Finishing what you start
Chapter 3
These people, from a to z,
have no relation to me.
And so you see,
that's the way it's gotta be.

This poetry was brought to you by the great book of disclaimers. Now on
with the show.


Dead.


They're all dead.


I run through the night, unheeding of where I'm going.


My friends.


I smash through a wooden fence like its not even there.  I clear the
house it surrounds with one leap.  I'm on the
other side and moving even as the first light goes on.


All dead.


I run and run and run.  I push myself faster and harder.  I'm not trying
to get anywhere, I'm just trying to outrun
the meaning of those words.


I'm all alone.


I stop, and collapse shuddering on the wall of a store.  That coldness
in my stomach, a tightening of my muscles
fills me.  All of them destroyed for no other reason than that they were
different.  I finally surrender and let the full
implication of what this means hit me.


I'm all alone.  All the help I've been expecting, my glorious return to
my people, my hope, it all has been
shattered.  If I were to show my face around them, I would be killed
mercilessly.  I have no chance of going back.
Worse than that, they were about to invade this world as well.  If they
catch me here I will be just as dead as if they
were to catch me there.


Logically, I have no other option but to resist them.  To fight off
their invasion.  It would be next to impossible, but
if I prevent them from undoing more barrier points, I can forestall the
invasion.  I will of course have to kill any of
them that cross over here.  Can't let news get back, or let them return
to warn the others.


Logically of course.  My emotions are playing no part in this.  It is
all cold logic.


My fist lashes out, bearing with it a good portion of my anger and
hatred as enhanced chi.  The store I'm leaning
against is utterly annihilated from the assault.  The dark red and black
streaked ball of energy flies through the air,
decimating a good portion of road when it bounces, and than impacts
another shopping complex.  The fireworks
are impressive.


I straighten my posture.  I'll have to kill them all.  It's the only
logical thing to do.  But I'll need help.  I began to
walk away from the scene of devastation that I had just created, the
cold in my stomach un-depleted.  I can't rely
on the other members of Nerima.  They're just as likely to turn on me as
the Seconds or the Firsts, and for the most
part they don't have that killer instinct.  I had to find allies that
were cold blooded enough to kill the demons
without mercy, someone I can rely on not to hesitate if they're offered
the chance to commit genocide on an entire
species of demonic creatures.  I need the Sailor Scouts.  Even as the
wails of sirens becomes strong enough to reach
my ears, I set my mind on how to best  set about destroying the remnants
of my 'kin'.


***


"Ranma you idiot!" Akane bellowed as she charged me.  Its noon now.  I
had spent the entire night walking back
to Nerima from Juuban at a normal pace.


The thing was, I had only allowed her to hit me before so I wouldn't
seem out of character.  I had to remain in
character because I needed these idiots to provide me some sort of
cover.  I don't need that cover any more.  I
stopped her mallet with one hand.  Akane's anger faltered as she stared
at my the head of her bludgeon caught
securely in my grip.


"Akane," I say in a kind tone of voice totally at ends with the cold in
me, "could you go to the dining room and
wait for me.  I need to gather everyone together.  I have an
announcement."  I release the weapon and she puts it
away without even realizing it as I walk in a measured pace past her.  I
stop by the porch to the back yard when I
see Genma and Soun sitting there, cheating each other blind at chess.  I
repeat my message to them as well.


As I begin to walk up the stairs, I run into Nabiki.  She looks furious,
her hands on her hips and a glare that would
make Akane proud.  "Ranma.  Where were you last night.  You better
answer me this time, or I will make your life
a living hell."  She drew herself up, using the stairs to give her a
height advantage over me.


"Alright," I tell her amiably.  "I was going to tell everyone in the
dining room.  Just let me get everyone there
first."  I turn and leave her.  Nabiki is about to snap at me, when my
words penetrate.  Her glare turns into a gape.


I find Kasumi in the kitchen.  With the same measured pace I cross the
distance to the counter and hand her the
knife she was reaching for.  She notices me with a start.


