Case Closed Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Fires of Vengence ❯ The Meaning of Life ( Chapter 2 )

Fires of Vengeance

 

AN: One thing, the song's lyrics are edited. I removed repeating phrases. Remember: Bold is flashbacks, italicize is thoughts.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own the song or Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, or Detective Conan.

 

Chapter 2 - The Meaning of Life

 

Fumbling his confidence

And wondering why the world has passed him by

Hoping that he's meant for more than arguments

And failed attempts to fly, fly

 

Dreaming about providence

And whether mice or men have second tries

Maybe we've been livin' with our eyes half open

Maybe we're bent and broken, broken

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside

 

We want more than this world's got to offer

We want more than the wars of our fathers

And everything inside screams for second life, yaaa

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

We were meant to live

"Meant to Live" - Swithfoot

 

"We've got problems.” Came the reply.

"What are they, and how bad?"

"I'm dead…"

 

Conan watched as Shinichi stiffened. "What do you mean, 'I'm dead'?" Shinichi only halfway calmly asked Ranma.

"I mean, my present self is dead.”

Conan could hear some of the conversation. All he understood was problems…I'm dead…present self… He didn't know exactly what it meant, but he could tell the speaker was a young man. Conan did the only thing he could do. He changed to his shinigami form to use his powers.

As Conan was reaching out to find the live threads, Shinichi was unconsciously doing the same. Soon, he realized his actions and immediately searched for the present Ranma's thread. Surprisingly, he found it not only uncut, but also very strong. He sighed in relief.

"Ranma? I don't think we have to worry about that," he told his friend.

"Why do you way that?"

"Well, I just checked his life thread, and it was still very strong and very much in one piece."

Conan frowned. Something was up. The only cut thread he'd found was an old lady who lived in Osaka, who's time it'd been to die. Of course, that was a surprise, because, as Heiji told him many times, death followed him like a lost puppy. Eventually shrugging and chalking it up to something Shinichi would eventually tell him, Conan dropped his shinigami form and returned to being human.

"Did you find out who started the rumor?" Shinichi asked Ranma.

"Apparently, no one started it. Supposedly, there was an accident where a train derailed and ran into a building. There was a fire going on and it was getting dangerously close to the engine's fuel source. He, being the hero type, still rushed in there to save anyone he could. After getting everyone else out, he went back in one last time to check to make sure no one else was left. It was then the fire reached the fuel and blew the building sky high. Cologne went in immediately after, looking for him, but came out a few minutes later with a sad and defeated expression. That's about all I could get from Ryoga. Apparently, Akane's been taking this quite hard, as she broke down this morning." Shinichi could feel the pain in his voice as he talked about Akane's reactions. Shinichi knew how much Ranma cared for his fiancée and would feel the same way if it was Ran. It was the feeling of wanting to rush over there and make her feel better.

"I know you want to go to her, but we can't let too many people see us, especially not until we find the present Ranma. Give me a few hours and I'll see what I can do. Stay out of sight, especially from Akane. If she sees you, things for the two of you might take a turn for the worst."

"Alright, but I don't have to like it. Just remember, I still don't like to see girls cry, especially her." Shinichi laughed. That was one trait the group shared. All three couldn't stand the tears of a female, and if they ever found that out, they'd all be in trouble.

"I'll give you a call in a little while. Talk to you then."

"Bye."

Conan watched as Shinichi hung up his cell phone. "Okay, niichan, what was that all about?"

Shinichi sighed. Now, it was time to explain a little bit more. "That, otouto, was my friend, Saotome Ranma."

"What'd he mean he's dead?"

"Ranma's from the future like me. When he went to meet his previous self, he came onto the startling discovery: the present Ranma's already dead."

"That's not true! The only one who's died recently is an old bachan in Osaka."

"Exactly. Somehow, someone's hiding Ranma against his will, and the only ones I know who can do that are the Amazons."

"Amazons?"

"Chinese Amazons. One warning: don't defeat any of them in combat. At least, not if you don't want to find yourself engaged to one. It's their stupid law: if an amazon is defeated by an outsider, depending on the gender, they either have to marry them or kill them. Ranma found this out the hard way."

"I take it the amazons don't take no for an answer?"

"Exactly."

Shinichi sighed one again, and turned away from Conan's expecting look. This was going to be a long day.

