF: JAMES O'BARR & MIRAMAX FILMS ***END DISCLAIMER*** ******************************************** * * * R A N M A 1 / 2 * * * * I N * * * * T H E C R O W * * * ******************************************** *************** "People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. Sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow will bring the soul back to put the wrong things right." Sarah, The Crow *************** ***CHAPTER ONE*** ***RESURRECTION*** The sun rises to great Nerima as it always does. Ukyo Kounji is scene sweeping in front of her shop. She's dressed in the same outfit she always wears when she is at work. For the last few days though, there has been something different about her outfit. If one looks closely enough, you can see the black ribbon tied around her right arm. The chilly morning breeze picks up and ruins all the work that she just did. She stops sweeping and watches as the dead leaves drift almost effortlessly across the ground. For a few moments she just stands there and watches on. Suddenly she snaps her wooden broom in half and tosses the pieces down the street. She turns and runs teary eyed into her shop. Ukyo stops long enough to turn the open sign around to close before she runs upstairs to her room. She throws open her bedroom door and collapses onto her bed and breaks down even more. An hour passes by before she finally regains some composure. She rolls over onto her back and thinks back to the events of the last few weeks. "Why........" She thinks back to that night she got the call. She had just finished cleaning up the shop and had gone up to her room to relax. Within minutes of turning on the television the phone rang and it was Nabiki calling from the hospital. Ukyo still remembers the terror she felt when Nabiki told her what had happened. "Why........" She thinks back to the double funeral that they held several days later. Ranma and Akane were both buried next to each other in the same cemetery that Akane's mother was. The sheer number of people that showed up for the funeral still held Ukyo in awe. Now that she thinks about it, Ranma and Akane did know allot of people. Even though at one point in time, everyone there was either trying to marry them or kill them. "Why........" She thinks back to the days aftwards. Many people have come by to try and comfort her. Tsubasa help was the worst of them all. He told Ukyo to just forget about Ranma. When she heard that, she sent Tsubasa into orbit and haven't scene him since. Just a few days ago her father came by and told her that she could come back home since Ranma was gone. She told him that she wouldn't and she would only come home when she was ready. "Why did you have to die......." Noise from the outside distracts Ukyo from her current mood. She sits up and finally gets off of the bed. She walks over to the her room's only window and opens it. A blast of cold morning air hits her. Ukyo wraps her arms around herself and looks out at the people passing by her shop. Several people stop long enough to notice the close sign and then continue on their way. (Listen girl, if you don't open the shop soon. You will have to move back home because a closed shop doesn't pay the bills.) Ukyo stands there for a moment longer before decides to head back downstairs. As she leaves her room she hears another noise behind her and turns around. There perched on her window sill is a crow. The crow tilts it's head to the side and looks at Ukyo. She looks back at the bird in pure bewilderment. The bird caws at her a few times. "Get out of hear!" Ukyo picks up a pillow and tosses it at the bird. The crow takes the hint and flies away. (Stupid bird.) ********** Detective Takada sighs as he tosses his jacket onto the back of his chair. Soon he joins his beaten jacket in the chair. He sighs again as he reaches into a nearby white box and pulls out a jelly donut. The chair lets out a mighty squeak as he leans back in it. After finishing off the donut he reaches grabs a thick manila folder in his In box. He pulls out a cigarette as he opens the folder to examine it's contents once again. He picks up two pictures and looks at them. One is a picture of a young girl with short black hair and the other is of another young girl with her red hair done up in a ponytail. "Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome, two friends out having fun when all hell comes crashing down on them." Detective Takada pulls his lighter out of his pocket and lights his cigarette. "What was going through your minds when you two decided to take a nightly stroll through the park." He puts the pictures down and picks up the hospital reports. Ones claims that the red head was dead before the ambulance got to the scene. Another states that the other girl had died at the hospital several hours later. Both reports state that both girls where brutally beaten and sexually assaulted. All money and jewelry was missing so the people upstairs had written the report off as a mugging gone fatal. One thing bothered Detective Takada though, Nerima park was one of the safest parks in all of Tokyo. A mugging hasn't been reported in that park in over a year. Fellow officers say that it must be a new gang moving in on the area. If that was so, how come no one at the precinct has heard anything about some new gang? This bothered him. A couple walking through the park caught the end of the event and called the police. From these people, the police was able to get a description of the four men who did this. The descriptions were slightly vague but Takada recognized them. One tall bald male with a tattoo on his forehead, one short male with a eye patch over his right eye, one average height male with long green hair and glasses, and another male with short black hair and a large scar going down the left side of his face. Just from the first description he knew who the others were. The tall bald man with a tattoo was Nagateru "Skull" Katau. His nickname was Skull because the tattoo on his forehead was that of a skull entwined in barb wire. The other three man were Yuzo "Patch" Ikeguchi, Yutaka "Specks" Ootsuki and Torao "Scar" Arai. Skull was the brains of the group because he was bigger and stronger than the others. But mainly it was because Skull could form a thought in his head, unlike the others. Detective Takada takes one last drag on his cigarette before he puts it out. He puts all the papers back into the folder and gets up. (Those four don't belong to any gang,) thinks the Detective to himself, (What are they doing down in Nerima. They're usually terrorizing the west side of town.) He shakes his head as no answers seem to appear forthcoming. Detective Takada grabs his jacket and puts it on. (Time to earn my pay.) He leaves his office. ********** Ukyo waves goodbye to the last of her lunch rush customers. She picks up a large metal brush and proceeds to scrap her grill clean. As she scraps the grill she looks around her store and notices that it's completely empty. She sighs and puts away the metal brush. She instead moves over to the small television she keeps on the counter and decides to see what's on. A weather report is on and the weather lady is talking about how the weather is starting to get colder. The weather lady rambles on for a few more minutes about the cold weather before another reporter appears. The scene changes and the reporter starts talking about the an event that happened in the park several weeks ago. Ukyo immediately turns the television off. "It's been a month now and the media is still talking about it. When will they stop talking about it!" The door to her shop opens and in walks a lone gentlemen wearing a beaten brown jacket. Ukyo puts on her best false smile and greets the gentlemen. The man walks up to Ukyo, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a badge. "I'm Detective Takada. Are you Ukyo Kounji?" The false smile disappears from Ukyo's face and is replaced with a frown. "What do you want! I run an honest restaurant here!" "Miss Kounji, I'm not here for any of those reasons." "Then why are you here?" Detective Takada takes up a stool at the counter. "I'm here to talk about Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo." Ukyo's face goes white. "I take it that you knew them." "Yes....... I did." Takada realizes that he must have struck a sensitive nerve. "Hey, since I'm here I might as well order a deluxe okonomiyaki. I've heard allot of people talk about how good they are and I haven't had lunch yet." Ukyo nods back in response and begins working on his order. Detective Takada notices her mood has change for the better. "So how did you know them?" "I was Ranma's fiancee." Detective Takada is taken back by this remark. "Did I just hear you say FIANCEE!?!" (That's right, Ranma was brought to the hospital as a girl.) Ukyo gives the detective a nervous smile. "No I didn't say fiancee, I said friend. Ranma and Akane were both good friends on mine." Ukyo puts the finishing touches onto the okonomiyaki and hands it to the detective. Takada looks at the okonomiyaki and then back at Ukyo. (I could have sworn she said fiancee. Then again, why would a girl be engaged to another girl?) Takada shrugs off the remark and proceeds to eat his meal. He finishes off his meal in a matter of minutes. "Wow, you must have been hungry." "I was. Anyway you said you were good friends with Ranma and Akane." Ukyo nods her head. "Then you would know if they had any enemies." "That would be an understatement." "What do you mean by that?" "Ranma and Akane had many enemies." "Why would two young girls have so many enemies?" "Many people were in love him them and wanted to marry them. The funny part was that one person would love one of them and hate the other one." "Why?" Before Ukyo can respond several customers enter the restaurant. "I'm sorry detective. I would love to explain it all to you but I have a shop to run." "Thank you for your time Miss Kounji." Detective Takada reaches into his pocket for some money. "Don't bother detective. It's on the house if you promise me something." "What's that Miss. Kounji." Ukyo looks the detective dead in the eye. "Promise me that you'll make those bastards pay for what they did." "I'll do my best." "Don't do your best. Just make sure you do it!" Takada is taken back by the sincere look in Ukyo's eyes. "I promise." ********** Detective Takada exits Ukyo's Okonomiyaki shop as the cold autumm wind picks up. Takada pulls out a cigarette and lights it up. He stands there and takes several drags on his cigarette. (I got this funny feeling that she's hiding something from me.) Takada takes another drag on his cigarette before he decides to move on. As he prepares to leave he hears a noise behind him and turns around. There perched on a mailbox several meters away is a crow. Takada stands there, cigarette in hand, looking at the bird. The crow hops around on top of the mailbox and caws at him a couple of times. "Now what do you want?" The crow lets out one mighty caw before it flies off into the sky. (Now what was that all about?" ********** The sun finally sets ending another day in Nerima. Soon the moon replaces the sun again in the cloudless sky. Shortly, one by one, shops start to close down for the day. Since her customers left earlier than normal, Ukyo decides to close down early also. After a quick cleans up and decides to take a nice hot bath. After a nice long hot bath she retires to her room. She enters her room with hair wrapped up in a towel and some leftover okonomiyaki in hand. She sits down in front of her mirror and turns on her radio. Soft music permeates throughout the room as she fixing her hair. After putting her hair in several different styles she finally decides to keep it the same way she always kept it. When she finishes she gets up and walks over to her window and opens it. The cold night air instantly chills her to the bone but she decides to keep it open anyways. She places her arms on the ledge and peers out at the night sky. She looks up and marvels at how the stars shine so brightly in the sky. A shooting star catches her attention. Ukyo closes her eyes and makes a quick wish. (Oh shooting star, all I wish for is vengeance for my Ran-chan.) Ukyo finishes by saying a little prayer for Ranma and Akane. When she opens her eyes she spots a crow perched on the street lamp in front of her. The crow opens it's wings and swiftly flies off. Ukyo watches as the crow disappears in the night. She turns her attention back to where the shooting star was. (Please shooting star, please grant my wish.) ********** The crow glides effortlessly through the chilly night sky. It catches an updraft and lifts higher into the dark sky. Many who would look up into the sky would never see this bird because of it's dark color. Those who did would just shrug it off as just another bird flying about in the sky. This little black bird was different though. This little black bird was on a mission and it was looking for something. After a while it spots it's destination and swoops down into a poorly lit cemetery. The bird lands on a tree branch and looks around the cemetery. It spots what it's looking for and swoops out of the tree and lands on one of the headstones. The crow lets out a few mighty caws and then stops. It stands there on the headstone as if it was waiting for something. Not getting a response, it then begins to peck at the headstone and lets out a few more caws. Slowly the ground in front of the headstone begins to move. The crow notices this and begins hopping around the headstone and lets out a few more caws. A hand breaks through from underneath the ground. Soon another hand breaks through and shortly afterwards the rest of the body breaks through the earth. As the figure slowly drags it's ragged form from the hole in the ground, the crow takes flight once again. When the figure finally pulls itself from the hole it curls up into a ball on the nearby grave. The figure slowly lifts it's head and reads the name of the grave it's laying on. "Akane Tendo......" Seeing this, the figure wraps it's arms around the headstone and lets out a mighty wail. "No it can't be true! This can't be her grave! IT JUST CAN'T BE!!!!!" The ragged figure breaks down and starts crying. After a few minutes the figure stops crying and turns it's head to look at it's surroundings. The figure spots the hole it just crawled out of and the headstone in front of it. The figure leans in closer to read the name carved on it. "Ranma Saotome....." ***END CHAPTER ONE*** ***CHAPTER TWO*** ***AWAKENINGS*** "Ranma Saotome....." Ranma-kun leans in closer to get a better look at the headstone. "Ranma Saotome....." He just stares at the name on the headstone for countless minutes. Then unexpectly he begins to laugh uncontrollably. "Ranma Saotome!!!" Still laughing, he gets up and starts walking away from his apparent grave. As he leaves the cemetery laughing like a crazed lunatic. A light misty rain begins to fall, changing Ranma-kun into Ranma-chan. This doesn't bother him in the least bit in his current state of mind. He mindlessly wonders into town and makes his way through the alley ways in his tattered burial clothes. After traveling a few blocks, Ranma finally starts to calm down and so does the rain. Ranma looks around and notices that she is in front of Ukyo's shop. She looks up at Ukyo's bedroom window. "UKYO!" Screams out Ranma. ********** Ukyo suddenly sits up in bed and looks around her room. (That's odd. I thought I heard something.) Ukyo shakes her head in disbelief. She gets up and walks over towards her dresser. She picks up the teapot resting there and tests it to see how warm it is. To her disappointment she discovers that the tea is cold. As she is putting the teapot down, a strange feeling comes over her. She looks around her room again and as was before, no one is there. Even though no one is around, she just can't seem to shake the uneasiness that she feels. As she heads back to her bed, she happens to glance in the direction of her window. Through the window she spots someone in the street. She walks closer to the window to get a better look. When she reaches the window, the figure is gone. All she sees now is a crow perched on the street lamp in front of her. (That's odd. I could have sorn that I saw someone.) Ukyo glances at her watch. (It's almost time for my meeting. I better change and get going.) She turns and heads towards her closet. ********** (That was close.) When Ranma-chan saw that Ukyo was moving towards the window, she bolted into the alley next to the shop. Ranma leans up against the brick wall of Ukyo's shop. (You idiot! If she saw you.......) Ranma clenches his right hand into a fist. (Who knows what she might have done.) A black object flies by Ranma's head. Ranma turns her head and spots a crow perched on the trash can few feet away. Ranma stands there and stares at the strange bird. A cold bitter wind pick up. Ranma wraps her arms around herself to keep warm. The crow starts pecking at the trash can's lid. Ranma ignores it and decides that it's just a bird looking for scraps of food. The crow looks up at Ranma and starts cawing at Her. Ranma turns her attention back to the bird. The crow opens it's wings and starts hopping around on top of the lid. (If I didn't know any better. I would swear that that crazy bird is trying to tell me something.) Ranma moves over to the trash can as the bird continues to peck at the lid. As Ranma reaches for the lid, the crow flies off and lands on a nearby street light. Ranma takes off the lid and discovers a pair of old black hiking boots. Ranma garbs them out of the can. (These are Ukyo's.) After looking the boots