"Why hello Ranma," she cocks her head to the side and smiles.  The
desire in her aura actually reaches out to wrap
me in her lust.  I ignore it and return her smile.


"Kasumi, do you have Nodoka's phone number?"  I begin to chop up some
vegetables she had set aside for the
soup she was preparing.


"Why yes, Ranma," she says happily, her eagerness to do anything for me
tingeing her aura.  Under better
circumstances...  She continues, "Would you like me to get it for you?"
I nod and she moves across the kitchen,
out of my line of sight  I continue to prepare lunch.  When she returns
she has a slip of paper with the number and
the phone.


I thank her.  "Kasumi, would you please go to the dining room and tell
the others that I'll tell them my message
just as soon as Nodoka is here?"  She looks like she is about to
protest, but I cut her of.  "I'll take care of lunch.
You just relax all right?"  I brush her out of the kitchen and turn my
attention to the phone.  I dial the number and
balance the phone on my shoulder as I continue my work with the soup.
Two rings later someone answered.


"Hello?" Nodoka's voice answers.


"Yes, mother?" I say, "This is Ranma."  She starts to say something, but
I cut her off as well.  "I have a very
important announcement to make.  Could you please come to the Tendo
Dojo?  As quickly as possible?"


I hear her hesitate as though sensing the seriousness of my tone.  "Very
well son," she finally says.  "If its
important."


"Thank you," I tell her, and then hang up without another word.  I call
up another number, and talk for a moment
with the person who answered.  I hang up in a minute, and place the
phone aside.  The soup is almost finished, so I
add the final ingredient.  A very special ingredient.  With that I
settle down to wait.


I had long ago came up with a way to get out of all the engagements.  It
was really simple actually.  The only
problem, is that it involved doing an act that 'Ranma Saotome' would
never do.  Now that I had no reason to be
among these people, now that I was actually trying to escape all of the
whackos, it is the ideal solution.


A knock at the door awakens me from my reverie.  I move to answer it.
At the door is a very worried looking
Nodoka.  I cut her off before she has a chance to speak.  "Please, wait
in the dining room.  I want to tell you all at
the same time."  She bites her lips and moves to comply.  I return to
the kitchen to acquire a stack of bowls,
chopsticks, and the soup, and move to the dining room.


***

The fire in front of me crackles as I prod it with a stick.  Lying in
the embers on one side is a pot, bubbling with
the rice I have cooking in it.  Behind me is my pack.  Around me, is
Juuban park.  Things had gone about as I
expected them to go back in Nerima.  If I am lucky, I'll never see them
again.


I snort.  If I'm lucky?  Since when have I ever been lucky?  I'll
probably see them by the end of the week.  Oh well.
If they do show up, then I'll just have to make good on the threats.
They were the kind of thing that they never
would expect Ranma to do, the threats.  But I have every intention of
making good on them if I need to.


I take a quick glance around me.  I'm alone.  Finally alone.  Dusk is
falling around me as I wait for the rice to
cook.  I don't really need it.  The rice.  I can subside off of energy
alone if I need to, or just replenish myself
autonomously, but I have become rather fond of some things.  A warm bed
is one, but I very much doubt I'll see
much of those.  I have, basically, declared war on my own kind.  They
could come at any time of the day, in any
place.  My only consolation, is that they are far more likely to come to
Juuban than anywhere else.  Thanks to my
previous efforts, almost all of Tokyo has become free of barrier points,
making it the weakest spot in the web.
Juuban is the only section of the town that still has any sizable number
of points, making it the most likely spot to
be assaulted.


That meant a twenty four hour watch.  I would position myself as close
to the center of the remaining points, and
just hope to move fast enough to catch them before they succeed.  Not a
good plan.  I really need some assistance.


