The Phoenix, The Dragon, and the Horse
A Fushigi Yuugi/ Ranma Crossover
Disclaimer: It's true--I have one now. All characters belong to their
respective owners. If they were mine however, I'll be frigging rich right
now and having them crossover in actual manga. :p
Crimson Ice: Konnichiwa, minna-san. It appears that I have gained the honor
to co-write with Vahn-san now... I hope my writing skills will not disappoint
you. If you'd like to comment to me, I can be reached at tdei@yahoo.com;
this fic will eventually be achieved on the TDEI site as well...
A big thanks goes to Lady Cosmos , Tannim, Bambi,Kris's and Thomas
forputting this up on their page.
Tannim page is located here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/
Lady Cosmos pages is located here:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~ladycosmos/
Tomas page is located here.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/6189/
Bambi Page can be found here:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~salee/index.html
Kris's page can be found here:
http://www.geocities.com/kuroi_hoshi/
Chapter 2
Embers in the Dust
***
The light shining on his face was too bright for Ranma's taste, so he closed
his eyes against the invading brightness. "Ugghh... don't care if ës morning...
wanna sleep damnit..." he mumbled incoherently, turning to one side. The
sudden cold he felt brushing against his skin compelled him otherwise. With
a yelp and a curse at the errant wind, Ranma snapped open his eyes to find
that he was in the middle of nowhere. And covered in snow to boot.
"AWW, SHIT!" Ranma yelled in irritation as he got to his feet. Apparently,
the Naban mirror hadn't worked. To add to his aggravation, the cold actually
managed to affect him since he was wearing his sleeveless shirt. Shivering a
bit, Ranma increased his ki to warm himself as he started to look around.
"Ryouga!" Ranma called, feeling a bit foolish as he hollered at the sky. He
wanted to see if he could still communicate with Ryouga. "RYOUGA! YOU THERE
MAN?!" he yelled out again. Silence answered him.
"Well... I guess wherever I am, it's not in the book," he muttered to himself.
He was about to leave in a random direction when he heard the sounds of
battle nearby. "Huh?" he blinked. Almost automatically, Ranma tilted his
head as he tried to pin down where the fighting was coming from.
Pinning down where the disturbance was coming from, he started to move
toward the sound of fighting. He quickly ended up standing on the top of an
excessively massive cave. He looked down the sheer face of the drop to see
two combatants fighting like there was no tomorrow. Short violet hair
swirled in a shimmering cloud above the determined, albeit slightly
frightened, face of a young woman dressed in ancient Chinese clothing. Ranma
blinked. (Wait a sec...) He took a closer look at the ëwoman'. (Erk... guy. GUY,
not GIRL. GUY...) He'd been hanging around Tsubasa and Konatsu long enough to
tell if a guy was cross-dressing or not. Then again, the guy wasn't all that
feminine... The other fighter didn't even appear human. It looked like some
sort of werewolf--the kind one saw in horror movies. Its bulk towered over
the violet-haired man and it apparently had the upper hand. The wolfman had
gray skin, much like that of a corpse's, and wore a dark olive green smock
with gray trousers that were fastened with dark olive green leggings. It had
a hideous burn across its left eye.
Without thinking twice, Ranma leapt down to help the human. He landed to the
right of the wolfman as it was about to deliver the killing blow to the
purple-haired guy.
As the wolfman finally noticed Ranma, he changed the direction of his swing
toward Ranma's face. Noting the change of target, Ranma hastily jumped out
of the wolfman's trajectory before its claws could slash at him and gave it
a solid kick to its abdomen, sending it stumbling back. Ranma threw the
other combatant a quick glance to see if he was all right. The guy was
staring at him with wide violet eyes that were a bit glazed from pain. Ranma
repressed an internal shudder as he was suddenly reminded of a certain
Chinese Amazon.
"W-Who are you?" the man asked. He looked extremely confused and bit dazed
at the sudden turn of events. Despite being disoriented, he still retained
enough mind to be cautious and he warily shifted into a battle stance. Ranma
was faintly pleased that the man didn't automatically trust everyone that
helped him.
"The name is Ranma Saotome," he said. "Pleased to meet you."
"S-Saotome?" the startled man stammered in shock. "Just like Miaka..." he
softly murmured to himself.
