Главная  |  Фанфики  |  Fanfics

Словарик  |  Связаться с нами  |  Форум

Author:
Cheb

An Unsuitable Person

* * *



Chapter 4

(Where only the “youkai-baba” has any fun.)

* * *

“It's hot! It hurts! Ouch! Onii-san, stop it!” hollered the parrot.

Ryouga stumbled back, dropping kettle in shock. “But... Why didn't you turn back into human? Don't you have a Jusenkyou curse?”

The parrot shook itself vigorously, which made him look like a dead hedgehog instead of a drowned rat. “Jusenkyou? What is that?”

Ryouga bowed before the bird in shame: “Forgive me, I acted without thinking... But who turned you into a parrot then?”

“One evil monster did it,” parrot drooped, then perked up again. “But he promised to return my mom if I could run from him for three months straight!”

Something stirred in Ryouga's heart. Could it be that his family curse, the awful sense of direction, has a higher predestination?

“Don't worry, kid,” Ryouga smiled. “With me, he'll never have a chance to catch up with you!'”

* * *

“Begin!,” Cologne commanded, and the three girls standing in a circle ran, spiraling toward the center. Akane wore a strange harness over her gi, consisting of metallic pads at the shoulders, knees and elbows connected with flexible metallic ties.

“I wonder, what is the meaning of this spiral?” asked Rukia who watched the scene with great interest.

Girls reached the center and simultaneously threw their fists up, almost touching. Then they turned towards Cologne.

“Good,” she approved. “Now repeat a couple more times, then we'll begin for real.” She turned to Rukia. “This is a modified training for a secret technique of our tribe...” She glanced at the girls who were finishing their second run now. “Formerly secret. It works by forcing or tricking your opponent to emitting a hot aura, while you stay cold. Then you lead your opponent in a spiral, creating many tight loops of intertwined hot and cold ki. A finishing twisted uppercut creates a tornado blowing your opponent away.

“So, the main point of this training is staying calm?” Rukia said with understanding. “Byt why free for all then? Wouldn't it be better if both Ukyou and Xianpu attacked Akane?

“You see,” Cologne smiled, “these girls are rivals for Ranma's heart. Putting them in equal conditions, forced to compete each against two others, will lead to much more heated dispute than if it were just these two attacking Akane. This training must be harsh, pushing them to their limits, else it will be of no use. Moreover, an incomplete, loose spiral will create a weakened tornado, so we could repeat as many times as we need without worrying about injures.

“What a devious and effective plan,” admired Rukia. “You are a true teacher! But I wonder, what purpose serves this harness on Akane?”

“You'll see soon,” replied Cologne, turning to the girls who finished their adjusting runs and stood now at ready, in a circle again. “Now for real! The one who masters Soul of Ice will win a favor in Ranma's heart! He won't even look at the losers! He doesn't need a wife that can't even fight!”

The three girl's eyes lit up and they ran their spiral with much more energy than before, exchanging barbs and invectives. They didn't even reach halfway towards the center when a battle aura flared in the whirligig of girls, then came a clanking sound, a shriek, and Akane slid out, hog-tied with her harness. Shampoo and Ukyou stopped, watching with a smirks at her wriggling in the dirt.

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Rukia. “There could be no better way to teach to restrain one's hot temper! Do you follow me, Akane? You must be happy you got the best teacher and best equipment imaginable!”

Akane spat the dirt out and confirmed that indeed, she was so-o happy...

* * *

Ryouga grunted, his legs buckling a bit, hit by yet another telephone pole in the back of his head.

“Onii-san!” exclaimed the distraught parrot.

“Don't worry, Yuichi-kun,” Ryouga assured him, smiling, throwing off the broken concrete pole and shaking his head of the dust. “It doesn't hurt a bit.”

That was a lie: it hurt a lot, the collection of lumps was groving impressive. But why worry the kid?

