Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Umbra Aureola ❯ Chapter 21 - Kinjakan Rebuilt ( Chapter 21 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

CHAPTER XXI: KINJAKAN REPAIRED


Genma and Soun sat on the porch deep in thought. "Saotome old friend it appears that my daughter and your son are drifting apart." Soun said at last after a long pause.

"Yes that does seem to be the case. Perhaps it is time for another operation get Ranma and Akane married?" Genma said in reply.

Soun and Genma pondered long and hard on this. Past attempts to get the two married had ended in abject failure. The last in particular had resulted in the total destruction of the Tendo Household. Since then Soun had decided to avoid attempts at getting the two married until Ranma's other fiancees had been taken care of. Ranma's mother, Nodoka, had encouraged this trend declaring that her manly son had to choose his women himself.

Given that at the time the fiancee of Ranma's choice would have been quite obviously Akane the two had been content to let it sit at that. After all, if pushing them together caused them to move apart then perhaps leaving them alone would cause them to come together. Thinking this Soun said, "Well Genma, every last attempt ended up with them disliking each other even more."

Genma nodded heavily. "That is so Soun old friend." Genma stopped and thought long and hard on the subject. "It occurs to me Soun that my son has been spending more time with your second daughter."

"Are you thinking of shifting the engagement Saotome." Soun said thoughtfully.

"Hmm, perhaps." Genma stopped to think more. Then the heavy set man stood quickly laughing out loud. "Soun, I just thought of a most excellent idea!"

Soun nodded encouragingly to his friend his face betraying his complete focus on the subject. "Tell me old friend."

"Well we put together another operation get Ranma and Akane married!"

Soun looked at Genma wondering if the man's mind was going. Sure Genma wasn't known for his intelligence, but he wasn't that dumb. "Didn't we just agree that such an attempt will only push the two away."

Genma snapped his fingers. "That's just it Soun old friend. You see if we succeed then Akane and Ranma get back together, but if we fail then my son will flee straight into the arms of your other daughter!"

"Brilliant Saotome old friend! Simply brilliant!" Soun exclaimed. Picking up the tea to pour some more for the two Soun continued. "We must discuss how we will pull this off right now."

"Good idea Soun. Hmm, it seems the tea is a bit cold."

Soun took a small sip and nodded in agreement with Genma's analysis. It wouldn't due to have cold tea when having a discussion of such importance so Sound called his eldest daughter. "Kasumi!"

Kasumi appeared almost instantly looking quite happy to serve the two older men. Smiling down at the two Kasumi spoke pleasantly to the man that had called her. "What is it father?"

"The tea is cold. Could you fetch some more?" Soun asked his eldest daughter nicely.

Kasumi smiled wider if that was possible. The two could almost see the eldest Tendo daughter glow with happiness. "There isn't any need for that."

Setting her hand on top of the tea kettle Kasumi spoke in a clear melody. "Spirits of fire arise." Her hand glowed a soft orange for a second. Then the sound of bubbling and boiling water could be heard inside the kettle. A wisp of steam rose from the spout.

"There that should do it." Kasumi nodded to her father and Genma. With that Kasumi swept away into another room of the house.

Soun stared at the kettle like it was a snake for an unknown duration. "Genma, did you just...?"

Genma nodded thoughtfully. "Yes I did."

"Did my daughter just...?"

"Yes she did."

Soun returned his eyes to the kettle for a while longer and then suddenly burst out in tears. "Waaaaahhhhhh! My eldest daughter is using magic!"

Genma patted Soun on the back. "Don't worry Soun old friend. I'm sure that Kasumi will be just fine." Genma said comfortingly.

"No it's not that. I'm just so proud of my little baby." Soun said through the tears. "She finally has her own special skill."

Genma looked slightly shaken. "Well then..."

The two stared at the pot for a while longer. By the time the two moved from their positions the tea was most certainly cold once again. Finally Soun said slightly confused, "What was it again that we were talking about?"

Genma paused shortly and then said in all honesty. "It appears to have slipped my mind."

"Well then, how about a game of Shogi."

"Excellent idea, excellent idea." Genma responded.