"MIAKA?" Ranma asked excitedly as he caught what the guy said. Realizing
that the man knew Miaka, Ranma recalled the descriptions of the characters
that had been mentioned in book. He finally realized who the guy was after
he took a long look at him. "Nuriko! You're Nuriko, right?" He exclaimed,
pointing a finger at the guy.
Nuriko stared at Ranma with a look of shock on his face. "Who *are* you?" he
started to ask. His eyes widened with horror as he caught the tiny movement
behind Ranma's back. "Look out!"
Nuriko's warning was unnecessary. Ranma had already been aware of the
wolfman's movements when he had first sensed the thing stir. With a casualty
that defied the gravity of the situation, Ranma turned and simultaneously
flowed to one side as he punched the wolfman in the gut. As the wolfman
staggered from the blow, Ranma leapt into the air and launched into a
spinning kick that struck the wolfman right across its jaw. The wolfman's
flipped into the air and spun in a couple of 360-degree turns before landing
heavily upon the snow-covered ground. However, the wolfman's stamina was
something to be impressed with as it immediately got back on his feet and
charged at Ranma again.
"DIE!!!" the wolfman snarled as he threw out a flurry of punches. Ranma
effortlessly dodged the assault and ducked low before he sprang forward.
Moving in a blur, he thrusted high into an uppercut and hit the wolfman dead
center in its stomach. The beast staggered back several steps as the air was
knocked out of its lungs. Before it could recover, Ranma followed up his
punch with a hard right hook. Then he executed five consecutive punches to
the wolfman's belly with blinding speed. The wolfman barely had time to
register the pain from Ranma's hits before Ranma finished off his attack
with a back spinning kick to its head.
The creature howled in pain as it hit the ground in a sickening skid. As it
came to a stop in the snow, the wolfman snarled in rage. It started to
stagger to its feet but before it did, Nuriko interfered. The young man
rushed up to it and leapt up in an impressive backflip over the wolfman's
head. At the apex of the leap, Nuriko lashed out both his arms and wrapped
them around the creature's neck, twisting to his left--hard. A brutal snap
rang through the air as the move shattered the wolfman's neck. As it stood
frozen in its position, Nuriko landed in front of it with a soft thud. Its
sole reddish eye slowly glazed over before it gently crumpled to the ground
like a broken toy. Ranma looked at the body with a sickened expression on
his face. He turned to glare at Nuriko as he heard the distinctive sound of
the senshi dusting his hands off.
"That was unnecessary," he told Nuriko softly. "The creature was beaten. You
didn't have to kill him like that."
Nuriko looked back at Ranma defiantly. "That thing you're feeling sorry for
nearly killed the one I cared most about," Nuriko said quietly, pointing at
the creature corpse. He didn't flinch from Ranma's searing glare as he
continued, "And in my book, that warrants death."
Hearing that, Ranma looked a bit uncertain. He decided to let the subject
drop.
As Ranma took stock of his situation, Nuriko studied him searchingly. After
a moment, Nuriko cleared his throat. "Ahem. Thanks for the help; I probably
would have died if you hadn't shown up," Nuriko said, inclining his head
slightly in a bow. He hesitated for a moment before looking up at Ranma.
"Err, can you tell me how you knew my name?"
"Oh... well let just say, Miaka mentioned you," Ranma answered evasively. He
wasn't sure if Nuriko and the others knew that they were in a book, so he
opted for the safe answer. "By the way where's Miaka?"
Nuriko twitched and narrowed his eyes in suspicion; too many times he and
the other Suzaku senshi had been conned by Nakago's illusions. He wasn't
about to let the blonde bastard add another point to his score. Ranma could
have been another Seiryuu Senshi as far as he knew. "How do you know about
Miaka?" he inquired casually, shifting carefully into a ready stance.
"Gee," Ranma replied with a smirk, noting the way Nuriko tensed up in
response. "Well... I think I should, considering that I AM her brother and
all." Inwardly, Ranma was pleased that Nuriko was exhibiting a rare form of
wise caution. (At least he seems smarter then the others.)
