Rebecca Heineman
13th July 2007, 03:09 PM
Sailor Ranko - Thrice in a Millennium
Chapter 16: Betrayal
By Rebecca Ann Heineman
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or make me appear
on Girls Gone Wild.
A bright ray of light streamed into the medicine hut and landed at the side
of a well worn cot. Slowly, as time went on, the beam silently crept forward
along the floor, up the edge of the low bed, until it landed directly on the
face of the young woman who was lying there. Feeling the heat, Konatsu
opened her eyes and instantly closed them in pain. She lifted a hand to
block the light and rubbed her eyes with the other, The kunoichi slowly came
back from her unconscious state. Yawning, she sat up and looked around for
any sign of her hostess. After a few moments of silence, she saw that the
coast was clear, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Once she had regained her energy, she silently slid off of her resting place
and stood in the center of the room. She wobbled for a moment and held onto
to a nearby post for support. She remained still for a few seconds until her
equilibrium became balanced again, and rubbed her head to soothe a headache.
She was still a bit woozy from the medication that Potion had given her, and
whatever it was, it had a powerful effect on her. Still, she had her
suspicions, "Motaba root," she cursed.
She took a minute to scan the room and found her old ninja outfit hanging on
a peg behind a closet door. She quickly removed the white robe she was
wearing and put on her more familiar clothing. She took great care in
zipping up the front of her outfit after remembering the tired garment
couldn't take much more strain before it would fall apart. Brushing off a
small amount of dust from her shoulder, she checked the hidden pockets to
verify that nothing was taken. She found the item she was looking for and
made sure it remained secure in its hiding place.
She moved quietly along the wall, trying to avoid attention from anyone
within hearing distance. She approached the entrance to the room and
listened carefully at the door. Hearing nothing, she turned the knob and
slowly creaked the door open. Peering inside the next room, she breathed
another sigh of relief as there were no guards in sight. She moved into the
small room and found it filled with potions, animal parts, herbs and other
items of possible medicinal value and it also had the distinct aroma of
ginger. She quickly checked the room for alarms and traps and then she moved
to the curtain that covered the entrance. Behind the curtain was another
door, leading to the front porch. She moved to a small circular window to
the right of the door and looked outside. There, she saw a familiar white
haired old Amazon hopping on her cane and entering a hut across the way.
Once Cologne was out of sight, Konatsu looked to the left and right and saw
that the space between the huts was clear. She stepped outside and noticed
that the hut she had exited from had a tiny garden next to it filled with
exotic plants. Little signs in Chinese marked the types of plants that
populated the rows. One of them had the symbol for Motaba root, confirming
the ninja's earlier hypothesis. The ground beyond the garden was covered in
dirt with patches of grass where foot traffic was absent. She checked again
to see if there were any prying eyes and found none. She deftly crossed the
dirt path and walked around the other hut and she found a large barrel of
water to hide behind. What kind of water? Here, no one could be too sure, so
she kept a vigil on the fluid within. She pressed herself between the barrel
and the wall of the hut, hoping that no one could see her from where she was
hiding. Placing her ear against the wall, she listened carefully.
All she heard was an argument about ancient laws and people named Ranma and
Shampoo. Damn, she thought. She was hoping that they would be discussing
something of more interest to her. A few minutes pass and the conversation
ended. Konatsu was disappointed, since this rare opportunity to spy on the
elders yielded nothing of value. She pondered her next move and closed her
eyes to clearly recall everything she knew about the village. Gardens,
playgrounds, council chambers and yes, the pits, she recalled. She opened
her eyes with clarity and crept alongside the hut wall until she could see
another row of huts. Hoping that she would be welcome here, she walked,
trying to keep her slight limp to a minimum. As she moved between the huts,
several Amazons saw her, but none of them paid any special attention to her.
The kunoichi smiled. Her plan was working perfectly.
Ahead, was a flat grassy area surrounded by a low wooden fence made of
gnarled logs hammered vertically into the ground. The kunoichi was about to
step on one when she took a moment to pause. Fearing a magical trap of some
kind, she made a clumsy somersault high over the fence and into the center
of the area the old wood protected. She landed with a metallic clang. She
made a silent curse to herself for being careless and pushed aside a tuft of
high grass. Underneath the brush, she found a metal grate firmly anchored to
the ground covering a large pit. She looked in between the slats and saw
blackness. She squinted her eyes to try to make out anything and still she
saw nothing. "Psst." She whispered. "Are you there, my Lord?"
Something in the pit moved in reply. A soft meow was heard followed by a
purr. Out of the shadows, came a small white cat with purple ears and paws.
It looked up and meowed happily.
Konatsu ignored the feline and kept looking in the pit for any sign of her
Lord. "Are you there? It's me, I'm here to get you out." She grabbed the
iron grate and gave it a hard yank. It refused to budge.
The cat jumped happily and meowed a little louder. Konatsu gritted her teeth
in frustration because that cat was going to attract the very attention she
was trying to avoid. She looked to her left and saw another grate, identical
to the one she was trying to open. She quickly forgot about the pit with the
cat and was about to check the new one when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
A sudden jerk followed and she was whisked away, over the fence and into to
the back of a nearby hut before she knew what happened to her.
Cologne gave a look of anger and frustration and was holding her cane firmly
into the kunoichi's hip. She scowled angrily. "What are you doing here?" She
turned around to check if they were being watched and saw that no one was
around to see the pair. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to
face the kunoichi from Japan. She pulled her cane away and stuck it into the
ground then held onto it for support. She shook her head in remorse. "You
can't rescue her, it would only make it worse."
Konatsu made a frown, "Her?" She was confused. "What do you mean, her?"
"You're not here for her?" Cologne was immediately suspicious. "What are..."
Before she finished her sentence, she studied everything she needed to know
about this person in front of her. The woman's ki signature was a perfect
match for Ukyou's waiter/waitress, but the way she stood was wrong for a
kunoichi, the makeup was not applied with absolute care and those breasts
weren't made of tissue paper. She spun her cane into a position to attack
and shouted for all to hear. "Who are you? Intruder!"
Konatsu was taken aback at Cologne's change of tone. She assertively
challenged the elder, "I'm the Kunoichi Konatsu. I stand before you!"
If there was any doubt in her mind, it was removed with the ninja's
statement. It wasn't the words. Konatsu said that line every time he issued
a formal challenge. But Konatsu being assertive? Since when? And the voice,
while close to the Kunoichi's, had subtle differences and Cologne was able
to discern. This woman was different from the person she knew and even if
Konatsu had picked up a curse, it wouldn't change how his base personality
was at all unless he fell into the Spring of Drowned Pious Man. The person
in front of her was not suffering from that curse. "Konatsu would never
address me in that manner. How did you duplicate his body?" She took a
moment to pause at the situation since pronouns were rapidly becoming
obsolete in this situation. Many questions needed answers and the elder was
going to get them while beating it out of this imposter.
The kunoichi sent a low kick at Cologne which she deflected with her cane
easily. "Guards!" She cried out loud enough to be heard all across the
village. "We have an intruder!"
"Where is he?" Konatsu demanded, knowing full well that they weren't going
to tell her anything. She jumped back and ran to the unexamined prison cell,
all the while being careful not to touch the fence. Upon reaching the grate,
she yelled into the darkness within, "My Lord, are you in there?"
"Stop her!" Yelled Cologne and she jumped onto her cane and pogo-sticked her
way to the kunoichi. She thrust out her staff and shoved the dark haired
girl into the ground. Konatsu rolled with the impact and leapt into the air
as if she was made for flying. She pulled out a shuriken and threw it at the
Amazon elder.
Cologne effortlessly caught the pointed star with her hand and tossed the
useless weapon aside. If the real Konatsu had thrown the star, it would have
been a challenge to deflect. All the more proof that this person was someone
in disguise. "What have you done with Konastu? Who do you want?"
"You know full well who I'm talking about!" Screamed the ninja. "Release him
at once!"
As the two women encircled each other, waiting for an opening to present
itself for an attack, dozens of Amazon warriors appeared from everywhere and
created a perimeter around the two combatants.
Konatsu paused for only a moment and produced a Chinese sword from the
hidden place within her robes, a sword that Cologne had seen before. "It's
you! Kiima!"
She just grinned in reply and with that, she spun the blade in a whirlwind
attack. "Special technique revised, One Thousand Bird Wing Fan!" She stood
her ground and with a tone more fitting of a military commander than a
demure waitress, she demanded "You will release my Lord, NOW!"
Cologne stepped back and maintained a defensive posture. Her cane was no
match to Phoenix Mountain steel. "He's not here." She silently prayed that
she was telling the truth. With all the deception going on, there was no
telling if Kiima may be in the right.
"He would never have left the castle unless he was forced to. What have you
done to him?" She commanded. "Bring him forth or... or..." A strange scream
was heard from high above causing the small group to take pause and look up.
Instantly, everyone dived for cover as a balding fat man in a white martial
arts gi, flew by at a speed that rivaled jet aircraft only a few meters over
their heads. "Yeehaw!" He screamed as he whizzed by.
Cologne peered up from the grass first and softly whispered. "Wasn't
that..."
"The Kinjakan!" Konatsu shouted in terror. "No!"
Cologne took a moment to put the pieces together and things being measured
on the badness scale of one to ten, had reached the level of twelve. She
dropped her cane in shock. Genma Saotome on the Kinjakan?!? What's going on?
And how did he come by that artifact?
She didn't have much time to ask any more questions, when another missle
flew by, following Genma's flight precisely. This object was a cross between
a human and a bird and he was cursing. "You will pay for your insolence,
infidel!"
Without hesitation, Kiima made a break for it. She ran past Cologne and
jumped into a steel barrel filled with soaking wet laundry that was sitting
on top of a tiny fire. She emerged from the hot water in her birth form, an
avian woman with wings. Taking only a moment to repectfully glance at
Cologne, she spread her wings and flew up into the sky in pursuit of her
Lord Saffron. She was only able to rise five meters before an arrow from an
Amazon archer pierced her right wing. Ignoring her new injury, she flapped
harder and quickly vanished into the sky in pursuit of her Lord and the
Kinjakan.
As the archers sent up a full volley of arrows in a futile attempt to bring
Kiima down, Gel hopped in, angrier than a bee hive that was being raided by
a bear. She hatefully glared at Cologne and stood just outside of striking
distance. "What's the meaning of this? What have you done?"
"What do you mean, what have I done? She's getting away!" Cologne pointed at
the rapidly retreating bird woman. "She was spying on us!"