*******************


Several floors underground directly below Genma and Soun another group was having a discussion. Their subject matter however, was far different from those above. Instead the three focused on what one might loosely call an actual goal. Though the goal itself was certainly self serving.

"This better be good Anito. A girl like me has better things to do with her time." Nabiki said drumming her fingers on the table. She had to admit though she kind of liked what the arch-mage had done with the place. Their selected meeting room would double as an excellent war room for her own business enterprises.

Ranma of all things was busy reading a book. The pigtailed martial artist murmured his agreement with Nabiki. "Yeah, I was working on this cool new technique."

Anito raised an eyebrow. "I enjoy the lovely, no pressure, that this meeting has started with. Perhaps we should set a time aside on every week?"

Ranma shrugged, he really didn't care either way. It wasn't like he usually was doing anything particularly special. Well baring the miscellaneous magic prince, or mystical beast that attacked, but those guys never really called ahead anyway. In fact, the only reason that Ranma wasn't right now practicing the technique he was working on instead of reading up on information on it was because the pigtailed martial artist didn't want Anito to know about it. "I don't really care either way."

Nabiki was much sharper in her statement though. "I wouldn't care to have my time wasted unless we were actually covering something important in our meetings. Especially when I am still waiting for my pay."

"Well then you are in luck Nabiki," Anito said with a grin. "A few days ago I finished Kinjakan." Anito laid the powerful fire staff on the table.

The staff was at first glance an exact replica of the original. The metal shaft and even the full moon blade on top that detached as a deadly spinning disk. Ranma could sense the roar of the fire inside the seemingly simple metal. The inner liquid veins of fire crying with anger to be let out, to burn the world to cinders. Ranma lifted it up feeling the weight of the staff.

"Hey this is pretty good. It feels almost like the original." Ranma said appreciatively. Kinjakan was not a tool to be scoffed at. Its blade would slice easily even through Ranma's flesh, not to mention steel, stone or even magical hardened material, making even a single blow potentially deadly. Its powers of fire made the staff only more powerful. With its twin Genjakan, the artifact of ice, Ranma had been able to defeat Saffron, a self proclaimed phoenix god of incredible power. Even as strong as Ranma was now, he still wasn't sure that he would have been able to survive a fight against Saffron without Genjakan, much less defeat the pheonix god again.

Looking at Kinjakan Ranma noted what was stamped onto the bottom of the bladed ring. "Heh heh, made in Japan." Ranma said reading the text.

Anito coughed, "I felt that the origin of the work should be recognized."

Ranma shrugged he didn't much care about that stuff. Flipping the staff around Ranma caught sight of a sticker opposite the impressed words and let out a short laugh. Nabiki glanced at the weapon her curiosity peaked. "Let me see that."

Ranma handed the weapon over to Nabiki. "Careful with it, its really, really sharp."

Nabiki looked at Ranma. "I've handled knives before Saotome."

Anito laughed, "When Ranma means sharp, he means you could accidentally cut a tank in half if you twitched your hand the wrong way."

Nabiki gulped and very carefully looked over the weapon with new found respect. The level of respect which she would normally reserve for firearms. Slowly flipping the staff over with a twisting motion Nabiki caught sight of what had made Ranma laugh. Opposite of the stamped "Made in Japan" was a warning sticker with two frames.

In the first frame was a small stick figure getting cut in half with a bladed ring. To the right was a short text warning. "Beware, detaching vorpal blade may cause injury." The second wasn't much better. A stick figure was bursting into fire after grabbing onto the staff while it was implanted in some sort of tap. The side text declared, "Warning extremely hot while in operation."

Nabiki looked at Anito from the corner of her eye. "I seriously doubt that you needed to add that."

Anito shrugged, "I figured I may as well cover my bases. I would hate to be blamed for the artifact's misuse."

Ranma snickered in dark humor at that comment as several bad memories of exactly that surfaced in his mind. Pushing them aside Ranma said, "Well I guess you are out of the woods with the bird people. So when do I get my nifty magic item?"

"Glad you asked!" Anito said with great pride. "The reason Kinjakan took so long to build after getting an energy source was that I was busy working on a few works of art for the three of us."