As Nuriko hesitatingly paused, he racked his brains to remember if Miaka had
mentioned a brother. He blinked. She had. Miaka had showed him and the rest
of the gang one those ëpicture' things a while back, saying that the people
in it were her family. Besides Miaka being in it, there had been a lady
dressed in an elegant blue kimono and a pony-tailed boy in some sort of
uniform that was with her. Nuriko remembered that the boy had been playfully
messing up Miaka's hair in the picture because Tamahome had caused a scene,
mistaking him for Miaka's ëboyfriend' back home. That matter had been
cleanly resolved as Miaka pounded Tamahome to the ground for even suggesting
that her brother was her boyfriend. But the boy in the picture hadn't seemed
that impressive. The guy with his hair in a pigtail, standing before him
was. "I'm not convinced. Miaka's brother looked way different in the picture
that she showed us."
Ranma blinked. "Picture? Oh... that's right," he said, snapping his fingers.
He remembered reading about Miaka showing the Suzaku senshi the use of
modern technology. "Huh. Okay, when Miaka had went back to her world for a
while, she told me everything about you. How you were gay and liked the
emperor of Konan," Ranma said blithely, ignoring the way Nuriko's eyebrow
twitched. "How you were a notorious cross dresser." Nuriko's eyebrow started
to spasm violently. "How the Nyan Nyan offered to help you cure you of your
perversion. How you-"
"OKAY! OKAY! I got the idea," Nuriko exploded, face red. "You're Miaka's
brother?"
Ranma just smirked. "So, what are you doing out here by yourself anyway?" he
asked, curious. "It's kinda dangerous you know."
"Well, I'm following up on a lead for the location of the shinzaho,"
answered Nuriko. At Ranma's inquiring look, Nuriko elaborated. "It's a holy
item of sorts. It was an object that was used in the summoning ceremony for
Genbu no Miko. Since we botched up our previous summoning ceremony for
Suzaku, we need it to allow us to call on Him."
Ranma pondered over that for a while, piecing the information together with
what he read from outside the book. "I see," responded Ranma slowly. "Heh.
Well, you guys have a better chance of winning now that I'm here." He
flashed Nuriko with a familiar cocky grin. "Where's the location you're
supposed to be checking out?"
After giving Ranma a skeptical look, Nuriko pointed to a large boulder. A
very, very large boulder. Its vast girth had to be around four decameters
wide and it stood at the daunting height of thirteen decameters. "Well you
see that rock over there?" Ranma turned to look at said ërock.' "Behind it
is suppose to be the entrance to where the shinzaho is located. I was about
to move the thing when Ashitare attacked me," Nuriko said steadily, ignoring
the slight trembling rocking through his frame. "I don't think I have the
strength to move it now though."
Ranma gave Nuriko's wounds a worried look. "Well... Let's go bust it open
then," Ranma finally said cockily, after realizing that Nuriko wasn't going
to acknowledge his injuries. He sauntered over toward the boulder and gave
it a calculating look.
Nuriko interestedly watched Ranma study the boulder. After a while, Ranma
poked at it. Studying was normal. Poking was normal. What happened next was
NOT normal. The instant Ranma's finger touched the boulder; it exploded into
thousands of tiny fragments. "Looks like I've still got it..." Ranma grinned,
swiping away the shrapnel falling around his ears. Nuriko gaped in amazement
at Ranma's handiwork. He looked at the smiling martial artist with wide
eyes. "H-How did you do that?"
Ranma just smirked as he wagged his finger slyly. "Now that, my friend, is a
secret."
Nuriko facefaulted. After a while, he snapped out of it as he managed to
collect himself. "Well, all we have to do now is wait for the others to
arrive," he said simply.
There was a brief, uncomfortable silence as the two settled down to wait.
The silence was wearing on their nerves when two voices screamed Nuriko's
name.
"NURIKOOOOOO!" yelled a feminine voice.
"NURIKOOOOOO!" shouted a masculine voice.
Both guys nearly jumped out of their skins. "Wah?" Ranma and Nuriko
simultaneously asked.
The pair remained where they were as they watched two yelling figures walk
into view. Nuriko's eyes lit up as he recognized his companions. Ranma
identified Miaka immediately, but silently kept back. He was curious to know
whether if she could recognize him like this.
Miaka and Tamahome finally caught sight of Nuriko's distinctive violet hair
amidst the glittering white of snow and started towards him--only to stop
dead in their tracks as they saw another figure standing next to their
slightly battered friend. However, as they saw Nuriko maintain a nonchalant
pose around the figure, they concluded that the figure wasn't an enemy.
