Disclaimer
Ranma 1/2 was created by Takahashi Rumiko, and anyone who doesn't already know this won't understand this story anyway. Bleach was created by Tite Kubo; you don't really need to have seen Bleach to understand this fic, but just so you know, anything not Ranma related in here was created by him.
- - -
The redhead walked into the kitchen. "Yo, Kasumi."
Kasumi dropped the spoon into the pot, and whirled, to stare at her. "Is...someone there?"
- - -
He smiled shyly at her. "You can see me."
"Yeah." She leaned over a bit. "How come you can see me?"
He shrugged. "We're ghosts, aren't we?"
- - -
Ranko watched him go, and frowned. "That candle...It seemed like he could see me in its light..."
- - -
The small, black-haired girl watched silently. One hand tightened reflexively on her katana.
-Shaolan...-
- - -
The air was split by an unearthly howl. Ranko felt her skin roughen with goosepimples, actually felt each individual hair on her head rise up, and she turned to look down the street.
She wished she hadn't.
- - -
Ranma stepped back from her male form. She checked her robes, baldric and nagimaki, touched the scar running down her face.
"It was easier this time." She glanced over at Akane, then down at her male form.
"Hey." Akane shoved Ranma's male body on the shoulder. "You can wake up now."
Ranma's eyes sprang open, and he stuck a hand out to the side to stabilize himself. He glanced over at his female form. "Whoa."
Akane nodded. "This could definitely take some getting used to."
The female Ranma scowled. "How much can it take for you?" She jerked a thumb towards the kneeling boy. "The only time I normally see him is in a mirror."
Akane giggled.
The female Ranma sighed. "We're gonna have to find out how far I can go like this. Ranma, you stay here."
"Sure thing, Ranko."
The female blinked. "Ranko?"
Ranma shrugged. "We're gonna have to call you somethin', right? At least as long as you're wanderin' around."
The girl considered this, then shrugged. "I can get used to it. 'Ranko' it is." She pulled the nagimaki off of her back, and leaned it up against the wall. "I better leave this here."
She turned, and walked towards the door of the dojo, but Akane's gasp caused her to turn. "What?"
The turn made the baldric shift on her shoulder, and she felt the weight of the nagimaki. She pulled it off her back, and examined it.
"This girl musta drowned still holdin' her weapon." She shrugged, and slipped it back into its sheath. "Guess I'll have to carry it around with me." She glanced over at Akane. "Can you do me a favour?"
"I guess."
"Just...hang back a bit, and keep an eye on me."
- - - - -
Kasumi carefully set the glass pot lid on the counter, and scooped a small amount of soup from the pot. She sniffed, then tasted, and smiled. "Almost perfect."
Ranko walked into the kitchen. "Yo, Kasumi."
Kasumi dropped the spoon into the pot, and whirled, to stare at Ranko.
Ranko scratched the back of her head nervously. "I know the getup is kinda weird, but--"
"Is...someone there?" Kasumi's eyes were not quite focused on Ranko, but seemed to be looking past her. Ranko looked at her oddly.
"Yer' lookin' right at me, Kasumi."
"Odd..." Kasumi smiled. "I must be imagining things." She turned back to the soup.
"Imaginin'?" Ranko walked up to her. "Yo, Kasumi, I'm right here!"
Kasumi continued to stir the soup.
"Yo, Kasumi!" Ranko scowled. "Why are ya actin' like ya can't--"
She paused.
"Maybe she can't."
She leaned closer, until her nose was nearly touching Kasumi's shoulder.
Kasumi reached over with her left hand, picked up the pepper, and added a dash. Her hand came within a millimeter of Ranko's robe, but still she seemed oblivious to her.
"Whaddaya know...I guess it's just Akane and my boy type that can see me." She leaned back. "Wonder why they can, and Kasumi can't?"
Akane walked in, a puzzled look on her face. "Hey, Ranko?"
"Yeah?"
Kasumi turned. "Ranko? I haven't seen Ranma in girl form today; he was still a boy at breakfast time. I thought that Ranma had given up using that name?"
"She has, Sis."
Ranko grinned. "She can't see me, Akane. It's just you and...well, me, I guess. Watch!" She waved a hand near Kasumi's face.
Kasumi started, and turned towards Ranko.