Pointing an accusatory finger at Cologne, Gel barked out the order she had
waited a long time to give. "You're under arrest for the attempted prison
break of Shampoo."
Cologne was seething. "You're insane! This has nothing to do with my
Great-Granddaughter. She came here thinking that we kidnapped Saffron and
you're accusing me of that?"
"I see though your plans. I've been watching you and you've finally slipped
up. You staged this whole thing! That woman you were with? She's that
Kunoichi from Japan and she's works with one of your closest associates.
Ukyou, is it?"
"Wait just one..." Was all Cologne could say before a cloud of powder
appeared in her face, causing her to cough and prevented her from saying
anything more.
"This is an elaborate hoax for you to free Shampoo! I knew you were going to
try something when I saw that kunoichi arrive yesterday."
Cologne stood there dumbfounded. She coughed again and forced out her
response. "Yesterday? She's been here since yesteday? And you didn't even
know she's a Phoenix Mountain dweller? That's the most flimsiest excuse I've
ever heard! Something terrible is going to happen and you're wasting our
time with this petty bickering?"
"Seize her!" Gel shouted to the other Amazons. The women looked at each
other, totally confused as to whether or not they should obey the order.
Cologne was one of the highest ranking elders and as such, was almost immune
to prosecution.
Cautiously pulling out a small vial from her robes, Gel held it over the
opening to Shampoo's cage. "You will do as I say and come along quietly."
Cologne froze, not wanting the contents of the vial to fall. This battle was
lost, but the war was far from over. "Your foolishness just condemned us
all."
"No, it's your foolish ideas who did this to us. I have to put a stop to it
and I'll do anything to protect our way of life. Even this..." Gel
steadfastly held the vial over the opening then loosened her grip. She was
just a tiny amount of pressure away from releasing the vial into the slats
of the iron grate. Never blinking her eyes nor taking her gaze away from the
younger Elder, Gel spoke, leaving no doubt that she meant business. "It's a
small price to pay to ensure our continued survival. Take her into custody
and use the elder protocols."
The lead guard produced a magical steel chain and walked slowly to Cologne.
Offering no resistance, Cologne held out her hands and the cuffs were
attached to her wrists, all the while she returned Gel's hateful gaze with
one of pity. A short distance away, a small iron cell was unlocked and
Cologne was led towards it by a group of very reluctant Amazons. Before she
entered the cage, she was stripped of her cane and a few magical items she
had in her robes and the door was secured with a magically enhanced lock
designed especially to keep an Amazon Elder imprisoned. Once her rival was
secured, Gel tightened her grip on the vial and slid it back into her pouch
with a satisfied look on her face.
She walked up to Cologne's cell, keeping a respectful distance and gloated.
"You should have let me drop it. She deserved nothing less."
Shampoo's great grandmother stood silently in her cage, not wanting to give
Gel the satisfaction of a response.
"Pity. Her fate was already sealed. Now you can share in her punishment
tomorrow. I have plenty of vials. This one I have reserved just for you."
She produced the vial and held it so Cologne could clearly read the label.
Cologne didn't have to read the label. She knew exactly what it was. It was
the ultimate punishment for an Amazon. "You wouldn't dare."
Gel hid the vial in her fist. She turned around and walked away making one
parting comment. "See you tomorrow."
"Give those back, you pervert!" Screamed a young girl holding a large broom.
She was chasing a shriveled old man who was carrying a large laundry bag
filled with recently stolen women's undergarments and some of them were
originally hers.
"Sweeto! It's a great day to be alive!" Happosai jumped up onto a wall, then
onto a high roof and easily evaded his pursuer. He ran for another kilometer
to make sure he ditched that ungrateful young lady and paused to check his
precious cargo. He opened the bag and found the most magical items in the
whole wide world; namely, bras, panties and stockings.
He reached in and fetched a fine specimen of female clothing. He gently
rubbed his fingers along the edges of the panty and absorbed the magical
feminine energy. Once it was drained, he grabbed another undergarment, then
another, until he was fully charged. He slid a panty over his head like a
hat and pulled the elastic waist band down to his ears. "Ah, so soft, so
cool, so full of sweet goodness, how I've missed you."
He turned to the direction of the Tendo Dojo with a sour look on his face.
"Still, without Ranma around, there's no fun in this." He released the band,
sending the panty flying into the air. Time to pay him a visit. Maybe he
could be persuaded to change into a girl and do a little fashion show for
me. He drooled.
He wadded up the undergarments he drained and tossed them over his shoulder.
A policeman who had stopped when a panty landed on his head a moment ago had
the misfortune to catch the wad of underwear just as a small mob of angry
women appeared from nowhere. The lead girl pointed a broom at the officer.
"Get the pervert!" The policeman stood there in surprise as he was
mercilessly pounded upon by a horde of well armed women.
With his pursuers out of the way, and conveniently law enforcement as well,
he placed the bag over his shoulder and roof hopped toward his old place of
residence, occasionally stopping here and there to pluck another soft silky
darling from a clothesline until his bag was overflowing. After a few
screams from lovely ladies, he finally reached the wall of the Tendo
compound. Happosai sensed only two occupants inside and neither seemed be
the target of his attentions. He shrugged and jumped over the wall and ran
up to a crying man. He silently watched as Soun Tendo, dressed only in a
white loin cloth, made a prayer to the ancestors, then Mr. Tendo took a
bucket of water and poured it on himself as part of a Shinto ritual.
The old geezer produced a pipe, lit it and took a puff. "You know, the furo
is a better place to cleanse yourself."
Soun froze. No, he thought. It couldn't be. It's impossible. The Master was
banished. He saw it with his own eyes. Mrs. Saotome and Sailor Mars sent the
evil man to the afterlife so it couldn't really be him, could it? Perhaps,
Happosai was speaking to him from beyond the grave? He reached out with his
martial arts senses and there it was. He could feel the evil Master's
presence. Somehow, he's returned from the bowels of hell. He bowed down as
low to the ground as he could and assume the Crouch of the Wild Tiger, the
famed Saotome Technique of professional groveling. "Oh, Master, I seek your
guidance."
The evil man raised an eyebrow as Soun was bowing away from him, not toward
him. "At least you're showing proper respect for your Master. Now..."
He was about to speak more but Soun interrupted him. "I ask your humble
guidance, oh great and powerful Master."
Happosai smiled. Soun was assuming the position but he still couldn't be
trusted. The old man wasn't planning on spending another decade buried in a
cave somewhere. "I'll give it to you as soon as you tell me where Mrs.
Soatome is?"
"Mrs. Saotome?" Soun blinked, surprised as the Master's odd request. "She's
staying with Ranma and Akane."
"Oh, nice." Two for the price of one, he rubbed his hands thinking about a
romantic rendezvous with Akane-chan. "Are they staying at the Miyagi Dojo in
Juuban?"
"Don't you already know, oh, wise and all powerful Master?" Soun started to
sweat. That voice sounded like it wasn't from the other side, but from his
backside, a place that was certainly one hundred times worse. But that's
impossible since the Master was in hell, purgatory, Niflheim or Hoboken, New
Jersey. Then again, he did survive a decade locked in a cave after drinking
enough sake to kill an elephant and having been blown up by enough dynamite
to level a small mountain. Soun, slowly turned his head from his prone
position and saw the upside down image of the most horrible creature in all
of Japan: His Master.
Instantly turning around, he bowed in front of Happosai. "I welcome you,
Master!"
"Hmph. As if you really mean that. I was stuck in that other dimension and
what did you do to get me out?" He leered, all knowing that Soun and Genma
probably celebrated with sake and wine when they knew he was gone.
"There was nothing we could do." He groveled again, forcing his face into
the soft earth hoping he could burrow a few thousand kilometers down.
I need to train him on how to be a better liar, thought the old fossil.
Happosai shook his head in disgust at how pathetic his student had become.
"Yeah, whatever you say. So, where's your partner in crime, Mr. Panda?"
"You-You don't know. Oh, you're not dead, of course you wouldn't know." He
groveled again. "I beg your forgiveness, oh, Master."
"Rumors of my death were a bit premature. At least you can hold my funeral
again, this time with my body in state and plenty of pretty ladies leaving
me offerings." He zoned out, thinking about bras. A moment later, he snapped
out of his wonderous daydream. "Now, on to business. Where exactly is Ranma
and Akane staying?"
"They are in an apartment near Juuban High School." He gave him the address.
"I see. You'd better not be trying something. I'm off to my room. I'll got
some things to do, people to see and some special things I need to iron!" He
bounded off, and entered the back door to the house, out of sight.
Soun collapsed in terror. No! He couldn't be back. He was banished into that
box. He saw for himself that Sailor Pluto took that thing away. Far away.
Far, far away. Far, far, far away. But as before, he underestimated the
Master. This was only an inconvenience for him and... Uh, oh...
BOOM! Soun was covered in soot as a firecracker that was left behind,
exploded. He sat for a moment as he wondered about what horrible thing he
must have done in a past life to deserve what he got in this one. A moment
passed, and his recollection of his training regiment under the Master all
but assured him that the next three lifetimes he would live would probably
be worse than this one. He sighed in utter doom.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!" Came a scream from inside the house.
"Soun! Where are my things!"
In seconds, Soun was at the entryway of Happosai's bedroom. From floor to
ceiling were sample merchandise with the likeness' of Sailor Sun and Io and
other Sailor Senshi. Nabiki had filled the room since she, like everyone
else, had thought that the Master was never to return. That wasn't what
angered the Master. He was kneeling over a empty hole in the floorboards.
"Where is it?" He demanded angrily and glowed a bright red. He wasn't at all
happy.
"Where is what, oh, great and powerful Master?" He was on his knees and
bowing.
"Cut that out!" He shouted. "Where's my chest?"
Chest? Soun racked his brain trying to remember if he had seen a chest.
Since the Master had gone, Cologne had visited, then Nabiki took over the
room and... "I believe that Cologne took it."
"Damn! She would be an indian giver. No mind, I'll have to make do without
it." He paused to look at a large poster on the wall. It was a picture of
Sailor Io, throwing a ball of Lava. He studied the picture carefully.
Soun looked at the picture, then at the Master, not comprehending what was
going on.
"That stance." Happosai made the same stance. "It's an Anything Goes stance.
Why I'll be. I'm going to have a bit more fun than I imagined."
"Why, hello there, Grandfather." Kasumi appeared with a big tray of
sandwiches and sake. "Welcome home!"
"Kasumi! It's so nice too..." Before the little creep could pounce, Kasumi
shoved a sandwich into his mouth.
