Hellsing Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Chaotic Evil ❯ Curses ( Chapter 5 )

Chaotic Evil

Part 5. Curses

By the Jester of Doom

 

Disclaimer: I am not the creator of Ranma or Hellsing. I'm not even the real writer of this story, I mugged a hobo with a script so please direct all flames to the hobo buried in my backyard. *Aside* yes… yes… brilliant, now that damn hobo will take the fall for me misusing Ranma and Hellsing. BWAHAHA!..... Oh, you're still here? Damn.

 

A.N. Japanese will be in dashes -Like this- due to FFnet formatting. Telepathic stuff is #Like so#

 

Ranma frowned from the roof as he watched the occasional soldier leave or enter the main building of Hellsing institute. His life, or death as it may be, was getting a bit too complicated for his liking right at the moment. The old days of fighting his father for food and always having to flee towns was what he had grown up with. The way things had been going recently had him just wanting to sit on the roof and look at the sky. It was a nice night out, the moon was full. It was the kind of night he felt like just relaxing and drinking blood.

 

As things were he was really starting to wish he could just relax a little more often. Before he came to London he'd had plenty of time to relax when his father went off to go do whatever stupidity he didn't want Ranma to know about. Things only changed after coming to London, that had been stupid but dumb training trips were par for the course in his life. Becoming a vampire was well… actually not half bad; a little change of diet and sleep cycles and bang, tons of new possible techniques to learn and massive benefits to his fighting capacity. Hellsing itself was a little annoying, he liked the whole “real permanent place to live” idea but most of the inhabitants weren't very friendly. Integral? Well she was fun to annoy but a way too bossy. Alucard? Not too bad, probably a step up from Genma, but still not good to be around for long periods; eventually he'd get bored and attempt to annoy anyone nearby. Now he was apparently bothering Celas too; that was going to be a problem. His time with Celas was fun at least; he hadn't realized teaching the Art was as amusing as it was. The arrival of his father and the discovery that he had a fiancée though were kind of pushing the extents of how much he wanted to deal with.

 

Ranma was happy Ukyo had shown up; the whole fiancée thing was weird but she had been his best friend so he could deal with some weirdness to hang out with her again. Genma was as always his annoying self, demanding Ranma train more and attempting to prove his superiority. When Ukyo had appeared last night he'd had to deal with his father trying to kidnap him and run away all night for some reason. Meanwhile Ukyo had a little debriefing from integral. Ranma had been there and by the looks of things she didn't believe the whole “Ranma is a vampire” thing but Ranma decided he didn't really care; she could think of him as a human if she wanted too, he had decided he would rather not loose his friend again. After the debriefing she'd decided to try catching back up with him until she finally fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.

 

As for tonight, Ukyo was asleep again; she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Genma was off being a nuisance to someone else thankfully. Celas was resting after another mission, one for “vampires who don't keep attracting more attention” according to Integral; she really was not taking the appearance of another outsider looking for Ranma too well. The only people left who would interrupt his relaxation were Alucard and Integral, and Ranma could sense they were with some other guests. Yep, tonight was going to be a great night off, and there was no one to interrupt it.

 

“RANMA!” Ranma looked down to his left, through several stone walls. Well it seemed Integral wasn't as busy with her guests as he had hoped.

 

-----

 

Cologne was taken aback by the response her true reason for coming had elicited from her host. She had not even been sure her son-in-law was present at the facility. The location was not very hard to find once she had an idea of what to look for. The whole damn place was like a magical beacon. It was in the center of a holy ward miles across. She had no idea who in their right minds could have thought such a thing was necessary or how they could have constructed it but it would not surprise her if it had the power to protect against a full-fledged god.

 

She had waited and followed a force earlier that night that had been dispatched to eliminate a vampire, using a tamed vampire no less. That shed some light on why such a strong seal was in place, though it seemed the one that existed could have controlled hundreds of vampires with its power. The earlier incident was what had led to the current meeting; a chance to offer aid and then ask about the missing addition to her family line.

 

Cologne, despite her hundred years of experience, actually fell from her chair when a pigtailed head popped out of the ceiling in the corner, “yeah wadda ya want…. Oh shit!” Only to disappear again right back up into the ceiling.