"Ooo, is that so." Nabiki said. "I take it I get my pay then."

"And mine." Ranma put in. After spending a few days without being able to sit comfortably Ranma was going to be damned if he wasn't going to get something for the effort.

"Yes, yes." Anito said pulling out a set of clothes remarkably similar to those Ranma was already wearing. "First on the wish list is a set of highly enchanted and resistant clothes. They are not only immune to most stain, but can take an absolutely absurd amount of damage before being destroyed. Chiefly though, they are bullet proof, and highly energy resistant. I'm sure that you will find them quite useful." Anito said offering the clothes to Ranma.

Ranma plucked them up thankfully. Normally he wouldn't have too concerned whether his clothes were bullet proof, but getting shot had changed that song rather quickly. "Thanks, though don't think that cause you gave me these that its alright to go attacking more military bases in the future."

"Of course, of course. Keep in mind that the fabric is thin, so while it will prevent penetration, bullets will still hurt quite a bit."

"And what did you get me?" Nabiki said wanting her profit margin clearly outlined as immediately as humanely possible.

"Ahh for you I have a true treasure. I spent some time imagining this baby up after seeing some devil hunter weapons a few years back. A pet project if you will. Given the tools I had I couldn't resist the urge to produce them in reality." Anito said with a grin tossing five, long, translucent, blue ribbons onto the table.

"Ribbons? What exactly do they do Anito, and keep it to the point." The way Nabiki said it left a grave implication of what would happen if Anito didn't meet her expectations.

Ranma eyed the blue strips thoughtfully. The things burned with power to his aura sense. As far as Ranma could tell raw energy wise those things were radiating the same arena of power as Kinjakan. Whatever they did Ranma had a good idea that they were not play toys. Somehow though, Ranma felt Anito didn't quite share the same view.

"Well then..." Anito had a distinct feeling that his normal long explanations wouldn't be allowed. "Perhaps an example would be best." The arch-mage said thoughtfully.

"By all means."

Anito coughed lightly. "First we need to bind them." Anito said nervously shifting slightly when Nabiki looked at him with a withering gaze. "They are living weapons and don't work unless connected to a master."

"Weapons Anito? Really, I don't think that is quite my style."

Anito smiled, "Oh I think you'll find yourself loving these."

Ranma interrupted, "Can we just get on with this?"

"Yes, yes. What I need you to do is to cut yourself and touch all of them with your blood. I will take care of the rest." Anito said taking out a knife and offering it to the girl.

Nabiki looked at the knife thoughtfully as if carefully considering whether or not to follow through with Anito's directions. Her curiosity in the end won out against her reservations. Picking up the knife Nabiki made a light nervous cut on a finger. Wincing at the cold, steel edge as it sliced flesh her flesh Nabiki moved quickly dropping a bit of blood on each of the ribbons. Looking at Anito she said, "This better be good."

"Guardians spirits bind with she who made her offering and defend her blood till time itself comes to an end." Anito softly chanted the spell. The ribbon and Nabiki briefly glowed a soft light white light.

Nabiki fidgeted a bit as if a slightly uncomfortable feeling had swept over her. Nabiki raised an eyebrow again hiding the reaction behind her icy exterior. "Now what?"

Anito grinned like a maniac. "Now I show you how they work." The arch-mage then whipped out two m16 assault rifles and pointed them both straight at Nabiki. Pulling the triggers Anito unleashed sixty rounds of ammunition at point blank range toward the shocked girl.

The ribbons moved like lightning the moment the attack had begun. The softly glowing blue lengths spun up around Nabiki so fast that not even the first bullet reached the girl before they were there to intercept. Waving in the air they knocked bullets side to side before finally weaving themselves into a cloth wall in front of the cold hearted mercenary. The bullets that slammed into the ribbons were stopped cold, but not before they caused the cloth to sink in a centimeter or two. The effect allowed Nabiki to see a constantly growing number of depressions before the ribbons adjusted to remove the inconsistencies in their form. All in all not a single bullet managed to make it past the blue strips that guarded their mistress. Instead the soft ring of metal on wood could be heard as the bullets fell spent upon the table. "Ti-ti-ti-ti-ting."