I consume my meal quickly and then, kicking dirt on the fire as I
shoulder my pack, I set out to implement my
plan.  I had several advantages on my side.  Firstly, surprise.  The
Seconds and Firsts have no idea that I exist, and
that I'm trying to stop them, of that I'm so strong.  My second
advantage is experience.  I can remember just how
much trouble I had originally, locating and undoing the points.  This
should give me ample time to sense,
approach, and destroy anyone trying to deal with the points.


I walk at a normal pace, the streets around me nearly dead.  Its late
and most people are returning to their homes,
ignorant of what I am, and the danger they are all in.  Its best if I
remain in my human disguise when I'm fighting.
The Sailor Scouts could show up at almost any of my fight, and I want
their support, not a shot at the back while
I'm distracted.


As the evening dark grows, I take a moment to reflect on the status of
my life.  I'm alone, the last member of an
almost extinct race, fighting a losing battle against vastly superior
numbers, with dozens of enemies on the side, no
place to stay, and all my worldly possession held in a sack over my
shoulder.


I start to whistle a cheerful tune.


I had long ago whittled away all the barrier points in the city of Tokyo
one by one.  I could travel really easily at
night, and I had free range in this city for almost a two years.  Plenty
of time to work with.  I had only avoided the
Juuban prefecture because of the Sailor Scouts, and there rather
illustrious demon crushing record.  Definitely best
to avoid that, because at that time I had still considered myself
inherently weak because I was a Third.  After my
battle with Saffron, that illusion had been shattered, and I realized
just how powerful I had become.  That does
wonders for your confidence, so I had begun to range a bit more freely.


The center of Juuban itself had a relatively low number of naturally
occurring barrier points.  The south and east
portions had more, but they had been the ones I had been whittling away
at for the last month.  The west was
basically untouched by my hands, and to the north...  The north had one
of the highest concentrations of points I
have had the pleasure of seeing. If the attacks would come from
anywhere, they would come from there.  That
many points in one spot represents an enormous knot in the barriers
mystic net.


Nothing to do but to wait there, and they would come.


By now the streets are all but deserted.  Full dark has set in, and a
small twinkling of stars, those not outshone by
the streetlamps, glitter above me.  I leap into the air, bounce of the
walls of a lower building, and land on the roof
of a convenience store.  From there I begin my rapid northward
advancement.


Now the really annoying part of my plan takes place.  I had no way of
knowing when or where any attack might
come from.  My advanced perception could cover no more than a half a
mile at tops.  I was going to have to rely
mainly on luck and constant movement to discover....


KRAK-THOOM!


Or I can simply head towards the explosions.  This was becoming
suspiciously regular.  Why the hell are those
idiots making so much noise?  Bloody stupid Seconds.  I think it must be
some unwritten law that Seconds have to
be ostensibly obvious in their attempts at anything.


The explosion had occurred two streets over from me.  The last time I
had come on one of these tussles I had been
trying to escape detection.  Now is a slightly different event.  With
two quick leaps I am on a building overlooking
the battle


Once more I see the five scouts scurrying around a big Second.  The last
time I had moved as quickly as possible
upon detecting what they were fighting.  Now I was consciously trying to
evaluate their tactics, and hopefully pick
out their names.  If I was going to make allies out of them, I needed to
impress them with my skills and manners.


It quickly becomes obvious that these five girls are young,
inexperienced, and almost frighteningly powerful.  Their
attacks lack finesse, and are leaking impressive amounts of power, but
they still manage to make sizeable
impressions into the Seconds skin.  They also lack real combat training,
though the one in the green, Sailor Jupiter,
I think her compatriots just called her, manages to do a fair attempt at
a block from one of the Seconds physical
strikes.


While the last Second had been dark and scaled, this one was slightly
different.  It's skin had a rainbow
complexion, one color bleeding into the next, with a putty like skin
that aided in quick regeneration.  It wasn't
particularly fast or strong, but it did have some impressive
flexibility.  I grimace as it bends itself backwards,almost
doubling itself, to avoid a flashy strike by yellow, excuse me, Venus.
Venus' strike continues on and decimates a
helpless tree sticking out of a mulched square in the sidewalk.