"Ack!" Ranko took a step back involuntarily.
Kasumi stared in her general direction. "Akane..."
"Yeah, Sis?"
"I'm not sure, but...I think I just saw something." She raised a hand to her lips. "Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving in midair."
"Maybe she can kinda see me, after all." Ranko studied the older girl.
Akane walked towards Ranko, and stared at her hard.
"What?" Ranko looked behind her, then back to Akane. "What's up, Akane?"
"I think you're right, Kasumi." Akane turned back to Kasumi. "I saw it, too."
"What do you think it is? Another demon?"
"No...I think it's a lonely ghost, of a long-dead girl."
Ranko blinked.
"Nothing to worry about, Sis...I don't think she's dangerous. Just treat her as another freeloading house guest."
"Hey!"
"Oh..." Kasumi smiled. "At least this one, we don't have to feed."
"Oh, man." Ranko threw her hands in the air. "No respect around here at all!"
- - - - -
"I'm tellin' ya, Ranma, it was seriously weird." Ranko was pacing the inside of the dojo. "It was like she could almost see me, if I snuck up on her or somethin'."
Ranma considered. "Maybe she's one of them medium types."
"Heh." Ranko smirked. "And here I always thought Kasumi was rare."
"You know what I mean, dolt!" Ranma shook his head. "Maybe she can see spirits."
"Maybe." Ranko frowned. "But she only saw me twice, and it was more like she...Ya know how we feel when someone's watching us?"
"Yeah."
"It was like that. She had the feelin' that I was there, but she couldn't really see me."
Ranma nodded. "So it's just me an' the Tomboy."
"Guess so."
"Probably, I can see ya because I'm your other half. And Akane...well, she was there the first time we did this, so maybe that's why she can see ya."
"Maybe." Ranko considered. "I'm gonna go for a walk."
"Where to?" Ranma jumped to his feet."
"Just out and about. Maybe to the school and back." Ranko turned and walked to the dojo door. "It might be just you and Akane, or maybe there're other people...I want to see if anyone else can see me. Tell Akane I'll be back in an hour or two."
"Want me to come with?"
"No." Ranko grinned. "If either Kuno or Kodachi can see both of us...well, do ya really want to go there?"
- - - - -
A redheaded Japanese girl, walking through the streets of Nerima while wearing a black kimono and carrying a polearm, would normally draw some attention. But anyone who crossed Ranko's path seemed to look straight through her.
"I could get used to this." She watched Kuno wander straight past her, his eyes never leaving his path. She ran to catch up with him, jumped out in front of the samurai wannabe, waving her hands. She had to backpedal quickly, as he didn't slow at all. She stepped to the side, let him walk past.
"Kuno!" She yelled his name as loud as she could.
Kuno paused.
-He heard me?-
The kendoist's lips curved in a smile. "Ah, my pigtail Goddess' lovely voice. Forever it haunts my imagination, whispering its words of love and devotion."
"Ick." Ranko shivered. "So even doin' everythin' but slappin' him, and he still only thinks it's his imagination." She turned, and stomped away from him. "And he has a sick imagination."
She glanced up, to see three more people approaching. Two she recognized: Hiroshi and Daisuke. Not precisely friends, but the closest to such that she had. The third, a younger boy, maybe ten years old, she didn't recognize. She fell into step with them, noting again that she went completely unobserved.
"The only problem is, Hiro, that he'd pound us into goo for even imagining such things."
"I know." Hiroshi nodded. "But, hell. Who can help imagining? You gotta admit, Ranma's hotter in girl form than the rest of the female student body."
"And what a body!" Daisuke laughed. "I'd love to get just one hand, just a finger, down that--"
Ranko gritted her teeth, and launched a punch at the back of Daisuke's head.
"Ow!" Daisuke pitched forward, tumbling to an ungraceful heap on the pavement.
"Huh? You trip?"
"No, something hit the back of my head." Daisuke stood up carefully, rubbing the back of his head. He glanced around, puzzled. "Felt like a baseball, or a brick, or something...I don't see anything, though."
"Maybe it was Ranma."
Ranko blinked, and stepped back.
"Yeah, could be...even imagining things like that could get me hurt." Daisuke's eyes glazed over again. "If only we could convince him to wear a school uniform...cold water would wreck the shirt in a hurry--"
Ranko spun on her heel and marched away, before she was forced to give into the urge to draw the nagimaki and get medieval on Daisuke. She had gone perhaps ten steps before she realized that the little boy was walking with her.