"I'll have your room straightened out before bedtime." Instantly, the eldest
Tendo sister vanished. As she briskly walked back to the kitchen, she made
the sign of the cross on her chest and held her hands in prayer.
"Mmm..." He removed the sandwich from his face and finished chewing the part
that was still in his mouth. "My favorite. You could learn something from
her. Now, I'm off and I expect my things to be exactly where I left them.
And I do mean everything." With that, the evil man jumped out the window and
ran to the southeast, toward the Minato ward.
All Soun could think of at that moment was how lucky Genma was for running
off with that strange artifact and angering that monster. If Genma was to
die, he would no longer have to deal with the Master. He wondered if he
could convince the woman eating Orochi if he could make an exception and eat
him for breakfast.
"I'm home!" Mrs. Mizuno took off her shoes and placed them next to the front
door of her little condominium. It was one of the few times she was able to
get home early from her job at the hospital. She went straight to the
kitchen to read any message that Ami left on the whiteboard on the
refrigerator when a clicking sound attracted her attention. She heard the
pages of a book being turned, then more clicking. It sounded like a computer
keyboard, but it beeped like a calculator in sync to the clicking. There was
only one computer that sounded like that. Her daughter must be up to
something important if she was using that.
Without hesistating, she opened the refrigerator and pulled out some of
Ami's favorite foods. In a few minutes, she prepared a sandwich, a sliced
apple and added a fresh cold juice box and lovingly placed them on a serving
tray. She carried the meal down to her hard working daughter's bedroom.
Tapping the door with her foot, she knocked gently to get her young girl's
attention, "Ami? I've got something for you."
A hurried voice answered, "Could you leave it out the door? I'm a little
busy right now."
Mrs. Mizuno smiled as she always did when her daughter was deep in study.
She balanced her tray in a single hand and opened the door. As she
suspected, Sailor Mercury was sitting at her daughter's desk instead of Ami
in her school uniform. Mercury looked up to see her mother and smiled back.
"Thank you."
Her mother placed the tray at the end of her daughter's desk. She stared at
the Senshi with pride. She followed with a bit of dread, since her daughter
rarely spent time in her Senshi form when she was home. Something very
important was happenening to make her daughter risk being seen in her
alternate guise. "What are you working on?"
The Senshi of Mercury sat back in her chair, exhausted. "I've been trying to
find a cure for Ukyou's affliction."
"Affliction? What do you think she has?" Dr. Mizuno's professional curiosity
was piqued. "If she's sick, why don't you have her come to the hospital?
She'd receive the best of care, especially if you vouched for her."
"I wish it was that easy." She pressed some buttons on her Mercury computer
and on the screen was the magical scan of Ukyou's aura. "I just can't figure
out what's the next phase. It's like there's some sort of randomness
controlling this."
"Ukyou, Ukyou, where have I heard that name before? Wasn't she the one
that..." She gasped. It was the girl from Nerima who nearly died on her
operating table from massive trauma and blood loss. It was when she was in
recovery, the Senshi came and with their magic, they performed a miracle and
healed her. "Her? What happened? I thought you cured her. Did she lose her
leg again?"
Speaking in a calming voice, the young girl held up her computer for her
mother to see. "No, she's not losing her leg, but something happened when we
healed her. Look at this."
Dr. Mizuno read the information on the screen and was perplexed at what she
saw. The scan was of a resolution that rivaled the best MRI she'd ever seen.
There were areas that glowed that covered her lost leg and her hand, but the
glow had leeched into the rest of woman's body much like the pattern of a
cancer spreading into its host. She had enough experience to know that this
wasn't a good sign. "What's happening to her? I take it it's serious."
She took back her computer and placed it on her desk. She tapped a few more
keys and the image changed to one where the glow covered more of the chef's
body. "This is what she looks like today. In the last week, it's grown
twenty two percent and it's growing faster. At this rate, she'll be
completely contaminated in a few days."
"What is this?" Dr. Mizuno read one of Ami's many notes she had laying on
her desk and was even more confused. Medical arts, she was a master, but
magic? That was something that was a bit out of her field.
"The only way to describe it is that it's our ki; our life energy. When we
healed her, we gave a piece of ourselves, much like someone donating blood.
We used that to reconstitute her body and heal her completely."
"And how is this affecting her? I assume she's not a Senshi."
"You're right about that Mother. She's not. But Sailor Saturn has healed
many people and nothing like this has ever happened. It's like we triggered
something, yet I can't figure out what it is."
Sitting down in the room's only other chair, Ami's mother crossed her legs
and tried to think about the problem as only a trained professional would.
Even though Ami had the brains for it, she didn't have the experience.
"First, I need to know what's her symptoms. Maybe we can figure this out."
It was worth a shot. Maybe her mother could offer something new to look at
that Ami hadn't thought of. Besides, she so rarely saw her mother lately,
just being with her brought back fond memories of a happier time. A time
when her father still lived with them and they did things together once in a
while. Happily, she asked for the advice her mother was volunteering to
give. "Let's see, she's manifesting behaviors from everybody who healed her.
She's playing the violin, which was something she never did before. She's
speaking perfect English and she made a cake that Sailor Jupiter makes all
the time. It's as if a bit of each of us is inside her."
"I can see how that could affect her psyche. Has she seen a therapist?
Perhaps that may be all she needs."
Mercury shook her head. "No, there's more to it than that." She pressed a
few keys and an overlay appeared on Ukyou's silhouette. "This is my aura.
When I asked her to solve a short math formula, this is what happened." She
played an animation that had another girl's silhouette on top of Ukyou's,
then it changed into one that was distinctly Ami's. "As you see, when she
needs Mercury power, she tapped into my aura. It gave her the ability to
think like me."
Taking it in, Dr. Mizuno sat there digesting what Ami said. "And, she can
tap into the others as well?"
"Yes, I tested her and I was able to get everybody's aura, even Sailor Chibi
Moon."
"From what little I know, it sounds more like this is a gift than a disease.
What's the negative effects besides the psychological ones, unless it's the
psychological issue you're addressing? If that's the case, I can refer her
to a therapist."
"Therapy may be needed for her to cope in the long term. It's the short term
that I'm worried about." She displayed the body glow again and animated it
to the point where the glow covered her body. "This is forecast to occur in
48 hours. When it reaches one hundred percent, I'm afraid that the shock to
her system will be too much for her."
"Shock? What shock?"
'Her heart rate, blood pressure, and EKG readings go haywire when her auras
change. And they're changing more rapidly as time goes on." The blue skirted
Senshi sulked. "There's so many variables, I wish I knew with certainty the
outcome."
Speaking from experience, the elder nodded in acknowledgment. "Once, I was
just like you."
Mercury raised an eyebrow. Was her mother trying to tell her that she was a
Senshi too?
"When I was in college, I thought I knew everything. I was just starting my
internship at the university hospital when I found out that despite
everything I knew, everything I studied and everything I thought about
medicine didn't mean a whole lot when compared to the healing power of the
human body. I was so sure I had the answer to everything. I aced my tests, I
listened to my teachers and when they brought this man into the hospital,
everything I knew about science went out the window."
"Really?" Mercury was enthralled at her mother's story.
"Yes, really," she continued. "He was barely alive. He was a fireman who had
fallen and he had numerous internal injuries. After he was stablized,
everyone, including I, were convinced that his family should make plans for
his funeral. He had no hope of surviving. His kidneys had failed, he was
bleeding internally and he suffered brain trauma that even if his body
recovered, he was already dead. And it was that night, my world changed."
"I was making the rounds, taking vital signs from all the patients, when I
went into his room. He was lying there. His heart monitor was beeping, and I
went to take his pulse when he spoke to me. Imagine that? A man who was
brain dead, speaking to me as if nothing happened. Do you know what he said
to me?"
"What did he say?"
"He said, 'Tell the building owner to fix the stairs, they seem to be
broken.'" The doctor giggled.
Mercury couldn't help but giggle too.
"A few weeks later, he was checked out and in time, he fully recovered.
Despite all that you know, and all that you've studied, never underestimate
the power the human body has in repairing itself. Sometimes, miracles can
happen on their own."
Sailor Mercury smiled back at her mother. She always knew what to say,
mother's always did.
"I have faith, Mercury. I know you'll be able to help her, but don't keep
the burden on yourself. She already survived the odds. When she was on my
table, I didn't think she was going to make it either. But, she's a fighter.
I think the odds are still in her favor. Besides..." A mischiveous twinkle
gleamed in her eye. "I don't know how you girls recruit new members, but if
anything, a girl with those abilities, could be a superhero, just like you."
Mercury sat in shock. Why didn't she think of that? After all, Akane was
promoted to Senshihood, why couldn't they promote another? "I see your
point." She jumped up and hugged her mother. "Thank you for helping me."
She returned the hug with as much enthusiasm as her daughter. "What are
mothers for?"
"I've got to go! I've got meet my teammates." She grabbed her pocket
computer and book bag.
"I think you'll need this." She held up the food tray.
Mercury blushed and picked up the sandwich and juice box. She stuffed the
box into her bag and hurried into the kitchen to get a piece of wrapping
paper. A moment later, Sailor Mercury headed toward the door.
Dr. Mizuno held out an umbrella for her daughter. "Forgetting something?"
Mercury paused in confusion. "It's not supposed to rain today, is it?"
The good doctor opened the umbrella and several roses popped out.
"Oh." Mercury dropped her senshi guise so she could travel to Rei's shrine
without being assulted by every hormone drenched male along the way. "Remind
me to kill Tatewaki Kuno."
"I am Kunoichi Konatsu and I am in hell."
The little kunoichi shivered in the corner of her dark, dismal and
depressing cave, isolated from any human contact. The dripping of water from
the condensation from the ceiling above was her only companion. There were
iron bars mounted on a sliding door that covered the entrance to her cell.
Her ego was so shattered, that she had no will to even try to break the
bars. Curled up into a fetal position to conserve warmth, the girl made a
fresh row of tears to add to the small puddle that had formed under her
head.
She wore a simple white robe, with black trim and nothing else. Her hair,
once glistening with pride and joy, now was a matted tangled mess. Her
makeup was smeared and ran down her face, following the water trails coming
from her eyes. Her usual clothes were somewhere else, or destroyed, or lost.
She didn't know. All she could remember was waking up in here after a long
hard battle, a splash, then doom.
She sniffed again in sorrow, coughing out the musty dust that filled the
room giving it the scent of a bag of dirty socks that have over ripened in
the noonday sun.