Overall rating?  On a scale of one to ten, they each individually rate a
three, maybe a four at best.  They're just too
untrained, although very enthusiastic.  Together though, they score a
high eight, maybe even a nine.  In general
they're just a team of bullies, unable to be effective unless they
travel in packs.  This group together could easily
handle any Second, probably a good number of the Firsts as well.


But where are the others?  I remember hearing that they're based on a
planetary scale, minus earth which got
gypped over for the moon.  If the assembled collection here, Mercury,
Venus, Moon, Mars, and Jupiter, are this
powerful, how about the others?  Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto?
Are they stronger or weaker?


I shake myself out of my reverie.  The fight has continued while I was
thinking, and the Scouts were holding their
own.  There is five of them to the Seconds one, and while the Second is
making an admirable showing of itself, it
really doesn't stand a chance.  I might as well make myself known to the
Scouts in a way that presents me in a
suitably good light.


I shrug out of my pack, and hide it behind a small chimney on the roof.
After a second of focus, my aura has been
compressed down to a size that would be about normal, if a little
strong, in a human.  I move into a crouch near the
edge of the building and tense, waiting.


The fighters are circling each other, a wary break in the combat.  The
scouts are directly beneath me, now to the
side of me, and now the monster is below me.  I see it preparing itself
for an attack, and I carefully and
undetectably focus  my chi into razor sharp claws extending from the
fingers in my right hand.  The Second roars
and takes a step forward to launch its assault, and I move in tandem
with it.


The blast is leaving its hands as I propel myself downward with a kick
from the side of the roof.  My intended
landing point is just a meter in front and a little to the side.  As I
pass it in the air, my hand lashes out in a vicious
swipe.  I settle myself in a crouch, my right hand extended to the side
in a rather flamboyantly exaggerated sweep.
I need to make a good impression.  I must radiate power and ability,
while passing off as nothing more than
human.


The Sailors had narrowly dodged the blast and now were turning back to
find me crouching in front of the Second.
I don't have to look behind me to feel the aura of the Second faltering.
I hear a thump, as the neatly sliced torso of
the creature slides off of its pelvis, and falls to the ground.  Its
energies begin to disperse and its corporeal form
dissolve as I straighten in front of the gawking stairs of the Scouts.


Externally I am calm, but with a serious expression on my face.
Internally I'm sweating and fingering the collar of
my shirt.  Let them buy this.  Please let them buy this.


"My name is Ranma.  Sorry about this."


***


"We're the Sailor Scouts.  In the name of the Moon we will right wrongs
and punish evil.  I am Sailor Moon," the
multi-colored uniform declares, striking a pose.  I try not to act bored
as the others make their poses and their
speeches.  I will need their help.


"Now," Mars begins, fixing me with a glare.  "Who are you and what are
you doing here?"  She seems
antagonistic.  Oh well, there's one in every group.  Maybe she's just
naturally bitchy.  I can still win over the
others.  The ones in the yellow (Venus) and green (Jupiter) are fixing
me with hungry looks that I have become all
to accustomed too.  Good.  If they want me, they're more likely to aid
me.  Mercury is studying me, and typing on a
computer that periodically lets out a few beeps.


"As I told you earlier," I begin.  "My name is Ranma.  Just Ranma.  I
was out here to do the same thing you're all
doing.  Fight these creatures."  Geez, I almost called it a Second.
That would raise too many questions.


"Why would you do that?  And how did you do that attack?" Mars continued
her interrogation.


Mercury's computer emitted one final beep, and than Mercury spoke up.
"He appears to be human, but he's
emitting an unusual power source," she tells her comrades as she puts
away her computer.  Shit.  She had been
scanning me.  Thank the Lord... never mind.  I'm just glad that I passed
the test unconsciously.  I wonder for a
second if the power she sensed was just the unusually strong aura I'm
emitting, or something about my origins.
Double shit.  No choice but to continue and answer Mars questions.


"I helped you because I hate these creatures.  I used my chi for that
attack," I tell them.