“What is wrong with this town? Where am I now...?” Ryouga mused aloud, striding forward. “The construction quality here is awful, everything is just falling apart. What are they thinking? Somebody could get hurt!”

The parrot shuffled with a guilty look but still didn't say something he should have.

* * *

At sunset the three rivals were totally worn out, although Shampoo fared a bit better. Akane was also covered with dirt, scratches and bruises and hurt from her head to toes. The memory metall harness heard no excuses.

The achievements were unimpressive: Ukyou managed couple times to summon a weak whirlwind, and Shampoo did it once. After two hours of bickering the girls lost all the gloss of civilization and one could hear from their whirligig such pearls of politeness as “dumb tomboy”, “homeless ronin” or “illiterate gaijin”. But then even that stopped working and Cologne reluctantly opened the manila envelope, with a nasty smirk pulling out something Akane was afraid of more than anything: the compromising photos.

Ukyou and Shampoo laughed at first, thinking that it was only Akane's lot to wriggle in shame. But they were wrong. Soon Ukyou made a point to remember not to underestimate Nabiki even if the camera is nowhere to be seen and Nabiki herself wears form-fitting clothes with no pockets. Shampoo, on her part, swore silently to play a nasty trick or two on the “mercenary girl”. People simply seeing her naked wouldn't be a big deal. But that pose, that point of view called for ripping someone's arms off, no less. The insolence! Well, airen wouldn't approve the ripping hands off part, he is too-too nice. But there would be other ways. Shampoo can slip some stuff in her food. With those particular mushrooms...

“Tomorrow, six 'o clock, here!” Cologne ordered, storing away the — sadly — still thick envelope. Shampoo bowed in silence and went away following her great-grandmother like a perfect – albeit sweaty and disheveled – warrior.

“See you tomorrow, Akane-chan,” said Ukyou, waving her goodbye. She shouldered her spatula and tiredly trudged away.

“I'll never master this technique,” Akane muttered with resignation, slumping to the ground and beginning to unfasten the harness. “Even Ukyou makes better progress than me.”

“Don't get so dispirited”, Rukia told her. “Were you bound in the last hour? Not a single time! You see, you are making a visible progress!

“Really?” Akane perked up. “Thinking of it, I hadn't slipped for a whole hour!” She beamed sincerely. “Just you wait! No matter how hard it is, I will master this technique!”

“On the other hand,” Rukia grumbled under her breath, “she was so worn out she just had no energy left to flare her battle aura.”

* * *

Sun is gone and the reddish sunset sky fades now, slowly giving way to the night. Bathed in the receding orange light, a girl and a duck are embedded firmly in the cracked concrete rim of a rapid train tunnel. Judging by their poses, they were just jumping off the train roof.

“Quack.”

“Don't. Just don't.”

“Aho, Aho-o” caws a crow reproachfully, flying high overhead. They slid from the battered wall, plopping beside the rails like sacks.

“Qua-ack.”

“Ok, I misjudged a bit, are you glad now? And why didn't you flap away yourself? You're a bird, aren't you?”

The duck turns away with a great dignity.

“Aha, yeah. Of course. Glasses are for carrying them in your backpack, ain't they?” Ranma replies acidly, trying to get up. “Owww. I'd better lie down for a while...”

* * *

The next morning Akane woke up still sore but never the less full of energy, itching to continue her training. Ukyou, who hadn't enough sleep, didn't shine with enthusiasm at all, but Shampoo, such a parasite, was fresh and prime to the point of perfection – although only she knew how much that had cost her.

A hour passed in training. Akane got hog-tied with harness a couple times, Ukyou gained some reverence for Nabiki's unnatural ability to happen in the wrong place in the wrong time. Shampoo, on her part, have invented a couple more methods of non-lethal but very nasty revenge.

During that hour Rukia was distracted a few times by beeping from her cell phone, but she didn't say anything, just frowned more and more looking at the screen. After the next beeping she grudgingly called a stop to the training. “Akane, ladies, we have a problem. A Hollow appeared in Nerima, but they just cannot get a lock on it. It seemingly appears in random places across the town. So, we have to search for it. And I think, we should split up.

