Unnecessary Ranma - The Eternally Lost Man

I do not own Ranma 1/2.

...

Ryoga, the eternally lost man, stared at Ranko as she jogged through the park.  The sun set across the buildings of the nearby city, casting the young girl in shadow.  Her outline was the same as Ranma's in female form.  The man smiled, remembering fond fights with Ranko's father sixteen years earlier.  As she left his sight, he returned to his small camp stove that he had set up, and took the pot off the fire.  Pouring the food into a ceramic bowl, Ryoga ate his dinner of bird eggs, from a nearby nest.

The small fire flashed up, scaring Ryoga away from it, nearly spilling his meal.  The fire glowed and grew shaping into the shape of Ranma Saotome.  His hair was wild and long, whipping in some unseen wind, black as night, and shiny, with some other-worldly glow.  His eyes were a cerulean blue, like a clear sky, and his handsome face was the same as it had been all those sixteen years ago.

"Phantom! What are you doing here!" Ryoga shouted at the fire-formed Ranma.

Ranma smiled his cock sure grin at Ryoga, and stepped out of the fire.  Still Ranma seemed to not be in reality, as if he were only poking his image into the world.  Ranma spoke to Ryoga, his voice strange and disjointed from the lips speaking the words, "Ryoga... I have spent over 100 years in hell.  Time spent after committing suicide.  I have paid for my choice of running away."

"How can this be?"  Ryoga stared at the apparition of Ranma.

Ranma considered his words before answering, "After spending over 100 years in hell, fighting every day for my life, I was freed, and allowed to go to heaven.  I'm on my way there now, but, someone hitched a ride with me."

Ryoga stared at Ranma without completely understanding what was happening, "I don't get it Ranma... who hitched a ride?  What is going on?"

Ranma sighed, "Ryoga, I don't have much time.  I have to move on, I don't have a choice.  I came to ask you to protect my family.  I need to make sure that Ranko is protected.  This hitchhiker will need someone with an energy similar to mine to be able to fully manifest in this world.  He will be draining Ranko somehow."

Ryoga nodded dumbly at Ranma, before shaking his head and asking, "Fine.  I'll protect her, but only if you say that I'm better than you!"

Ranma smiled at Ryoga, "You're going to protect her, and I'm still better than you."

Ryoga grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at Ranma.  "I'll show you who's better!"

The rock caused the apparition to vanish into smoke.  The fire was back to normal, and night had already descended around Ryoga.  He lay down next to the fire, his dinner forgotten.

...

A soft black bandanna covered Ranko's eyes as she held her breath in the dojo.  Somewhere her mother was preparing to attack from the shadows.  A creak, a sigh, a breath, a rustle would give her away and allow Ranko to counter attack.  A small padding to her right, and Ranko shot a side kick intending to knock her mother down.

Her kick connected with nothing, and the attack didn't result in a dodge.  She must have been too far, or somewhere else.  Thinking her mother was trying to trick her, Ranko slid into another side kick at the same spot, this time solidly connecting.  Ranko instantly jumped to where the body landed to follow up on the attack.

"No!" Akane shouted.  Causing Ranko to stop her follow through, and spread her arms and legs around the person she had just knocked down.

Propping herself up, Ranko pulled the blindfold off, only to see Saburina there, clutching her chest in pain.  "Oh my god! I'm so sorry Rina!"  Ranko moved out of the way while Akane quickly undid Saburina's top and bra.  Akane moved the clothes out of the way, and applied her hand to the girl's bruising chest.  A warm red glow appeared in Akane's hand, and after a moment, Saburina gave a great gasp as if she had not been able to breathe.

Akane lay the girl down, before saying, "She'll probably need to see Tofu, so stay with her, he'll be home soon, and I'll make sure he stops in here first."

"Sure mom," Ranko answered, sitting next to her friend who was coming back to consciousness.

Saburina lay on the dojo floor staring at the ceiling.  Her long brown hair splayed across the floor.  She turned her head to look at Ranko, "You suck."

"Sorry about that Rina.  I told you before I'm dangerous when I train," Ranko smiled at her friend, "At least you're okay, or you will be once Uncle Ono gets home."

"You're dangerous walking across the street, let alone actually doing anything," Saburina teased.

"Well, at least I got you doing what you do best... laying on your back with your legs spread," Ranko laughed as Saburina tried to smack her but missed.

Saburina brought her legs together, and harrumphed, "Fine then I won't help you study."

"But you promised," Ranko stopped laughing, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Fine, but the price has doubled to two servings of ice cream."

Ranko sat up and nodded at Saburina, "Terms accepted."

Saburina adjusted herself, on her side, to help take some of the pressure off her chest, which still hurt from the kick.  Once comfortable she continued, "On my way over here I saw that homeless guy."

"Did you give him another nosebleed?" Ranko relaxed a bit.

"No, he seemed distracted by something."

Hearing her mother's greeting from the house, Ranko, looked Saburina up and down suggestively, "Looks like Uncle Ono is home."

"You are so scandalous! Well, either way, help me up,"  Saburina said, once again adjusting herself, and covering herself back up.

...

