Rinne

[LawOhki]

I think I got the title right

------

Ranma rolled his eyes and rocked back on his heels briefly as Ryoga boasted about his recent training and how he would be soundly defeated by his new skills. Around him eighteen other fighters were milling about, waiting as numbers were assigned for the martial arts tournament. A big board was placed on the wall showing the single elimination bracket.

The man with a megaphone reading off the numbers finally got to him. “Saotome Ranma, number nine.”

After a quick glance at the board, Ranma smirked at his good fortune. He got a first round bye so he just needed to beat three opponents to win the trip to China.

“Hibiki Ryoga, number fourteen.”

It took Ryoga far longer to figure out that he was on the opposite side of the bracket and would have an extra fight. “It makes no difference how many I have to fight Ranma, I’ll overcome any obstacle to get cured!”

“Like finding the ring?” He asked innocently and skipped out of reach of Ryoga’s angry punch. “I’m going to go grab something to eat, I wonder if they have something with bacon.” Turning his back on Ryoga, he headed out into the courtyard from a large shrine building.

“Shut up Ranma!” Ryoga called after him.

Glancing back, he raised an eyebrow, having expected Ryoga to follow after him. ‘Guess he got lost already.’ Shrugging at the expected result of his pseudo-friend moving more than three feet, he avoided a group of girls talking animatedly as they passed by.

A local temple to Inari was holding a martial arts tournament and festival. Booths were set up in a ring around the far outside of the main courtyard to sell food and for games. In the center was a decently sized size square platform raised up a meter above the stone courtyard. Cheap bench stands were placed on the west and east side with a judges table on the north end.

Quickly finding some abura-age to munch on and making a note of what stands he wanted to hit up later, he met up with his father and the rest of the Tendos to catch the first fight. “Hey, Ryoga actually made it.” He pointed out, earning a punch to his arm by Akane.

“Don’t pick on him.” She chastised.

‘Well this is going to be interesting.’ Ranma popped the last bit of food into his waiting maw and considered Ryoga’s opponent.

Standing as tall as Nabiki, she had bright blonde hair that bordered on orange tied up in a high ponytail that draped down to her shoulderblades. She had a slim dancers build hidden beneath a simple white gi tied shut by a white belt. Bright green eyes looked over Ryoga before some reason finding Ranma sitting on the sidelines for a moment.

“The first match is between Hibiki Ryoga and Shirokawa Kaede.” Announced a man sitting near the judges table and paused for a brief round of applause as well as to let more people find their seats.

“That’s the girl who got my spot!” Akane fumed, arms crossed angrily across her chest.

zx

‘This can’t be right.’ Ryoga scoffed, trying not to laugh in the girl’s face. No one but Ranma had looked capable of giving him a decent work out, and now he had drawn the easiest opponent. Although if she did have some moves then he would have to fight a girl, one of his weaknesses.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.” He whispered to the poor girl who had the bad luck to face him.

“You may not want to be such a patronizing pig.” She said in an otherwise polite tone, green eyes twinkling with amusement. “They often end up as dinner.” She ended, sounding a lot like Ranma did when mocking him.

“I tried to be nice.” He looked away dismissively and cracked his knuckles for show.

A tiny old man acting as referee stepped between them. “Just so you understand, this is a friendly martial arts tournament. To win, your opponent must forfeit, be unable to continue, or touch the courtyard. Attempting to purposely injure your opponent will result in forfeit. Do you understand?”

Ryoga nodded along with the girl, Kaede. He was eager to get the distasteful act of fighting a girl out of the way. ‘I’ll show Akane how good I am by not hurting her. Unlike Ranma who would knock her around for a bit.’

“Begin!” The man announced and stepped back rapidly.

“You should just give up so I don’t have to hurt you.” He explained, stepping towards the girl, and trying to imagine her as Ranma so he could work up the courage to push her from the platform.

“Why? Are you afraid to fight me, pig?” She asked, not moving a muscle as he reached out to grab her gi.