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"Kagome?"

The voice Kagome thought she'd never hear again sounded in her room, throwing her already chaotic emotions spiraling even more out of control. How? was the first thing that popped into her mind. How is he here? Not bothering to further question fate, Kagome did the only thing she'd wanted to do since first meeting him.

"Inuyasha!" she shouted, turning around and throwing herself into his arms, her tears coming out in full force.

Inuyasha just held her, surprised by the grip she held him with. He'd always known somewhere she'd cared for him somewhat, but by her reactions, he started to wonder how deep those feeling went Did they go as deep as his did? Did she care about him as he did her? Inuyasha could not bring himself to believe anything else, for he'd spent five years without her, and although he'd only have a limited time with her again, she now meant more to him than anything else.

Soon, Kagome's emotions quieted down enough so she was able to start asking questions. The biggest one bugged her to no end. "Inu…Inuyasha? How?"

"How?" Inuyasha replied. "A long story, to answer that one," he continued. "A very long one."

Kagome didn't answer, just snuggled deeper into his arms, giving an unconscious signal to the hanyou that he should continue. Inuyasha sighed. He didn't want to break Kagome's heart again, but for her to know the truth, he'd have to do just that. She had to know he wasn't the hanyou she thought he was.

"Kagome," he started. "Many things have changed. Many things are not what they seem." Kagome gave him a confused expression. DAMN! he thought. I guess I can't keep scurting the edge. "I'm not the Inuyasha you know."

Kagome gasped. "Wha…what? How's that possible?" she asked, bewildered.

"I'm not the same hanyou you went searching for the jewel shards with. I'm not the same hanyou you grew to care…I'm not him…" he ended softly.

Kagome started to pull back, out of his grasp. "Who…are you?"

"A tired, weary, and broken hanyou." Inuyasha sighed as he described his present emotional state. Even having Kagome in his arms did not help it much.

Once again, Kagome's kindness and concern overpowered her fear of the unknown. She moved her arm and placed it on his cheek. "Please…please tell me everything."

 

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Ranma hated waiting, especially when there was nothing he could do to speed up the time spent doing nothing. Some might go as far as to say Ranma was impatient, but that was not the case. When he needed to wait, he would. He didn't have to like doing it.

Sitting up and groaning during the process, Ranma looked at his watch. It'd been 2 hours since he'd last talked with Shinichi and had given him the heads up about his 'problem'. Since then, he'd been waiting with Ryoga on top of Furinkan High School, so as not to attract any more attention.

"Why exactly aren't you going to Akane?" Ryoga asked his companion.

Ranma sighed. "Because, for the thousandth time, I'M NOT FROM THIS TIME!" Keep calm, Ranma chanted to himself. Keep calm think of calming thoughts. Now is not the time to kill the stupid pig. Calm, got to keep calm. Ice cream, smooth, silky, Akane's hair…Akane…DAMN IT THIS AIN'T HELPING!

"I still say that is not possible. Have you finally made your decision? Going after that stupid, amazon bimbo now? Finally given up on Akane? You know she never could like you," Ryoga continued to push. "After all, who could ever like a half-girl freak like you?"

"That's it! I've had it with you!" Ranma shouted, surprising Ryoga. Before he knew what was happening, Ryoga found himself embedded 4 feet in a nearby wall, pain exploding all over his body. "Don't you ever insult Akane that way. She's hurting more right now that you'll ever do. And, for your information, I'm no longer cursed, unlike a stupid pig I know!"

"DAMN YOU RANMA!" Ryoga shouted. He didn't move because every single little muscle movement was excruciating pain for him. He finally admitted to himself that this Ranma was not someone to mess with.

When he'd first met the future Ranma, Ryoga had been a little skeptical about him being alive. Not even he, Ryoga, could've survived the blast that supposedly was Ranma's undoing. But when the future Ranma had shown up, Ryoga started to think that this was just an elaborate scheme to keep Akane away from him while Ranma spent time with his other fiancées. Now, after the backhand Ranma gave him, he was starting to question his theories.

Ranma, for his own part, was finally starting to calm down. He knew he shouldn't have lashed out at Ryoga like that, but after the past five years, spending all that time trying to find the spell to send them back, only to find out he's supposedly dead, and then on top of it, having to deal with Ryoga's antics, it was just too much for the martial artist to handle.