Ranma hopped up at the action and stared in surprise when the ribbons made their move. For a moment Ranma had thought Anito had gone mad. Now instead he looked in amazement at the defensive shield that guarded Nabiki from the attack. "Sweet! Those are some nice...," Ranma searched for a name to describe the ribbons by and then gave up. "Things you got there!"

Nabiki growled visibly angry for once in a rare time in her life. Slamming her hand down hard onto the table Nabiki yelled. "Anito don't you ever- Whack!" In response to her anger three of the ribbons glowed a fiery red and shot forward as fast as a bullet shoving Anito back hard into the stone wall on the other side of the room.

Blinking in surprise Nabiki at the action let go of her anger. The ribbons immediately responded by hovering loosely in the air around her returning to their normal blue tint. Anito immediately slumped down from the ground where he sat recovering his breath as he clenched his chest. "Careful there Nabiki they are as much offensive as defensive."

Her emotions firmly surrounded by the normal ice Nabiki spoke in a measure tone that brooked no argument. "Don't ever, ever do that again."

Anito gulped and nodded. Then the arch-mage went back to his normal smile. "Pretty convenient aren't they?"

Nabiki looked more irritated at their presence than anything else. "How do I make them go away." She said at last.

"Just will them away." Anito explained in a simple fashion. "You might want to work on your control a bit in the future." Anito added thoughtfully.

"And you might want to ask me first next time." Nabiki said her voice coming out like ice. Then Nabiki turned her attention to trying to make the floating annoyances vanish.

Ranma looked at Anito and asked with obvious envy, "Why didn't you make me something like that?"

Ranma might not use weapons standardly, but that didn't mean that Ranma didn't appreciate the advantage that they could give. Ranma just found that carrying a weapon, or becoming reliant on a weapon was inconvenient. Further, weapons gave no real advantage to a true master of the art, unless of course the weapon itself was incredibly powerful. A category that Kinjakan and now Nabiki's ribbons fell in.

"Actually, I did." Anito said with a grin.

"So what did you make?" Ranma asked wanting to find out what the arch-mage had dreamed up.

"Oh, so Ranma gets two and I only get one?" Nabiki interrupted. She had finally managed to make the ribbons vanish, and was now able to rejoin the conversation. She though seemed to keep glancing in the directions the ribbons would have occupied as if irritated. Ranma couldn't blame her, his aura sight could vaguely feel the ribbons still hovering slightly out of phase with the world. On top of that the ki lines connecting them to Nabiki probably felt odd to say the least.

"Better get to her first, she doesn't look to be in a good mood today." Ranma observed.

"Why, I am surprised you managed to figure that out Ranma." Nabiki replied dryly.

Anito decided discretion was the better part of valor and took up Ranma's suggestion. "In the case of you, Nabiki, I am building something else, but it will be a few weeks until it is done."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow indicating her wish to know more. "And what precisely does this new item do and please refrain from using... descriptive examples." As she spoke she glanced slightly at the location the ribbons semi occupied. A give away that wasn't characteristic of Nabiki. For Ranma that let him know exactly how ruffled the girl was despite her exterior calm.

"Well, it will act as a remote observational mechanism. A scrying device if you wish to call it that, though limited by the fact that you haven't the magic skill to operate a normal version of such a device."

"Ah, that is much more like it Anito." Nabiki said her voice only slightly betraying her pleasure.

"Now that she has been taken care of what did you make for me." Ranma jumped in to say.

"Is that some greed I detect Saotome?" Nabiki asked evaluating Ranma carefully.

"Hey, with all the trouble I went through I have the right to be greedy." Ranma declared.

"Then I expect you will be impressed." Anito said whipping out a pair bracers made of golden entwined metal that would cover the arm from the elbow to the wrist. Like Kinjakan or Nabiki's ribbons they radiated raw power.

"Well they look nice and all, but what do they do." Ranma said scratching his head. Then the martial artist paused before adding, "Oh yeah, and don't test them like you did Nabiki's ribbon things."