 

Cologne managed to compose herself and pull her body back up into her chair despite the multitude of thoughts this new revelation brought up. “He's been bitten?” her voice was quite a bit weaker than she would have hoped.

 

Integral looked back from shaking her head in disgust from the spot which Ranma had fled from. “Unfortunately, yes. He is quite safe however.”

 

“The seal?” cologne asked and received the questioning look she had expected. Had this not been a matter of great importance cologne would not have revealed her knowledge of the magical barrier so easily.

 

Integral shifter her glasses slightly and fixed the Amazon with a glare. “Yes, that bloodline is under our control.”

 

“How many?” The use of the broad term worried her slightly; actually having hundreds of vampires contained here would make that barrier suddenly seem flimsy.

 

“Three, including Ranma.”

 

The response earned a release of breath cologne had not realized she had been holding. So it was essentially safe at Hellsing. The seal in use could easily completely destroy three mere vampires. A place shampoo could be kept safely now seemed like a very important thing to have; so long as she could be kept away from Ranma. The village would not like news that her great-granddaughter was bequeathed to demon spawn. And she had a feeling the other Matriarchs of her tribe wouldn't be in the mood to re-write the laws of marriage just to allow Cologne's heir to give up on her husband and return honorably; her family had stepped on toes often enough that there would be little regret in stopping Cologne's family from remaining in power. Now she just needed to set up a deal with this Hellsing woman; armed guards were a nice idea for Shampoo to have right at the moment just in case dealings back home turned sour.

 

-----

 

Celas sighed as she watched the soldiers of Hellsing spar in the gym facilities. She had to be crazy to actually miss the workouts with Ranma as much as she was. Three days she had been avoiding him. She couldn't stand to listen to Ranma and his fiancée talk to each other in Japanese and laugh, that first night she'd gone to the gun range to vent a little hostility. Then there'd been that mission to stop some idiot who was actually recording vampires in action and broadcasting it, training was canceled that day so she wandered over to the shooting range again. Then tonight she'd woken up to find out Ranma's new fiancée and mystery WIFE had apparently met and been fighting for a large portion of the day. She licked her lips a little subconsciously as she remembered seeing the small blood splashes that were the now served as reminders to all the soldiers not to get between the two newest arrivals. Tonight she didn't have any real excuse to avoid Ranma but she wouldn't feel comfortable around him right at the moment, maybe after she got the chance to find out more about the two unwelcome newcomers. The lack of training was why she had tried to spar with humans only to discover she couldn't pull her punches enough to prevent injury to them, actually she could only pull her finger pokes down to the point where they bruised if she wanted to retain decent speed.

 

Alucard meanwhile watched from close by and observed the thoughts of the girl. He had to congratulate himself slightly at his apparent expertise in turning people to depression; he had managed to turn the police woman from a state of mind that was becoming happy and optimistic to one that was gloomy and on the path to hating the world around her. It was fun to see he could affect people's minds so well without just directly influencing their thoughts. It wasn't quite right though; first of all he had to have her out of any major depression if he wanted to play with her regularly, secondly he enjoyed the way Ranma's two Asian suitors were behaving; having Celas act in a likewise manner would be both amusing for him and troublesome for Ranma. Not to mention all the trouble it was causing for the other inhabitants of the building. He'd never seen so much panic in the institute caused by someone besides himself. And they had only just met that morning! Both had been busy cooking breakfast for their betrothed when they discovered the others identity and started a fight that destroyed half the kitchen and maimed several cooks and unwary soldiers. Ranma was still hiding deep underground to keep away from Integral. And Ranma didn't even know about the later scuffles yet.

 

Just the thought of somehow working the fledgling vampire into the fights that seemed to be inevitable made him want to fly around the compound laughing his head off. And he had a very good idea of how to start.

 

-----

 

That night a bilingual lawyer, the first one in the phone book, got a rather rude awaking as he found out just how real some myths are. He also discovered mythological creatures seem to be active enough in legal matters to want paperwork drawn up, and were fond of paying with gold coins. Needless to say with the kind of payment involved a legal document was quickly being penned. Demon or not a paying customer was a paying customer, or at least they would be if they didn't have the ability to wipe memories when bill payment came about.

 

-----

 

Later that night brought about a new spin on an old mystery: If a fat man falls in a dungeon, into a pit of horrors, and no one is around to hear does he make a noise? The answer is yes by the way, and it sounds remarkable like the cries of a child thrown into a pit of starved cats.