over, all Ranma can see wrong with them is that the soles are a little worn but that's about it. Ranma looks down at the pair of cheap dress shoes that she is wearing and then back at the boots in her hand. After deciding that the boots look like they would fit better than the dress shoes, she makes a quick exchange. After she throws the dress shoes into the trash can, the crow starts cawing at Ranma again. Ranma watches as it flies out of the alley and glides down the street. It flies on for a bit before it lands on a street light. The bird turns to look at Ranma and starts cawing again. (I think that it wants me to follow it.) Ranma walks down the street a bit and stops under the street lamp that the crow is perched on. When she gets there, the crow takes flight again. After flying a short distance it lands again and starts cawing at her again. Ranma picks up the pace and starts running after the bird. The bird takes off again and then turns down one street. Ranma breaks out into a full run to keep up with the bird. After a few miles it lands on a street lamp to see if Ranma is still following and sure enough, she is. After flying for a few more miles the bird lands again. Ranma, slightly out of breath, catches up with the bird. "So where have you been leading me to?" The crow turns it's head to look at the structure before it. Ranma turns her head and instantly recognizes the place. "The Tendo dojo......." ********** Four men of rather questionable morals are walking down a dimly lit street in another part of town. The leader, a rather tall bald male, is leading the group. As the leader walks underneath a street lamp, one can vaguely see the tattoo of a skull wrapped in barb wire on his forehead. Another of the group, wearing an eye patch over his right eye, walks up to the bald male. "Hey boss, what are we going to do tonight? Are we going to bust up another store? Or how about we go hunting in the park like we did a few weeks ago?" "Yeah Skull, what are we going to do?" Asks a man wearing glasses. Skull stops dead in his tracks and turns around. He looks down at the eye patch wearing male. "We're going to meet an old employer of ours. Our employer didn't want to pay us because of Patch's trigger happiness.!" "Hey boss, I was told that I could do anything I wanted as long as I didn't do anything to that boy. Did you see any boy with that girl. No, all I saw was another girl with that girl. How was I suppose to know that our employer would get pissed if I took out that other bitch." Skull backhands Patch across his face and Patch goes crashing to the ground. Skull steps over Patch. "Idiot! Our employer said to kill that one girl and to ruff up anyone else with her. Our employer did not say to kill the other." Patch lifts himself up on his elbows. He takes the back of his hand and wipes off his bloodied busted lip. "Because of your recklessness, the cops now have twice as much reason to come looking for us." Patch gets back up on his feat, reaches into his jacket, pulls out a revolver and points it at Skull. "Listen Skull! I'm really getting tired of putting up with your crap! So what if I off that little bitch, big deal!" Skull stares fearlessly at Patch. "When our employer found out about us killing the other girl, she was so upset that she didn't want to pay us." Skull gives Patch a sinister grin. "It took a little sweet talking on my part but I finally managed to convince our employer to pay us after all." Patch lowers the revolver. "How did you convince our employer?" Still grinning, "Don't worry about it." Skull turns and continues on his way. "Let's continue on our way and meet our generous employer." Patch puts the revolver back in it holster under his jacket. "Now you're talking boss!" The two other men pass by Patch. Patch quickly rushes up to the long green hair man wearing glasses and gives him a hearty slap on the back. "Guess what Specks?" Specks pushes his glasses back in place. "What is it Patch?" "It's payday!" Patch lets out a mighty howl of joy. Specks just shakes his head as Patch starts to hassle the man next to him. The four men continue on their way down the street. Every now and then they make a turn onto adjacent streets. Soon Skull stops dead in his tracks and turns to his followers. "I'm going to meet with our employer. You three stay here." "Why can't we go with you?" Asks the male with a giant scar down the left side of his face. "Probably because you'll scare our employer away with that beauty mark on your face." Replies Patch. Scar reaches into his vest and pulls out a rather large knife. "What did you say to me Patch?" Patch reaches into his jacket and pulls out his revolver. "Why, didn't you hear me Scar." "Put your toys away fools!" Bellows out Skull. Patch and Scar just stand there and eye each other. "I said, put your damn toys away!" Patch and Scar eye each other for a few moments before they grudgingly obey Skull. "Specks, try and keep these two morons from killing each other while I'm gone!" Orders Skull as he disappears down a dark alley. ********** "Stupid idiots are going to kill each other one of these days. I just know it." Grumbles Skull as he walks down the dim alleyway. He stops when he gets halfway down the alley. "You're late." Skull turns his head and spots his employer keeping to the shadows. "Had a unexpected hang up." Skull's eyes narrow. "So where's my money?" "I don't know why I should have to pay you. After all, you botched the job!" "Hey! You said to kill that girl and not to harm that guy. If anyone else was around, you said we could ruff them up. The girl was there with some other girl. The guy was nowhere to be scene." "Yes I said to kill that one girl but that's was the only person I said to kill! When I said to take care of anyone else with her. I didn't mean to have them kill to!" "Oh well. What's done is done." Skull holds out his hand. "We did the main part of the job, so why are you so damned pissed off. Just give me my money!" Skull gives his employer a wicked smile. "If you don't. Then I won't be responsible for what happens if certain information leaks out about you....." A sack is thrown from the shadows and lands at Skull's feet. Still smiling Skull leans over and pick up the sack. He opens the sack and looks around in it. A frown swiftly replaces his smile. "This is only half of what you said you would pay!" "I'm keeping the other half since you did a half ass job." Skull continues to frown before as he storms out of the alley. "Pleasure doing business with you Skull." ********** As Skull emerges from the alley, the others can easily tell that all did not go well. Specks steps forward, "What happen Skull? Did our employer decide not pay after all." "Our employer did pay." "Then what's the problem?" "We only got half because of what Patch did!" Scar turns and shoves Patch. "Because of you're stupidity, we're only getting half!" "Fuck off Scar!" "Make me Patch!" "Will you two shut the hell up!" Bellows Skull. Skull reaches into the bag and pulls out the money. "Because you screwed us out of some money Patch. I'm gonna screw you out of some of your money." "WHAT!" Skull divides up the money and passes it around. "You heard me Patch. I'm cutting into your share to make up for our lost." "But Skull," whines Patch, "You always get more than the rest of us." "You got a problem with that Patch." "No." "Thought so." Skull finishes handing out the money. "That's it for tonight gentlemen. You're free to wreck what ever havoc you want to for the rest of the evening." "Alright it's time to party!" Howls Patch. "Remember, meet back at the usual place tomorrow night." The three men nod their head in response. Soon Skull walks off with Scar right behind him. Patch and Specks head off into another direction. "So what are you gonna with your money Specks?" "That's none of your concern Patch." Patch sticks his hands in his jacket pockets. "I would go off an get loaded but I got screwed out of my money." "Didn't you make any money from the jewelry you took from those girls?" "That damn bloated fool wouldn't give me much. Didn't even give me a fair deal on that nice looking ring." "Takei can be a cheap son-of-a-bitch." "You can say that again." Patch puts his arm on Specks' shoulder. "Tell you what. Since you got paid, I'll let you by the first round." "You're to kind Patch." ********** Ranma-chan carefully opens the window to Akane's room. Without making a single sound, she enters the room and closes the window partway. Ranma looks about the room and notices that it hasn't change at all. As Ranma walks around the room, she spots a picture sitting on Akane's dresser. She walks over to the picture and picks it up. It's the picture of the gang at the beach. "Akane....." A small tear forms in Ranma's eye. Suddenly Ranma doubles over in pain. She grabs her head in agony as the memories of that night come rushing back. "No I don't want to remember......" ********** Akane and Ranma are walking down the dimly lit park path. Akane's white sequin dress seems to glow in the bright moonlight. Ranma doesn't notice, he's to busy staring at the stain he has on his rented tuxedo. Akane, who is leading the way, stops and turns around to face Ranma. Ranma doesn't notice this and he walks into her. Ranma instantly takes a step back and cringes as he waits for Akane to yell at him. To his amazment she doesn't, instead she starts to giggle. "Ranma....." Ranma relaxes just a bit. He still half suspects that she going to pull a sweet act before she smacks him. "Yes Akane." "Ranma..... I really had I good time with you tonight." This shocks him, "You did!" "What's the matter? Didn't you have fun too?" Ranma starts scratching his head. "Well yeah, I did. Even though......" "Even though what?" With a smile, "Even though I expected Kuno or someone else to come and ruin it." "But no one did." "The date isn't over yet." Akane widens her smile as the wind slowly begins to pick up. Akane wraps her arms around herself to keep warm. Ranma notices this and takes off his jacket and puts it on Akane. "Won't you be cold without your jacket?" "I'm wearing a full suit and you're just wearing that short dress. You're the one who needs to be wearing extra clothes." "Speaking of clothes," Akane points towards the stain on Ranma's shirt, "Getting that cleaned is going to cost a fortune. Your father is going to be mad." "Hey, it was his idea for us to go to that place. He should know that I've never eaten pasta american style." Akane giggles as she remembers the moment Ranma dropped the spaghetti on himself. "It wasn't that funny Akane." With a smile. "Here, let me see if I can't do something about it." Akane opens her purse and pulls out a white handkerchief. The wind suddenly picks up and snatches the handkerchief right out of her hand. Just as fast as the wind picked up, it just as quickly dies down. The handkerchief lands in the grass a couple of meters away. "I'll get it Akane." Ranma walks out into the grass and picks up the lost handkerchief. "Got it." A metallic object abruptly pops out of the ground. "I hope that isn't what I think it is." Water starts showering out of the metallic object. "A water sprinkler." Groans Akane. Later, Akane with a soaking wet and slightly peeved Ranma-chan continue their way through the park. Akane is doing her best to keep from giggling. "Here Ranma," Akane starts to take off the jacket, "I think you need this more than I do now." As Akane takes off the jacket, a small package falls out of it's pocket. Akane notices the package and picks it up. "What's this?" "It's a....." "It's a what?" Ranma puts on the jacket and puts her hands in her pockets. "It's a gift for you." Responds Ranma with a sheepish look on her face. Akane slowly unwraps the package and open it. Inside is a small golden ring with two entwined hearts on it. The diamonds set in both of the hearts gleam brightly in the moonlight. Akane's eyes start to water up. "It's beautiful Ranma." "Well try it on." Akane takes the ring out of the box and puts it on. "It's a perfect fit." Forgetting about Ranma's current form, Akane grabs Ranma in a fierce hug. "I love it Ranma!" Ranma stands there not knowing what to do. Usually when something like this happens, someone instantaneously appears and breaks it up. Ranma looks around and sure enough, no one appear. Ranma finally decides to give in to the moment and wraps her arms around Akane and returns the hug. The two stand there embracing each other for what seems to be for an eternity. ********** "No! Please end it here! I don't want to remember the rest!" Cries out Ranma as she rolls around on the floor. "Please.....," whimpers Ranma. "Don't make me remember the rest." ********** Akane looks up into Ranma's eyes. (If only Ranma didn't change.) (If I only didn't change.) Thinks Ranma to herself. "Aw, ain't that cute," remarks a strange voice. Akane and Ranma break thier embrace and turn to face the stranger. It turns out to be four strangers instead. Patch pokes Specks in the ribs. "Think they're lesbians Specks." "If they are," responds Specks, "Then this just got more interesting." Ranma grabs Akane's hand. "Come on Akane, let's go." Akane and Ranma turn and start to leave but Scar runs in front of them cutting off their escape. "Now where do you think that your going?" Mocks Scar. "Far away from here!" Ranma cocks back her arm and punches Scar in the face. Scar goes flying backwards until he hits a tree. "The red head has some spunk," remarks Skull. Specks nods in agreement. Patch pulls out his revolver. "I hate spunk in a woman." Akane and Ranma freeze when they spot the gun in Patch's hand. "Ranma...." Ranma steps in front of Akane. "Don't worry Akane. I won't let anything happen to you." Akane places a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "But that man has a gun." "Only a weakling has a need for a gun." "The red head just called you a weakling Patch. I guess she knows you after all." Mocks Specks. "A weakling you say! I'll show you weakling bitch!" Patch levels and aims the gun at Ranma. Specks interrupts Patch. "Now hold on a moment Patch. You have a gun and they don't. I say we give these lovely ladies a fair chance to get out of this." Specks reaches into one of his pocket and pulls out a deck of cards. Specks masterfully shuffles the deck and hands it to Ranma. "Here you go sweetie. Pick a card from the deck. If your card beats mine then you two get to go free." "What if you win?" Inquires Ranma. "Then," Specks jesters towards Patch, "I let my friend continue on with what he was about to do." Specks holds out the deck to Ranma. Ranma nervously reaches out and chooses a cards. With a smile, she lifts her cards and flashes a jack of hearts. "Nice card sweetie. That'll be hard one to beat." Specks quickly reshuffles the deck and draws a card. "A king of clubs, you lose." Specks steps out of the way. Patch levels his gun and takes aim. As he does, Ranma grabs Akane and tries to make a quick get away. The sound of Patch's gun going off echoes throughout the whole park. Ranma falls to the ground clutching her left leg. Akane kneels down to examine the bullet wound in Ranma's leg. Ranma pushes Akane away. "Get out of here stupid!" Akane's sudden concern for Ranma quickly turns into anger. "Who are you calling....." A pair of strong arms wrap themselves around Akane and picks her up. "Stupid girl," mocks Skull from behind, "You could have left her behind and gotten away. Good thing you didn't." Scar walks up to Ranma and looks down at her. With the side of his hand, he wipes the blood away from his bloodied lip. He then spits on Ranma. "Stupid bitch!" Scar cocks his leg back and kick Ranma in the stomach. "You made me lose a tooth!" Scar continues to kick Ranma. Specks walks up to Scar and put a hand on his shoulder. "Scar, try not to damage her to much. We might want to have fun with her later." Scar stops kicking. "I get your point Specks. She is kinda cute." "I'll show you cute!" Ranma swiftly jumps back to her feet. With a great amount of pain, she attempts a round house kick. Her attack catches both of the men off guard and she strikes both of them. Both men are knocked over backwards. Another shot goes off and Ranma crashes to the ground again. Akane cries out Ranma's name. "Let's see how nimble you are with a bullet wound in both legs." Cries out Patch. Scar gets back on his feet and undoes his belt. "Bitch, you're about to be had like you've never been had before." Scar descends onto the helpless Ranma-chan. Akane valiantly tries to break Skull's grip on her but he is just to strong. She watches in disgust as Scar violates Ranma. When Scar finishes he gets up and looks towards Akane. Ranma notices this. "Don't you dare touch her!" Scar looks back down at Ranma and gives her a swift kick to the face. "Bitch you ain't in any condition to tell me what to do!" Ranma spits out a tooth and gets up on her knees. "I swear....." Specks grabs Ranma by her hair and lifts her up. "You swear what?" "If you touch her...... I'll kill you all." The four men stare at Ranma in pure silence. "Oh Ranma....." The four men suddenly start laughing out loud. Specks lets go of Ranma's hair and she lands on the ground with a thud. "Did you guys hear that? She said she would kill us if we touch her." Scar walks up to Akane. "Did you hear what your friend said? She said she would kill us if we touched you." Scar backhands Akane across her face. Scar then turns to Ranma. "I touched her, now what are you going to do?" Ranma gets back to her knees and stands back up. "I don't think so little girl." Patch aims his gun again and fires. The shoot strikes Ranma in the chest but Ranma still stands. "Amazing," goes