Taking several deep breaths, Ranma walked over to Ryoga and started pressing pressure points, to ease the pain and help him regain mobility. When he was finally done, he pulled Ryoga out of the hole and helped him sit down.

"Don't do that again, if you want to live," Ranma told his companion, his tone utterly serious. "The past five years of my life have been so dark that your life would seem like heaven in comparison. Don't ever try crossing my anger again. I usually don't get angry, but there was just too many shocks today. Sorry."

All Ryoga could do was nod. Here, he'd just verbally attacked Ranma, and after hitting him, Ranma'd helped him with the pain and was APOLOGIZING. That alone blew all of Ryoga's theories about this being the same Ranma he knew.

"Well, hopefully soon, Shinichi's going to call and…" Ranma was cut off when his cell phone rang. "Speak of the death god…." He muttered as he answered the phone.

"Ranma," Shinichi's voice came over the phone. "I've found where your previous self is."

"Who done it?"

"Cologne.”

"I figured it'd either be her or the old pervert. When she and the other amazons disappeared earlier today, it helped confirm my suspicions. What do we do? How are they holding me?"

"From what I can tell, they've used some drug to take over his mind. They're back in the amazon village right now."

"How is that possible?"

"It seems even in this time, she's gifted in opening portals."

"Okay, where do we met and when?"

"Half an hour at Furinkan High School."

"I'm already there. I'll see you in thirty minutes."

"Alright. Bye."

Ranma hung up his phone and turned back to Ryoga. "Hey, Ryoga. I need to ask you a favor. While I'm gone, look after Akane. Don't let her know about me, but do try to convince her that I'm coming back. You got that?"

Ryoga nodded, surprised Ranma would ask such a thing of him. Maybe my judgements about him have all been wrong? He thought to himself as he jumped off the roof and headed for the Tendo Dojo, praying he was going the right way.

------------

 

"Poor guy…left alone…"

"Doesn't eat."

"Never sleeps."

"All he does is sit there."

These and many more sayings floated around the village. Ever since the defeat of Naraku and, subsequently, the completion of the jewel, Inuyasha had turned from being a headstrong, hot-blooded defender, to the emotionally numb hanyou he was now. For the first time, he'd completely opened up his heart to someone and, just like all the times before whenever he trusted someone, they betrayed him. Just like before, they left him on his own. Now, Kagome was gone for good.

He'd tried following her. Tried jumping into the well. Tried reaching her side, but to no avail. The well wouldn't open. It wouldn't accept his need, his worry, his pain. He'd not tried just once. The bruising on his legs, sides, and chest would ascertain that. He'd jumped in, time after time, until he'd lost track of how many drops he'd made, how many hard landings. Even then, he didn't give up when it got tuff. No, he instead waited inside the well, not coming up for anything.

His 'friends' had called to him, trying to get him to come out, trying to get him to leave the only place he had left of Kagome. They weren't his friends anymore. Any true friends would've been compassionate, caring, letting him stay there. They wouldn't have tried scheme after scheme to get him away from the bone-eaters' well. No, he had no friends. The only person he could depend on was himself. Everyone else had betrayed him. He'd learned a hard lesson the first time with his mother's death and subsequent rejection from any permanate place. Now, he'd learned an even harder lesson. One, he'd never forgot, for it hit his heart in a place he never knew he had.

When Kagome had first found him pinned to the tree, he'd trusted no one. Before then, no one had trusted him. But, much to his surprise, it took only a short time before Kagome trusted him completely. Even though he didn't want to admit it, by that time, he was also starting to trust the girl from the future. But now she was gone, after promising to say by his side until he sent her way for good. He'll never trust another person again. Never again…

 

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Akane stared out her open window. Two days he'd been dead. Two days she'd felt like giving up. Today was the worst day yet. She was feeling so depressed right now, she figured she could launch several perfect Shi Shi Hokodans and still have enough depression left over to rival Ryoga. Ryoga…the man she thought to be her friend…the man who betrayed her in the end.

She'd always thought Ryoga would be there for her. Whenever Ranma was causing more trouble than she could take, he'd show up and help calm her down, even sometimes get back at Ranma. But this time…this time, he'd disappeared right after hearing about Ranma's death. Like he didn't care about anything else.