Mercury speaks up, "Your chi?" as Mars demands, "Why do you hate those
creatures?"


I open my mouth to answer them...


"Ranma!" a voice shrills happily, and my memories are shattered by an
extreme aerial glomp.  What the...?


I look down at my chest and find, of all the people I might have
expected...


"Hotaru?" I gulp.


She nodded vigorously, smiling up at me.  I laugh out loud.  Of all the
pleasant surprises.  I put my arms on the
girls waist and lift her up onto my shoulder.  She laughs and wraps an
arm around my head to keep her balance.
In a moment of introspection, I wonder how odd this would look to anyone
else, an eighteen year old balancing a
laughing a small fourteen year old on his shoulder.  That introspection
shatters as I hear voices calling at Hotaru.


I turn to find myself confronted by  Haruka and Michiru.  The two of
them approached us, a little shocked and a bit
suspicious of me having Hotaru on my shoulder.


"Excuse me," Michiru begins politely, with Haruka glaring at me
suspiciously.  "I can't help but noticing you have
our daughter on your shoulders..."  She trails off as I grin and extend
my hand.


"Hey Michiru," I cheerfully quip.  "It's only been a couple of days.
You forgotten me already?"  I assume by their
surprised and blank looks that they have.  "We met at your picnic last
Friday."  Recognition dawns on their faces,
and I continue.  "You two here with Hotaru?  No offense, but you look
kind of young to be Hotaru's parents."  Not
to mention your both girls, so I didn't mention it.  Stranger things
have happened...


Hotaru speaks up from my shoulders.  "Mama Michiru and papa Haruka
aren't really my parents.  But they did
adopt me, and we love each other like family."  Ahh.  How cute.  Well
good for them.


"We're sorry that Hotaru attacked you like that," Michiru says with a
smile.  "We didn't know you two were so
close."  I can't see Hotaru's face on my shoulder, but I can guess she's
blushing from her aura.  This serves to
make me grin some more.


"Nah.  Don't worry about it.  I've had worse."  I tell them.  "What are
you all doing her?  Shopping?"  Here is the
a well sized shopping complex in northern Juuban.  I can't afford to
rest, or stray to far from the center of the
barrier points.  I'm pretty sure that there won't be an attack for a
couple of days, it takes a lot of energy to penetrate
even the weakened barrier and the last two assaults were within days of
each other which means that a lot of
energy must have been recently used to penetrate so quickly, but you can
never be too sure.


Haruka nods, still hesitant about how to act around me.  "Yea.  Shopping
for more of Hotaru's clothes.  She's been
filling out a little bit, and needs some new bras."  They might not be
her natural parents, but they sure had the
important parts down.  Namely, embarrass the hell out of your kid.
Hotaru's aura turns a brilliant crimson.


"Papa," she whines and I chuckle a bit.  I pick her up and put her back
on the ground.  She quickly turns away in
an attempt to hide her flaming face.


Turning back to the Haruka and Michiru I smile.  "It was nice to see you
two again.  It was too bad you couldn't
show up with Hotaru and Setsuna."  I pause and look around for the
greenhead, but she's nowhere to be seen.
Shrugging to myself I continue, albeit a little disappointed.  "But
that's the way the cookie crumbles."  I shoulder
my pack to get it a bit more comfortable.


"Maybe we'll take you up on it some other time," Michiru says.  And I
give her a quick look.


"Oh, that's right.  I'm sorry, but I can't take you on the tour any
more."


Haruka arched an eyebrow.  "Oh," she asks suspiciously.  "Why not?"


I have the sudden impression that Haruka is suspicious of everyone.
Hotaru had turned back when I said I couldn't
give the tour, and was giving me a weird look.  I answer the question.
"I left recently."  Hotaru gasps.


"Left?" Michiru asked confused.  "What do you mean by left?"


My smile fades slightly.  "Exactly what I said.  The situation there was
insane.  If it kept up at that pace, someone
was going to get seriously hurt."  I don't add 'by me'.  "I really had
no choice, but to end it as best I could."