She blinked her eyes to clear out the dust, trying to focus on anything in
the darkness. Only the reflections of light coming from the guard room down
a corridor beyond her reach illuminated the chamber, giving it an atmosphere
that rivaled a haunted house.
"Oh, Ukyou-sama... I miss you." The kunoichi softly spoke to the flies that
buzzed around her. She felt her new chest and wept again. "What am I?" Her
frame was slightly smaller and her body was mostly the same except for her
breasts and what was missing between her legs.
She softly wept as her dreams washed away with her tears. "How will she love
me now?"
She closed her eyes and tried to remember. How did this happen? She was a
genius kunoichi, one that comes every one hundred years. Yet, she was
defeated. How was this possible?
The memories returned, and she immediately wished she could forget.
Kiima stood in a fog enshrouded clearing waiting in anticipation. She
glanced over to a patch of grass that was depressed slightly than the rest
of the terrain and made a soft smile. A murder of crows formed a black cloud
just over the horizon, and it was getting closer.
The Captain of Phoenix Mountain checked her sword. She pulled it from its
sheath only a few centimeters and quickly pushed the blade back into place,
satisfied that the weapon was available should the need arise. Considering
her opponent, that need was soon. She gave a call back to the approaching
crows and they responded in kind one thousand fold.
The cloud of crows descended rapidly and landed twenty meters ahead of
Kiima. No sooner did they land, they flew off into the sky in thousands of
directions. Where they touched down, a lone body lay on the ground. Kiima
held her hand on the hilt of her sword. She had underestimated her opponent
before, this time, she won't repeat her mistake.
Minutes passed, and the person on the grass didn't move at all. Kiima stood
still, not taking her eyes off of her quarry believing this could be some
sort of trick. After ten minutes of waiting, Kiima tried another tactic. "I
know you can hear me. Get up."
Konatsu stayed motionless, dead to the world. Kiima wasn't buying it. She
nodded at one of her companions, an archer sitting on a hill. He pulled his
bow and took aim. Kiima raised her other hand and kept the open palm facing
her archer. She waited another precious minute, then closed her hand into a
fist. The archer released his arrow and it took flight. Kiima lowered her
arm and watched her prey intently for his next move.
Move he did. An instant before the arrow was to pierce his heart, the
kunoichi rolled on the grass and got to his feet. He spun in a three sixty
and counted his foes. Three on the hills above, armed with bows. Four with
swords blocking the exit of the shallow valley he was in and Kiima alone
guarded the other way out. The terrain was strange. There were sharp craggy
rocks everywhere and tall spires of rough stone made from a dark material.
The area was high in the mountains with thousands of peaks dotting the
landscape. Numerous overhangs protruded from the walls of the valley and in
the valley ahead. This couldn't be Japan, China maybe?
It didn't matter where he was at the moment. What concerned him was the
fight at hand and Kiima was the only one who was close enough for combat.
All the others were at least one hundred meters away, He bounced off the
ground and leapt high into the air. He threw folded paper napkins as little
darts at Kiima for his opening salvo.
Smiling, Kiima unsheathed her sword and blocked the attack. The darts
bounced harmlessly off of her blade except the last one. It was a lit stick
of dynamite. That one exploded and shoved the warrior backwards.
Konatsu had to pull back from his attack. Arrows from three directions
approached him and he barely was able to dodge them all. The archers
reloaded and took aim again. Konatsu patted his robes and found that he used
up all the dynamite he had. He rummaged around his pockets and found a
bottle of sake. He put that back because Ukyou would be angry with him if he
wasted a perfectly good beverage. He produced some shurikens and threw them
at the closest archer. The Bird Warrior ducked to keep himself from getting
impaled. As the discs flew past, he stood up to reacquire his target when
the discs struck him from behind, throwing him down onto the steep hillside.
Before he could grab on to something, the soft earth gave way and the archer
slid down the hillside, covered in mud.
One down, seven to go, thought Konatsu. He jumped to the side to avoid a
pair of arrows from skewering him. He did a back flip to avoid a slash from
Kiima's sword. He landed on his feet and faced the white haired warrior.
"Why?" was all he could ask.
Kiima slashed again with her sword and pressed her attack. She swung her
sword, stepping forward with each strike, not giving any ground. The
kunoichi had to keep dodging backwards to avoid a fatal blow. Kiima wore a
mask of hatred as she kept spinning her sword, pushing the kunoichi
backwards.
Pressing her advance, Kiima spun her sword faster as if it was a food
processor and Konatsu was the vegetable she intended to mince. The kunoichi
kept running backwards, dodging an occasional arrow when he lunged backwards
and did a series of back flips on his hands and feet, traveling fifty meters
in a matter of seconds. He landed and assumed a crane stance, then he arched
his back to let another arrow fly over his chest and he returned to his
stance holding his gaze at his main opponent.
Stopping her charge at the edge of the indentation in the grass, the Captain
muttered under her breath. "Impossible. How did she?" She took a moment to
test the ground with her boot and it gave way as she put a small amount of
pressure on it. She looked up at her quarry only to be greeted by several
folded napkins aimed her head. Taken by surprise, both by Konatsu's ability
to traverse a trap and his counter attack, she fell backwards with her face
covered in napkins. Regaining her senses, she rolled to the side to avoid
another barrage and shouted to her troops. "Get her!"
On command, a full dozen more archers appeared on each side of the valley
and took aim. Konatsu took stock of the situation and did what any sane
warrior would do. He ran for the unguarded exit of the valley, dodging
arrows all the way.
Kiima wiped the napkins off of her face and ran after her prey. In a moment
she exited through the pass and entered the adjacent valley. This one was
much different than the one she came from, it was populated by over one
hundred springs, and several hundred bamboo poles of heights ranging from a
few meters to over twenty. The ground was shrouded in mist and hopping from
pole to pole was her target. She spread her wings and flew into the air,
determined not to let this girl get away from her.
Konatsu effortlessly leapt from pole to pole, trying to gain distance
between himself and that crazy warrior. He turned in mid-air as his senses
felt a change in air pressure. He landed on another pole and assumed a crane
stance and watched as Kiima flew through the area he once occupied and
straight down toward a pool of water. In a shocking display of agility,
Kiima spread her legs wide apart and stopped herself only centimeters from
the surface of the water. She spun her head up and looked at Konatsu with
primeval fury. She opened her wings further and flapped with all her might,
making sure that none of her body touched the water below.
She's afraid of the water? surmised Konatsu. Why? He flipped backwards with
a skill that surpassed Olympic gymnasts. Jumping off the pole he was on, he
landed on a small sign that marked a pool of water in the rough shape of a
trapezoid. There, he assumed another crane stance and watched his opponent
fly over him and bank sharply. Waiting a moment, his eyes followed her
flight until she turned again. Kiima contracted her wings and dived at a
forty five degree angle, determined to knock the kunoichi off of the sign
and into the ground behind it. Konatsu braced himself for the impact and
moved his arms so he could catch Kiima when they collided. For some reason,
the sign under Konatsu gave way and he tumbled. He twisted his body to
control his fall and he landed at the rim of the pool. He then flattened
himself on the ground, narrowly missing the Kiima missile. The white haired
bird woman struck the ground hard, making a small crater and showering the
kunoichi with small rocks.
He pushed the ground to stand back up when another strange thing happened.
The earth gave way and fell directly into the spring, threatening to take
the kunoichi with it. He spun in the air, rolling like a log up the rapidly
shrinking embankment until he was safe on the grass again. No sooner did he
find safety, he used the soles of his feet to anchor himself and bent his
knees to slide his upper body away from a sword impact. Kiima screamed.
"Die!"
She's really pissed off! Konatsu thought, leaping up onto a tall bamboo pole
to put some distance between himself and the woman who wanted him stone cold
dead. He looked around for a way to escape as he heard Kiima's troops
approach. He looked high above and spied a rock outcropping just within
leaping distance. It was going to be a difficult jump, but he had no choice.
He bent his knees to thrust himself forward when the pole gave way. Below
Kiima retracted her sword from the pole she just sliced in two and held the
blade over her head so she could impale the kunoichi as he fell. She gave a
look of surprise as the pole moved into the center of the pool and it made
contact with the bottom and the kunoichi was still dry as a bone, three
meters above the surface of the water.
Kiima screamed in rage and threw her sword into the pole, slicing it again.
This time Konatsu had a better plan. He dove straight down into the water
and disappeared under the surface. Kiima growled and looked around for
anything she could use as a weapon. Finding a large rock, she picked it up
and held it above her head and looked into the water, trying to locate her
enemy.
A bamboo pole sprung up out of the water, one end firmly attached to the
bottom of the pool, the other moving rapidly like a spring. It moved at high
speed, directly at her head and as luck would have it, it shattered her rock
instead of causing serious harm. She fell backwards from the force of the
impact and she scrambled to find another weapon. The moment she found
another rock, Konatsu burst from the pool, holding the other half of the
bamboo pole as a weapon. She landed at Kiima's feet and wobbled a bit out of
balance. She paused and looked down at her chest.
"An opening!" Kiima acted immediately. She hurled the rock at the distracted
kunoichi and it connected with her head, sending her flying backwards.
She landed with a thud and she flipped upright a second later. She wobbled,
adjusting to her new center of gravity when a little girl's voice called
out, "Happo Fifty Yen Satsu!"
I should have seen that coming, was the last thing Konastu thought before
she shriveled up and fell into the same pool she emerged from. As Kiima
stood up, her troops arrived and surrounded the pool as Konatsu's body
floated up to the surface, face down.
"Fish her out!" She commanded. Her body was covered in small wounds and she
was sure she had to have some internal injuries. She couldn't believe that
bitch in the water was able to land several blows before she went down. She
hoped she was still physically able to complete her mission. Maybe she could
use these injuries to her advantage? "Make sure she's bound tight." Her
minions produced a fishing net and cast it into the spring. Kiima stood
silently as Konatsu was pulled out of the spring and dragged on the grass.
She casually told her troops, "You know what to do."
Kiima limped calmly to the other side of the spring and picked up her sword
that lay among the grass and a broken sign. She slid her sword back into the
sheath and picked up the wooden message. She looked around to make sure
there were no other visitors in the area and when she was satisfied that
there was no immediate danger, she placed the sign back into its proper
place. She read the sign and gave out a laugh. "You lucky girl. Of all the
springs you could have fallen into, you picked the only one that was
harmless to you." With that, she left the spring labeled, 'Nyannichuan'.
Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and
prevents me from voting Republican.