Anito smiled at Ranma's comment. "Certainly, the bracers have two primary effects. The first is a passive strength enhancement. While being worn the wearer gains the effect of being able to lift about ten tons more than normal. I think you can see the immediate advantages that go with that. The second is the active ability to amplify your physical hand strikes to certainly fatal levels."

"So it works kind of like super strength bracers combined with ki blade like additions." Ranma said summing it up. Ranma figured the strength enhancement alone was worthy of a major item. An added effect that turned his hands into deadly weapons was only a plus, though Ranma doubted that he would put it to too much use. He simply didn't encounter enough enemies that would require that level of force, and Ranma was reluctant to use a deadly weapon on anything that really didn't need it.

"Not quite. More along the lines of what I use with my staff, but to a much lesser level combined high level resonance."

Ranma paused to think about Anito's words. "Kind of like that digging technique you showed me."

"Exactly, except it works on a larger selection of objects, like people."

Ranma eyed the bracers and gulped slightly. That was kind of like a much weaker version of bakusai tenketsu that worked on anything. Fatal was definitely a good description to the kind of damage that could do. "Isn't that a little much?"

"Its not quite at that level, but yes, the resonance effect shouldn't be used unless you have clearly decided to kill. It will rip holes the size of your fist through objects, powder bone, or even cause flesh to explode. It is not instantaneous, though even brief contact with flesh will probably burn and possibly even fracture the bones. Oh yes, and one last thing. For all practical purposes the bracer is invulnerable."

"Practical purposes? What do you mean by that?" Ranma asked thinking over Anito's words. Invulnerable bracers had several immediate uses that popped into his mind. The most notable of which was the ability to deflect otherwise deadly attacks. It was kind of like having portable shields strapped to his arms.

"Lets just say that I used this as the basic design for their strength." Anito said holding up Aphrodite's Bracelet.

"Ah," Ranma let out upon seeing the item that had been his detriment for quite a while. Ranma was unfortunately quite aware of exactly how tough that bracelet was. "One question though. Why the heck do you still have that thing!"

"What did you expect me to just leave it somewhere on the ground?"

"No I was kind of thinking you would destroy the damn thing."

Anito raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly would I do that."

"As I recall it Anito it supposed to be destroyed by throwing it in a volcano." Nabiki added lightly to the conversation.

Ranma glared at Anito. "Yeah that's right, so if you know how to break the thing, then why haven't you.

Anito smiled, "Everything has its uses. This bracelet even if cursed still has powerful magic. Magic that can be turned to our uses." Anito said pointing at the golden bracers. "More to the point however, is the fact that if it escaped destruction once, it may well do the same again. Thus I considered it safer to keep it with me."

Ranma scratched the back of his head. Then he shrugged, the explanation suited him just fine. "Just keep the darn thing away from me."

"Well, if that is all then I am done here." Anito said offering a closing to the meeting.

"Uh sure." Ranma said not caring until something crossed his mind. "Wait, do I get a nifty make it disappear trick too?"

Anito laughed, "Yes you do."

"Good." Ranma said liking the bracers even more. One of his major concerns with weapons was losing them, or carrying them around. It seemed that these circumvented both of those problems.

"I'm off then." Nabiki declared, but before she left she glared hard at Anito. "I expect that I will get the other item as soon as possible. Further, that future payment will not be so long delayed."

"Of course! How could you ever doubt someone like me." Anito said playfully. "Although I did use around 60% of the nuclear material for the items I have built thus far."

Ranma stopped cold. "You what!"

"Now there Ranma. You didn't think that I could convert nuclear energy into magic efficiently, much less build items efficiently in this span of time. Plus there was the whole matter of disposing of the nuclear waste and containing the radiation. Finally, items of that power require massive amounts of energy to make. Why else did you think that they are so rare?"

"Well I suppose, but considering we stole something like a thousand warheads that seems like a whole lot." Ranma said scratching his head.

"It is, just don't expect me to make a whole lot more of things like those." Anito said pointing at the bracers that Ranma was putting on carefully.

"Gotcha there. It will probably take me long enough to get used to these anyway." Ranma said nonchalantly while wearing the bracers. He was lightly swinging his arms up and down getting used to how his body moved with the new additions.