“Each go alone?” Shampoo interrupted her.

“No,” Rukia replied flatly. “We all are too weak now, it would be an unnecessary risk. We'll split into two pairs, one is me and Akane the other are you and Ukyou.”

“Why in such order?” asked Ukyou.

“You two complement each other's abilities well. Xianpu is now the best of us in hand-to-hand, she is able to delay a Hollow by forcing it to fight her. You could provide excellent support for her with your Quincy techniques. Could I be sure you won't kill the Hollow but just cripple it?”

“As you wish,” agreed Ukyou. “But then you guys pay for supplies. Everything I use is based on silver and that ain't cheap.”

“Agreed,” Rukia said grudgingly. Then handed Ukyou a pencil-sized paper cylinder with a small string attached. “Take this”

“What is it?”

“A signal flare. Hold it this side up, pull the string sharply. It'll make a high column of smoke and a loud bang. We'll see it and come to finishing the business. Just hold it away from your eyes.”

“Well, then how will you call us if you find it first?” Ukyou asked with suspicion.

“I had only one flare. I hope there will be no need. Akane should be able to hold her own, but should we need your help you'll have to follow the signs of battle. Now the zones. The Hollow appears roughly in a circle centered around the Furinkan school. We take the half of that circle closer to the dojo, you two the farther one. Any questions?”

“How strong is it, compared to the one yesterday?” Ukyou asked, all business.

“Hard to say, it disappeared too quickly for the tracking systems to identify it. But it could be a bit stronger. So, be careful: the Hollows are known to use all sorts of dangerous tricks. The flare first thing.

“Don't tell me that,” Ukyou waved her away grimly. “I saw enough dangerous tricks to last for a lifetime of nightmares. We'll taunt it from a safe distance, engage it only if it attacks somebody. Right, Shampoo?”

Shampoo wanted to show her pride, to say that she'll never run from nobody... But great-grandmother had thoroughly grinded her yesterday, explaining her the facts of life. So the proud amazon just nodded sourly.

“Good, let's go,” Ukyou said, leading her away.

“Hmm... Shouldn't I go and open Neko-hanten?” Cologne mused theatrically. “With these training trips running out of business could happen much too easily.” And she hopped away on her gnarled staff.

“Come on, take it,” Rukia handed Akane the familiar pack of “Soul candy”.

Akane took a pill, hesitated for a moment, then swallowed it. A familiar sensation – not unlike electric shock – and here she is, looking at her body from outside. The body soon flexed onto its feet, then jumped up and down a bit.

“Pretend to be Akane Tendou, attend her classes,” Rukia ordered as usual. “And don't forget to visit her home for her uniform and bag.”

The body blinked a couple times as if not comprehending, then a grin bloomed on its face: “Ryoukai!” It ran away with a spring in its step.

“Each time I'm beside myself in worry,” Akane complained. “What if it do something wrong? What if it get hit with a bus?

“Don't worry, the artifical souls are very dependable,” Rukia assured her. “They were specifically created with protection of the body in mind.”

The Akane's body, meanwhile, made sure that its mistress is out of sight and instantly gained in speed, flying over the rooftops with twenty-meter jumps and somersaults. Its eyes glinted deviously.

* * *

Ryouga trudged through an endless town that looked painfully similar to Nerima but just couldn't be it: the construction quality here was the lowest. Telephone poles, shop signs, roof edges, even the fences – everything was falling. Ryouga was surprised that there is still stays something. But he already got used to it, the falling debris didn't even interrupt his brooding.

“Watch out! A panicked woman's voice reached him from behind. He turned around, saw a tiny girl running at him full tilt... and caught another telephone pole, this time with his forehead. Still, a difference. Plus, there was no more room on the back of his head for any new lumps.