Rebecca Ann Heineman
July 13th, 2007
Email me at becky (AT) burgerbecky (DOT) com
Or visit http://www.burgerbecky.com
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Chapter 16: Betrayal
By Rebecca Ann Heineman
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or make me appear
on Girls Gone Wild.
A bright ray of light streamed into the medicine hut and landed at the side
of a well worn cot. Slowly, as time went on, the beam silently crept forward
along the floor, up the edge of the low bed, until it landed directly on the
face of the young woman who was lying there. Feeling the heat, Konatsu
opened her eyes and instantly closed them in pain. She lifted a hand to
block the light and rubbed her eyes with the other, The kunoichi slowly came
back from her unconscious state. Yawning, she sat up and looked around for
any sign of her hostess. After a few moments of silence, she saw that the
coast was clear, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Once she had regained her energy, she silently slid off of her resting place
and stood in the center of the room. She wobbled for a moment and held onto
to a nearby post for support. She remained still for a few seconds until her
equilibrium became balanced again, and rubbed her head to soothe a headache.
She was still a bit woozy from the medication that Potion had given her, and
whatever it was, it had a powerful effect on her. Still, she had her
suspicions, "Motaba root," she cursed.
She took a minute to scan the room and found her old ninja outfit hanging on
a peg behind a closet door. She quickly removed the white robe she was
wearing and put on her more familiar clothing. She took great care in
zipping up the front of her outfit after remembering the tired garment
couldn't take much more strain before it would fall apart. Brushing off a
small amount of dust from her shoulder, she checked the hidden pockets to
verify that nothing was taken. She found the item she was looking for and
made sure it remained secure in its hiding place.
She moved quietly along the wall, trying to avoid attention from anyone
within hearing distance. She approached the entrance to the room and
listened carefully at the door. Hearing nothing, she turned the knob and
slowly creaked the door open. Peering inside the next room, she breathed
another sigh of relief as there were no guards in sight. She moved into the
small room and found it filled with potions, animal parts, herbs and other
items of possible medicinal value and it also had the distinct aroma of
ginger. She quickly checked the room for alarms and traps and then she moved
to the curtain that covered the entrance. Behind the curtain was another
door, leading to the front porch. She moved to a small circular window to
the right of the door and looked outside. There, she saw a familiar white
haired old Amazon hopping on her cane and entering a hut across the way.
Once Cologne was out of sight, Konatsu looked to the left and right and saw
that the space between the huts was clear. She stepped outside and noticed
that the hut she had exited from had a tiny garden next to it filled with
exotic plants. Little signs in Chinese marked the types of plants that
populated the rows. One of them had the symbol for Motaba root, confirming
the ninja's earlier hypothesis. The ground beyond the garden was covered in
dirt with patches of grass where foot traffic was absent. She checked again
to see if there were any prying eyes and found none. She deftly crossed the
dirt path and walked around the other hut and she found a large barrel of
water to hide behind. What kind of water? Here, no one could be too sure, so
she kept a vigil on the fluid within. She pressed herself between the barrel
and the wall of the hut, hoping that no one could see her from where she was
hiding. Placing her ear against the wall, she listened carefully.
All she heard was an argument about ancient laws and people named Ranma and
Shampoo. Damn, she thought. She was hoping that they would be discussing
something of more interest to her. A few minutes pass and the conversation
ended. Konatsu was disappointed, since this rare opportunity to spy on the
elders yielded nothing of value. She pondered her next move and closed her
eyes to clearly recall everything she knew about the village. Gardens,
playgrounds, council chambers and yes, the pits, she recalled. She opened
her eyes with clarity and crept alongside the hut wall until she could see
another row of huts. Hoping that she would be welcome here, she walked,
trying to keep her slight limp to a minimum. As she moved between the huts,
several Amazons saw her, but none of them paid any special attention to her.
The kunoichi smiled. Her plan was working perfectly.
Ahead, was a flat grassy area surrounded by a low wooden fence made of
gnarled logs hammered vertically into the ground. The kunoichi was about to
step on one when she took a moment to pause. Fearing a magical trap of some
kind, she made a clumsy somersault high over the fence and into the center
of the area the old wood protected. She landed with a metallic clang. She
made a silent curse to herself for being careless and pushed aside a tuft of
high grass. Underneath the brush, she found a metal grate firmly anchored to
the ground covering a large pit. She looked in between the slats and saw
blackness. She squinted her eyes to try to make out anything and still she
saw nothing. "Psst." She whispered. "Are you there, my Lord?"
Something in the pit moved in reply. A soft meow was heard followed by a
purr. Out of the shadows, came a small white cat with purple ears and paws.
It looked up and meowed happily.
Konatsu ignored the feline and kept looking in the pit for any sign of her
Lord. "Are you there? It's me, I'm here to get you out." She grabbed the
iron grate and gave it a hard yank. It refused to budge.
The cat jumped happily and meowed a little louder. Konatsu gritted her teeth
in frustration because that cat was going to attract the very attention she
was trying to avoid. She looked to her left and saw another grate, identical
to the one she was trying to open. She quickly forgot about the pit with the
cat and was about to check the new one when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
A sudden jerk followed and she was whisked away, over the fence and into to
the back of a nearby hut before she knew what happened to her.
Cologne gave a look of anger and frustration and was holding her cane firmly
into the kunoichi's hip. She scowled angrily. "What are you doing here?" She
turned around to check if they were being watched and saw that no one was
around to see the pair. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to
face the kunoichi from Japan. She pulled her cane away and stuck it into the
ground then held onto it for support. She shook her head in remorse. "You
can't rescue her, it would only make it worse."
Konatsu made a frown, "Her?" She was confused. "What do you mean, her?"
"You're not here for her?" Cologne was immediately suspicious. "What are..."
Before she finished her sentence, she studied everything she needed to know
about this person in front of her. The woman's ki signature was a perfect
match for Ukyou's waiter/waitress, but the way she stood was wrong for a
kunoichi, the makeup was not applied with absolute care and those breasts
weren't made of tissue paper. She spun her cane into a position to attack
and shouted for all to hear. "Who are you? Intruder!"
Konatsu was taken aback at Cologne's change of tone. She assertively
challenged the elder, "I'm the Kunoichi Konatsu. I stand before you!"
If there was any doubt in her mind, it was removed with the ninja's
statement. It wasn't the words. Konatsu said that line every time he issued
a formal challenge. But Konatsu being assertive? Since when? And the voice,
while close to the Kunoichi's, had subtle differences and Cologne was able
to discern. This woman was different from the person she knew and even if
Konatsu had picked up a curse, it wouldn't change how his base personality
was at all unless he fell into the Spring of Drowned Pious Man. The person
in front of her was not suffering from that curse. "Konatsu would never
address me in that manner. How did you duplicate his body?" She took a
moment to pause at the situation since pronouns were rapidly becoming
obsolete in this situation. Many questions needed answers and the elder was
going to get them while beating it out of this imposter.
The kunoichi sent a low kick at Cologne which she deflected with her cane
easily. "Guards!" She cried out loud enough to be heard all across the
village. "We have an intruder!"
"Where is he?" Konatsu demanded, knowing full well that they weren't going
to tell her anything. She jumped back and ran to the unexamined prison cell,
all the while being careful not to touch the fence. Upon reaching the grate,
she yelled into the darkness within, "My Lord, are you in there?"
"Stop her!" Yelled Cologne and she jumped onto her cane and pogo-sticked her
way to the kunoichi. She thrust out her staff and shoved the dark haired
girl into the ground. Konatsu rolled with the impact and leapt into the air
as if she was made for flying. She pulled out a shuriken and threw it at the
Amazon elder.
Cologne effortlessly caught the pointed star with her hand and tossed the
useless weapon aside. If the real Konatsu had thrown the star, it would have
been a challenge to deflect. All the more proof that this person was someone
in disguise. "What have you done with Konastu? Who do you want?"
"You know full well who I'm talking about!" Screamed the ninja. "Release him
at once!"
As the two women encircled each other, waiting for an opening to present
itself for an attack, dozens of Amazon warriors appeared from everywhere and
created a perimeter around the two combatants.
Konatsu paused for only a moment and produced a Chinese sword from the
hidden place within her robes, a sword that Cologne had seen before. "It's
you! Kiima!"
She just grinned in reply and with that, she spun the blade in a whirlwind
attack. "Special technique revised, One Thousand Bird Wing Fan!" She stood
her ground and with a tone more fitting of a military commander than a
demure waitress, she demanded "You will release my Lord, NOW!"
Cologne stepped back and maintained a defensive posture. Her cane was no
match to Phoenix Mountain steel. "He's not here." She silently prayed that
she was telling the truth. With all the deception going on, there was no
telling if Kiima may be in the right.
"He would never have left the castle unless he was forced to. What have you
done to him?" She commanded. "Bring him forth or... or..." A strange scream
was heard from high above causing the small group to take pause and look up.
Instantly, everyone dived for cover as a balding fat man in a white martial
arts gi, flew by at a speed that rivaled jet aircraft only a few meters over
their heads. "Yeehaw!" He screamed as he whizzed by.
Cologne peered up from the grass first and softly whispered. "Wasn't
that..."
"The Kinjakan!" Konatsu shouted in terror. "No!"
Cologne took a moment to put the pieces together and things being measured
on the badness scale of one to ten, had reached the level of twelve. She
dropped her cane in shock. Genma Saotome on the Kinjakan?!? What's going on?
And how did he come by that artifact?
She didn't have much time to ask any more questions, when another missle
flew by, following Genma's flight precisely. This object was a cross between
a human and a bird and he was cursing. "You will pay for your insolence,
infidel!"
Without hesitation, Kiima made a break for it. She ran past Cologne and
jumped into a steel barrel filled with soaking wet laundry that was sitting
on top of a tiny fire. She emerged from the hot water in her birth form, an
avian woman with wings. Taking only a moment to repectfully glance at
Cologne, she spread her wings and flew up into the sky in pursuit of her
Lord Saffron. She was only able to rise five meters before an arrow from an
Amazon archer pierced her right wing. Ignoring her new injury, she flapped
harder and quickly vanished into the sky in pursuit of her Lord and the
Kinjakan.
As the archers sent up a full volley of arrows in a futile attempt to bring
Kiima down, Gel hopped in, angrier than a bee hive that was being raided by
a bear. She hatefully glared at Cologne and stood just outside of striking
distance. "What's the meaning of this? What have you done?"
"What do you mean, what have I done? She's getting away!" Cologne pointed at
the rapidly retreating bird woman. "She was spying on us!"
Pointing an accusatory finger at Cologne, Gel barked out the order she had
waited a long time to give. "You're under arrest for the attempted prison
break of Shampoo."