Ranko walked Saburina home, most of the buildings were dark, and if not for the moonlight and stars, the town would be darker than sin.  As they approached the subway Saburina suddenly stopped cold.  Ranko looked at her friend in concern, "What's wrong Rina?"

Saburina pointed to a set of vending machines nearby, her eyes wide, "Over there."

Ranko paused looking around and saw a homeless man where Saburina had pointed, "Eep!"

Jumping away, Saburina stared in shock as the homeless man walked towards them, glaring with horrible red eyes.  His tiger stripped bandanna and dark hair seemed to glow in the dark, and in his mouth, were a pair of horrible fangs.  His eyes glowed a horrible red, and he was barely contained in his clothes, that fit him like a tight glove.

Ranko quickly put herself between the homeless man, and her friend.  She got into a ready stance, and spoke more boldly than she felt, "Stay back.  What do you want?"

The homeless man stared at her, his eyes angry, and said, "I have a message from your father.  You weren't meant to exist.  I'm here to kill you."

Ranko looked away for a moment to Saburina, "Get out of the way, I'll take care of tall, dark and ugly."

Saburina apologized before running away shrieking as the homeless man attacked.  The leg cut through the air faster than the eye could see, but Ranko quickly ducked under the attack, and struck a quick punch on the homeless man's groin.

Sharp pain shot up his body, and his face contorted in a comical expression of horrible pain.  He backed away from Ranko.  He suddenly charged, and grabbed her by the throat.  He picked her up with one powerful hand and slammed her into the vending machines.  Over and over, he pulled her away from the machines and slammed her in again.

Ranko gasped, and tried to breath.  Finding no air, she grabbed the man's hand and using her feet on him as leverage, twisted his hand away and slammed a kick in his face as she back flipped onto the vending machines.

The man gave a horrible growl, and dug his fingers into the concrete floor of the subway.  He took out a large chunk of stone, tearing it out of the floor, and with a mighty grunt, threw it at Ranko.

Dodging on instinct, Ranko side flipped to the ground.  She quickly bounced forward with a  mighty leap, and punched the man hard enough to send him flying onto the subway tracks.

From the side, Saburina shouted, "Three minutes until the train arrives!"

Ranko looked from her friend back to where the man was, but could not find him anywhere, "Where did he go?"

Saburina shook her head, "I don't know, he was just there, and then he disappeared."

"Well I can easily take him, so I think I'll walk you all the way home, to make sure you get there safe," Ranko looked at the carnage around her and sighed.

...

Ryoga stared at the two girls on the subway.  He hid behind a newspaper someone had left on the chair.  The girls didn't seem to notice him, and even on the way to the brown haired girl's house, they were unable to detect his presence.  Ranko stayed inside the house for over half an hour, and Ryoga almost left, but soon she exited the house, and took to the roof tops to run back home.  Ryoga followed her silently, nothing more than a shadow in the star filled sky.

...

Ranko led the homeless man that was following her back towards her home.  She had spent time at Saburina's house to call home, and now, she was leading the strong bastard into a trap. Nerima soon appeared, and within moments Ranko jumped over the wall of her backyard.

Within two flaps of a humming bird's wings, the homeless man landed behind Ranko and tried to grab her.  Ranko twisted down and out of his grasp, then sprang up in a mighty uppercut that caused the homeless man to land in the koi pond.

Hearing the splash, Akane and Tofu ran out, ready to fight the man who was trying to kill Ranko.  Akane rushed next to Ranko, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I got a pretty solid hit in on him," Ranko nodded towards the pond.

Suddenly the homeless man charged out of the pond, a series of attacks put Akane and Ranko on the defensive.  Blocking a series of strikes, Akane countered with an arm lock, holding the man in place long enough for Ranko to get several solid power kicks into the man's sternum.

Gasping the man threw Akane off, sending her flying into a wall.  He quickly blocked Ranko's next kick.  He then started attacking Ranko again.  Tofu tried striking a pressure point but it had no effect.  Tofu backed away, and went to help Akane to her feet.

"He's not a living person," Tofu said nodding to the man, "I tried to paralyze him, but stopping blood flow had no effect.  Which means, no blood."

Akane nodded, "If he's not living, then there's no problem with killing him."  Akane ran back into the fight, "Hey!  You want to get to her, you'll have to deal with me first!"

The man turned away from Ranko, who was up against the outer wall, her shoulder dislocated.  He dropped her like a rag doll and turned to face Akane.  Seeing her daughter unconscious, Akane channeled her fury into her hands, causing them to glow a vibrant red, sparks jumped between her fingers.  Releasing a long held breath, Akane attacked. 

Several punches connected with the man, the excess energy oozing from Akane searing his flesh.  The man grimaced through the pain of one attack, and suddenly had his hand on Akane's throat, squeezing the life out of her.  She tried to break his grip, but he kept at it.  She grabbed the man's throat, squeezing as hard as she could.  Just before she was going to lose consciousness the man gasped, and turned to ashen dust.

Looking around, Akane saw Tofu helping Ranko into the house.  Satisfied that her daughter was safe, Akane looked to where the man had been standing, "Was that you Ryoga?  What happened to you?"

...