Dropping their caution they rushed forward to meet their friend, forgetting
about the boy for the moment. Miaka caught Nuriko up into a crushing bear
hug that made Nuriko's ribs creak, as Tamahome stood beside them with a look
of relief on his face.
"Nuriko!" Miaka cried, burying her head against Nuriko's shoulder. "I was so
worried about you!!"
Startled, Nuriko winced as his friend jarred his wounds. Quickly covering
his pain, he wrapped his arms around Miaka in a tight hug. "There, there
Miaka-chan. You didn't really think something bad would happen to me, did
you?"
Miaka began to reply to Nuriko's statement when the rest of the Suzaku
senshi arrived. Both pairs of senshi looked frantic until they caught sight
of Nuriko. Upon seeing the violet-haired senshi alive, albeit tired; Tasuki,
Chiriko, Chichiri, and Mitsukake's faces relaxed in relief. Completely
missing Ranma's presence, they ran over to their friend. Ranma watched the
reunion with interest.
"Nuriko-san! Thank Suzaku you're all right! We had this terrible sinking
feeling in our stomach that something was wrong," Chiriko said, smiling in
relief.
After assuring herself that Nuriko was fine, Miaka turned to gaze curiously
upon the man beside them. He was fairly tall, with a smooth, leanly muscled
frame that bespoke of power and grace. A red, dragon-embroidered, sleeveless
Chinese shirt stretched tightly across his chest. Loose black trousers, a
set of black combat bracers, and a pair of velvet black Chinese slippers
completed his outfit. The man's fine, dark blue hair was braided into a
simple pigtail. "Ne, Nuriko? Who's your friend?" Miaka asked curiously.
Stifling a laugh, Ranma sighed dramatically. "Miaka, I'm so hurt that you
don't remember me! How could you do this to your brother? It hurts your
brother right here..." He held his hand over his heart sadly.
Miaka's eyes widened in shock. She knew that her brother had muscle, but she
had no idea how... well, developed they were. His appearance was radically
different from the one she knew, but she couldn't mistake his voice and
playful nature anywhere. "O-O-oniichan?" she stutteringly asked. "You're
here?" She couldn't believe it.
"What, no hug for you brother?" he asked coyly with a smirk.
That was all the prompting Miaka needed. She barreled into Ranma's arms with
stunning force and tackled him with hug that would have put Ryouga to shame
had he been present. "Oniichan! I missed you so. How did you get here?"
Ranma gasped for breath. "Can't... breathe... Miaka...!" Miaka quickly loosened
her grip sheepishly. "Gomen nasai, oniichan!" As Ranma regained his breath,
he smirked at Miaka teasingly. "All the strength of a bear... with a larger
appetite."
"Oniichan!!" Miaka swatted at him.
"Heh heh... Anyway, your brother has his ways and connections," he told her in
answer to her previous question. He looked over his little sister to make
sure she was alright. "Are you okay now? I read all about what happen with
Tamahome's family," he whispered to her quietly. Behind them, the Suzaku
senshi were eyeing Ranma curiously.
"I'm fine, ëniichan," Miaka whispered back. "Just fine. Oh, I forgot! Where
are my manners? Here--let me introduce you to my friends!" She gestured to
the group behind her. Ranma nodded politely as he was reacquainted with the
senshi. "Ranma Saotome; Miaka's older brother."
"Ranma-san," Chiriko said gently, "It is an honor to meet you. Umm.... how did
you get here though? Why did you come?" The child's eyes were piercingly
bright. Ranma had the eerie sensation that he was in Nabiki's presence.
"Err," Ranma cleared his throat. "Well, I have my ways... but the reason I
came is because you guys are ineffective in protecting my sister and getting
Yui-chan back." Miaka winced at her brother's bluntness. Tact was never
Ranma's strong point. Needless to say, Tamahome and Tasuki became a bit
upset at Ranma's comment.
Tasuki flashed a nasty grin. "Well, at least we know how to f'ckin' fight
better then you ever can," Tasuki said snidely. "Miaka said you know Karate.
Well, it ain't enough to impress us."
Ranma said nothing. Miaka bit her lip worriedly. (I hope oniichan's feelings
aren't hurt....) Miaka knew her brother was an excellent master black belt in
karate, but there was no way he could compete with the skills of the Suzaku
no senshi.