Cologne was seething. "You're insane! This has nothing to do with my
Great-Granddaughter. She came here thinking that we kidnapped Saffron and
you're accusing me of that?"
"I see though your plans. I've been watching you and you've finally slipped
up. You staged this whole thing! That woman you were with? She's that
Kunoichi from Japan and she's works with one of your closest associates.
Ukyou, is it?"
"Wait just one..." Was all Cologne could say before a cloud of powder
appeared in her face, causing her to cough and prevented her from saying
anything more.
"This is an elaborate hoax for you to free Shampoo! I knew you were going to
try something when I saw that kunoichi arrive yesterday."
Cologne stood there dumbfounded. She coughed again and forced out her
response. "Yesterday? She's been here since yesteday? And you didn't even
know she's a Phoenix Mountain dweller? That's the most flimsiest excuse I've
ever heard! Something terrible is going to happen and you're wasting our
time with this petty bickering?"
"Seize her!" Gel shouted to the other Amazons. The women looked at each
other, totally confused as to whether or not they should obey the order.
Cologne was one of the highest ranking elders and as such, was almost immune
to prosecution.
Cautiously pulling out a small vial from her robes, Gel held it over the
opening to Shampoo's cage. "You will do as I say and come along quietly."
Cologne froze, not wanting the contents of the vial to fall. This battle was
lost, but the war was far from over. "Your foolishness just condemned us
all."
"No, it's your foolish ideas who did this to us. I have to put a stop to it
and I'll do anything to protect our way of life. Even this..." Gel
steadfastly held the vial over the opening then loosened her grip. She was
just a tiny amount of pressure away from releasing the vial into the slats
of the iron grate. Never blinking her eyes nor taking her gaze away from the
younger Elder, Gel spoke, leaving no doubt that she meant business. "It's a
small price to pay to ensure our continued survival. Take her into custody
and use the elder protocols."
The lead guard produced a magical steel chain and walked slowly to Cologne.
Offering no resistance, Cologne held out her hands and the cuffs were
attached to her wrists, all the while she returned Gel's hateful gaze with
one of pity. A short distance away, a small iron cell was unlocked and
Cologne was led towards it by a group of very reluctant Amazons. Before she
entered the cage, she was stripped of her cane and a few magical items she
had in her robes and the door was secured with a magically enhanced lock
designed especially to keep an Amazon Elder imprisoned. Once her rival was
secured, Gel tightened her grip on the vial and slid it back into her pouch
with a satisfied look on her face.
She walked up to Cologne's cell, keeping a respectful distance and gloated.
"You should have let me drop it. She deserved nothing less."
Shampoo's great grandmother stood silently in her cage, not wanting to give
Gel the satisfaction of a response.
"Pity. Her fate was already sealed. Now you can share in her punishment
tomorrow. I have plenty of vials. This one I have reserved just for you."
She produced the vial and held it so Cologne could clearly read the label.
Cologne didn't have to read the label. She knew exactly what it was. It was
the ultimate punishment for an Amazon. "You wouldn't dare."
Gel hid the vial in her fist. She turned around and walked away making one
parting comment. "See you tomorrow."
"Give those back, you pervert!" Screamed a young girl holding a large broom.
She was chasing a shriveled old man who was carrying a large laundry bag
filled with recently stolen women's undergarments and some of them were
originally hers.
"Sweeto! It's a great day to be alive!" Happosai jumped up onto a wall, then
onto a high roof and easily evaded his pursuer. He ran for another kilometer
to make sure he ditched that ungrateful young lady and paused to check his
precious cargo. He opened the bag and found the most magical items in the
whole wide world; namely, bras, panties and stockings.
He reached in and fetched a fine specimen of female clothing. He gently
rubbed his fingers along the edges of the panty and absorbed the magical
feminine energy. Once it was drained, he grabbed another undergarment, then
another, until he was fully charged. He slid a panty over his head like a
hat and pulled the elastic waist band down to his ears. "Ah, so soft, so
cool, so full of sweet goodness, how I've missed you."
He turned to the direction of the Tendo Dojo with a sour look on his face.
"Still, without Ranma around, there's no fun in this." He released the band,
sending the panty flying into the air. Time to pay him a visit. Maybe he
could be persuaded to change into a girl and do a little fashion show for
me. He drooled.
He wadded up the undergarments he drained and tossed them over his shoulder.
A policeman who had stopped when a panty landed on his head a moment ago had
the misfortune to catch the wad of underwear just as a small mob of angry
women appeared from nowhere. The lead girl pointed a broom at the officer.
"Get the pervert!" The policeman stood there in surprise as he was
mercilessly pounded upon by a horde of well armed women.
With his pursuers out of the way, and conveniently law enforcement as well,
he placed the bag over his shoulder and roof hopped toward his old place of
residence, occasionally stopping here and there to pluck another soft silky
darling from a clothesline until his bag was overflowing. After a few
screams from lovely ladies, he finally reached the wall of the Tendo
compound. Happosai sensed only two occupants inside and neither seemed be
the target of his attentions. He shrugged and jumped over the wall and ran
up to a crying man. He silently watched as Soun Tendo, dressed only in a
white loin cloth, made a prayer to the ancestors, then Mr. Tendo took a
bucket of water and poured it on himself as part of a Shinto ritual.
The old geezer produced a pipe, lit it and took a puff. "You know, the furo
is a better place to cleanse yourself."
Soun froze. No, he thought. It couldn't be. It's impossible. The Master was
banished. He saw it with his own eyes. Mrs. Saotome and Sailor Mars sent the
evil man to the afterlife so it couldn't really be him, could it? Perhaps,
Happosai was speaking to him from beyond the grave? He reached out with his
martial arts senses and there it was. He could feel the evil Master's
presence. Somehow, he's returned from the bowels of hell. He bowed down as
low to the ground as he could and assume the Crouch of the Wild Tiger, the
famed Saotome Technique of professional groveling. "Oh, Master, I seek your
guidance."
The evil man raised an eyebrow as Soun was bowing away from him, not toward
him. "At least you're showing proper respect for your Master. Now..."
He was about to speak more but Soun interrupted him. "I ask your humble
guidance, oh great and powerful Master."
Happosai smiled. Soun was assuming the position but he still couldn't be
trusted. The old man wasn't planning on spending another decade buried in a
cave somewhere. "I'll give it to you as soon as you tell me where Mrs.
Soatome is?"
"Mrs. Saotome?" Soun blinked, surprised as the Master's odd request. "She's
staying with Ranma and Akane."
"Oh, nice." Two for the price of one, he rubbed his hands thinking about a
romantic rendezvous with Akane-chan. "Are they staying at the Miyagi Dojo in
Juuban?"
"Don't you already know, oh, wise and all powerful Master?" Soun started to
sweat. That voice sounded like it wasn't from the other side, but from his
backside, a place that was certainly one hundred times worse. But that's
impossible since the Master was in hell, purgatory, Niflheim or Hoboken, New
Jersey. Then again, he did survive a decade locked in a cave after drinking
enough sake to kill an elephant and having been blown up by enough dynamite
to level a small mountain. Soun, slowly turned his head from his prone
position and saw the upside down image of the most horrible creature in all
of Japan: His Master.
Instantly turning around, he bowed in front of Happosai. "I welcome you,
Master!"
"Hmph. As if you really mean that. I was stuck in that other dimension and
what did you do to get me out?" He leered, all knowing that Soun and Genma
probably celebrated with sake and wine when they knew he was gone.
"There was nothing we could do." He groveled again, forcing his face into
the soft earth hoping he could burrow a few thousand kilometers down.
I need to train him on how to be a better liar, thought the old fossil.
Happosai shook his head in disgust at how pathetic his student had become.
"Yeah, whatever you say. So, where's your partner in crime, Mr. Panda?"
"You-You don't know. Oh, you're not dead, of course you wouldn't know." He
groveled again. "I beg your forgiveness, oh, Master."
"Rumors of my death were a bit premature. At least you can hold my funeral
again, this time with my body in state and plenty of pretty ladies leaving
me offerings." He zoned out, thinking about bras. A moment later, he snapped
out of his wonderous daydream. "Now, on to business. Where exactly is Ranma
and Akane staying?"
"They are in an apartment near Juuban High School." He gave him the address.
"I see. You'd better not be trying something. I'm off to my room. I'll got
some things to do, people to see and some special things I need to iron!" He
bounded off, and entered the back door to the house, out of sight.
Soun collapsed in terror. No! He couldn't be back. He was banished into that
box. He saw for himself that Sailor Pluto took that thing away. Far away.
Far, far away. Far, far, far away. But as before, he underestimated the
Master. This was only an inconvenience for him and... Uh, oh...
BOOM! Soun was covered in soot as a firecracker that was left behind,
exploded. He sat for a moment as he wondered about what horrible thing he
must have done in a past life to deserve what he got in this one. A moment
passed, and his recollection of his training regiment under the Master all
but assured him that the next three lifetimes he would live would probably
be worse than this one. He sighed in utter doom.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!" Came a scream from inside the house.
"Soun! Where are my things!"
In seconds, Soun was at the entryway of Happosai's bedroom. From floor to
ceiling were sample merchandise with the likeness' of Sailor Sun and Io and
other Sailor Senshi. Nabiki had filled the room since she, like everyone
else, had thought that the Master was never to return. That wasn't what
angered the Master. He was kneeling over a empty hole in the floorboards.
"Where is it?" He demanded angrily and glowed a bright red. He wasn't at all
happy.
"Where is what, oh, great and powerful Master?" He was on his knees and
bowing.
"Cut that out!" He shouted. "Where's my chest?"
Chest? Soun racked his brain trying to remember if he had seen a chest.
Since the Master had gone, Cologne had visited, then Nabiki took over the
room and... "I believe that Cologne took it."
"Damn! She would be an indian giver. No mind, I'll have to make do without
it." He paused to look at a large poster on the wall. It was a picture of
Sailor Io, throwing a ball of Lava. He studied the picture carefully.
Soun looked at the picture, then at the Master, not comprehending what was
going on.
"That stance." Happosai made the same stance. "It's an Anything Goes stance.
Why I'll be. I'm going to have a bit more fun than I imagined."
"Why, hello there, Grandfather." Kasumi appeared with a big tray of
sandwiches and sake. "Welcome home!"
"Kasumi! It's so nice too..." Before the little creep could pounce, Kasumi
shoved a sandwich into his mouth.