Rukia came to abrupt stop. Akane barely avoided slamming into her from behind. The hulk of Hollow loomed between them and Ryouga who was currently dusting his head off.

“Ryouga-kun, watch outl!” Akane screamed, unsheathing her sword and taking a basic kendo stance.

“It's no use,” Rukia said quietly. “He is unable to see or hear you, as well as the Hollow. But how your friend managed to survive the hit with a concrete pole?”

“That's my line!” injected the pissed off Hollow. “What sort of joke is this? I drop telephone poles at this human, but he just shrugs them off! He is mocking me! That's it! I'm tired of this game!” The four-meter high beast swung his huge fist at Ryouga... and jerked it back with a hiss: It was unknown how Ryouga managed to sense the attack or when he managed to pull his umbrella out, but the fact was that Ryouga stood holding his umbrella aloft like a rapier and hollow backed away from him, shaking his stubbed hand.

“Just you wait!” the monster roared. “I'll yet find a way to finish you off!”

“Lady,” Ryouga looked at Rukia who stood at the line connecting him and the Hollow. “I don't know what you have against me...”

Rukia couldn't see him behind the hulk but she felt the situation slipping toward a fatal misunderstanding. She decided to stake everything on the truth. Well, a half-truth.

“Run! There is a huge monster between us! You cannot see nor hear it, you cannot fight it!”

“Uh... I don't think Ryouga-kun would run,” Akane said quietly, holding her eyes on the Hollow and circling around it to the left, to move from the line connecting Ryouga and monster.

“Let him run!” the Hollow laughed. “I can track him anywhere, all thanks to this parrot. Ain't that nice, Yuichi-kun?” he added mockingly, addressing the caged bird.

“What the parrot has to do with this all?” exclaimed Rukia. “Ryouga-san, I don't know why you need that bird, but this monster follows you using it!

“You little bitch!” roared the Hollow. “For that, I will eat you slowly, piece by piece! Flap your mouth once more - and even your pet Shinigami won't save you!

“A monster... Follows the parrot...” Ryouga narrowed his eyes, lifted the cage, and looked at the downcast bird without breaking his stance. “Shibata Yuichi-kun, is this that one?” Then it dawned on him. “Why didn't you say anything? It was he who dropped all these poles on us, wasn't he?”

“Shibata Yuichi...” Rukia whispered in shock. Then she moved to the right and looked at the parrot intently... “Wait! There's a human soul in this bird!”

“What?!” Akane gasped, switching all her attention to Ryouga and parrot, to Rukia's dismay.

“True,” Ryouga confirmed, holding the cage in his left hand behind him, the right hand with umbrella held forward. “This monster turned the kid into a parrot and promised to return his mom to him if he managed to run away for three months straight. I don't know what sort of a sick bastard this...” He fell silent and tensed, noticing the small clouds of dust on the ground.

“Akane, halt!” Rukia barked, stopping the hot-headed girl in her tracks. “Calm down immediately!”

“Akane-san is here?” Ryouga tensed, scanning from side to side as far as his stance allowed him to turn his head.

Rukia winced, palming her face. What an unforgivable blunder! “I'll explain later!” she called to him. “Don't move! We'll deal with it!”

The Hollow snickered loudly, slapping his huge hand on the ground: “That's hilarious! Deal with me, you!” He turned to Akane. “Just for your knowing, I already ate two shinigami like you! Yo'll be third, little girl...! Com'on, wave your knife, amuse me!”

Akane grit her teeth, let out a hissing breath – and started for the Hollow slowly and carefully, without breaking her stance. He snorted derisively. Akane suddenly rushed forward, demonstrating a pretty good speed. She parried one strike, ducked under another one, and the arrogant monster lost his left arm below the elbow in a blink of an eye.

“Why then had she said she doesn't know any sword forms?” Rukia asked nobody in particular, stupefied.