Specks. "Despite being shoot in both legs and again in the chest, she still fights on." "Let's see how well she can fight if I fire again." Patch fires his gun again. The shot strikes Ranma in the chest again. Ranma falls down to her knees but struggles to get back up. "Bitch! Won't you die!" Patch fires again and again it strikes in Ranma the chest. The pain and torment afflicted upon Ranma finally takes it toll on her spirit. "AKANE!!!!!" Cries out Ranma as she collapses to the ground in a bloodied heap. Specks walks up to Ranma's still form and kneels down to examine the body. Ranma's had suddenly shoots forth and grabs Specks by his throat. Specks franticly grabs Ranma's hand and tries to pry it off his throat. "I SWEAR THAT I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!!" Patch fires his last round into Ranma. Ranma's grip weakens enough for Specks to finally free himself. "RANMA!!!" Cries out Akane. "Akane....," whimpers Ranma. Patch opens his gun and empties out the spent rounds. "Damn bitch took six rounds and she's still alive." Scar kicks Ranma in the stomach again. "Don't worry Patch, she won't be for much longer." Skull finally lets go of Akane and she immediately rushes to Ranma's side. She carefully picks up Ranma's prone bloody form. "Ranma....." No response. "Ranma....." Still no response. Shaking Ranma, "Ranma!!!!" Ranma's eyes slowly open, "Akane......" Akane places a finger to Ranma's lips. "Don't try and talk just hold on until I can get you to a doctor." "You ain't going nowhere till we have a little fun!" Remarks Skull as he grabs Akane by her hair. With a yank, he pulls Akane away from Ranma. "RANMA!!" "Akane....." Mustering up every bit of energy she has left. Ranma tries once again to stand back up. "I don't think so!" Patch points his reloaded gun at Ranma and fires off two rounds. Ranma crashes to the ground again. As her vision begins to fade, Patch stands over Ranma. "And our employer said it would be hard to take them out." Patch fires his gun once more. The last thing Ranma remembers before everything goes white, is Akane calling out her name. "Akane......." ********** Ranma is curled up in a little ball on the bedroom floor. "Akane......." Ranma slowly unravels herself and uses the dresser to help her stand up. She raises her head and looks into the mirror. In a fit of rage she rips off the clothes that she is wearing. When she tears off the last piece of clothing, she stares deeply into the mirror. She stares at large scars the bullet wounds left on her chest. In another fit of rage, Ranma punches the mirror. The mirror shatters and large fragments of the mirror imbed themselves in Ranma's hand. "Akane......." Ranma pulls her hand away from the mirror and examines her ruined hand. To her amazement, her hand slowly rejects the pieces of the mirror and heals back to normal. (What the.....) Ranma reaches towards the mirror and grabs a fragment of the mirror. She raises the piece high in the air and promptly brings it down to impale her hand. Even though the mirror shard is impaled through he hand, she feels no pain. With her good hand she yanks the shard out of her hand. Again her hand heals back to normal. Ranma hears a noise behind her and turns around. Perched on the window is the crow that brought her here. "You brought me back, didn't you?" The crow nods it head in response. "And I'm willing to bet that you're responsible for this to." Asks Ranma as he hold up his hand. The crow nods again. "But why? Without Akane, my life isn't worth living." The crow stares at Ranma. An old memory comes haunting back to Ranma's head. ********** Patch is standing over Ranma. "And our employer said it would be hard to take them out." Patch fires his gun once more and everything goes white. ********** "Somebody hired them to kill us. Who could do such a thing." The crow just stands there silently. Ranma's anger begins to rise. "Who would be cowardly enough to do such a thing." Ranma's anger starts to become uncontrollable. "WHO..... WHO......" The sound of Akane calling out her name echoes throughout her head. Ranma storms up to the crow. "TELL ME! WHO SENT THEM TO KILL US!" The crow just stares at Ranma. Ranma backs away from the bird. "You don't know do you?" The bird caws back in response. "That's why you brought me back. To find out and take my revenge." Again the bird caws back in response. Ranma looks herself over. "I can't go taking my revenge dressed just in these boots." Ranma turns and walks over to Akane's closet. "I hope they haven't packed everything away yet." Ranma opens the closet and notices that it's still full of clothes. With a smile she goes browsing through the closet. She selects a black shirt and the rushes over to the dresser and opens it. After doing a little digging she pulls some black shorts. As she puts on the shirt and shorts, Ranma decides that she still needs something else. Out of the corner of her eye she spots a smiling theater mask mounted on the wall. Ranma walks over to the mask and pulls it off the wall. (I bought this for Akane after Romeo and Juliet disaster.) Ranma remembers the smile on Akane's face when she gave it to her. She tosses the mask over her shoulder and rushes back to the dresser. She yanks out Akane's makeup bag and starts digging through it. Finding what she was looking for, she pulls out a small container and starts applying white makeup all over her face. After she completely covers her face, she grabs a piece of the mirror. She then pulls out a tub of black lipstick and uses it to copy the black marks that were on the mask. Soon she finishes. She places the lipstick back down and garbs a large piece of unbroken mirror to look into. "Perfect." Ranma puts down the mirror piece and looks around the room. "But I still need something." It suddenly dawns on her and she rushes towards the closet again. (I think that it's still in here.) Ranma yanks objects off of the closet's top shelf. Not finding what she's looking for, she begins to open the boxes on closet floor. After opening some of the boxes, she finds what she is looking for. With shaking hands she pulls out a black leather jacket. "Ryoga got this for Akane when he was in the States." Ranma holds the to her face. "She loved this jacket." Ranma gets back to her feet and slowly puts the black leather jacket on. With a wicked grin, she turns towards the crow. "Well my feather friend, let us be off. The night is young and we have to find four certain men." The crow caws in response and takes off. When Ranma gets halfway out of the window, she stops and turns around to look back into the room. "I swear that I will get revenge for us Akane. I swear......" Without a further moment of hesitation, Ranma turns and exits the room. ***END CHAPTER TWO*** Well that's it for now. I have finished chapter three and have chapter four almost done. I should have them posted by no later than Saturday of next week. If you want to leave comments, praises or flames you can contact me at rtj@hotmail.com Till next chapter!!! RTJ September 26, 1996 Ranma 1/2 Xover The Crow Chapters 3 & 4 Quick Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is copyright of: Rumiko Takahashi, VIZ Communications, Shogakukan Inc. Kitty Film and Pony Canyon The Crow is copyright of: James O'Barr and Miramax Films To really understand what's happening you're going to have to read the first two chapters. You can Email me at rtj@hotmail.com and I can send you a copy in case you can't find it posted anywhere. A quick remainder on what has happened. Akane and Ranma were forced to go on a date by their loving parents. While on their date Ranma got splashed with water and changed while they were in Nerima park. While in the park they were attacked by four men. One of the four men had a gun and killed them both. A month has past and the cold fall weather is starting to set in. A crow goes to Ranma's grave and returns him to the mortal plane. Ranma follows the crow back to the dojo and relives the events of that fateful night. Ranma remembers one of the men saying that someone sent them there to ruin their date. Desiring revenge, Ranma in his cursed form, puts on some of Akane's clothing and applies the white and black face paint. We now pick up as Ranma goes after his first victim. ***CHAPTER THREE*** ***RETRIBUTION*** Ranma-chan jumps from rooftop to rooftop in pursuit of the crow. The adrenaline in Ranma's body is on overtime as she follows the bird from roof top to roof top. The crow suddenly swoops down and lands on a television antenna a few buildings away. In seconds, Ranma catches up with the bird. "Well, where did you bring me?" The crow flaps it's wings and motions it's head down towards the street. Ranma peers over the building's ledge and looks down. All she can see from the angle is the pawn shop across the street. "I still don't understand why....." An object glimmers slightly from the pawn shop's window. Curious, Ranma leaps off the roof and lands in the street. The crow leaves it's perch, flies down and lands on Ranma's shoulder. Ranma approaches the shop's window and looks in. In the window is a couple of televisions, some fans, and to the left of them is some jewelry on display. Ranma is about to leave when a certain piece of jewelry catches her attention. She quickly turns and looks back into the window. There, sitting on a small red velvet cushion, is a small golden ring with two entwined hearts. The diamonds in two hearts shine brightly even in the blackness of night. "That's.... that's.... that's the ring I gave Akane." Ranma looks up at the window. "Takei's pawn shop." Ranma then looks back at the window. A faint light can be scene in the back of the store. "It looks like Mr. Takei is putting in a late night. I wonder how Akane's ring came into his possession. Maybe I should ask." ********** Takei's bloated form is resting on a stool while he counts out the money he made today. When he finishes, he reaches out with a massive hand and grabs a nearby BLT sandwich which he promptly stuffs into his mouth. "Yes," grumbles Takei between bites, "Another good day." He looks around his cluttered shop. "Over half of this stuff is stolen. The creeps steal it and then I buy it from them for a third of what it's worth. Then I turn around and sell it again for full market value. Sometimes I get twice what I paid for it." Takei smiles as he picks up his money and stuffs it into a large envelope. He picks up the envelops and slowly lifts his fat self from the stool. As he reaches to turn off the light, a knocking is heard at the store's door. "WE'RE CLOSED! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO COME BACK TOMORROW!" Yells Takei. The stranger at the door begins to knock louder. Takei drops the envelope on the store counter as he reaches underneath the counter and pulls out a small pistol. "I SAID, WE'RE CLOSED YOU BAKA!" The stranger at the door just knocks louder. "I SAID....." The glass door shatters and in walks a red headed female dressed all in black. "I hope you're planning on paying for that door." Takei looks the female over. "If you don't have the money then I know another way to make up for it." Ranma slowly walks up to the fat man. Takei cocks the pistol. "Not a step closer sweet heart. You may be cute but you're not that cute." Ranma holds her arms out. "Go on. I dare you to shoot." "Don't tempt me." Takei starts to perspire fiercely. "Oh come on." Takei's sweating hand start to shake. "I'm warning you! One more step and I will shoot!" A smiling Ranma takes a single step forward. That single step does it for Takei. He pulls the trigger and the pistol goes off in response. Ranma hunches over as the bullet strikes her in the chest. Laughing, Ranma stands strait up and exposes the bullet wound. Blood runs down the front of her shirt but soon stops as the wound quickly heals. Soon all that can be scene is just white skin exposed by the hole in the shirt. Ranma sinisterly smiles at Takei. "Is that the best you can do fat man! Come on! I dare you to try it again!" Takei fires the pistol over and over again. Ranma just stands there as the bullets tear right through her form, laughing all the while. Takei watches to his horror as all the wounds on the strange female almost instantly heal back to normal. Takei drops the pistol and falls to his knees. "My god..... What are you?" Ranma grabs Takei's shirt collar. "I'm no one you want to mess with." Ranma picks up Takei's plump form and tosses him behind the store counter. Ranma then turns and walks over to the front window display. She knocks over the televisions and reaches for the red velvet cushion and then cautiously picks the ring up. She holds it just mere inches away from her face. ********** Akane takes off the Ranma's dining jacket. A small package falls out of it's pocket. She notices the package and picks it up. "What's this Ranma?" "It's a....." "It's a what?" Ranma-chan puts on the jacket and puts her hands in it's pockets. "It's a gift for you." Responds Ranma with a sheepish look on her face. Akane slowly unwraps the package and open it. Inside is a small gold ring with two entwined hearts on it. The diamonds set in both of the hearts gleam brightly in the moonlight. Akane's eyes start to water up. "It's beautiful Ranma." "Well try it on." Akane takes the ring out of the box and puts it on. "It's a perfect fit." Forgetting about Ranma's current form, Akane grabs Ranma in a fierce hug. "I love it Ranma!" ********** "This is defiantly the same ring." Ranma moves back to the counter as Takei manages to stand back up. She reaches out and grabs Takei by his hair. "You got one chance you fat fool." Ranma shows the ring to Takei. "Tell me how you came upon this ring." Takei takes one look at Ranma and then looks back down at the ring. "I.. I... don't remember." "LIAR!!" In a fit of rage, Ranma takes Takei's head and smashes it through the glass counter. "I'll give you one more chance," she thrusts the ring in front of his face, "How did you get this ring!" Takei groans as the pain really starts to kick in. Takei looks back up into Ranma's face. "I said I don't remember!" Ranma growls and throws Takei across the room. He hits the wall with a sickening thud. From his position on the floor, Takei watches as Ranma goes on a rampage and starts smashing things left and right. Ranma knocks over display racks, smashes glass cases, and breaks various objects. Using a guitar Ranma busts huge holes in the walls. When she finishes, she turns her attention back to fat man sitting on the floor. Takei struggles to stand back up but Ranma is on him before can get a chance. "I'm warnings you fat man! I've not in a playful mood." Ranma grabs hold of Takei and lifts him off of his feet. "This is you last chance." She looks him dead in the eyes. "Where did you get that ring!" Takei looks deeply into her eyes. As he helplessly stares into her eyes, something strange happens. The pupils in her eyes slowly change shape into the of skulls. "Oh sweet mother of god." "I'm waiting!" "It's slowly coming back to me now." Ranma lets go of Takei and he lands on the floor with a thud. "I bought it off of someone." "Who?" "It was one of Skull's gang." "Which one?" "It was the one they call Patch." "Let me guess, he had a eye-patch over his right eye." "That's right." "Give me the names of the rest of them." "Let's see....... There is this guy who has glasses. I think I heard Patch call him Glasses or something along those lines. Then there's Scar, he's a frequent here." Takei tries to smile but his busted lip won't let him. "Scar was here not less than an hour ago. If you hurry, you can probably catch him." Ranma smiles as she looks down at the broken man. "That I will." She turns around and proceeds to leave the shop. When she reaches the door, she stops and picks up a lighter and a small package off of the floor. She tears open the package to pulls out some firecrackers. She looks at the firecrackers and then turns around. "Is it just me or do you smell gas too?" Takei detects a hissing sound and looks into one of the holes Ranma made during her rampage. Takei spots a broken pipe spewing out gas. Takei tilts his head to read the writing on the pipe. "Natural gas heating pipe." Takei turns around and looks at the smiling female. Ranma holds out the firecracker's fuse and light the lighter. Takei quickly turns and runs for the rear exit. The fuse on the firecrackers catches and begins to burn. Still smiling, Ranma drops the lit firecrackers and leaves the shop. Ranma is only a few meters away when the pawn shop explodes. Takei was only halfway out of the rear exit when it did. The flames singed his body as the explosion helped him the rest of the way out. Exhausted, Takei collapses in the street and watches helplessly as his shop burns down. ********** Detective Takada is sitting in a booth at his favorite all night donut shop. He is busy milling over the information he gathered earlier today. "How can," he takes a bite out of a donut, "someone have so many enemies." Takada finishes off the donut and downs it with some lukewarm coffee. "What's even more strange is what their families told me." Detective Takada thinks back to when he was at the Tendo's. At the time he didn't know who crazier. The family for telling him about Ranma's curse, or him for actually believing the story. "It sounds like something straight from some silly manga that kids are reading today." He looks down at his notes. "The funny thing is that all this makes sense after what they told me." Suddenly an explosion is heard from down the street. Takada quickly get up and rushes out the door. About a block down the street he can see a store on fire. The detective