 

-----

 

The next night Ukyo and Shampoo glared at each other as they guarded their unwanted burden. Genma had, that morning, tried to literally tear the mansion apart to find Ranma and flee. As the only two really competent fighters awake during the daylight hours it had been up to the two of them to subdue him. It was only because Genma was fighting on instinct alone that the two had managed to take him down with no real teamwork. The only reason he hadn't escaped all day was a combination of continuous observation and some convenient vampire strength bindings Hellsing institute owned.

 

The situation was seriously grating on the nerves of all involved. Genma was continuosly going on about escaping with Ranma from the vampires and demon cats. Ukyo only put up with the babbling of the elder Saotome and the presence of her rival out of duty to Integral for putting her up while she stayed with Ranma. Shampoo likewise only assisted because her great-grandmother had instructed her to assist the leader of Hellsing in the elder's absence.

 

Shampoo was not willing to admit it but she was very close to an even match Ukyo. Their breakfast fight had ended in a draw when they were asked to stand down at gunpoint. Her sneak attack with memory erasing shampoo in the shower earlier had been countered and her shampoo was lost down the drain, calling for a strategic withdrawal. Her other encounters had ended being broken up or with one member withdrawing when it was clear the opponent had a strategic advantage. Their final fight had also met with a rather bad ending as Genma had bust through a wall beside them and they had been forced to stop him from destroying everything he came across; which was what led them to their guard position.

 

-----

 

Celas laid in her coffin, not wanting to get up and face once again being left to herself all night like she was undoubtedly doomed to be for most of her eternal lifespan. She only rose when she heard a knock on her door, something that never happened. As the lid rose off the coffin she stepped over to the door and opened it. She was surprised to find one of the butlers Hellsing employed on the other side with a clipboard and envelope in hand. “Celas Victoria, I have a letter here for you from Ranma Saotome if you could sign for it.” The man held out the clipboard and fountain pen for her to take.

 

Celas glanced over the form she was presented with and signed at the bottom before handing it back. The delivery person thanked her and handed her the letter and a piece of paper from the clipboard. She barely had time to thank him before he hurried away.

 

Closing the door she ignored the loose paper she had been given she opened the blank white envelope that she had been given and unfolded the paper inside. “Ranma is a telepath.” It read simply in deep red ink. “He doesn't need letters. P.S. You should be more careful about what you sign.”

 

Getting a bad feeling Celas looked at the loose paper she had been handed. Instead of the receipt she had expected it to be she found it to be the form she had just signed, minus the signature portion. She opened the door again to see if she could question the butler but he was already gone; he wasn't stupid enough to deny Alucard's “request” but he also wasn't going to wait around and be blamed for whatever he had just helped Alucard do.

 

-----

 

Genma had only really ever feared two people in his life. His master, Happosai, and his wife, Nodoka. The former was an honorless midget who regularly made those around him suffer. The latter was honorable enough to kill him should he disgrace the family. Now he feared a third. This new person… vampire didn't just torment Genma on the way to achieving his goals like Happosai, but seemed to just want an excuse to torture him. What kind of monster would put him through so much pain? Even after he'd signed the papers he had been given he'd been thrown back into the pit of demons. It was as though the monster relished in making Genma bleed, he'd even gone so far as to collect the blood to write the document in.

 

He had tried to escape as soon as the monster released him only to be subdued by the two girls Ranma was engaged to. The boy managed to cause him trouble even when he was nowhere to be found. He had struggled to escape after his capture but the bonds he was held by were quite strong. He only managed to succeed that night when a guard came to inform them that one of the vampires would come to take over the job of watching him all night. In the panic the discovery caused his mind re-awakened to the long ago sealed martial arts he himself had created, the umisen-ken and yamasen-ken. Forget honor, the damn monsters were after his blood!

 

It was not long before he was out in the night air behind the Hellsing institute's main building. Walls meant virtually nothing to a master of the yamasen-ken. Guards were all taken off guard with either form's style of attack before they managed to attempt to subdue him. The only real troubles were the two girls. Individually he could have subdued them and moved on, but with a second to untie the first or stop any subdual moves used on the other he was in for a bit of trouble. Trouble he couldn't afford. They were the only thing between him and a clean getaway. Ranma was still missing but he could always find another way to retrieve him.