“Stop calling me pig!” He yelled and tried to grab her gi top. His hand passed completely through where she had been standing as she vanished. Stumbling forward, he stared down at his right hand in confusion.

“A swine is a swine.” She mocked from behind him.

Spinning around, his eyes focused on the annoying female who was now standing on the far side of the platform from him. “Hold still!” Rushing towards her, he nearly tripped to fall flat on his face as a clone appeared just to the side. “Wha?”

He saw her move this time, both versions of the girl moving in sync with surprising speed. Trying to block both attacks, the Kaede on his left was able to connect with her fingertips to his side just below his ribs. Gritting his teeth as the strike somehow hurt him, he noticed that the other girl’s attack passed through him harmlessly. ‘So it’s that one!’ Focusing on the left, he tried to take advantage of her momentum for a throw but his hand went through her arm.

His mistake cost him as the real Kaede kicked him in the side of his thigh, twisting his leg inwards awkwardly. ‘Damn she hits harder than Ranma!’ His outstretched arm was caught by one of them and he was instantly flying high above the ring to land flat on his back near the opposite edge with his head nearly hanging over the edge.

“Psst.” Ranma’s voice cut into his disorientation. The pigtailed boy was kneeling down to be at Ryoga’s head height. “You may want to try harder, you’re getting your ass kicked, P-chan.”

“Shut up Ranma!” He yelled and spun around to take a swing at his most hated rival over the edge of the platform. The other teen easily avoided his blow and Ryoga nearly found himself falling over the edge.

“What did I say?!” Ranma called out from a new location.

Ryoga blinked several times before looking over to where the Saotome teen was sitting calmly next to Akane on the bleachers. “But.” He looked back to where Ranma had been kneeling and found only empty space.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.” Kaede’s lilting voice drew his eyes back to the middle of the ring where the girl stood as though she hadn’t moved the entire time. “Unless you want to give up?”

“I’ll never give up!” He boasted, struggling to explain her strange abilities.

“You can beat her Ryoga-kun!” Akane yelled to him.

“Now I can’t lose, Akane-san is cheering for me.” He had tricks of his own. All he needed to do was to figure out how she was creating an illusion of herself or at least when so he could go after the right one.

Seeing that she was going to obnoxiously stand there waiting like Ranma always did, Ryoga charged, and pulled back his right hand in preparation to use the bakusai tenketsu to shower the area with fragments from the platform. Watching her without blinking, he plunged his finger into the tile. ‘There!’ He caught the subtle shifting of her body and the movement to his side of something white and blonde. Without waiting for the explosion of tiny razor sharp shards to bite into him, he was up and moving towards this new Kaede.

“I got you now!” He yelled triumphantly, performing another bakusai tenketsu without considering that there were spectators behind the girl. “Wait-- where’d they go?” Ryoga stopped to stare dumbfounded at the empty bleachers. Shaking his head, he finally found Kaede smirking at him from the center of the ring again.

‘This is actually-- kind of scary.’ He admitted. She was fast, strong, and could make him see things. “There’s gotta be a limit to how many of those things you can make.” He guessed, figuring that it must take a lot out of her to do these illusions. He had the stamina to outlast her. She couldn’t hit him hard enough. It was only a matter of time before he got the small girl and then he won.

“There is a limit to my attention span.” She joked.

“Two! I bet two is the most you can make!” He tried to engage her but instead of making any more clones, she merely slipped out of the way. “You’re all talk! I bet you can’t even make anymore!” He laughed as he was pushed her towards the edge. “Victory is mine!” Throwing both hands forwards to shove her from the platform, she vanished once again.

“Don’t go hog wild.” Kaede’s voice echoed behind him. Freezing at the strange auditory effect, Ryoga slowly turned his head to see that the platform was now completely filled by smirking Kaedes.

zx

Ranma cocked his head to one side curiously as Ryoga made a loud eep and fell backwards off the raised platform to defeat himself. ‘What is wrong with that moron?’ He wondered. This Kaede girl had been moving almost as fast as he could but Ryoga had acted like he was fighting multiple opponents.