turns to the shopkeeper who came out with him. "Call the police and fire department." The shopkeeper nods and rushes back inside. Takada reaches into his jacket and pulls out his revolver as he run downs the street. As Takada gets to the shop he spots a lone figure walking away. He raises his gun and takes aim. "Freeze! Police officer!" The figure stops and raises it's arm. "Turn around!" The figure slowly turns around to face Detective Takada. Takada tightens his grip his revolver when he spots the makeup on the woman's face. His eyes slowly travel down to examine the female. He spots several holes in the figure's shirt, exposing her pale white skin underneath. "Are you responsible what happened?" Asks the Takada. "The man was making a living off of other people's misery. The fat fool deserved it." "Whether or not he deserved it was not the question." "Then yes, I did." "Move over to the curb. I'm going to keep you here till my backup gets here." Something stirs inside Takada's mind. "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" "Maybe you do and maybe you don't." "Stop playing mind games with me girl!" "Can I play mind games with them instead." Ranma motions towards the store. Detective Takada turns his head slightly and spots several people looting the store. "Hey, hold it right there!" Takada suddenly remembers about Ranma returns his attention to her. To Takada's surprise Ranma is gone. He rapidly looks around but he cannot find her or those looters. "Damn!" Curses Takada to himself. As he puts away his revolver he spots a crow perched on a stop sign. The bird stares at him for a moment before it takes off into the night sky. ********** Scar walks down the dark alley counting the money he made tonight. "God damn Takei. I should have stuffed that VCR down his throat for what he paid me for it." Scar grudgingly folds up the money and stuffs the wad in his back pocket. Scar opens his vest and exposes several large knives held inside. He reaches into a pocket, pulls out a pack of cigarettes and places one in his mouth. He then starts searching the pocket for some matches. Failing to find any he starts searching his other pockets. Out of the corner of his eye he catches some movement. He looks up and spots a crow sitting on a dumpster. "What the hell do you want bird!" Scar picks up a discarded bottle and tosses it at the bird. The bottle misses and the bird takes off. "Stupid bird." Mumbles Scar as he continues to search his pockets. "What's the matter," Asks a mysterious voice, "Need a light?" Scar reaches into his vest, pulls out a knife, and turns to face the owner of the voice. Leaning against the wall, holding out a lighter, is a female clad in all black. The shadows guard her face. "Well do you need a light or don't you." With his free hand, Scar reaches out and snatches the lighter from her hand. After he lights up, he tosses the lighter back to it's owner. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like me." Scar waves the knife around. "You could have gotten hurt." "If you say so. By the way, are you the one they call Scar?" "Yeah." "Do you work with a man named Skull?" A concerned look emerges on Scar's face. "Maybe I do and maybe I don't. What's it to you?" "I have business with the man. You wouldn't perchance know where he's at?" Scar nervously grips his knife. "Are you some sort of cop?" "Nope." The female emerges from the shadows and walk over to Scar. "I just have a few questions to ask him." Scar nervously notices the white makeup on her face. "I ask again, where's Skull?" "Go to hell bitch!" "Been there, done that." Scar swings his blade but Ranma easily ducks the attack. In response, she shoulder slams Scar to the ground. Before Scar can get back to his feet. Ranma grabs hold of his shirt collar and tosses him across the alley like a rag doll. Scar crashes into the alley wall and drops his knife. Scar staggers to his feet as Ranma approaches him. With surprising speed Scar punches Ranma in the face but Ranma just grins it off. Scar attacks again but Ranma blocks the blow and counters with a punch to the mid-section. Scar stumbles back a few steps and as Ranma approaches, he kicks out and nails her in the stomach. Scar attempts a follow up kick but Ranma blocks it and counters with another punch. She then grabs him again and throws him across the alley again. Ranma races over to Scar and pins him to the wall. "What the hell do you want girl!" Cries out Scar. "I ain't done nothing to you!" "You cold blooded killer!" "What the hell are you talking about girl!" "Listen carefully, cause I'm going to tell you a story." "What are you talking about?" Ranma slaps Scar across the face. "Listen to me! About a month ago two people walking through Nerima park. While in the park, four men approached them and did horrible things to them." "Yeah I remember that night. I still remember how fine that red headed girl was." ********** Scar walks up to Ranma and looks down at her. With the side of his hand, he wipes the blood away from his bloodied lip. Then he spits on Ranma-chan. "Stupid bitch!" Scar cocks his leg back and kick Ranma in the stomach. "You made me lose a tooth!" Scar continues to kick Ranma. Specks walks up to Scar and put a hand on his shoulder. "Scar, try not to damage her to much. We might want to have fun with her later." Scar stops kicking. "I get your point Specks. She is kinda cute." Scar starts to undo his belt. "Bitch, you're about to be had like you've never been had before." ********** Scar looks up at Ranma's painted face. "You can't be her, we killed you." "You did." "No!" Scar head butts Ranma, causing her to lose her gripe. Scar reaches over and grabs a discarded metal pipe and hits Ranma in the head with it. Ranma crashes to the ground as Scar get back to his feet. Scar strikes Ranma again with the pipe. Then again, and again and again. "Killer....." Cries out Ranma as she tries to get up. Scar tosses the pipe aside and pulls out two knives from his vest. "Let me tell you something about killing. It's fun, it's easy and you're going to learn all about it all over again." Scar begins snickering to himself as he walks away from Ranma. When he gets about a dozen meters away he turns and faces Ranma as she finally gets back to her feet. "Let me introduce two buddies of mine," Mocks Scar. "We never miss." Scar takes the first knife and throws it at Ranma. Ranma duck as the knife flies overhead. Scar tosses the second knife but Ranma slaps it out of the air as she advances towards him. "Try harder!" Cries out Ranma. With a mighty cry, Scar pulls out another knife and tosses it. Ranma catches it as it flies at her and tosses it back at Scar. The knife embeds itself deeply into Scar's shoulder. Ranma reaches out and grabs him by his throat. She reaches into his vest and pulls out one of his knives. "Victims." Ranma raises the knife above her head. "Aren't we all." She then brings the knife crashing down. *********** "Here's the drinks that you ordered." Chirps the waitress as she places two bottles of beer on the table. Patch glares at the pretty waitress with his good eye. "Just put them on his bill." Patch motions towards Specks. Grudgingly, Specks nods and the waitress disappears into the crowded bar. "God damn it Patch! When are you going to pay for your own beer!" "When I use up your money." Mocks Patch as be grabs the beer bottle. Specks grumbles a bit under his breath "What was that Specks?" "Nothing." "Thought so." Specks reaches out and grabs the other bottle. As he drinks, Specks looks around the bar. It was a low class bar that dealt with people of their type of morals. Different types of chairs and stools where scattered about the establishment. They were all different mainly because of all the fights that broke out here. Occasionally someone would pick up a chair or stool and use them as weapons. Which meant that new chairs and stools were always being bought to replace the broken ones. A thin layer of sawdust covered the floor to soak up the beer or blood that was always being spilt. The bar was popular with Specks for several reasons. It was close by to his place, the beer was cheap and the atmosphere was good. Patch on the other hand liked it for a whole different reason. He liked it mainly because of the "well endowed" waitress that worked there. One could say that was what perked his interest in the place. Specks sips his beer and watches Patch as he tries to pick up some chick at a nearby table. He watches on as the woman eventfully slaps Patch and storms off into the crowd. "Damn bitch must have been a dyke if she wasn't interested in me." Specks smiles because Patch always seems to have that effect on women. "Patch my friend, your problem is that you just don't have any style in the way you work." "Piss off Specks." "Whatever." Specks glances around the bar. "Hey Patch." "What." "Have you scene Scar lately?" "Haven't scene him since we split up early tonight. Why do you ask?" "Just wondering. Normally he's here by now." "He's probably still haggling with Takei." "You're probably right." Specks finishes off his beer and stands up. "I'm calling it a night." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out some cash. He hands the waitress the money as she passes by. "I'm going to head back to my garage." "Don't forget the meeting tomorrow night." "Unlike you Patch, I don't forget." Specks leaves the bar. "Asshole." Patch downs the rest of his beer and hassles the waitress to bring him another. *********** The lights of the police cars fill the once desolate alley. Detective Takada moves around the police barricade and walks up to his old partner, Homicide Detective Koohei. Takada taps Koohei on the shoulder. She turns around and greets him with a smile. "Detective Takada, to what do I owe the honor." Returning the smile. "I was several blocks down the street checking out an arson and heard about this. Thought it might be related to it." "Well I don't know how, but you're free to look around." "Where's the body." "Over there." Detective Koohei points over towards her right. Several feet away rests the body covered with a white sheet. Takada walks over to the body and kneels down next to it. He slowly lifts up the white sheet. Underneath is a male with a half dozen large knifes sticking out of his chest. Koohei walks up behind Takada. "It happened only a short while ago. The medics say that each of those knives where stuck in a major organ. He must have suffered terribly before he died. We're running a check now on who use to be." "Don't bother, I know who he is." Takada stands back up and reaches into his pocket. "Who is he?" Takada pulls out a cigarette and lights it. "His name was Torao Arai, or as Scar among his friends. I was investigating a double murder that might have involved him and his friends." "What's that have to do with the arson?" "Takei's pawn shop just blown up by some wacko chick. Before she blew the place, she was asking Takei about Scar and his friends. Takei told her that Scar had left shortly before she arrived." "You think that after she blew the place, she went looking for Scar?" "Yeap, and apparently found him to." "Got any ideas on who she might be." Takada rubs his chin. "I happen to be nearby when the shop blew. When I got there, I caught a quick glimpse of her before she disappeared. I know I've scene her somewhere before but for the life of me I can't remember where." "Before you leave there's one more thing I like to show you." Koohei motions towards the wall behind Takada. Takada turns around and before him, drawn in blood, is a large rough sketch of what looks like a bird. "It appears to be a drawing of a bird of some sort." Takada takes a long drag on his cigarette. "I have a feeling that it's suppose to be a crow." ***END CHAPTER THREE*** ***CHAPTER FOUR*** ***THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT*** Specks kneels down next to his motorcycle and examines the problem before him. The fuel line to the engine was leaking gas somewhere. He knew that after a prolonged ride, fuel would leak out all over bike's frame. Any spark could spell disaster for the rider. Specks stood back up and wiped the sweat off of his brow. It was hot in the small confines of his garage. To let off some of this heat, Specks walks over to the garage door and opens it. As the huge garage door slowly lifts up, a chilly wind sweeps in and instantly replaces the heat with it's chilliness. Deciding that he would rather deal with the cold, Specks leaves the garage door up. He turns and looks over his cluttered garage. His garage was really just an empty and run down gas station that had gone out of business. Since it was in such a bad neighborhood the real owners didn't really care what happened to it. Since they didn't care, Specks decided to move in a few months back. The best part was when he discovered that the previous owners didn't empty out the fuel pumps before they left. Using some gear that he scavenged, he drained the tanks and now had fifty to sixty gallons of usable fuel in the back room. Some people asked him if it was wise to keep that much fuel around but he just ignored those comments. His watch beeps signaling another close to another hour. Specks raises his arm and looks at his watch. It very late at night or early in the morning depending on your point of view. Specks then raises his arms above his head and stretches. It still bothered him that Scar never did arrive at the bar. He said that he would come straight over after he went to Takei's. It just wasn't like him to not show up. Oh well, mumbles Specks to himself, he probably met some hooker on the way to the bar and changed his mind. Deciding not to worry about it any more, Specks continues to work on his bike. As he walks up to his bike, a black bird flies over his head and lands on his bike. Specks stops in mid stride and stares and the bird. The bird stares back at him in the same amount to curiosity. "Bird, you better not make a mess on my bike." He leans over and picks up a discarded soda can. As he winds up to throw the empty can, someone grabs his arm from behind. "Why does everyone like to throw things at my friend?" Asks the voice behind him. Specks twists his head and spots a red headed female holding his arm. The makeup on her face makes her smile look more unearthly. "You wouldn't perchance be Specks." Inquires the female. Specks nods his head. "Good." Ranma cocks her free arm back and punches Specks square in the face. Specks falls over from the blow but is yanked back up to his feet by Ranma. Letting go of his arm, the Ranma spins and kicks Specks in the jaw and he goes flying backwards. The crow flies off of the bike as Specks comes crashing down on top of it. Specks spots the wrench he was using earlier and grabs it. When Ranma reaches for him, Specks swings the wrench and strikes Ranma in the temple. Ranma grabs her head in agony. Specks uses the free moment and picks up his bike. He quickly gets on the bike and hits the starter. The bike roars to life in response and Specks tries to leave the scene. Ranma hears the bike and spots Specks as he tries the flee. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Cries out a defiant Ranma as she dives forward. Ranma manages to grab a handful of Specks' long hair and yanks him off of his bike. The bike continues forward for a couple of dozen meters before it crashes to it's side. Ranma yanks on Specks' hair again to bring him to his feet. "What do you want girl! What the hell did I do to you!" Cries out Specks as Ranma shakes him around. "Nerima park, one month ago." "I have no idea what you're talking about." "Maybe this will clear up your memory." With her other hand Ranma grabs Specks' shirt and tosses him through the doorway. Specks slams into some metal barrels stacked up in the that room. Ranma menacingly enters the room and turns on the lights. It's a large storage room half filled with some large metal drums. A small hand pump is connected to one of those drums. Specks groans and holds his head as he sits up. Ranma pounces on him and slams him up against the stacked metal drums. "So, has your memory cleared up any?" "Like I said before! I have no idea what you're talking about!" "Strange, your friend Scar had the same memory problem. It took him awhile before he finally remembered. He was the one who told me where I might find you and your friends." Ranma gives Specks a sinister smile. "He confined it with me shortly before he died. He seemed to have problems breathing with his own knives stuck in his lungs." "You're crazy!" "No. Just slightly mad." Ranma slams him against the metal drums again. "Do you remember Nerima park or do you need help in remembering?" "Nerima park....... It's suddenly coming back to me now." "Thought so. Now what do you remember?" "Me and some friends were talking a stroll through the park and met some chicks. That's all that happened." Ranma smacks him across the face. "Try harder and remember more." "Ok, Ok. We had some fun with them while we were there." "Do you consider killing fun?" "Hey! I had nothing to do with that! Patch was the one who shot them. I was there only to provide extra support in needed." Ranma tightens her grip on Specks. "You could have stopped Patch from shooting them." "I didn't feel like it at the time! So what's it to you anyway?" Specks' eyes narrow. "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Ranma pulls Specks closer to her face. "Take a good look and see if you can remember." Specks stares at the female before him and tries to recognize her without the white face makeup. "If I didn't know any better. You look like that red headed girl from the park." "I am that red headed girl from the park." Terror like he never felt before comes across him. "But you died! I know, I checked you myself! When you die there isn't no coming back!" "I died in more ways than you can possible imagine." Ranma tosses Specks across the room into another stack of barrels. This time when Specks hits the barrels they come crashing down on top on him. On lands on his leg and smashes the bone. The lid on another comes loose and starts spilling it's contents all over the floor. Specks tries to lift the barrel off his shattered leg but he can't. From his pined position he watches helplessly as the crazed woman walks over to him. "He... hey look," cries out Specks. "I.. I gave you a fighting chance remember!" Ranma stops. "That you did." ********** Specks interrupts Patch. "Now hold on a moment Patch. You have a gun and they don't. I say we give these lovely ladies a fair chance to get out of this." Specks reaches into one of his pocket and pulls out a deck of cards. Specks masterfully shuffles the deck and hands it to Ranma. "Here you go sweetie. Pick a card from the deck. If your card beats mine then you two get to go free." "What if you win?" Inquires Ranma. "Then," Specks jesters towards Patch, "I let my friend continue on with what he was about to do." Specks holds out the deck to Ranma. Ranma nervously reaches out and chooses a cards. With a smile, she lifts her cards and flashes a jack of hearts. "Nice card sweetie. That'll be hard one to beat." Specks quickly reshuffles the deck and draws a card. "A king of clubs, you lose." Specks steps out of the way. ********** "You wouldn't happen to have a deck of cards on you?" "Yes I do!" Specks reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out his lucky deck. He holds out the deck for Ranma to grab. She snatches the deck from him and open the box. After a quick shuffle she holds the cards out in front of Specks. (I can do this. I never lose with this deck.) He nervously reaches forward and selects a card. With a smile, he shows Ranma the king of hearts that he selected. "Beat that!" He cries out triumphantly. Ranma frowns as she reshuffles the deck. She cuts the decks and draws a card. Specks notices her smile and knows it can't be good for him. Ranma turns the card around and shows it to Specks. "Ace of spades. I guess it isn't a good night to be a bad guy." Ranma takes the deck and tosses it at Specks. "No it can't be. I never lose with that deck." Mumbles Specks to himself as the cards slowly descend on him. With a smile Ranma turns and walks towards the exit. She stops when she reaches the door. She reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out the lighter she picked up at the pawn shop. She lights the lighter and stares at the flame. She then looks away from the lighter and looks at Specks as he continues to mumble to himself. She spots a cleaning rag and grabs it. Using the lighter she lights the rag and the kneels down gently places the rag on the floor. She stands back up and watches as the barrel continues to belch out it's liquid contents all over the floor. It will be a few more moments before it spills enough on the floor to reach the burning rag. After one last look at Specks, she exits the room. Specks watches to his horror as the fuel creeps closer and closer to the rag. He closes his eyes when the fuel finally reaches it. ********** Patch stumbles down the street and bags into a mailbox. He had spent most of the night at the bar. Not only that, me spent most of his money too. Tired, reeking of booze, and broke, he decided to call it a night. He knew that he wouldn't make it to his place so he decided to head over to Specks' place and crash there. He had just made it to the garage when he spotted someone leaving. "Hey Specks! Is that you!" The black clad figure stops and turns to face him. (That ain't him. That's just some freaky bitch wearing way to much makeup.) "Hey! You're Patch, aren't you?" Asks the girl. "Yeah, who the hell are you?" "Death." The garage suddenly explodes and within seconds there are several more explosions as the rest of the fuel drums explode. Patch drops to the ground and covers his head with his hands. When the explosions seem to stop Patch lifts his head and spots the female standing right in front of him. A black bird is perched on her shoulder. "Let me guess. You're suppose to be pirate and that's your parrot on your shoulder." "Funny, very funny." Ranma cocks her leg back and kicks Patch in the face. Patch grabs his face as Ranma continues to kick him. "What's the matter," shouts Patch from the ground. "To afraid to take me on fair and square!" Ranma stops kicking Patch and reaches down grabs him his hair. "What the hell do you know about fighting fair!" "Not much really." Patch reaches into his jacket and draws his revolver. Before Ranma can react, Patch jabs the gun into her stomach and fires. Ranma lets go of Patch's hair and takes a few steps back. Patch quickly gets to his feet. "Nobody but nobody touches the do!" Patch pulls the trigger again and empties the revolver into Ranma. All five shots rip through Ranma's body. After staggering around a bit, she falls to the ground. "That'll teach you to mess with me!" Patch opens the revolver and empties out the spent shells and quickly puts in six new ones. Laughter starts coming from Ranma. Patch watches as she slowly she lifts herself off of the ground. "It's gotta be the booze. No one could have lived through that." Patch aims the gun and fires but Ranma continues to stand up. Patch fires again but has the same effect as before. Ranma finally gets to her feet and walks towards Patch. Taking several steps back Patch fires his gun again. He watches as the bullet strikes her dead in the chest. He watches on as the wound quickly heals up and soon the only evidence of the wound is a hole in her shirt. "DIE DAMN YOU!!!" Again and again her fire the gun. Again each strikes home and again each wound heals back up. Patch pulls the trigger again but this time it responses with a metallic click. Ranma reaches out and grabs the revolver. "Out of bullets, what a shame." With her other hand she strikes Patch in the face with a punch. Patch goes flying backwards until her strikes a lamppost. As Ranma approaches Patch, sirens can now be heard approaching the area. Patch groans and rolls over to his side. When his vision clears up he spots Specks' still running motorcycle on it's side. He turns and spots Ranma as she walks over to him. "Sorry babe but when you hear that noise it means it's time to go." Patch hastily gets up, races over to the bike and picks it up. He quickly guns the cycle's engine and speeds out of there. "You won't get away from me that easily Patch!" Ranma looks up at the lamppost and spots her feather friend. "Follow him!" The bird cries out and takes flight after Patch. Ranma gets a running start and jumps up onto the rooftops. ********** Patch guns the engine to it's full potential and tears down the deserted street. He takes a quick glance behind him and doesn't see anybody following him. Just to be safe he decides to not slow down. He turns a corner and rips down another street. The events of what just happened race through his mind. Who was that girl and what was her beef with him. Sure, he's pissed off his fair share of the opposite sex but none of them have ever come after him like this. He must have done something really awful to her to get this done to him. She blew up Specks' place, maybe it wasn't something he did after all. Maybe it was something the gang did to her. They've done their fair share or terrorizing. Patch finally decides to slow down and makes another turn onto a bridge crossing a large stream. Patch briskly comes to a halt when he spots who's waiting for him on the other side. "How the hell did you find me!" "I had help." Patch hears a bird squawk and spots the crow resting on the bridge's guardrail. "Let's end this game Patch." "I agree. Let's end this game." Patch guns the engine as Ranma stands motionless on her side on the bridge. After revving the engine a few more times, Patch guns the bike and takes off towards Ranma. Ranma holds her hand out in front of her and draws on the cool night air around her. Patch spots a small ball of light appearing in front of Ranma but ignores it. The ball glows brighter and surrounds Ranma. "HIRYU SHOTEN-HA REVISED, HORIZONTAL BLAST!" The blast launches from Ranma's hand and fully engulfs Patch. The force of the blast doesn't have much time to slow him down before it ignites fuel that leaked out during his ride. The fuel tank quickly catches and explodes. Patch's flaming body flies forward and lands at Ranma's feet with a sickening thud. Using the last of his strength, Patch weakly looks up at Ranma. "It's you..... The girl from the park......" "Yes." Patch feebly laughs. "And we didn't believe you......" His eyes roll up and he stops moving. Ranma just stands there and watches as the flames consume Patch. The crow flies over and lands on Ranma's shoulder. "I know. The morning will soon be upon us. I guess Skull is going to have to wait till later." The crow caws back in response. ********** Ukyo climbs down her stairs and enters her shop for another day of work. After doing a few stretches she goes outside and does a quick sweep job. With the sweeping done she goes back inside and heats up her grill for the customers. Ukyo yawns as she puts the finishing touches on her ingredients. (Damn. I spent to much time at that meeting last night.) When she finishes with the ingredients she leans forward and turns on the television sitting the counter. A news report in on and a picture of a newly burnt down building fills the screen. Interested, she turns up the volume. "Before me now is what use to be Takei's pawn shop. Late last night a single female busted into Mr. Takei's shop as he was working on his books. The female then proceeded to hassle Mr. Takei before she went on a rampage and busted up his entire shop. During her rampage she busted open the shop's gas heating pipe. On her way out, she lit some fireworks and left them in the shop. The explosion of the fireworks was enough to ignite the leaking gas. Mr. Takei barely made it out of his shop before it exploded. He was later admitted to the local hospital for his injuries. After fighting the fire for several hours, the local fire department finally managed to put it out." (What could make a person do such a thing?) Wonders Ukyo to herself. The scene on the television changes to a sketch of a female. Ukyo stares at the picture on the television screen. (Wait a second.) She moves up closer to the screen. (That... That.... That looks like Ranchan.) "This is a sketch of the female who the police are looking for. She was last scene wearing a black leather jacket with matching black shorts and shirt. She had painted her face white and highlighted it with black makeup. Police say she did it to try and conceal her real identity." Ukyo places a shaky hand to the television screen. (Maybe he's still alive after all this time. Maybe......) "Also in the news, another building was burnt down in another part of town...." Ukyo suddenly draws her hand back and slaps herself in the face. "NO!" She places a hand on her forehead and shakes her head slightly. (Get a hold of yourself girl. Ranma honey is gone. You just have to accept.) A single tear runs down the side of her face. (You were at the funeral remember. You saw the body and watched them bury it.) More tears start to follow the first one. (Give it up Ukyo. Ranma's gone for good.) The door chimes as some customers enter her shop. Ukyo swiftly tries to regain her composure and greets them. ********** Detective Takada stifles a yawn as her exits his car. He grumbles to himself as Detective Koohei walks up to him. She greets him with another of her cheery smiles. "What's the matter Takada? Not use to the sunlight?" Takada's rolls his eyes at that remark. "Very funny Koohei. I have another crime scene to visit so make it quick." With a smirk, "I have a feeling that this might be related to your case. That's why I called you out here." Takada looks over her shoulder and notices the remains of another burnt down building. "So another building got burnt down last night. What makes you think that it is connected to my case? You better not say woman's intuition." Koohei frowns, "Well I was told that a certain Yutaka Ootsuki had taken up residence in that building." Takada is taken back, "Did you say Yutaka Ootsuki!" "Yes." "He was know as Specks in Skull's gang." "It's more like was know as now." "What to you mean by that?" "Sources say that your man was in the building shortly before it exploded. While putting out the fire, fire fighters found the remains of a body. The only way I'm going to be able to identify it is by it's dental records. I've got a feeling that it's Ootsuki." "Anything else?" Asks Takada. "Well fire fighters say that the fire looks like that it was deliberately started. Plus the victim was trapped under a heavy metal barrel. If you ask me, I think that your friend from earlier is responsible for all of this." Takada crosses his arms, "What make you say that." "Follow me." Detective Koohei turns and leads Takada to several police officers taking pictures at something on the ground. Detective Koohei points to the ground. "Does this look familiar?" Takada looks at the ground and is taken back again. On the ground is a large picture of a bird done out in broken glass. It resembles the same one from the alley. Takada reaches into his pocket. "I need a cigarette." ***END CHAPTER FOUR*** Well that's it for now. Five is still in the works and should be down soon. As for all of you that Emailed me after the posting of chapter one & two, THANK YOU!!!!!! I never thought that I would get such a response back. Now that I've posted the next two chapters, Email me back some more! Again my Email address is: rtj@hotmail.com Till next chapter. RTJ October 2, 1996 Here it is folks, the final chapters of the Ranma 1/2 & The Crow Xover. Sorry about the big delay in it's posting. Some very unexpected things came up. Enjoy!!!! RTJ One last thing: Ranma 1/2 is copyright of: Rumiko Takahashi, VIZ Communications, Shogakukan Inc., Kitty Film, Pony Canyon The Crow is copyright of: James O'Barr & Miramax Films ***CHAPTER FIVE*** ***THE SECOND NIGHT*** Detective Takada plopped down onto his couch. Before him, resting on his coffee table, was a thick manila folder. Sighing, Takada reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He gradually pulled out a single cigarette and lit it up. He sucked on the cigarette for a few moments and sighed again. Takada leaned forward and reached for the folder. He slowly opened the folder to examine its contents once again. It had been a very long night for him. First it was Takei's pawn shop. Some crazy red headed woman busted right in and demanded that Takei tell her where she could find Skull and his gang. After Takei told her what she wanted to know, she blew the place up. The worst part was that he had a chance to arrest her right then and there, but he blew it. Not one hour later, the first body was found. Takada reached and picked up two pictures. One was of Scar's body, with the knives embedded in his chest. The other was the picture of the bird drawn on the brick wall. Takada stared at the picture for a moment before he put them down and picked up a police report. The report talked about the other building that was set on fire about an hour after Scar was found. It was an empty garage that another of Skull's gang had taken up residence in. The report stated that the fire was purposely set and that the remains were those of one Yutaka Ootsuki, otherwise know as Specks. Another bird symbol was found, this time it done in broken glass pieces. Takada put down the report and picked up another report. This one was about another murder. Tests indicate that it happened shortly after the second one. A burnt male body was found on the Seito bridge along with the remains of a motorcycle. This one was almost written up as an accident because it looks like the bike exploded on the rider. They found the bird symbol, drawn in blood again, next to the body of the rider. After Takada found out that it was Patch's body, it didn't take much to convinced them that it wasn't an accident. Three dead gang members, two burnt buildings and one crazy red headed woman somehow connected to them all. Takada sighed yet again and put out his cigarette. Even after some sleep, he still couldn't remember where he had seen that girl before. It nagged at him, he knew he'd seen her before. Takada glanced at his watch and decided to head off to the office early. He gathered up the papers and pictures and picked up the folder. As he picked up the folder, a single photo slipped out. It glided slowly and fell to the ground with it's back up. Takada placed the folder back on the coffee table and reached down to fetch the photo. He grabbed the picture and turned it over. It's a picture of female Ranma that Nabiki had given to him. As Takada stared at the photo, it suddenly dawned on him. "No. It can't be." Takada placed the picture down on the coffee table and pulled out a black marker. He applied the same black marks he saw on the girl last night to the picture before him. "Well I'll be damned. Saotome here would be a perfect twin for that psycho chick. The problem is that Saotome is dead, so that means that she definitely couldn't have done it." Takada studied the picture some more. "But the resemblance is just too uncanny." He frowned as he puzzled out the problem before him. He carefully placed the photo back in the folder and stood