"I'll have your room straightened out before bedtime." Instantly, the eldest
Tendo sister vanished. As she briskly walked back to the kitchen, she made
the sign of the cross on her chest and held her hands in prayer.
"Mmm..." He removed the sandwich from his face and finished chewing the part
that was still in his mouth. "My favorite. You could learn something from
her. Now, I'm off and I expect my things to be exactly where I left them.
And I do mean everything." With that, the evil man jumped out the window and
ran to the southeast, toward the Minato ward.
All Soun could think of at that moment was how lucky Genma was for running
off with that strange artifact and angering that monster. If Genma was to
die, he would no longer have to deal with the Master. He wondered if he
could convince the woman eating Orochi if he could make an exception and eat
him for breakfast.
"I'm home!" Mrs. Mizuno took off her shoes and placed them next to the front
door of her little condominium. It was one of the few times she was able to
get home early from her job at the hospital. She went straight to the
kitchen to read any message that Ami left on the whiteboard on the
refrigerator when a clicking sound attracted her attention. She heard the
pages of a book being turned, then more clicking. It sounded like a computer
keyboard, but it beeped like a calculator in sync to the clicking. There was
only one computer that sounded like that. Her daughter must be up to
something important if she was using that.
Without hesistating, she opened the refrigerator and pulled out some of
Ami's favorite foods. In a few minutes, she prepared a sandwich, a sliced
apple and added a fresh cold juice box and lovingly placed them on a serving
tray. She carried the meal down to her hard working daughter's bedroom.
Tapping the door with her foot, she knocked gently to get her young girl's
attention, "Ami? I've got something for you."
A hurried voice answered, "Could you leave it out the door? I'm a little
busy right now."
Mrs. Mizuno smiled as she always did when her daughter was deep in study.
She balanced her tray in a single hand and opened the door. As she
suspected, Sailor Mercury was sitting at her daughter's desk instead of Ami
in her school uniform. Mercury looked up to see her mother and smiled back.
"Thank you."
Her mother placed the tray at the end of her daughter's desk. She stared at
the Senshi with pride. She followed with a bit of dread, since her daughter
rarely spent time in her Senshi form when she was home. Something very
important was happenening to make her daughter risk being seen in her
alternate guise. "What are you working on?"
The Senshi of Mercury sat back in her chair, exhausted. "I've been trying to
find a cure for Ukyou's affliction."
"Affliction? What do you think she has?" Dr. Mizuno's professional curiosity
was piqued. "If she's sick, why don't you have her come to the hospital?
She'd receive the best of care, especially if you vouched for her."
"I wish it was that easy." She pressed some buttons on her Mercury computer
and on the screen was the magical scan of Ukyou's aura. "I just can't figure
out what's the next phase. It's like there's some sort of randomness
controlling this."
"Ukyou, Ukyou, where have I heard that name before? Wasn't she the one
that..." She gasped. It was the girl from Nerima who nearly died on her
operating table from massive trauma and blood loss. It was when she was in
recovery, the Senshi came and with their magic, they performed a miracle and
healed her. "Her? What happened? I thought you cured her. Did she lose her
leg again?"
Speaking in a calming voice, the young girl held up her computer for her
mother to see. "No, she's not losing her leg, but something happened when we
healed her. Look at this."
Dr. Mizuno read the information on the screen and was perplexed at what she
saw. The scan was of a resolution that rivaled the best MRI she'd ever seen.
There were areas that glowed that covered her lost leg and her hand, but the
glow had leeched into the rest of woman's body much like the pattern of a
cancer spreading into its host. She had enough experience to know that this
wasn't a good sign. "What's happening to her? I take it it's serious."
She took back her computer and placed it on her desk. She tapped a few more
keys and the image changed to one where the glow covered more of the chef's
body. "This is what she looks like today. In the last week, it's grown
twenty two percent and it's growing faster. At this rate, she'll be
completely contaminated in a few days."
"What is this?" Dr. Mizuno read one of Ami's many notes she had laying on
her desk and was even more confused. Medical arts, she was a master, but
magic? That was something that was a bit out of her field.
"The only way to describe it is that it's our ki; our life energy. When we
healed her, we gave a piece of ourselves, much like someone donating blood.
We used that to reconstitute her body and heal her completely."
"And how is this affecting her? I assume she's not a Senshi."
"You're right about that Mother. She's not. But Sailor Saturn has healed
many people and nothing like this has ever happened. It's like we triggered
something, yet I can't figure out what it is."
Sitting down in the room's only other chair, Ami's mother crossed her legs
and tried to think about the problem as only a trained professional would.
Even though Ami had the brains for it, she didn't have the experience.
"First, I need to know what's her symptoms. Maybe we can figure this out."
It was worth a shot. Maybe her mother could offer something new to look at
that Ami hadn't thought of. Besides, she so rarely saw her mother lately,
just being with her brought back fond memories of a happier time. A time
when her father still lived with them and they did things together once in a
while. Happily, she asked for the advice her mother was volunteering to
give. "Let's see, she's manifesting behaviors from everybody who healed her.
She's playing the violin, which was something she never did before. She's
speaking perfect English and she made a cake that Sailor Jupiter makes all
the time. It's as if a bit of each of us is inside her."
"I can see how that could affect her psyche. Has she seen a therapist?
Perhaps that may be all she needs."
Mercury shook her head. "No, there's more to it than that." She pressed a
few keys and an overlay appeared on Ukyou's silhouette. "This is my aura.
When I asked her to solve a short math formula, this is what happened." She
played an animation that had another girl's silhouette on top of Ukyou's,
then it changed into one that was distinctly Ami's. "As you see, when she
needs Mercury power, she tapped into my aura. It gave her the ability to
think like me."
Taking it in, Dr. Mizuno sat there digesting what Ami said. "And, she can
tap into the others as well?"
"Yes, I tested her and I was able to get everybody's aura, even Sailor Chibi
Moon."
"From what little I know, it sounds more like this is a gift than a disease.
What's the negative effects besides the psychological ones, unless it's the
psychological issue you're addressing? If that's the case, I can refer her
to a therapist."
"Therapy may be needed for her to cope in the long term. It's the short term
that I'm worried about." She displayed the body glow again and animated it
to the point where the glow covered her body. "This is forecast to occur in
48 hours. When it reaches one hundred percent, I'm afraid that the shock to
her system will be too much for her."
"Shock? What shock?"
'Her heart rate, blood pressure, and EKG readings go haywire when her auras
change. And they're changing more rapidly as time goes on." The blue skirted
Senshi sulked. "There's so many variables, I wish I knew with certainty the
outcome."
Speaking from experience, the elder nodded in acknowledgment. "Once, I was
just like you."
Mercury raised an eyebrow. Was her mother trying to tell her that she was a
Senshi too?
"When I was in college, I thought I knew everything. I was just starting my
internship at the university hospital when I found out that despite
everything I knew, everything I studied and everything I thought about
medicine didn't mean a whole lot when compared to the healing power of the
human body. I was so sure I had the answer to everything. I aced my tests, I
listened to my teachers and when they brought this man into the hospital,
everything I knew about science went out the window."
"Really?" Mercury was enthralled at her mother's story.
"Yes, really," she continued. "He was barely alive. He was a fireman who had
fallen and he had numerous internal injuries. After he was stablized,
everyone, including I, were convinced that his family should make plans for
his funeral. He had no hope of surviving. His kidneys had failed, he was
bleeding internally and he suffered brain trauma that even if his body
recovered, he was already dead. And it was that night, my world changed."
"I was making the rounds, taking vital signs from all the patients, when I
went into his room. He was lying there. His heart monitor was beeping, and I
went to take his pulse when he spoke to me. Imagine that? A man who was
brain dead, speaking to me as if nothing happened. Do you know what he said
to me?"
"What did he say?"
"He said, 'Tell the building owner to fix the stairs, they seem to be
broken.'" The doctor giggled.
Mercury couldn't help but giggle too.
"A few weeks later, he was checked out and in time, he fully recovered.
Despite all that you know, and all that you've studied, never underestimate
the power the human body has in repairing itself. Sometimes, miracles can
happen on their own."
Sailor Mercury smiled back at her mother. She always knew what to say,
mother's always did.
"I have faith, Mercury. I know you'll be able to help her, but don't keep
the burden on yourself. She already survived the odds. When she was on my
table, I didn't think she was going to make it either. But, she's a fighter.
I think the odds are still in her favor. Besides..." A mischiveous twinkle
gleamed in her eye. "I don't know how you girls recruit new members, but if
anything, a girl with those abilities, could be a superhero, just like you."
Mercury sat in shock. Why didn't she think of that? After all, Akane was
promoted to Senshihood, why couldn't they promote another? "I see your
point." She jumped up and hugged her mother. "Thank you for helping me."
She returned the hug with as much enthusiasm as her daughter. "What are
mothers for?"
"I've got to go! I've got meet my teammates." She grabbed her pocket
computer and book bag.
"I think you'll need this." She held up the food tray.
Mercury blushed and picked up the sandwich and juice box. She stuffed the
box into her bag and hurried into the kitchen to get a piece of wrapping
paper. A moment later, Sailor Mercury headed toward the door.
Dr. Mizuno held out an umbrella for her daughter. "Forgetting something?"
Mercury paused in confusion. "It's not supposed to rain today, is it?"
The good doctor opened the umbrella and several roses popped out.
"Oh." Mercury dropped her senshi guise so she could travel to Rei's shrine
without being assulted by every hormone drenched male along the way. "Remind
me to kill Tatewaki Kuno."
"I am Kunoichi Konatsu and I am in hell."
The little kunoichi shivered in the corner of her dark, dismal and
depressing cave, isolated from any human contact. The dripping of water from
the condensation from the ceiling above was her only companion. There were
iron bars mounted on a sliding door that covered the entrance to her cell.
Her ego was so shattered, that she had no will to even try to break the
bars. Curled up into a fetal position to conserve warmth, the girl made a
fresh row of tears to add to the small puddle that had formed under her
head.
She wore a simple white robe, with black trim and nothing else. Her hair,
once glistening with pride and joy, now was a matted tangled mess. Her
makeup was smeared and ran down her face, following the water trails coming
from her eyes. Her usual clothes were somewhere else, or destroyed, or lost.
She didn't know. All she could remember was waking up in here after a long
hard battle, a splash, then doom.
She sniffed again in sorrow, coughing out the musty dust that filled the
room giving it the scent of a bag of dirty socks that have over ripened in
the noonday sun.
She blinked her eyes to clear out the dust, trying to focus on anything in
the darkness. Only the reflections of light coming from the guard room down
a corridor beyond her reach illuminated the chamber, giving it an atmosphere
that rivaled a haunted house.