As she sat there thinking, she started noticing a few differences in her memories. Now that Ranma was gone, she was thinking about all the time she'd spent with him. A lot of those times they spent either fighting each other or one of the other rivals. One of the main opponents, she noticed, was Ryoga.

Wait a minute… Akane thought as she continued to reflect on a depressing past, could I have been wrong all along? Images flashed in her mind. Images of Ranma walking down the road with her, them talking, hearing 'RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!', Ryoga showing up, him fighting Ranma, her always hitting Ranma, telling him to 'stop picking on Ryoga'…

HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO BLIND?! Akane thought despairingly. I always blamed Ranma for those fights, when in truth, Ryoga started most of them…I always blamed Ranma…blamed Ranma…Ranma…

At the thought of her former fiancée, Akane's mind started to shut down. The pain was just too great for her take. Ranma…please, please have survived somehow…they never found your body…please, don't have left me, like everyone else…I don't want to continue without you…

Seeing the room was starting to grow darker because of the overcast, and feeling quite a bit lazy, Akane opened her curtains and window instead turning on her bedroom light.

As she sat there staring out at her neighborhood, Akane continued to think about her lost love. Then, much to her surprise, as if her thoughts had bidden him, Ranma appeared, running across the rooftops. She was just about to call out to him when she noticed something flying just above him. Akane paled as she recognized the creature: a shinigami.

As she stared in horror at the sight before her, a conversation drifted through her window.

"…Ranma…faster…don't have much time…make…appointment…"

"…wanted to…see…Akane…before I go…"

They passed out of view, totally oblivious to the woman watching them as her world crumbled once again. Just before she fainted, Akane let loose a shout so chilling, everyone who heard felt like hell had frozen over. It was the scream of someone who'd lost everything worth living for.

 

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Akane's scream brought her family to her side instantly. The door was slammed open as Kasumi raced into the room, followed closely by Nabiki and Soun. They all were fearing the worst. Much to their surprise and relief, all they found was Akane crumbled on the floor apparently passed out. Kasumi picked up her sister while Nabiki moved Akane's quilts out of the way. As soon as Akane was back in her bed, Kasumi sat down on her desk chair.

"I'm going to wait here until she wakes up," Kasumi told her family, her tone showing she had no intentions of ever changing her mind.

The other's just nodded and left Akane to her older sister. Kasumi took time watching her sister as she dreamed. She watched as Akane's facial expressions went from extreme happiness to anger to moderate understanding to pain and finally to extreme depression. When her face did not change again, Kasumi started to get worried. Her youngest sister, she knew, was dealt a hard life, but what was shown on her face left even Kasumi wanting to curse the powers that be for Akane's torment..

"Oh, imouto. How I wish things were different," Kasumi spoke as she wiped the sweat off of Akane's brow. "How I wish you could've been spared this pain."

 

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"Hey, Ranma! We have to go faster. We don't have much time to make it to the docks. If we miss this appointment, we won't make it in time to stop the amazon wedding. If they succeed, they'll use that to keep your younger self there!" Shinichi shouted as he and Ranma continued towards the harbor.

"I know. I had wanted to use a portal, so I could at least see Akane, but now I may not get that chance before I go back," Ranma replied back. "Where's your younger self?"

"Conan? He's going to be meeting us there. He's bringing a friend."

"Someone I know?"

"Nope, he died in our timeline before I met you."

"Oh, well I wonder what he'll be like."

"You're in for a big surprise. I think the three of us combining our magic with the medallion that Akako gave us, we might be able to jump across the ocean without taking a boat. Unfortunately, Akako said it was good only at a certain part of the day. If we miss that today, there won't be enough time to reach the present Ranma before the wedding. We're pushing it as it is."

"Well then, we'd better shut up and run faster." With that said, Ranma put all of the power he could into boosting his speed, increasing his pace. Shinichi sight and pushed his wings harder. If he couldn't fly, Shinichi was sure he'd never keep up with the martial artists. Even as it was, he was pouring everything he had just to stay with Ranma at his present speed.

Not soon enough, the harbor where they were to meet Conan and their friend came into view. As he slowed down, Shinichi looked around for the two, finally spotting them coming around a nearby corner.

"There you are!" Ranma shouted as he saw the little shinigami approaching them. He figured this had to be the miniature Shinichi, as he did think there were that many death gods just calmly walking around showing off their youkai side.