“Don’t underestimate that one, boy.” Genma commented while stuffing his face with food.

“She’s not much.” He commented, certain that he was superior to whatever trick she had been using to distract Ryoga. But he could see why a buffoon like Ryoga would have lost.

[Dumbledork]

I see a lesson in humility in Ranma´s near future. Is this a Naruto crossover and the girl is using genjutsu? Or is she using magic?

[LawOhki]

I see a lesson in humility in Ranma´s near future. Is this a Naruto crossover and the girl is using genjutsu? Or is she using magic?

I suppose it could be called genjutsu or magic, but really it's more of an innate ability.

[ckosacranoid]

yep, goes to show the wreaking crew lover to fight and not pay any head to whats around them...sigh.....cool story.

[Cheb]

I see a lesson in humility in Ranma´s near future.

Yes, I strongly agree

The story name makes one think about Rumiko Takahashi's latest manga "Rin-Ne". Is Kaede from there? Because I only read a first few volumes of Rin-Ne.

[LawOhki]

Yes, I strongly agree

The story name makes one think about Rumiko Takahashi's latest manga "Rin-Ne". Is Kaede from there? Because I only read a first few volumes of Rin-Ne.

Actually I only read the first chapter of Rin-Ne when it came out so I wouldn't know. Frice actually suggested the name based off Blue Seed

[Dumbledork]

I couldn't really get into Rin-Ne (and Inu Yasha neither)

The only Takahashi series I really like are Maison Ikkoku and Ranma

[Mr L]

Will it be a short story or there is a proper plot, beyond an random encounter with a strange fighter?

[LawOhki]

Will it be a short story or there is a proper plot, beyond an random encounter with a strange fighter?

Proper plot but overall it's not supposed to be all that long of a story. Although I may meander a bit depending on how much fun I have with something.

[LawOhki]

Ranma cocked his head to one side curiously as Ryoga made a loud eep and fell backwards off the raised platform to defeat himself. ‘What is wrong with that moron?’ He wondered. This Kaede girl had been moving almost as fast as he could but Ryoga had acted like he was fighting multiple opponents and seeing things that weren’t there.

“Don’t underestimate that one, boy.” Genma commented while stuffing his face with food.

“She’s not much.” He commented, certain that he was superior to whatever trick she had been using to distract Ryoga. But he could see why a buffoon like Ryoga would have lost.

Seeing as there was no more food he could steal from his father and Akane was already rushing over to check to see if Ryoga was alright, he followed after his fiance in order to poke at the pig boy for losing to such an obvious trick.

“Ryoga-kun are you alright?” Akane asked worriedly, shooting a brief glare at Kaede who was being announced the winner, the girl ignoring the youngest Tendo to give Ryoga a tiny bow of her head.

“Akane-san you saw right? Right?” Ryoga asked desperately on his knees. “She’s a monster, there were dozens of her!”

“When did you take a blow to the head?” Ranma asked, visually inspecting the lost boy’s head to add to his joke. Ryoga’s fist finding it’s way into his stomach had not been in the plan. Doubling over in pain, he stumbled back to sit on the edge of the platform.

“Ryoga-kun, it was just you and her, there was no one else.” Akane explained.

“But-- but-- but-- that-- it can’t.” Ryoga fumbled over some reason to justify his loss.

“Well that’s too bad Ryoga, guess you don’t win a trip to China.” He jabbed, skipping off before Ryoga could blow his top, and leaving him to try and explain his interest in the prize to Akane.

Ranma barely registered that something cool had soaked the shoulder of his shirt, changing him to a red haired girl with similarly colored eyes as she rushed after Kaede. Even though most of the people attending the festival were watching the competition, Ranma kept losing the girl in the few people still playing the games. It took nearly twenty minutes before she could finally pin down Kaede to one location.

“Sorry about that!” Some girl yelled at her. Ranma ignored the exclamation, not realizing that the girl had splashed her with a drink after celebrating for winning a prize.