up. "Two dead girls and now three of their four killers are found dead. Each of those girls left grieving fiancees behind. Did one of them finally crack and go after the killers?" Takada rubbed his jaw. "It couldn't be, the killer was a girl." Takada suddenly remembered the conversation he had with the Tendo's. "That's right, Ranma was supposed to really be a male who became a female. Maybe one of his fiancees decided to do it. That still doesn't explain why the killer looks so much like him or should I say, like her." Takada rubbed his chin some more and then smiled. "Maybe Ranma came back to life and decided to take revenge just like in the movies." He laughed at this remark. He quickly stopped laughing and looked back at his watch. "Enough of this, time to go to work." Takada grabbed the folder and fetched his jacket. "That is, after I make a few stops." ********** Ranma-chan's form was highlighted by the setting sun as she practiced one of her katas with her eyes closed. With fluid movements, Ranma gracefully practiced while waiting for the sun to set. The crow watched from a nearby boulder as Ranma continued in perfect silence. Her jacket was hung on a tree branch. The sunlight shone brightly through the many holes in the black leather jacket. The only sound being made was by the babbling brook that ran only a few meters away. Ranma had come to this section of Nerima park many times before to escape the craziness around him. Often it would be after he and Akane had a fight. Not wanting to go home to face her or his father, he would come here. It was located in a relatively vacant part of the park. Which meant he could come here and get his desired peace. His desired peace was all he could want now and he was close to getting it. Three of the men that killed Akane had been dealt with. All that was left was their leader and whoever hired them. Ranma stooped low and slowly continued on with the kata. But who would stoop so low that they would resort to hiring someone to kill Akane? The information that Scar gave to him pointed out that it was Akane they were after, not him. They were told not to harm him in any way. Since he was in his girl form, they didn't know that it was him. Ranma guessed that their employer forgot to tell them about his other form. A wiry smile appeared on her face. What fitting justice, the men accidently kill the person that their employer was trying to get for theirself. It was morbid justice, but it was fitting justice. Just as fitting as the justice he was giving out now. Ranma finished her kata and bowed. Ranma had decided to stay in his cursed form. Alive or undead, Ranma Saotome died on that fateful night along with Akane. Without Akane, even the afterlife wasn't worth living. If he was still alive after he finished his job, he wasn't going to continue living in a dead body. No, he would continue on in his female form. Ranma stood up straight and opened her eyes. The sun was finally starting to set. Noting that it was almost time, Ranma walked over to her jacket and reached into it's pocket. She pulled out a large roll of black electrical tape. "Can't go around town with a shirt full of holes." With another smile, she pulled out a large strip of tape. "It just isn't lady like." Ranma took the tape and began wrapping it around herself. The crow watched on as Ranma covered her torso with the black tape. When she finished, she tossed the tape to the ground and put on the hole filled jacket. She turned around and looked at her feathered companion. "Let's go." ********** The sun set as Ukyo waved goodbye to her customers as they left her shop. It had been another rough day for her, both mentally and physically. The day had started off thinking about Ranma, and it threw her whole day off. She moved from behind the grill and briskly cleaned the now empty tables. She whistled a tune as she cleaned. Her door suddenly chimed as a customer entered her shop. She stopped cleaning and turned to greet her guest. "Welcome..." She stopped when she recognized who it was. "What do you want now detective?" Detective Takada smiled. "Can't I come in to eat? Last time I checked, this place was a restaurant, or did that change?" Ukyo moved back to her spot behind the grill. "What would you like?" Takada walked up and took a seat near the grill. "Give me the same thing I had last time." Ukyo nodded and started on his order. "So, Miss Kuonji..." "Ukyo." "Okay. So Ukyo, where were you last night?" Without looking up from the grill. "I was at a shop owners' meeting last night." "I know." "So why did you ask?" "I was told that you were a little late in getting there." "I fell asleep and didn't wake up in time." "I'm sure." Ukyo finished the order and handed it to the detective. "Just what are getting at!" Takada took the order from her and placed it down. "Torao Arai, Yutaka Ootsuki, Yuzo Ikeguchi and Nagateru Katau, do you recognize any of those names?" "No! Am I supposed to?" "Those are the names of the four men that supposedly killed your two friends." "So why tell me!" Takada picks up his chopsticks. "Three of those four men died last night. The last one, Nagateru Katau, was still alive last time I checked." "So! Is that supposed to be a bad thing!?!" Between bites, "As long as it's against the law, yes it is." "I still don't see how this concerns me!" Takada stopped eating and placed his chopsticks down. "I happened to catch a glimpse of the killer. If I didn't know better, I would say that it was that fiancee of yours." Ukyo was taken aback. "What do you mean by that?" "Don't give me that look. I went to the Tendo household and was told all about his curse and engagements to several women. No need to play ignorant about his true form with me now." Takada leaned forward and placed his hands together. "So Ukyo, why were you late to your meeting last night?" "As I said before, I overslept!" Without breaking his gaze, "So what about Ranma?" "What about him?" "Have you seen him recently?" Ukyo reached over her grill and grabbed the detective. "How can you say such thing! Ranma's dead! How on earth could I have possibly seen him!" Takada gently grabbed Ukyo's hands and pryed them from his jacket. After he got loose, he sat back down. "I just happened to be in the neighborhood of your Ranma's graveyard and decided to pay my respects." He fold his arms. "Boy was I shocked at what I found." "What do you mean by that?" "Ranma's grave, it was empty." Ukyo was taken aback again. "Empty....." "Yes, empty." "But I was at the funeral. I saw him in the casket. I saw them bury it!" "Well it's empty now." "You're lying!" "Am I?" Ukyo turned her grill off. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." "Why?" "I'm closing up for the night!" "Isn't it a little early for that?" "JUST GET OUT!" "Ok, ok." Takada stood up and Ukyo escorted him out of the shop. After he left, Ukyo locked the door behind him and removed the open sign. Takada reached into the fold of his jacket and pulled out a cigarette. "Well if Ranma is really alive, she didn't know." He lit the cigarette. "Let's see if I can find Skull before whoever she is finds him." Takada put the lighter back in his jacket before he disappeared into the night. ********** Skull leaned back in his chair and watched the barmaid scurry away. Skull cursed to himself. They were all late tonight. Normally, Patch was the late one, not Scar and Specks. Damn it, what was taking them so long? Skull glanced down at his watch and cursed some more. The barmaid returned with his beer on a tray. Before she could hand it to him, Skull lashed out and snatched it from her. Noting his mood, the waitress quickly left without seeing if he needed anything else. Skull downed the bottle of alcohol in a matter of seconds. Angrily, he took the now empty bottle and tossed it at the wall. The bottle shattered when it hit the wall. "What's the matter Skull? Why so angry?" Asked an unfamiliar voice. Skull looked across the table and noticed that he had company. Her red hair and white face paint gave her an eerie look. "What the hell are you supposed to be!" "I'll give you three guesses." "I don't know, a mime from hell." "I don't think so. I personally hate mimes." "Doesn't everybody. Look, I don't have time to play games with you. I'm waiting on three late associates of mine." "I really don't think that they're going to make it, if you ask me." "And why wouldn't they make it?" "Because I killed them." This information didn't break Skull's current mood. "Killed them you say." "Yes. First Scar, then Specks and shortly after that I killed Patch." Ranma pointed directly at Skull. "Now I'm after you. I'll go easy on you if you'll tell me who hired you to kill those girls in Nerima park." Skull smiled. "Just out of curiosity, what happens if I don't want to tell you?" Ranma returned his smile. "Then I'll be forced to do unpleasant things to you until you do tell me." "Then I'm afraid you're going to have to do it the hard way. I really don't feel like telling you at the moment." "Well, then, the hard way it is." "Before you start," Skull stood up, "Let's make this more sporting, shall we?" Skull turned his head and pointed at Ranma. "FIFTY THOUSAND YEN TO THE PERSON THAT KILLS THIS WOMAN!" He yelled above the noise of the bar. Everyone in the bar heard, despite all of the noise. Promptly, they drew their guns and aimed at Ranma. Ranma stood up, spread her arms out and gave a laugh that Kodachi Kuno would be proud of. Bullet after bullet struck Ranma, but she just stood there laughing as she absorbed the damage. When the last person ran out of rounds, they stood there, staring open jawed at Ranma. "IS THAT THE BEST YOU ALL CAN DO!!!" Cried out Ranma hysterically. "HERE, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW TO DO IT!!!" Ranma reached and grabbed the table before him and tossed it at the gaping crowd. One of the patrons reloaded his gun and prepared to fire it at Ranma. Ranma spotted him and hit the gun in his hand. The gun went off and shot the man in his leg. He fell to the ground grasping his leg. Another man approached Ranma from the rear. Ranma sensed this and jabbed his arm backwards, shattering the man's nose with her elbow. Someone else prepared to fire at Ranma, but she grabbed some poor fool and used him as a human shield. After the man absorbed the shots, Ranma dropped him and attacked the man with the gun. With a few swift kicks, she easily took him out. A woman snuck up behind Ranma and stabbed her in the back with a switchblade. Ranma immediately turned around and punched her in the stomach, causing her to double over. Ranma grabbed her hair and slammed her face-first into the wooden floor. The others slowly started to back away from devil like woman. Ranma stood back up and removed the knife from her back. She took the knife and waved it at them. "Ok, who feels lucky?" One man nodded to several others, and they dove together towards Ranma. Ranma caught the first one in the shoulder with the switchblade before she lost her grip on it. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Skull leaving the bar. "Enough with the playing around!" Ranma knocked the men away and charged the group. "Time to take off the kid gloves! KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURI-KEN!" Ranma delivered blow after blow to the seemingly endless hoard of bar patrons. Ranma finished her attack but she didn't get them all. Thinking that she was now tired, the remainder charged all at once. Ranma ducked the attack and dove out of the way. She rushed across the bar and picked up a chair. To their surprise, Ranma took the chair and smashed the large front window. The cool night air flooded into the bar. Again the hoard rushed Ranma. Ranma took a stance and drew on the cool air in the bar. As they descended upon Ranma, they spotted a small glowing ball. "HIRYU SHOTEN-HA!" Ranma cried out. Suddenly, a large whirlwind appeared around Ranma and engulfed the last of the attackers. The wind grabbed the attackers and slammed them into the ceiling of the building with bone jarring force. When the wind died down, they crashed to the floor. Panting, Ranma looked around the bar and noted that she was the only one left standing. Carefully, the bartender and barmaids looked up and over the counter. Spotting Ranma, they ducked back underneath. "You won't get away from me that easily Skull!" Ranma raced out of the bar. ********** Ukyo stopped hesitantly at the entrance of the cemetery. She took a quick look around before she hopped the gate. With her keen skills, she easily made it over and landed on the other side. She started to walk deeper into the cemetery. After taking a few steps, she stopped. (Girl what are you doing!) Screamed her instincts. (It's late at night and you're in a cemetery! Just what do you hope to accomplish!) She stood there, lost in her thoughts. (Ranma's dead! When are you going to accept it!) A single tear formed. (That detective was just saying Ranma's grave was empty to rile you.) With a sniffle, she wiped the tear away and turned around. (But what if he was telling the truth?) She turned her head to side and bit her lip. (Since I'm here, I might as well check. If it's alright, then I'll pay my respects. If it's not, then......) Another tear replaced the one she just wiped away. (Then I'll do what's right. I owe him that.) Ukyo turned back around and walked off to Ranma's grave. ********** Detective Takada leaned back in his car seat and yawned. He raised his arm and looked at his watch. He watched Skull enter the bar over two hours ago and she still hadn't arrived yet. He put down his arm and picked up his binoculars. Word had it that Skull and his boys met here when they had a job. He managed to keep it quiet that Patch and the others had died so as not tip Skull off. If Skull knew that someone was after him and his gang, Skull would promptly go into hiding. If he did, the chance that the girl would get to him before he could would increase. Takada got lucky and spotted Skull on his way to the bar, and had been following him ever since. For the last two hours, he'd been across the street watching the patrons enter. So far, no crazy woman. Takada put down the binoculars and reached into the folds of his jacket. Unexpectedly, multiple gunshots were heard from the bar. Takada grabbed his radio and immediately called it in. One gun toting bad guy he could handle, not a whole bar full! When he finished, he pulled out his revolver and exited his car. Several people quickly exited the bar as he approached it. Another patron left the bar. Takada instantly recognized him. It was Skull. Takada raised his revolver. "Police, Freeze Skull!" Skull stopped and raised his hands. "Turn around!" With his arms still raised, Skull turned. "Look pig, I ain't got time to fool with you! I got some crazy chick after me and she wants blood! My blood!" "Well that's too...." A chair flew through the bar's window and slammed right into Takada. Skull lowered his arms. "Later!" He turned and ran for all he was worth. Takada groaned as he stood back up. He raised his hand to block out the bright light radiating from the bar. The light died down and another familiar figure ran out of the bar. "You won't get away from me that easily Skull!" Cried out Ranma. Again, Takada raised his gun. "Police, freeze!" Ranma turned and looked at the detective. The look of pure anger and hatred on her face sent chills down Takada's spine. "I didn't listen to you the first time! So what makes you think I'll listen to you now!" "If you even breathe wrong, I will fire." Ranma snorted and started to walk off. "I'm warning you! I will fire!" "So! Go ahead and fire already!" "I warned you!" Takada pulled the trigger and his revolver went off. The bullet struck Ranma, but she continued walking like nothing had happened. Takada lowered his revolver. (I shot her clean in the torso. She should have dropped to the ground.) He watched as Ranma headed off into the same direction Skull had. He reholstered his revolver and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. (I need a cigarette.) ********** Dark clouds gathered in the cool night sky. Skull didn't know that, though. He was too busy running for his life. He rounded a corner and ran into a trash can. The can fell over, but Skull continued running. He ran down the street for a block before ducking into a handy alley. He stuck his head out of the alley and looked up and down the street. The only living thing he saw was a black bird perched on the streetlight. With a smirk, he ducked back into the alley. (That girl will never find me now.) He started to laugh. "What's so funny Skull?" Asked the one voice he never wanted to hear again. Skull slowly turned around and gazed upon the female from the bar. Many holes now filled her shirt and jacket. If it wasn't for the black tape she used earlier, they would have fallen off. "How in hell did you find me!" "That's my little secret." Ranma smiled sinisterly at Skull. "So, are you willing to talk now?" "Why should I?" "If you won't tell me, then you die slowly and painfully. If you do tell me, it will be quick and painless." "Oh, joy. If you don't mind, I'll take choice number three." Skull reached into his back pocket and drew his knife. "If you're wondering, choice three is that I don't tell you and I kick your sweet ass." "We'll see who does the dying." "Die damn you!" Skull swung his knife. Ranma didn't move and Skull struck her directly in the stomach. Ranma grabbed his wrist and snapped it. Skull let go of his knife and grabbed his broken wrist with his good hand. Skull looked up and watched as Ranma removed the knife from her stomach. To his horror, he watched as