"Actually, I think it's us who won't be able to match his skills," Nuriko
said suddenly, giving Ranma a significant look. Ranma raised an eyebrow and
gave Nuriko an innocent look.
Missing the byplay entirely, Tasuki exploded. "Nuriko! Who's damn side are
you on? The guy just insulted our skills! It's not like he could do better,"
Tasuki fumed. Chichiri looked thoughtful. He slid a side-glance at Ranma and
discreetly started to probe him.
Nuriko grimaced. "I saw him in action. He isn't someone you'd want to mess
with," he said softly. "I was attacked and nearly killed by a Seiryuu
Senshi; if he hadn't stepped in, I wouldn't be standing here right now. I
owe him my life. Trust me, Ranma knows how to fight"
"WHAT?!" Miaka exclaimed, looking over Nuriko worriedly again. Mitsukake
took stock of the violet-haired man's wounds and moved to heal them.
"Oniichan, you took on a Seiryuu Senshi?" On the side, Chichiri reeled in
shock.
Ranma looked seriously at his sister. "Yeah. He wasn't that much of a
challenge though. It's Nakago I want a piece of. That bastard is pullin' all
the stops," he told her. He shot a glance at the blue-haired monk and
winked. Chichiri's probe had not gone unnoticed.
"But oniichan, I thought you only knew karate," she said in confusion.
Ranma's visage became grim.
"Miaka, follow me," he said quietly. He looked up at the other senshi. "This
is a family matter." They reluctantly nodded in comprehension and turned
away. Miaka followed Ranma to a tree that was far away from the senshi's
hearing range. She looked up at her brother as he took a deep breath.
"Miaka, what I am about to tell you will be a shock... but I guess it's time
you knew. I didn't tell you earlier because I wanted you to have normal
life--something that I never had, but now it seems unlikely. Very unlikely."
Miaka just nodded.
"Miaka, do you remember about the urban legends about super powered martial
artists in Nerima? And how they fought in battles every day?" Ranma asked.
Miaka nodded in reply and waited for him to continue.
"Well, all those legends about fighting inhuman beings, having to rescue
kidnapped girls, and demons running around are all true," Ranma said. "As a
matter of fact, the main character in all of the legends was me."
Miaka stared at her brother in shock. Some of the stories that came out of
the
Nerima district was too far-fetched to believe. Even for her, who was
currently trapped in a book as the Priestess of some god. Before she entered
the Four Gods' Sky and Earth, she had thought that the legends couldn't
possibly be true. However, now... after being in the book, she was ready to
believe that maybe some of the rumors were true. To find out that they were
all true was disturbing. Finding out that her brother was the one that the
legends were about was even more shocking. She always had a favorite story
in the legends that was about how the hero had fought a god to protect his
family and friends. In a critical part of the battle, the hero's father
sacrificed himself to save his only son. The urban tales had been published
into a worldwide, best-selling series called the Nerima Tales. The author of
the series, Nabiki Tendo, claimed that all the stories were true. People had
doubts about her claim. The series had a total of 38 volumes; the last one
ending with the hero going into a battle in China against a demi-god named
Saffron. The hero had vanished after the battle was won.
"Oniichan, so the stories in ëNerima Tales,' which were based on the urban
legends in Nerima, are true?" Miaka asked. Ranma nodded in conformation
"Even the part about fighting a Phoenix god?"
"Even that part," Ranma replied softly.
"Then...father was..was..." Miaka whispered. She couldn't finish her sentence;
she couldn't say it out loud. Tears shimmered in her eyes.
"Yeah. That was him," Ranma replied softly.
Miaka started to cry. Ranma hugged her and held her close as she sobbed into
his shirt. "Sorry Miaka-chan," he told her.
***
Somewhere nearby...
Darkness was absolute within the confines of the chamber. A shadow shifted
silently. "It seems like we have a new player," said an ominous, sibilant
voice.
"Yes, I felt his power when he fought Ashitare," Nakago replied coolly,
gazing at the being before him expressionlessly. He was seated in an
elaborate chair, decked out in his usual blue battle armor.
"Do you think he will be a problem?" the voice inquired.
"He won't be for long. As soon as the Suzaku senshi get the Shinzaho, I
myself will personally go to intercept them with our senshi to take it from
them," Nakago said darkly.
"Good." The voice started to chuckle evilly.
To be continued...