Alas, Akane's luck did not last long. She overextended herself with her next strike and the Hollow, hastened by the pain, slammed her full force with his enormous right fist. Trailing dust cloud, she tumbled across the street and slammed into the concrete fence, badly denting it.

“Akane!” Rukia cried out in alarm.

“Akane-san? What is going on?! Where is she?” Ryouga exploded.

“You don't... Aw, curses!” Rukia ran up to Akane and saw that she won't be able to fight without healing. This Ryouga looked a serious martial artist, and his ki, it seems, was even more powerful than Xianpu's. Maybe he could stall for enough time...? She could always erase his memory later. “Akane is here, you just cannot see her! It is necessary to fight this monster. Hold it off while I heal her wounds!”

Akane tried to stand up but slid back along the wall, hissing in pain.

“Stay down! You're one big bruise, I'm sure you even have fractures!” Rukia shouted at her.

“Wha-a-at?!” Ryouga didn't sound like a human being, more like a distant thunder. “He have crippled Akane-san?.. Where's this scum?!!”

“Seven meters behind us, a bit closer to you...” She felt the air suddenly becoming heavy.

“Wriggle, wriggle, little bitch,” grinded the one-handed Hollow. “How do you think I've ate those two Shinigami? Do you think that my fists are all I have? You won't get away, nor your little friends!” He stuck a long, tuning fork-like tongue out of his maw and emitted a shrill whistle. A horde of little ugly things hopped onto the fences at both sides of the street.

Rukia paid them no mind, she turned to look behind her, at the source of a monstrous, crushing force. Ryouga had dropped both his umbrella and the bird cage and stood now crossing arms over his chest. His reiatsu was rapidly blackening, the negative emotions, terrifying in their power, were overrunning it like a creeping rot. The life energy of his body, intervened with his reiatsu, was bubbling and boiling, creating a nauseatingly-green oppressive ki surrounding his body like a bonfire of swamp flame. With so much power it should be visible to even an untrained mortal!

“Impossible,” Rukia thought. “No human being should be able to withstand such onslaught of negative emotions! What is he doing?! He'll burn his soul out!”

The mix of reiatsu and life energy in Ryouga was rapidly gaining power, its rumbling made the very earth tremble. A terrible weight pressed on Rukia and Akane.

“So this is how it looks when you can see everything?” Akane thought, her eyes wide in horror. “Now I fully understand why Cologne called it a truly terrifying technique!”

Ryouga began moving his arms forward, a pustulant abscess of greenish ki swelling between them, weighing a thousand tons. Some words were falling from his lips but Rukia barely registered them. Time dragged with painful slowness: barely a second have yet passed! What does he say? Lion roar blast...? Wait! Does he intend to THROW that thing...?

The ball flew from Ryouga's outstretched hands straight at the hollow, enlarging on the way. The monster panicked and turned his arms into wings, forgetting that he was missing an arm. As a result he just flopped upside down, turning his vulnerable side to the incoming charge of destruction. The little things rushed down from the fences like rain, but they didn't even have a chance to reach the ground: the ball decimated them by just flying by, making them splatter in clouds of ichor. Rukia foreseen the imminent explosion and hastily threw herself on top of Akane.

Shishi hokou dan hit and they were battered with blast wave consisting both of compressed air and negative emotions. Akane hissed in pain, Rukia clenched her teeth, praying that they won't be squished like ants under a steamroller.

The wave receded, leaving a long trench where the Hollow once was. The other end wasn't visible behind the clouds of dust, and Rukia surpassed herself, rapidly healing the cutlet back into Akane. Ok, enough. From this point she'll manage on her own.

“Can you stand up?”

Akane stood up shakily and flexed her body, wincing but trying to make it look like nothing. “I'm all right,” she said, took her sword with both hands and walked forward along the trench, almost without limping. Rukia followed her.

Ryouga trailed behind, looking strangely empty, although he didn't forget to take his umbrella and the cage with the... dead parrot inside? No, it was alive, its belly was rising steadily despite it lying legs up.