 

Genma really had not wanted to hurt the girls but with how big of a problem they were being he would have to risk it. His style had one subdual move they would not escape from despite outnumbering him, though there was a chance they might not endure it as safely as he would have liked. He circled the yard, chasing the two girls while hitting the environment as much as he could, loosening dirt and destroying rock walls. Then at the right moment he jumped over simultaneous attacks from both and fired a pair of vacuum blades into one another. “Demon Deep Sea Wrap!” The girls barely registered what was happening as the vacuum that had been created pulled the dirt and debris over them in a wave. Genma looked at the shallow mound, it was nowhere near as big as it would have been had he had a sheet handy, but that was for the best. At its current size he was sure they would be able to dig themselves out before they ran out of air even without him stopping to dig their heads free.

 

Not wanting to waste a moment, because his attack would only stop the girls for a minute or so as it was, he started to turn and flee only to freeze in his tracks as a dark, shadowy figure with red eyes began to rise from the hill he had just created.

 

-----

 

Ranma decided he'd seen enough. He had hoped to let Ukyo and Shampoo stop his rampaging father. He'd only caught onto the fight when they passed over the area he had strategically retreated to until Integral calmed down. It had been a pretty good fight between Genma's dislike for hitting girls and the fact they outnumbered him. After the last attack Genma had used though he felt it was time to lend a hand.

 

Ranma rose through the earth, guiding himself under the mound that had been a result of the final attack. As he passed through he reached out and pulled the girls up through the dirt covering them as well. They panicked a little as they suddenly experienced the strange feeling of loosing all sense of touch, so Ranma released them onto the ground as soon as they fully cleared it. He looked them both over briefly to make sure they were ok and saw astonished looks directed at him. That he could understand as he'd felt the same when Alucard had first shown off his powers, but at the moment dealing with his rogue father from breaking anything else was a little more important than explaining.

 

Ranma didn't see his father's attack, a vacuum blade is nearly invisible from dead ahead, he only felt it as it hit him. He could not help but be astounded by the power behind the attack as it sliced through him. Even through the pain of being nearly completely bisected he couldn't help but feel amazed that his fat old father knew such an attack.

 

Ukyo and Shampoo were both treated to the gruesome sight of a strange crescent of air slam into Ranma and emerge from his back bright red. Shampoo, being the more battle hardened of the two merely stared in horror while Ukyo closed her eyes and began to scream bloody murder. As such only Shampoo saw the blood suddenly rip off the blade of pressure in mid-flight and recoil into Ranma's back.

 

Ranma sighed in relief as the pain went away, his body whole again. Instant healing was a wonderful thing. But once the pain was gone he became once again aware of sensory information that had been drowned out by the death throes of thousands of nerves. He looked at the two girls next to him; even shampoo had started to tear up a little. He hadn't wanted them to see his new powers to that extent. As it was it looked like his pop was going to get away since he couldn't just leave them there crying like they were.

 

Luckily for Ranma, as he sat down to try calming his fiancées Alucard took a direct hand in Genma's apprehension. Letting the fat man burn off some calories in fear inside an illusory labyrinth for a few hours would work.

 

-----

 

Ranma's work was difficult but luckily only Ukyo seemed to really be having problems with what she had seen. Shampoo had already believed Ranma to be a vampire and with assurances that his healing power was strong she was sufficiently calmed. She had faith in Ranma as he had defeated her in combat. She left soon after, right after giving him a large hug, but apparently she had orders to avoid him unless necessary until the old mummy returned. Ranma was thankful at least that she had learned some Japanese in the time since he had first seen her or that discussion would have been much harder. Ukyo had been quite a bit more of a problem. He hadn't wanted to prove his new vampiric nature to her and so the shock was quite a bit more severe. It took the better part of the remaining night to calm her down enough to talk to her rationally.

 

-So you're still my Ranchan?- Ukyo asked for what had to be the hundredth time.