"Glad you both could make it," the fourth person said. As Ranma took a closer look, he noticed that this person seemed a little different than the others. His eyes were telling him he was just a ningen, but his enhanced nose was saying there was definitely something non-human about him.

"Ranma, I'd like you to meet Kuroba Kaito, our resident trickster," Shinichi said, going through the introductions. By his calculations, he figured they had a few minutes before they needed to leave. "Kaito, this is Saotome Ranma, the best martial artist of our time."

"Konichiwa, Saotome-san," Kuroba stated, bowing formally. "You look tired. Care for a drink of water?" From behind his back, Kaito pulled a water bottle, still cool to the touch.

"Arigato, Kuroba-san," Ranma said as he took the bottle and drank his fill. He watched as Kaito passed water out to the other two before taking a drink from his own.

"I take it Conan brought you up to speed on what's going on?" Shinichi asked Kaito.

"Yeah, but some of it still is slightly confusing. Especially, the part of you two being from the future. I mean, I can do great illusions, but what your claiming seems nigh impossible," he replied.

"I know. If it hadn't happened to me, I most likely wouldn't have believed it either." Just then, Shinichi's watch alarm went off. Hitting the off button, Shinichi turned to his friends. "Well, it's time. I take it, you know what to do, Kaito?"

Kaito nodded and got into position, along with Shinichi and Conan. Ranma stood off to one side to let them work. The area they were currently in was deserted, so they didn't worry about people watching them as both Shinichi and Conan were in their Shinigami forms. Soon, a portal opened in front of them and Shinichi motioned for Ranma to cross over first. As soon as he went through, he was followed by Conan, Kaito, and finally Shinichi. The portal closed right after Shinichi's wings passed through.

Taking a deep breath, Ranma looked around, trying to find something familiar. It took him a few moments to recognize where exactly in China they were, but he finally remembered.

"Hey guys, the amazon village is this way. I should be there in a few hours at most," Ranma shouted over his shoulder as he took off in one direction.

Conan, Shinichi, and Kaito all too off into the afternoon sky, Kaito using his hang glider and rope attacked to Shinichi to keep up. He'd figured that'd be the fastest way to travel. After all, according to Shinichi, they were pressed for time.

 

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Shampoo was literally bouncing around in joy. Finally, she'd won. She'd captured and brought back Ranma to be her husband. She didn't care if it was against his will. She didn't care he didn't love her. All she cared about was that he was strong and he'd beaten her in combat. After all, according to her laws, Ranma should've married her a long time ago.

"<Shampoo! What are you doing? Go get dressed! We don't have much time left before the potion wears off! Remember, we can't use it again. He'll have developed an immunity to it by the time this one's run it's course. Now, GO!>" Cologne shouted to her great granddaughter.

Shampoo immediately took off for her room to change into her wedding gown, happy that it was finally time. She dressed as fast as she possibly could and then ran out of the house. All around her, her fellow amazons where preparing for this 'joyous' occasion. She was so intent on looking around, she wasn't watching where she was going and ran into a small boy.

"Oomph…little boy need watch where he go. Shouldn't get in Shampoo's way." She didn't know why, but she spoke to the boy in Japanese.

"Gomen, neechan. Wow! Pretty dress? What's happening?" the small boy replied.

"Shampoo finally getting married. Shampoo bring back strong husband. Ranma finally see things Shampoo's way!"

"Um, neechan, I don't think you want to be doing that…" he trailed off as someone approached Shampoo from behind.

"Get lost, young man. You don't belong at the wedding. It's only for the Amazon warriors," Cologne said rather heatedly as she hit the small child on the head with her cane. She'd been having problems with getting the wedding fast, and now with the boy slowing Shampoo down, her patience was at its end.

"NIICHAN!!!!!!!! THEY'RE BEING MEAN!!!" the boy shouted. To all the amazons' horror, he changed shape right before their eyes and took off into the sky, his small shinigami wings pumping furiously. As another flying creature was seen approaching the little shinigami, Cologne wondered what she'd just done. It was then she recognized the other being: a fully-grown shinigami.

One thought echoed in the minds of all the amazons present. Death had come to call.

 

AN: Well, here's another chapter finished. I need to thank my sister for helping me beta read this chapter and also helping with the brain storming. Without her, this story probably would not be as good as it is.