"But how Ranma?" Hotaru asks.  "When you explained it earlier, the
situation sounded kind of hopeless."


I'm struck by a sudden memory.  The entire Tendo and Saotome families
gathered around me.  Paralyzed by the
powder I had put into the soup to keep them still long enough for me to
escape.  I had told them...


"Well, there was one way out."  I told Hotaru.  The three of them watch
me, and I shift my pack, made
uncomfortable by the way they were looking at me.


"How?" Haruka asked.  Suspiciously again.


Finally I answer.  "All the marriage agreements were made out between
the girls and one 'Ranma Saotome'," I tell
them.  "So I had my name removed from the Saotome registry.  Without a
Ranma Saotome in the family, all the
engagements will fall through.  Genma will have to make up all the
dowries he had stolen, but it would do that fat
bastard good to have to fix what he broke."  I look at the three, and
they all gape at me.


"You had your name..." Haruka began.


"...removed from the registry?" Hotaru finished.  Michiru looked at me,
pity thick in her eyes.


"What does that make you?" she asked softly.


I have a feeling that these three are going to accept the fact that I
really didn't care to be on the registry.  No doubt
they're convincing themselves that my uncaring front is a noble attempt
to cover my hidden pain or something.
That might be true under normal circumstances, but I really didn't care.
I'll only miss one person in the whole
house....


I cup Kasumi's paralyzed face with on hand, and lean in to whisper in
her ear.  "If you had asked for me, if you
had fought for me," I tell her, "I would have been yours gladly."  I can
feel the pain in her aura, the desire, and I
answer it for just a moment.  I lean in and plant a passionate kiss on
her lips.  Kasumi's aura turns gold with
pleasure, and then I break it off.  I turn back to Nabiki and Akane, and
a feral grin breaks out on my lips.  I reach
into the sleeves of my shirt, and pull out a razor.  "Now, about you
two."...


"Is that why you have a pack?  What are you doing up in Juuban?" Haruka
asks me.  I pull out of the past to
answer her questions.


"Well, I thought a clean break would be the best.  No hanging around or
picking up my stuff, so this is all I took.  I
got a couple changes of clothes and some cooking utensils.  The reason I
come up here," I hesitate for a moment,
and then decide that a twisted version of the truth would be best.  "I
came up here to do something about all the
demon attacks.  I mean, the Sailor scours are up here saving the world
every day, and here I am, a fully trained an
ultra-powerful martial artist slacking off and letting them take care of
everything.  Not good."


The three take this in for a moment.  Hotaru's eyes are fairly glowing
in admiration, and I can see a kind of
grudging respect appear in Haruka's eyes.  Michiru is smiling sadly.


"Ranma," she asks.  "Where are you staying?"


Damn.  I was hoping to avoid these kind of questions.  "Well, I don't
have any place of my own, really.  But I've
been living on the road for so long, I can make do with a park bench or
a patch of grass.  If I need food there's
always a soup kitchens for the homeless."


Uh-oh.  I think those might have been the wrong answers.  A strange
looks has appeared in Michiru, Hotaru, and
even Haruka's eyes.  Hotaru speaks up.  "Ranma," she asks almost
sweetly.  "Would you like to stay with us?"


I have another sudden premonition.  I wonder if these three are going to
take no for an answer.  I have to try at
least.


"Well," I draw out kind of nervously.  "I don't have any money to pay
rent, and I probably would end up eating you
guys out of house and home, plus it would be kind of weird for all of
you  to have to put up with a boy living in
your house, and don't you have to ask Setsuna as well before you invite
strangers into your house..."  I trail off.
The strange look in their eyes had become harder.  They seem to loom up
in front of me, a sudden and all together
frightening appearance similar to Soun's demon head strike.  "Yes?" I
hesitantly answer their question.  The three
attack me, each latching onto a limb, and began dragging me out of the
mall, their shopping forgotten.


I can only wonder how this'll effect my plans.