her wound healed back to normal. "This ain't happening man. No way this is happening!" He turned around and ran deeper into the alley. "There's no place for you to hide Skull!" Yelled Ranma. While running down the alley, Skull spotted a door. With his good hand, he tried to open it, but it was locked. He turned his head and noticed that Ranma was getting closer. He stepped back and slammed into the door with his shoulder. The wooden door creeked, but didn't give. Again and again, he slammed into it. Just as Ranma got to him, the door finally gave. Skull rushed inside and slammed the door behind him. With his borrowed time, he glanced around and spotted another door down the hallway. He raced down the hallway and entered the door. A stairway went up. Ranma smashed the door and entered the building. Skull quickly decided that going upstairs was better than facing Ranma. To his disbelief, the stairs took him directly to the roof. "Oh damn! This is not good." Something struck him from the rear, and he stumbled forward. Skull turned around and faced Ranma. "What's the matter Skull. Is your wrist bothering you? Here, I'll make you forget all about it." Ranma flashed him the same blade from earlier and stabbed him in his upper right leg. Skull crashed to the ground, clutching his wounded leg. "See, didn't that make you forget about your wrist?" Skull looked up from the ground. "L.l.l..look! Can't we cut a deal?! How about I tell you who hired me and you just beat me up real bad! How about that?" Ranma grabbed Skull by his shirt and lifted him off his feet. "TELL ME!" Skull was now sweating profusely. "Look, it happened like this. Me and the boys were in Nerima checking out the area. We got hungry and decided to stop in one of the shops. Patch caused a scene and the lady at the shop kicked his butt and threw him out, literally. She told us unless we wanted the same, we all had to leave. Scar, being the idiot he is, wouldn't leave. She repeated the same thing to him. Me and Specks decided to play it safe and left." "What does this have to do with what I want to know!" "Hold on! I'm getting there! Anyway, we decided to return later that night and repay her for what she did. She was expecting us and kicked all of our butts. While the others were out cold, she approached me and said she wanted to make a deal." "What kind of deal?" "She told me that she wanted us to interrupt someone's date and kill the girl. She promised a big pay off if we did. I agreed to do the job. She did tell us one thing though. She told us not in any way to harm the guy she would be with. When we got there, we found the girl with another girl. We killed both of them to be safe." "Give me a name!" "I never got her name." "Describe her!" "Well, she had this accent and seemed to own the place. Oh yes, she had this club like weapon that she hit us with." (Knows martial arts, accent, owned the place, and a club like weapon.) Ranma relaxed his grip. "Ukyo....." Noting Ranma's distracted look. Skull grabbed the handle of his knife with his good hand. Forgetting about his pain, he yanked on the knife and pulled it out of his leg. He swung the blade, but Ranma caught it. Skull gritted his teeth as he head butted Ranma. Ranma stumbled backwards. Skull shook off Ranma's loosened grip and attacked again. This time, his knife contacted with Ranma's throat. Ranma grabbed the knife with one hand and lashed out with her other. She managed to clip Skull in his jaw. Ranma pulled out the knife and tossed it over the ledge. "Bad move Skull." Ranma approached him. ********** Takada stopped his car and got out. He glanced around the deserted street. Frustrated, he spit out his cigarette and stomped on it. (Damn it! I lost her!) He had been following her ever since she left the bar. Takada knew that she had a partner, it was obvious. Who that partner was, was another question all together. He followed the girl until she climbed up a fire escape and disappeared onto the rooftops. He heard a noise down in this direction and decided to check it out. Takada was about to enter his car when he heard another noise above him. He looked up in time to catch Skull doing a terrible swan dive off the roof. The car's windows shattered as Skull landed head first onto it's roof. After staring at Skull for a moment, he looked back up at the roof. He spotted the girl looking back down at him. "Are you happy now?!" Yells Takada. "That's the last one!" "He's the last of the gang but not the last of the killers." Ranma turned and left. Takada looked back at Skull and noticed that he was still moving. "Hold on. I'll get an ambulance." Takada reached for his radio. "No... time...." Skull meekly reached out and touched his shoulder. "Got.. to... tell..." He started to cough up blood. "Tell me what!" Skull mouthed something, but Takada couldn't hear him. He leaned in closer to listen. Skull whispered something into his ear. Skull took one last deep breath and then died. Takada took a step back. "I see." ***END CHAPTER FIVE*** ***CHAPTER SIX*** ***THE GATHERING STORM*** Dark clouds gathered in the night sky, blocking out most of the moonlight. A low ominous rumble was shortly heard. Lighting crashed, illuminating the dark sky for but a brief moment. The coming rain was the last thing on Ukyo Kuonji's mind. Other more important things were on her mind. She stopped for a moment and leaned up against a telephone pole to catch her breath. She'd been running ever since she left the cemetery. When she caught her breath, she continued on her way. After a while, she reached her shop. She unlocked the door and quickly entered. She took off her jacket and turned on the shop's lights. The lights flickered and brightened the shop. Ukyo collapsed onto the nearest table. With the lights on, one could now see how pale Ukyo looked at the moment. (He... He was right. Ranma's grave was empty.) She ran a shaking hand through her hair. (But it doesn't look like someone dug it. It looks like.... like....) She removed her hand from her hair. (Like something emerged from the ground.) Lighting crashed nearby, causing Ukyo to jump. The lights flickered and then went off. Ukyo looked out of her shop's window and noticed that even the streetlight was off. (Power failure.) "Ukyo." Went a mysterious voice. Ukyo jumped again. She grabbed her giant spatula from her back and took a stance. She looked around her shop, but didn't spot anybody. (Relax girl. You're starting to hear voices.) "Ukyo." Went the voice again. She spun around again and still couldn't find the source of the voice. She drew her spatula. "WHO'S THERE!" A figure slowly emerged from the shadows. "Ukyo." Ukyo dropped her spatula and fell to her knees. "Ranma." Lightning crashed again. Its light illuminated the shop for a brief moment. Ranma just stood there and looked down at his old friend. "Ukyo..... Do you know why I'm here?" Tears started flowing down Ukyo's face. "Yes I do Ranchan." "Then tell me why." "I was so jealous and confused when I found out about your date. You two always fought with each other and said that you hated each other. Yet you were going out on a date." "Like I told you earlier that day. Our parents made us do it." "I know Ranchan, but I was still angry. I figured that if you really didn't want to go, you would find a way out of it. But no, you went anyway." "That's still no reason to do what you did." Between sobs, "I'm so sorry, Ranma. I felt so bad arguing with you that day. Please forgive me Ranma. Please....." "Forgive you! How can I forgive the one who sent killers after Akane!" Ukyo looks at Ranma with total confusion. "Send killers..... What are you talking about?" "Don't play innocent! I was told by their leader that you sent them after Akane!" "I did no such thing Ranma! Yes, I did hate Akane, but not enough to kill her. I knew that I couldn't make you love me if I did something to Akane. I wanted you to leave her because you loved me." "If you didn't sent them, then who did!" ********** Ranma-chan grabbed Skull by his shirt and lifted him off his feet. "TELL ME!" Skull was now sweating profusely. "Look, it happened like this. Me and the boys where in Nerima checking out the area. We got hungry and decided to stop in one of the shops. Patch caused a scene and the lady at the shop kicked his butt and threw him out, literally. She told us unless we wanted the same, we all had to leave. Scar, being the idiot he is, wouldn't leave. She repeated the same thing to him. Me and Specks decided to play it safe and left." "What does this have to do with what I want to know!" "Hold on! I'm getting there! Anyway, we decided to return later that night and repay her for what she did. She was expecting us though and kicked all of our butts. While the others were old cold, she approached me and said she wanted to make a deal." "What kind of deal." "She told me that she wanted us to interrupt someone's date and kill the girl. She promised a big pay off if we did. I agreed to do the job. She did tell us one thing though. She told us not in any way to harm the guy she would be with. When we got there, we found the girl with another girl. We killed both of them to be safe." "Give me a name!" "I never got her name." "Describe her!" "Well, she had this accent and seemed to own the place. Oh yes, she had this club like weapon that she hit us with." ********** (Knows martial arts, accent, owned the place, and a club like weapon.) Ranma moaned, "Oh my god. Why didn't I see it before?" "What is it Ranchan?" Ranma walked over to Ukyo and kneeled down in front of her. "I made a big mistake Ucchan. Can you ever forgive me?" "Only if you forgive me." Ranma leaned forward and hugged Ukyo. "Deal." The two remained together for what felt like an eternity. "Ranchan." "What?" "How is it that you're here?" Ranma pulled back form the hug. "I couldn't get my proper rest. So I was brought back to take my revenge." "So.... Are you dead?" "I'm not sure. All I know is that I can't die. I've been stabbed, beaten, and shot many times. No matter how bad the wound, it just heals back like magic." "What's going to happen once you're finish?" "I really don't know Ucchan. I really don't know." Ukyo stopped crying. "Why don't you come and live with me after all this is over?" Ranma smiled. "But what about everyone else? Once they find out that I'm back, who knows what will happen? I am, after all, supposed to be dead." "We'll move away from here. Far, far away, where no one has ever heard of either of us." "I don't know Ukyo. I'm going to have to think about it." Ranma gets up and prepares to leave. "I'm sorry Ucchan, but I have to leave. There's still one more person I have to see tonight." "Who." "Cologne." Lighting crashes once more. ********** Detective Takada leaned back in the passenger seat of Detective Koohei's car. He cracked the window a little bit to let some of the heat out of the car. He couldn't crack it too much because of the pouring rain. Detective Koohei lightly snored next to him. Before the ambulance arrived, Skull had muttered a single name in his ear, Neko Hanten. Takada knew that that name sounded familiar. He searched his file and came upon it. The restaurant was owned by another of Ranma's fiancees. Takada didn't know if the clue meant that they were responsible for the men's deaths or something else. Needing to check it out, he tried to convince Koohei to let him borrow her car. Not wanting the same thing to happen to her car, she insisted on going with him. He caved in and agreed. Something still bothered him, though. It was something that the girl said before she left. ********** After staring at Skull for a moment, he looked back up at the roof. He spotted the girl looking back down at him. "Are you happy now!" Yelled Takada. "That's the last one!" "He's the last of the gang but not the last of the killers." Ranma turned and left. ********** (What did she mean by that?) Takada thought about it for a moment. (Wait a minute! Maybe she meant that there's a fifth person somehow involved. That would make sense.) He sat back in the seat again and smiled. Another case solved by Super Detective Takada. All that was left was to wait. ********** Shampoo lay in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Her eyes were puffy from another night of crying. The only man to ever beat her and her first true love was dead. He may not have loved her, but he did always come to her rescue. She always thought that somewhere in his heart, he really did love her. It was Akane that stopped him from expressing his true love for Shampoo. Now that he was dead, how was she ever going to return home? Her great grandmother never did speak about going home. It was almost as if she was waiting for something to happen. The night Ranma and Akane went on that date, great grandmother went to her room and told Shampoo that she didn't want to be bothered. Several hours later she heard Cologne scream and she rushed to her room. It was then that Cologne told Shampoo that Ranma had died. Shampoo was furious, she didn't want to believe her. Shampoo had raced from the shop and gone to the Tendo's house. She bumped into them as they were heading to the hospital. Ever since then, great grandmother had been acting strange. She placed wards all over the shop and living areas. It got even stranger last night. When she woke up and went to Cologne's room, she wasn't there. She went down to the shop and found her there. It was almost as if she was waiting for somebody. Before Shampoo went to her room tonight, she checked Cologne's room. Again she wasn't there. Shampoo snuck downstairs and found her grandmother there. Again it looked as if she was waiting for somebody. Shampoo rolled over and tried to put it out of her mind. She tossed and turned some in her bed. She couldn't get it out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried. Shampoo sat up, determined to find out what was going on. She grabbed her robe and left her room. ********** Cologne stood in the center of the Neko Hanten. She had felt his powerful presence leave the mortal plane that fateful night. Last night, she felt that same presence return. She knew that it had to be him. Someone with such a fighting spirit was capable of anything. How he returned was still a total mystery to her. He had suffered such an unhonorable death. She was willing to bet that was why he was back. To claim his desired revenge. She knew that Ranma would go after the four men. From them she knew that Ranma would find out about the deal with their leader. That meant that Ranma would be coming for her. Those four men would pose no challenge to Ranma. He would take them out with no problem. She did not plan on going out as easily. This was the only reason that they remained in Japan as long as they had. Something in her old bones had nagged that something like this could happen. She had seen too many things in her life to not believe in such things. Her village even had a such a legend. One of its mightiest warriors was killed in such a unhonorable fashion. Legend said that a bird spirit brought her back to life so she could have her revenge. Cologne tightened her grip on her cane. Curse him, when was he going to show up! The wait was starting to get to her. She almost hoped that he would show up. She grumbled on a bit and continued her vigil. ********** Shampoo carefully made her way down the stairs. She even more carefully made her way down the hallway. Her luck held, and the door to the dining room wasn't closed all the way. She peeked into the dining room. Her great grandmother was still there, she had moved the tables to the sides of the room. It looked almost like she cleared the area for a fight. Maybe those stupid men were coming back. If they were, why hadn't her great grandmother told her? Maybe she thought that it was such a trivial thing that she wasn't needed. Well, what ever the purpose, she was going to find out. ********** Cologne continued her vigil. Soon, it was finally answered. A dark form approached the door and opened it. In stepped Ranma-chan with a black bird perched on her shoulder. It was a full minute before Cologne fully recognized her. The white face paint confused her for a moment. "Well son-in-law, long time no see." Shampoo gasped. (Ranma alive!!!) The bird flew off her shoulder and landed on the cash register. "I figured that you would be waiting for me. I guess you know why I'm here." "You left me no choice." "NO CHOICE!!" Ranma sneered. "What do you mean by no choice!" "If you only accepted Shampoo as your proper bride, then you two would still be alive." Shampoo entered the room. "What you mean by that!" Cologne turned her head towards Shampoo. "Go back to bed! This does not concern you!" For the first time in her life, Shampoo ignored her great grandmother. Instead she walked over to Ranma. "Ranma..... Is that really you?" Ranma nodded her head. "But you died." "I did die, Shampoo." Ranma pointed at Cologne. "It's her fault that it happened." "Great grandmother killed Ranma!" Again another first in Shampoo's life, she felt anger towards Cologne. "Yes great granddaughter, I am responsible for Ranma's death." "Let's not forget about Akane's death, too." Added Ranma. "How you responsible, great grandmother!" "Remember those men a few weeks back?" Shampoo nods. "I hired them to interfere in son-in-law's date. Unfortunately, something went wrong and they killed them both." Tears streaked down Shampoo's face. "How could you.... You always teach Shampoo to do honorable thing. Making those men kill Akane was not honorable. It very unhonorable. Shampoo no can forgive great grandmother." Cologne shook her head. "If had you only stayed in bed, you would have never