“Hey, wait up!” Ranma called out to Kaede and skidded to a stop next to the girl. “I’m Saotome Ranma, you were pretty good out there against Ryoga.” She remarked casually, being about the same height as Kaede she could look her directly in the eye.

The girl hesitated as though she was searching for a response before settling on a polite thank you. “I look forward to seeing your matches as well.”

“He likes to think he’s my rival, sure would be nice if I had a technique like yours to psyche him out.” She explained, trying to sound a bit desperate for help with the lost boy. “Do you think you could give me a few tips?”

“I would be happy to.” Kaede gave her a big smile that shifted from friendly to condescending. “If you could learn.”

“Ranma!” Akane’s yell interrupted Ranma asking more about Kaede’s strange technique, her unwanted fiance approaching. “Sheesh, can’t you pick a body and stick with it for five minutes?” The girl berated half heartedly.

Glancing down, Ranma finally noticed that her curse had been activated. “Oops.”

“Oops.” The short haired girl rolled her eyes. “Hurry up and find some hot water, your match is next.”

“Ya ya.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I got plenty of time.” Turning to Kaede to tell her that she would be right back, Ranma found that the blonde had vanished once again.

zx

Ryoga really did hate his curse, completely, utterly, totally, and without reservation. Trapped in the weak form of a small piglet all because some innocent kid decided to shoot him with a water pistol he had won at a game. So now he not only had to live with the shame of being defeating himself but being lost as a pig.

His far more sensitive nose twitched and he looked around nervously. Over the strong smell of humans and all the food he could smell multiple predators. He had purposely neglected his porcine nose and learning to differentiate a wide variety of smells. But he knew without a doubt the scent of a predator.

Deciding that he would be better off getting lost somewhere else, he hurriedly rushed through the forest of legs to try and get away from the shrine as fast as possible. After a brief lapse in his attention, he found himself next to a nice little stream in a pleasant clearing in a forest. Stopping to get a drink from the stream, he sat back on his haunches at stared down at the water to see his reflection.

‘I will get a cure!’ He resolved, it didn’t matter he had lost, and was not going to win trip to China. He would find a way to do it on his own and then rub it in Ranma’s face when the pigtailed boy could no longer hold the curse over his head.

In his wavering reflection he found another figure suddenly appear, one that was a bright reddish orange. Slowly looking away from the water, he found a young red fox looking at him inquisitively with it’s vulpine head cocked to one side. In an almostly deliberately slow move, the fox licked it’s lips.

Ryoga cursed his luck with a disgusted bwee before running away, the fox hot on his tail.

[Dumbledork]

Not much to comment on.

[LawOhki]

Not much to comment on.

Added some more, lots of symbolism, and there is the fact that Kaede didn't react in the slightest to Ranma's curse. (Plus Ranma gets to have red hair/red eyes in this. The combo has grown on me)

[Dumbledork]

There's no indication in the snippet that Kaede saw Ranma change.

Shouldn't Ryoga be qble to defeat a fox even in pig form?

[LawOhki]

There's no indication in the snippet that Kaede saw Ranma change.

Shouldn't Ryoga be qble to defeat a fox even in pig form?

I did include a bit more in an earlier section in my copy about how Akane got boxed out by Kaede so she couldn't enter but that was already said by akane in the original. Ranma's name would have likely come up there in a loud angry snarl and then when everyone was getting a number Ranma was announced again. And now someone claiming the same name comes up and talks about Ryoga (who the other Ranma was with) and immediately talks about meeting her in a match.

Prey animals aren't always rational about what they can and can't do.

[frice2000]

Shouldn't Ryoga be qble to defeat a fox even in pig form?

And one lucky quickly made strike and bite later the fox dances out of view as the pig slowly bleeds out. Blood spurting from the cut in its neck with each beat of it's increasingly rapid and panicked heart. The blood flow slowly ebbs as it's life leaks out of it's body the pigs heart slowing before stopping. The fox coming over slowly bites into the cooling piglet corpses stomach. The black pigs intenstines spilling from the new mauling before being greedily swallowed by the small red fox. The end.

That better? It is what I joked should be written as a matter of fact >.>.