 

Ranma squirmed a little at the `my Ranchan' part but sacrifices had to be made to calm her down. -Yep. Just a lot tougher.-

 

The bragging certainly fit but finding one's fiancée is deceased, and still moving, was hard enough to put her mind under enough stress to ask the question as many times as she had. She just wished she could think of a way to make it all work out, even if he was himself she wasn't sure a human and vampire relationship would work out. As for her becoming a vampire…well that was definitely only a last resort. Ranma meanwhile said he couldn't turn back into a human. The same part of her mind that had always believed Ranma loved her though would not let her give up even though apparently there wasn't any way to turn a vampire such as him into a normal boy. Ukyo's mind screeched to a halt as an idea came to mind. -Ranma!-

 

Said vampire was taken aback by the sudden outburst. -Huh!?-

 

-If I knew of a way to become a regular human again you'd do it right?- Desperation was clear in her voice.

 

Ranma thought about it for a second; he'd thought about it idly before but it never seemed like it would be a possibility, even Alucard said it couldn't happen. Despite the fact he knew it should be a tough decision it really wasn't for him. For most people it would be something that determined their entire life but for Ranma, someone who lived mostly day to day without a clear idea of long term goals, it was very straight forward. There were tons of little changes that didn't really matter, like what he could eat or when he was awake, and vampires had the advantage in three things he did care about: becoming stronger, protecting people, and surviving. The last one was especially on his mind after having to heal the wound he sustained earlier. Caught between lying and answering in a way he could tell Ukyo didn't want he choked. -Uh well I…-

 

Ukyo was smart enough though to understand his hesitation for what it was. Well, it wasn't as though they couldn't at least try a relationship as they were. -Your sure you don't want to?- She asked weakly though she could guess the answer.

 

Ranma scratched the back of his head anxiously -Well you saw how useful it is…- He winced when he realized the earlier demonstration of power was what he had just calmed her down from but to his surprise she did not seem to take it badly.

 

She sighed. -I guess I see your point.- Ranma owed his life, or afterlife or whatever, to his healing ability, and if it kept Ranma safe she couldn't really fault his choice too much. -But think about it, I have something that may help. You see…- she began to explain a certain detail of her trip to follow the Saotomes.

 

-----

 

Months earlier in a scarcely populated region of china Ukyo was fleeing a large furry man who called her the first girl he had ever met. He said he had smelled her coming, only adding to her need to flee from what appeared to be a major pervert. Only when she came to a valley full of small springs did he stop chasing her. She however did not stop when he gave up and continued running, frequently looking behind her. A relatively good idea, except while it protected her from dangers behind her it caused her to run heavily into a stranger. Knocking him into a nearby spring. It was not until the now female stranger ran off in a panic at what a “witch” had done to him that she learned of the powers the springs held and the details of the curses they bestowed from a local guide.

 

Understanding what she had accidentally done to the poor boy she had run into she purchased a few thermoses the guide kept in stock, for people who wanted to take the spring water with them, and filled them with spring water. One thermos of water to make someone a boy and two to make someone a girl. She was not going to walk around with cursed water unless she had plenty of its opposite around. She might have said she was giving up her femininity to hunt down Ranma but so long as some chance remained that she could be happy she was not going to take chances.

 

Ukyo had however given up on following the boy she had cursed. It was as though he was trying to loose her. More than once he had looped back to the same town and he never seemed to have an intended destination. Had she known she'd be spending so much time in china she would have simply waited in Japan until she got word of Ranma and Genma's return; china tended not to be the best place for a lone Japanese girl to travel. Instead of wasting any more time she headed straight to where Genma had been drunkenly talking about in every bar in Japan she had tracked him to, London.

 

-----

 

-Wait….- Ranma asked still not sure he should believe what he heard. -You're tellin' me you have magic water that turns people into either girls or guys? Completely human ones?-

 

Ukyo looked at her hands she had just been guessing that it would work on him. -Well I think it will make you a human, I mean you're already a guy so…-

 

Ranma however had cut her off. -Can I use them?-

 

Ukyo snapped her head up to look her fiancée in the eye. -You mean you'll do it?!-

 

Ranma shook his head; he hadn't meant to get her hopes up like that. -I didn't mean on me.- He said while adopting a smirk it felt great to be on the other side of for once.

 

-----

 

A.N. ummm… Bwahaha?

 

Leave me comments and reviews! Especially constructive ones. Is there anything you think I should work on or include? I feel like I may have rushed through this one a little but am not sure where I should extend it. Lemme know what ya think.