found out. Now you have to share in my dishonor." "Are you ready old ghoul?" Asked Ranma. Cologne turned to face Ranma again. "I'm ready." Shampoo watched helplessly as the two people who meant the most to her faced off. Their battle auras glowed as they prepared themselves. Shampoo wanted to help Ranma, but was it really Ranma? It looked like Ranma-chan, but didn't Ranma die? If he did, then who was this in the restaurant? Confused, Shampoo just looked on. With a mighty yell, Ranma charged at Cologne but she nimbly jumped out of the way. Again and again, Ranma attacked, and again and again, Cologne countered each move. "You're still too early to defeat me, sonny!" "We'll see about that!" Ranma attacked again. "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURI-KEN!" Ranma launched her fastest attack ever. Cologne launched into her own version of it. "I taught you that little trick! Don't think for a second that I've be....." Ranma's fist soared by her head unexpectedly. (Damn, almost didn't see that one.) Several more blows came close to hitting, but none did. "Well, sonny boy, it appears that you've gotten better." "Shut up and die you old ghoul!" Ranma gritted her teeth and drew in all her anger and sorrow. A small ball of energy forms in her hand. "I couldn't use this technique before, because I was never depressed enough." Ranma closed her eyes and thought back to that night. She remembered how afraid Akane felt when they approached her. She remembered the look in Akane's eyes as Ranma lay dying in her arms. She remembered the anger and pain she felt when they repeated her torment on Akane. Fueled by her anger and depression, the ball of light began to glow brighter and brighter. "For Akane!" Ranma raised her hands and pointed them at Cologne. "SHISHI HOKO-DAN!" The ball of energy shot forward in a huge beam of light. Surprised that Ranma managed to pull it off, Cologne failed to dodge out of the way. The beam struck her and continued out the front of the shop. ********** Bored and tired, detective Takada was about to fall asleep. The sound of shattering glass and an explosion woke him up though. It also woke detective Koohei. They covered their eyes as a bright beam of light shot out of the store. The beam hit a telephone pole, and it crashed to the ground. A small person landed on the street a few feet away. "Oh my god! Some kid got caught in that explosion!" Detective Koohei grabbed the radio and called it in. Detective Takada decided to brave the downpour and exitted the car. The wind pulled on his hat and tried its best to yank it off. A black bird flew out of the shop. Soon, he spotted a familiar figure following the bird. Ranma stopped in her tracks when she spotted the detective. "Leave! This is none of your concern!" "Trying to kill someone again! Last time I checked, that was police business." Takada pulled out his revolver and aimed. "I put special ammo in it this time. Move and you will die." "Don't make me......" Takada fired his gun. The recoil of the special round almost caused him to drop the gun. The bullet successfully struck Ranma. To her surprise, she was knocked off her feet and fell backwards. Takada walked over to Ranma's body and looked down. A large gaping hole was exposed in her abdomen. "I told you I had special ammo. Special anti-armor round that explodes on contact, that is." Takada's eyes got big as he watched Ranma's wound heal over. Soon, not a trace of the wound can be seen. "What in God's name...." Ranma suddenly jumped up. With one hand she grabbed the gun, with the other she grabbed his throat. "I told you to stay out of this." She took the gun from him and tossed it away. Ranma spotted the other detective racing over to rescue her partner. Ranma threw Takada at Koohei. He struck her, and they both fell to the ground. Ranma turned to face Cologne. "Now where were....." Cologne snuck up on Ranma and clubbed him in the head with her cane. Cologne launched into her own version of the kachu tenshin amaguri-ken with her club. Still tired from the shishi hoko-dan, Ranma failed to block some of the attacks. "What's the matter boy? Use up too much energy to fast!" Cologne followed up her attack. "Take this! BAKUSAI-TEN-KETSU!" Cologne jabbed the ground under Ranma, and it exploded. Ranma flew backwards from the explosion and crashed to the ground again. As Ranma tried to get back up, Cologne reached into the folds of clothing and pulled out several knives. She threw the knives, and they struck with stunning accuracy. Each one hit a vital point on Ranma's body. Ranma laughed as she removed each one. Cologne frowned. (This is not good. Each time I wound him, it just heals over. He must have a weakness. He must!) ********** Shampoo watched helplessly from the restaurant. Ranma was fighting her great grandmother outside. It was obvious to her that there was only one way that this could end. One of them was going to die. She lost Ranma once before, she didn't want to lose him again. Unfortunately for Shampoo, it was raining outside. One step out there and poof! Instant Neko-Shampoo. Being a cat would not help Ranma's condition much. Yes, it would help him in using the Neko-ken, but he got too distracted in that condition. Plus, Akane was the only person who could control him when he was like that. Shampoo watched as Ranma prepared to face off against her grandmother again. ********** Ranma stood up and removed the last of the knives. "Is that the best you can do, old ghoul?" "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Cologne gave him a false smile. Good thing that it was raining, because despite the cold, she was sweating. This was one of the few moments in her life that she had been worried. How did one fight someone who appeared to be impervious to pain? It suddenly dawned on her, the legend! It talked about a bird spirit bringing back the warrior. Didn't Ranma walk in with a bird on his shoulder? Maybe the same thing happened here. Maybe that was his weakness. She looked around the area and spotted the bird perched on the felled telephone pole. She reached into the folds of her robe again and pulled out several more knives. "Going to try the same trick again!" "Not exactly." Cologne suddenly turned away from Ranma and tossed the knives at the crow. The crow tried to get out of the way, but one struck the bird. The crow disappeared behind the telephone pole. Ranma grabbed her shoulder in agony. To her surprise, the pain did not go away. "Not so powerful anymore are we." Mocked Cologne. "A minor setback." Ranma gritted her teeth and bore the pain. "I'm still going to kill you!" "I don't think so." Cologne used her other hand and twisted the cane. She pulled on the head of the cane and exposed a short sword. "Let's see if you can live with your head cut off." Ranma spotted the crow as it hopped back on top of the pole. It was clearly wounded, but still going. "Let's not and say we did." Cologne charged at Ranma and swung her blade. She missed and swung again. Ranma jumped back and took a defensive stance. "Stand still and I'll give you your desired rest." "Not before you die!" Cologne gave a mighty war cry as she charged Ranma once again. Ranma didn't move, and Cologne plunged her sword deep into Ranma's gut. To Cologne's surprise, Ranma wrapped her arms around her. "What do you think you're doing!" Ranma coughed up a little blood. "Just wait and see." Cologne tried to free herself, but Ranma's grip was to strong. Ranma mustered her remaining strength and generated a massive battle aura. As the hairs on her neck stood up, Cologne realized what Ranma was doing. ************* Shampoo screamed out as her great grandmother fatally plunged her sword into Ranma. She expected Ranma to fall down, but instead she just wrapped her arms around Cologne. To her further bewilderment, Ranma started generating her battle aura. "Why he do that?" A bolt of lighting shot from the sky and struck Ranma and Cologne. Windows down the entire street shattered in response. When her vision started to clear up, she spotted two figures laying on the ground. Forgetting about her curse, Shampoo raced out into the street. Her nightgown landed in a puddle as she changed into a cat. She nimbly raced across the street to the two prone figures. To her left was the charred and lifeless remains of her grandmother. She turned her head and examined Ranma. Through the shredded remains of her shirt and jacket, Shampoo could see that Ranma suffered the same fate as her grandmother. Something caught her attention. Slowly but surely, Ranma's skin turned from a black to a pale color. Ranma's body shuddered as life returned to it once again. Shampoo went up and licked Ranma's face. When Ranma's vision cleared, the first thing he saw was Neko- Shampoo. Ranma instantly sat up and removed himself from the cat. Fear slowly removed itself from Ranma's face. Ranma began laughing. "I can't die and I'm still afraid of cats." Ranma continued to laugh as she stood back up. She walked over to Neko-Shampoo and picked her up. "So, is it finally over?" Asked a familiar voice. Ranma turned around and faced detective Takada. "Yes, it's finally over." "You're Ranma Saotome, aren't you?" "Yes." "Didn't you die?" "Yes." "Let me guess. You came back to life to get revenge." "Yes." Takada reached into pockets of his jacket. "I need a cigarette." "So what are you going to do with me?" Asked Ranma. Takada pulled out a pack of cigarettes. To his disappointment, it was empty. Takada muttered a curse as he balled it up and tossed it over his shoulder. "Not a thing. You're dead, our rules apply to the living." Sirens could now be heard. "Get out of here before my friends get here." "Yes, sir." She handed Takada Neko-Shampoo. "Make sure she gets some hot water." Ranma turns and prepares to leave. "Wait a second!" Ranma stopped and turned back around. Takada took off his jacket. "Here, take this. We don't want you to be arrested for indecent exposure, now do we?" Ranma smiled as she took the jacket from him. "Thank you." "Don't mention it." Ranma put on the jacket as she left. Takada watched as Ranma disappeared into the darkness. ********** The rain finally stopped on her way back to the cemetery. Ranma spotted a figure waiting for him at the gate. "Ukyo...." Ukyo walked up to Ranma. "I knew you would come back here." She lowered her head. "You're going back, aren't you?" Ranma placed a comforting hand on Ukyo's shoulder. "It's where I belong." Ukyo looked back up with tear filled eyes. "I don't want to lose you again!" "Ucchan....." Ukyo tightly embraced Ranma. "Can't you stay, at least for a couple of more days?" Ranma tightly hugged her back. "I'm sorry Ucchan, but I have to go." "Why!" Ranma sighed. "Please Ucchan, please understand." Ukyo cried in his arms a bit more before she pulled back from the embrace. "Unfortunatly I do understand." "As long as you carry me in your heart, I'll always be with you Ucchan." Ranma gave her a quick hug before she let go. "Sleep soundly Ranchan." "I will Ucchan. I will." Ranma turned and walked towards the gate. The crow flew from a tree and landed on her shoulder. The cemetery gates groaned as they opened for its long awaited resident. Ranma stopped, turned around and waved goodbye to Ukyo. Ukyo waved back as the cemetery gates slowly shut. "Never forget about me Ucchan." "I won't!" The cemetery gates closed with a thud. "I won't, Ranchan. I promise." ********** Ranma stood in front of Akane's headstone. Tears filled her eyes as she fell to her knees. Ranma reached forward and hugged the headstone. "I did it Akane, I got our revenge. You can sleep peacefully now." Old memories came flooding back. Ranma remembered when Akane and Ranma first met. Ranma remembered the first time he saw Akane with her hair cut short. He wanted to tell her how he truly felt then, but his pride got in the way. He thought back to all the times someone tried to take her away from him. Each time, he managed to rescue her. Each time, he failed to confuse the true reason why he did. He loved her and would do anything for her. Even return from the dead. "Akane....." Ranma hugged the headstone tighter. "Ranma....." Ranma felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and there stood Akane, wearing the same dress from the date. "Akane!" She got up and hugged her. "I did it for us." "I know." Akane smiled. "It's time to go Ranma." "I love you Akane." "I know." The loving pair began to glow. Soon, the intense white light becomes blinding. When light died down, and the pair was gone. All that was left was the crow perched on the headstone. It spread its wings and takes off into the night sky. ***END CHAPTER SIX*** ***EPILOGUE*** Ukyo slowly made her way home. That walk from the cemetery seemed like it just went on and on. She sighed as she unlocked the door. It felt good to finally let it all out. She paused as she opened the door. She closed the door and looked around. "Just too many memories. I really should get away from it all. At least for awhile." She turned around and quickly entered her shop. Several minutes later, she emerged with a bag slung over her shoulder and a sign in her arms. She placed the sign in window. It read, "Gone on vacation. Be back in a week." She locked the door and turned around. (I haven't been home for over a year. Now is a good time as any to visit.) Ukyo hummed a tune to herself as she left. Something flew by her head and landed on a mailbox. Ukyo looked at the crow as it hopped on top of the box. She walked up to the crow and spotted a golden ring in it's beak. She held out her hand and the crow dropped the ring. Ukyo examined it. It was a small golden ring with two entwined hearts. Ukyo spotted the inscription inside the band. It read, "Love is eternal." Ukyo looked up at the bird. "This is from Ranma, isn't it?" The bird just cawed back. "Thank you." The crow spread its wings and disappeared into the sky. ********** Takada stroked the purple cat in his arms. It purred back in response. Takada watched as they loaded Koohei into a waiting ambulance. He sighed. When Ranma threw him into Koohei, she had hit her head on the pavement and suffered a minor concussion. They were taking her to a hospital to be safe. Detective Takada continued to stroke the cat as he walked over to several offices taking pictures. "What the hell happened detective?" Takada looked at the ground. In the middle of a giant bird shaped scorch mark was the remains of Cologne. "There's your psycho killer. Tried to attack me with a sword." Takada smiled. "I guess one shouldn't sword fight in a lightning storm." "What about the bird shaped mark on the street?" Takada turned and walked away. "Just a coincidence officer. Just a coincidence." "If you say so, detective." ********** Meanwhile in a peaceful far off place. Ranma-kun and Akane are walking down a sunny meadow. A warm breeze sofly waifs through the meadow. Ranma reaches out and grabs Akane's hand. Akane looks up into Ranma's eyes and smiles. "I love you Ranma." "I love you to Akane." Akane moves up closer to Ranma as they continue thier walk through the meadow. T H E E N D Author's closing thoughts: It's finally finished!!!!! Hurray!!! I'm not happy that it's over, I'm just happy that I finished writing it!!!! I never thought it would end. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU to all the people that wrote me back as I posted the first chapters. YOU REALLY LIKED ME!!!!! This is only my second story. Can you believe that! I almost didn't write this one because I was discorauged after my first one. No one said it sucked or anything, it was just that only THREE people wrote back! Only THREE!! To me that was just as bad as getting mail stating that I sucked. For this one I got back a huge response. I posted the first two chapters on a Thursday and when I checked my mail on Monday, it was flooded with comments. More poured in after I posted the third and forth chapters. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!!! I put many things on hold to finish this story. Including my much needed beauty sleep! Working a double shift and attending classes has really gotten to me. Slap some candles on my head and I could pass as Gosunkugi! Shutter. Whoops, almost forgot to thank one person in particular. I did most of the story without an editor. Counldn't find someone willing. Halfway through, someone voleentered to edit it for me. The poor fool. Despite my intnese misuse of grammer, she did an excellent job. So I give a BIG thank you to Risha&Tzigane. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Anyway, thank you all again for reading and responding. Hey, if you haven't yet, drop me a line a tell me what you think. Hell, even if you already did, drop me another comment! BTW: In case you want to read my first fic, The Key to it All, and you can't find it in the fanfic archives, or don't know where to find the archives. Drop me a line and I'll mail you a revised copy of it. This one will contain all the corrections to the minor mistakes that made it's way to the posted version. It's a good short story! Well I'm out of here. Till then may the almightly Rumiko Takahashi continue to make more mind blowing manga. All bow down to her presense. RTJ October 17, 1996 ********************************************************************** * __ __ * ___ * "I just cut your bloody * * \ \ / / * | | * arm off!" * * \_\ /_/ * | | | * "Don't worry, it's just a * * | * |___| | | * flesh wound. It'll grow * * |_______| * | \ --|-- | * back." * * | | | * | \ | | | * * * |___| * | \ | |__| * Monty Python: * * * rtj@hotmail.com * Quest for the Holy Grail * **********************************************************************