The trench gradually disappeared but the traces of rolling Hollow did not. Like a giant bowling ball he smashed down a number of concrete telephone poles, hit the fence at a sharp angle, cracking it, then smashed a few more poles... And there he was: wrapped around a still standing telephone pole, totally broken, battered and demoralized. When she saw him, Akane gasped: a half of his mask fell off, revealing an ugly but undeniably human face with low forehead, fat lips and flat nose.

“That's why you must slay them in one strike,” said Rukia as he walked up to her. “To not see their human face under their mask, so that you wouldn't be distracted by thoughts that all hollows were once a common human souls.”

“But then, each time I kill one...” Akane began in a shaky voice.

“You are not killing them,” Rukia interrupted her harshly. “Zanpakuto, the shinigami soul edge, cleanses Hollow of its sins, allowing it to return to Soul Society in the end, just like pluses. A Hollow mus be slain by the shinigami sword only and only. Remember this well. All other methods, including ones practiced by your friend Ukyou, are a true killing, a total destruction of the soul.” Akane nodded solemnly. “Come on, let's finish our task.”

“Wait,” Ryouga stopped them. “What about the mother of this parrot? I mean, boy?”

Akane lowered her raised sword.

“So, what exactly did you promise to the kid?” Rukia asked harshly, looming over the Hollow. “Where did you promise to return his mother from? And why is he in a parrot's body?”

The Hollow smiled with the visible human half of his face, that smile was hundred times uglier than his outward monstrous form. “As if! I slit his mommy's throat myself! Back then, when I was still alive!” He tried to sound brave but stuttered, choking with blood. “Then the little bastard spoiled everything... hack, hack... Caught me by sho...shoe-laces. I fell over the railing and died. But I... made him... pay...” He fell into a coughing fit.

“What is it?” Ryouga asked tersely.

“He lied to hurt and mock the child,” Rukia replied dryly. “His mother is dead. Akane, do it.”

“Whaaaat?!” Ryouga's uproar was terrifying.

Akane slashed at the mask, the Hollow howled... But he didn't vanish as usually. Instead, a rising rumbling started to sound.

“Let's step back,” Rukia said shortly, backing away.

Akane and Ryouga complied.

Behind the Hollow, an enormous gate emerged, reaching up to the sky. Two gigantic distorted skeletons looked from above grimly, their ribcages molded right into the doors. The gate began to open, its doors sliding apart as the chains tying them together broke in quick succession.

“W..what is going on?” asked Akane and Ryouga almost simultaneously.

“The Hellgate,” explained Rukia. “Shinigami sword can cleanse only the sins committed after the soul became a Hollow. We cannot cleanse sins committed in life.”

The gate, meanwhile, opened completely, criss-crossed from inside by two mighty ofuda ropes abundant with paper wards. Ryouga shuddered: he couldn't see nor the Gate neither the crimson murk beyond, but he felt it. Never again will he accuse Ranma of seeing Hell because of him.

The Hollow howled terribly, but his voice was swamped by a hideous, soul-chilling laughter. A gigantic sword-wielding hand emerged from the nightmarish depths, running the hollow through like a shishi-kebab, then pulled back, dragging the doomed soul away. The gate slammed shut with a 'Donn' than shook the sky itself, then just crumbled to dust, vanishing into the thin air.

They stood in silence for a while.

“I greatly appreciate your help,” Rukia started, inconspicuously pulling out the 'lighter' and turning to face Ryouga. “I'm sorry that... Where did he go?”

“Don't worry, Ryouga-kun gets lost all the time,” Akane explained, catching her breath. “But he always finds his way to our home.”

“Oh, that is not unfamiliar to me,” replied Rukia. “We, at Thirteen Divisions, have quite a few Shinigami able to get lost on a straight street with no any sidestreets. Even one Captain.” Then she added under her breath: “I hope he didn't get lost through the Hellgate, like that poor... No, I'd notice that.”