"Oh, Ukyou-sama... I miss you." The kunoichi softly spoke to the flies that
buzzed around her. She felt her new chest and wept again. "What am I?" Her
frame was slightly smaller and her body was mostly the same except for her
breasts and what was missing between her legs.
She softly wept as her dreams washed away with her tears. "How will she love
me now?"
She closed her eyes and tried to remember. How did this happen? She was a
genius kunoichi, one that comes every one hundred years. Yet, she was
defeated. How was this possible?
The memories returned, and she immediately wished she could forget.
Kiima stood in a fog enshrouded clearing waiting in anticipation. She
glanced over to a patch of grass that was depressed slightly than the rest
of the terrain and made a soft smile. A murder of crows formed a black cloud
just over the horizon, and it was getting closer.
The Captain of Phoenix Mountain checked her sword. She pulled it from its
sheath only a few centimeters and quickly pushed the blade back into place,
satisfied that the weapon was available should the need arise. Considering
her opponent, that need was soon. She gave a call back to the approaching
crows and they responded in kind one thousand fold.
The cloud of crows descended rapidly and landed twenty meters ahead of
Kiima. No sooner did they land, they flew off into the sky in thousands of
directions. Where they touched down, a lone body lay on the ground. Kiima
held her hand on the hilt of her sword. She had underestimated her opponent
before, this time, she won't repeat her mistake.
Minutes passed, and the person on the grass didn't move at all. Kiima stood
still, not taking her eyes off of her quarry believing this could be some
sort of trick. After ten minutes of waiting, Kiima tried another tactic. "I
know you can hear me. Get up."
Konatsu stayed motionless, dead to the world. Kiima wasn't buying it. She
nodded at one of her companions, an archer sitting on a hill. He pulled his
bow and took aim. Kiima raised her other hand and kept the open palm facing
her archer. She waited another precious minute, then closed her hand into a
fist. The archer released his arrow and it took flight. Kiima lowered her
arm and watched her prey intently for his next move.
Move he did. An instant before the arrow was to pierce his heart, the
kunoichi rolled on the grass and got to his feet. He spun in a three sixty
and counted his foes. Three on the hills above, armed with bows. Four with
swords blocking the exit of the shallow valley he was in and Kiima alone
guarded the other way out. The terrain was strange. There were sharp craggy
rocks everywhere and tall spires of rough stone made from a dark material.
The area was high in the mountains with thousands of peaks dotting the
landscape. Numerous overhangs protruded from the walls of the valley and in
the valley ahead. This couldn't be Japan, China maybe?
It didn't matter where he was at the moment. What concerned him was the
fight at hand and Kiima was the only one who was close enough for combat.
All the others were at least one hundred meters away, He bounced off the
ground and leapt high into the air. He threw folded paper napkins as little
darts at Kiima for his opening salvo.
Smiling, Kiima unsheathed her sword and blocked the attack. The darts
bounced harmlessly off of her blade except the last one. It was a lit stick
of dynamite. That one exploded and shoved the warrior backwards.
Konatsu had to pull back from his attack. Arrows from three directions
approached him and he barely was able to dodge them all. The archers
reloaded and took aim again. Konatsu patted his robes and found that he used
up all the dynamite he had. He rummaged around his pockets and found a
bottle of sake. He put that back because Ukyou would be angry with him if he
wasted a perfectly good beverage. He produced some shurikens and threw them
at the closest archer. The Bird Warrior ducked to keep himself from getting
impaled. As the discs flew past, he stood up to reacquire his target when
the discs struck him from behind, throwing him down onto the steep hillside.
Before he could grab on to something, the soft earth gave way and the archer
slid down the hillside, covered in mud.
One down, seven to go, thought Konatsu. He jumped to the side to avoid a
pair of arrows from skewering him. He did a back flip to avoid a slash from
Kiima's sword. He landed on his feet and faced the white haired warrior.
"Why?" was all he could ask.
Kiima slashed again with her sword and pressed her attack. She swung her
sword, stepping forward with each strike, not giving any ground. The
kunoichi had to keep dodging backwards to avoid a fatal blow. Kiima wore a
mask of hatred as she kept spinning her sword, pushing the kunoichi
backwards.
Pressing her advance, Kiima spun her sword faster as if it was a food
processor and Konatsu was the vegetable she intended to mince. The kunoichi
kept running backwards, dodging an occasional arrow when he lunged backwards
and did a series of back flips on his hands and feet, traveling fifty meters
in a matter of seconds. He landed and assumed a crane stance, then he arched
his back to let another arrow fly over his chest and he returned to his
stance holding his gaze at his main opponent.
Stopping her charge at the edge of the indentation in the grass, the Captain
muttered under her breath. "Impossible. How did she?" She took a moment to
test the ground with her boot and it gave way as she put a small amount of
pressure on it. She looked up at her quarry only to be greeted by several
folded napkins aimed her head. Taken by surprise, both by Konatsu's ability
to traverse a trap and his counter attack, she fell backwards with her face
covered in napkins. Regaining her senses, she rolled to the side to avoid
another barrage and shouted to her troops. "Get her!"
On command, a full dozen more archers appeared on each side of the valley
and took aim. Konatsu took stock of the situation and did what any sane
warrior would do. He ran for the unguarded exit of the valley, dodging
arrows all the way.
Kiima wiped the napkins off of her face and ran after her prey. In a moment
she exited through the pass and entered the adjacent valley. This one was
much different than the one she came from, it was populated by over one
hundred springs, and several hundred bamboo poles of heights ranging from a
few meters to over twenty. The ground was shrouded in mist and hopping from
pole to pole was her target. She spread her wings and flew into the air,
determined not to let this girl get away from her.
Konatsu effortlessly leapt from pole to pole, trying to gain distance
between himself and that crazy warrior. He turned in mid-air as his senses
felt a change in air pressure. He landed on another pole and assumed a crane
stance and watched as Kiima flew through the area he once occupied and
straight down toward a pool of water. In a shocking display of agility,
Kiima spread her legs wide apart and stopped herself only centimeters from
the surface of the water. She spun her head up and looked at Konatsu with
primeval fury. She opened her wings further and flapped with all her might,
making sure that none of her body touched the water below.
She's afraid of the water? surmised Konatsu. Why? He flipped backwards with
a skill that surpassed Olympic gymnasts. Jumping off the pole he was on, he
landed on a small sign that marked a pool of water in the rough shape of a
trapezoid. There, he assumed another crane stance and watched his opponent
fly over him and bank sharply. Waiting a moment, his eyes followed her
flight until she turned again. Kiima contracted her wings and dived at a
forty five degree angle, determined to knock the kunoichi off of the sign
and into the ground behind it. Konatsu braced himself for the impact and
moved his arms so he could catch Kiima when they collided. For some reason,
the sign under Konatsu gave way and he tumbled. He twisted his body to
control his fall and he landed at the rim of the pool. He then flattened
himself on the ground, narrowly missing the Kiima missile. The white haired
bird woman struck the ground hard, making a small crater and showering the
kunoichi with small rocks.
He pushed the ground to stand back up when another strange thing happened.
The earth gave way and fell directly into the spring, threatening to take
the kunoichi with it. He spun in the air, rolling like a log up the rapidly
shrinking embankment until he was safe on the grass again. No sooner did he
find safety, he used the soles of his feet to anchor himself and bent his
knees to slide his upper body away from a sword impact. Kiima screamed.
"Die!"
She's really pissed off! Konatsu thought, leaping up onto a tall bamboo pole
to put some distance between himself and the woman who wanted him stone cold
dead. He looked around for a way to escape as he heard Kiima's troops
approach. He looked high above and spied a rock outcropping just within
leaping distance. It was going to be a difficult jump, but he had no choice.
He bent his knees to thrust himself forward when the pole gave way. Below
Kiima retracted her sword from the pole she just sliced in two and held the
blade over her head so she could impale the kunoichi as he fell. She gave a
look of surprise as the pole moved into the center of the pool and it made
contact with the bottom and the kunoichi was still dry as a bone, three
meters above the surface of the water.
Kiima screamed in rage and threw her sword into the pole, slicing it again.
This time Konatsu had a better plan. He dove straight down into the water
and disappeared under the surface. Kiima growled and looked around for
anything she could use as a weapon. Finding a large rock, she picked it up
and held it above her head and looked into the water, trying to locate her
enemy.
A bamboo pole sprung up out of the water, one end firmly attached to the
bottom of the pool, the other moving rapidly like a spring. It moved at high
speed, directly at her head and as luck would have it, it shattered her rock
instead of causing serious harm. She fell backwards from the force of the
impact and she scrambled to find another weapon. The moment she found
another rock, Konatsu burst from the pool, holding the other half of the
bamboo pole as a weapon. She landed at Kiima's feet and wobbled a bit out of
balance. She paused and looked down at her chest.
"An opening!" Kiima acted immediately. She hurled the rock at the distracted
kunoichi and it connected with her head, sending her flying backwards.
She landed with a thud and she flipped upright a second later. She wobbled,
adjusting to her new center of gravity when a little girl's voice called
out, "Happo Fifty Yen Satsu!"
I should have seen that coming, was the last thing Konastu thought before
she shriveled up and fell into the same pool she emerged from. As Kiima
stood up, her troops arrived and surrounded the pool as Konatsu's body
floated up to the surface, face down.
"Fish her out!" She commanded. Her body was covered in small wounds and she
was sure she had to have some internal injuries. She couldn't believe that
bitch in the water was able to land several blows before she went down. She
hoped she was still physically able to complete her mission. Maybe she could
use these injuries to her advantage? "Make sure she's bound tight." Her
minions produced a fishing net and cast it into the spring. Kiima stood
silently as Konatsu was pulled out of the spring and dragged on the grass.
She casually told her troops, "You know what to do."
Kiima limped calmly to the other side of the spring and picked up her sword
that lay among the grass and a broken sign. She slid her sword back into the
sheath and picked up the wooden message. She looked around to make sure
there were no other visitors in the area and when she was satisfied that
there was no immediate danger, she placed the sign back into its proper
place. She read the sign and gave out a laugh. "You lucky girl. Of all the
springs you could have fallen into, you picked the only one that was
harmless to you." With that, she left the spring labeled, 'Nyannichuan'.
Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and
prevents me from voting Republican.
Rebecca Ann Heineman
July 13th, 2007
Email me at becky (AT) burgerbecky (DOT) com
Or visit http://www.burgerbecky.com
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