"If that's the case I'm off myself." Anito said vanishing before anyone could argue. Ranma noticed not for the first time that teleportation was great for ending conversations when you wanted to.

Shrugging his shoulders again Ranma headed up to the Tendo Dojo. He had a new toy to play with. Then after he was used to the bracers' capabilities Ranma was going to head out to an abandoned lot to practice the technique he had been reading up on before the meeting.

Then something occurred to Ranma. Mentally hitting himself on the head Ranma said out loud. "I should have asked him about the item he made for himself. Now I'm probably goina have to wait until he uses it against me."


*****************

Ranma stood lazily out in the Tendo yard. It had now been exactly one month since Kiima's last arrival and the expected guest was arriving. The bird woman Kiima dropped from the air in a controlled manner toward the location where both Ranma and Anito had gathered. There wasn't any particular reason for Ranma to be there. The problem was after all Anito's and not his. Somehow though for Ranma it just didn't feel right not to be a major player in events like this. So the pigtailed martial artist was there anyway.

Kiima looked at Ranma with distaste and a bit of fear. Having your god killed in front of you did things like that. For Anito though she spared a look of anger and hate. Ranma couldn't blame her, it is not everyday that someone betrays your trust and breaks a sacred artifact that is needed for your king to take his final form. At the same time there was a bit of wariness in her eyes. A new found respect that wasn't there when Kiima had last met the arch-mage. Ranma guessed it had something to do with the lighting Anito had called up.

"It has been a month. The appointed time has come so show me the rebuilt Kinjakan." Kiima said getting straight to the business.

"Nice to see you too." Ranma said nonchalantly. His danger sense had started screaming at him the moment that Kiima had arrived. In preparation for battle Ranma had tensed his muscles ready for sudden movement.

Anito perhaps seeing that Kiima wasn't in the best of moods pulled the fire staff out without making any small talk. "I told you I could rebuild it." Anito said holding Kinjakan out where it could be viewed by the bird woman.

Ranma could detect a slight level of relaxation in Kiima's body. An indication that she wasn't quite as ready to rip the arch-mage to shreds. Still though the pigtailed martial artist's danger sense was calling out like an air raid siren. If anything Ranma was feeling even more nervous than before.

"I must admit I'm impressed landling." Kiima said grabbing the staff roughly from Anito. The arch-mage let the bird woman take it. Once the fire staff was in her hand Kiima hefted it slightly as if though trying to determine whether or not it was a fake or a real replica.

Frowning Ranma nudged Anito. "Something feels off."

Anito looked at the pigtailed martial artist and then scanned around using his perfect aura sight to see the surrounding area. The arch-mage's ever present smile faltered a bit. "Don't look now, but we have company. Lots of company."


*************

Half a block away and well hidden a collection of gun totting men in black uniforms stood in quiet communication through ear piece radios. One looked through a pair of binoculars toward the Tendo Dojo. "The pair are having some sort of meeting with an unknown entity." The watcher reported quietly to the others.

The calm, cold Sergeant took a heavy drag on his cigaret amazingly relaxed even though he had seen the bits and pieces of footage they had collected on the two. "Are all units in position?"

"Yes sir!" A soldier reported.

The Sergeant nodded. Standing up the military commander dropped his cigaret and stepped on it with a heavy boot. "Inform all units to prepare for attack."

"Yes sir!" The soldier said again before relaying the orders

The Sergeant walked forward looking through his own pair of binoculars at the men that he had been ordered to get rid of. He sincerely hoped that the intelligence they had was accurate. There was nothing quite like taking on a pair of supernaturals when the information was wrong. The Sergeant had lost too many soldiers to poor information over the years. In this particular case the danger was augmented by the fact that his unit was made small to keep a low profile.

Calmly evaluating the situation the Sergeant juggled the decision to collect more information or to order the attack. It was the bird woman's face that decided the action for him. It looked as though the meeting was about to go sour. "All units attack at my signal." The Sergeant said with compete faith that his orders would be relayed.

The Sergeant smiled when he saw exactly what he had been waiting for. "All units, attack!"