“Look! He forgot the parrot!” exclaimed Akane.

“It's for the better,” said Rukia, examining the still unconscious bird. “No, it's impossible to return him to his body, the chain of fate dissolved without a trace. Just how long have he spent in this parrot's body...? You must perform his soul burial, Akane. If we leave him as is he'll become a hollow himself.

Akane sighed, touching the bird with her zanpakuto's pommel: “At least such way he can meet his mom...” She wiped a tear.

A figure of sleeping child emerged from the bird and was promptly swallowed by the black circle of portal. A black butterfly flapped through the air.

“Let's hope he can,” replied Rukia. “There are a great many souls in Soul Society, so finding a particular one may be not an easy task.”

At this moment a winded Yuka ran up to them and, unable to see Akane, addressed Rukia: “Rukia-san! Did you see Ranma? Or Nabiki? We have a disaster! Akane-chan gone mad!”

“What?!” Rukia and Akane exclaimed at once.

“Hurry! We have to stop her!” the panicked Yuka continued, gasping for air. “We tried to reason with her but she acts like she's possessed! It's horrible!”

“What? What did she do?” Akane panicked in turn. Luckily, Yuka didn't hear her.

“Calm down,” Rukia ordered sharply. Tell everything in order. What exactly happened?

“Oh, it was horrible!” Yuka almost cried, wringing her hands. “Akane-chan was beside herself! She started chasing guys! She was practically glomping them!” Blood rapidly drained from Akane's face. “And then...” Yuka stumbled, unable to express all the horror in words. “Then Kunou-sempai came, and she glomped him...! And then she ki...ki...”

“Ki - what?” rasped Akane.

“K..kissed him!” Yuka shrieked at last.

“Let's go! We don't have time to waste!” Rukia said already running. Feeling that Akane didn't follow her, she stopped and turned around to see a chalk-white statue of Horror Incarnated with blue shadow over its face and its hair standing straight up.

“Come on, Akane-chan,” Rukia slapped her shoulder. “Collect yourself. I'm sure we still can make everything right.”

Akane gulped, unable to move. All her reputation, her honest name... In one moment... But if the treacherous spare soul had glomped Kunou right from the start, then what were they doing now? Yuka had to run half way from the school to the dojo, after all...

“Noooo!” Akane wailed, then flew on the wings of terror, trailing tears. Rukia had to push her artificial body to its limit just to keep up with her.

“Wh..what was that?” the startled Yuka asked nobody in particular. “It felt like a restless spirit cried up in despair! And that unnatural gust of wind...” She shivered.

~~ End of Chapter 4 ~~

* * *

Thanks for C&C to:

— Climhazard

— BorgRabbit

A/N#1: It wasn't your average shishi hokou dan, but something more akin the perfect version.

A/N#2: The somewhat crooked system where Reaitsu (a pure spiritual energy) is not the same thing as Ki (reiatsu mixed with body energy akin to Chakra in Naruto) was necessary for the seamless fusion of two universes. I'm not changing it, that's my final word.

A/N#3: After this long pause I feel *rusty* with my English. Enough to say I had to use dictionary to recollect such words as “confirm” “dirty trick” and “hesitate”. It feels very surreal since I have NO problems with such words while reading. I just couldn't remember them when I needed to use them myself.

A/N#4: I had a heated debate with myself whether I should use “mister” in parrot's speech instead of “onii-san”. Well, gues what? I won.

A/N#5: I also forgot about Kon when I made the detailed plan for chapters up to #10, so I had to squeeze his (I mean, her) storyline in, bloating a couple chapters. Still, it made the story noticeably lighter, just to my liking

A/N#6: I edited the previous chapters, Akane has black hair, as do Nabiki, Ranma, Kasumi, Shampoo and other characters from Ranma one half. Only the Bleach characters will maintain their non-black hair colors since it was explicitly explained these colors were unnatural.

Next chapter >>

Поэтому — присылайте ошибки! =^^=