She turned, and glanced down at him. He was painfully thin, and very pale. Perhaps the oddest thing about him, though, was the short length of chain protruding from his chest.
He smiled shyly at her. "You can see me, can't you?"
"Yeah." She leaned over a bit. "How come you can see me?"
"We're ghosts, aren't we?"
"Guess so." Ranko stood again, and glanced around. "There many ghosts around here?"
"Yes. Not as many as there are people." He looked more closely at her. "You don't have a chain."
"Hm?" She glanced down at her chest. "No, I don't."
"No chain--you're one of them!"
His eyes widened, and he turned and bolted down the street. Ranko watched as he ran straight through Hiroshi, then turned down a corner and was lost from sight.
"One of -them-?" She shrugged, then looked around. "Ghosts, eh?"
- - - - -
Elsewhere in the district, a small, black-haired girl paused as her pager went off.
The pager was in direct contradiction to the rest of her. Kimono, straw zori sandals, and katana did not mix with the pager. But she drew the pager from her obi, and considered it, then leaped from the street to the telephone pole.
- - - - -
Dusk had fallen; Ranko picked up her pace. She wasn't worried about street crime - she could crush any mugger like a bug - but she'd been gone for almost an hour, and she didn't want Akane getting worried about her.
She'd seen several other ghosts; like herself, they walked among the citizens of Nerima, completely unnoticed by the living. Now that night was falling, they were more obviously transparent, as though the light was being drawn out of them as well as from the sky.
Fewer living people were around; most were heading in for the night. She paused, however, as she saw Gosunkugi mooching along the street.
"Damn...if anyone else is likely to see me, it's him."
She ducked behind a telephone pole, hoping it provided enough cover. Gosunkugi didn't seem to notice her, but meandered past the pole, muttering under his breath.
"...evil spirits around..."
"Hm?"
She slipped out, and drew level with him. He had an unlit candle in one hand and a hand-written charm in the other, toying with them absentmindedly.
"I can feel them...evil..."
Ranko smirked. "Dunno why I was worried."
Gosunkugi stopped. Ranko blinked, and glanced over at him.
He was staring right at her.
"Evil spirit..." He dropped the charm, fumbled for his lighter, and lit the candle. He held it high, and took a step towards her.
"Evil one, begone!" He waved the candle in her general vicinity. "I see you, shade! Return to the pits of hell!"
"Oh, great." She backpedalled, anxious to get out of the light cast by the candle.
"Begone!" He stopped, and sighed. "That's the third one this week...I really need to learn how to do a proper exorcism..." He waved a skinny fist towards her, then turned and stumped down the sidewalk.
Ranko watched him go, puzzled. "Damn. He seemed almost competent." She frowned. "That candle...It seemed like he could see me in its light..."
She paused, at the sound of running feet.
Ahead of her was the young boy that she'd seen shadowing Hiroshi and Daisuke. He was running as though his life depended on it.
"Hey, kid, what--"
He tore past her, not slowing down at all. She watched him run off.
"Odd. Wonder what he--"
The air was split by an unearthly howl. Ranko felt her skin roughen with goosepimples, actually felt each individual hair on her head rise up, and she turned to look down the street.
She wished she hadn't.
The shadowy form, stalking methodically towards her, would have been three meters tall save for its hunched over posture. The massive fingers that brushed the pavement on each step sported five-centimeter claws. Moonlight shone clearly through the empty hole in its body, and gleamed off the pale, bonelike mask that covered is misshapen head.
"What in the name of..." The momentarily paralysis lifted, and she snapped into a ready position. "That's what he was runnin' from!"
The creature lifted its head, and howled again, a cry of hunger and pain.
"That far, no further." Ranko's scowl deepened.
The creature lowered its head, staring balefully at her, then with astonishing speed, leaped forwards and backhanded her across the street. She rolled, regaining her feet, and leaped towards it.
Her foot smashed directly into its ribs, but she might as well have hit a brick wall. Almost casually, the monster backhanded her again. This time, she turned it into a flip, landing lightly on her feet.
The creature turned, and began lumbering directly towards her again.
"Enough of this crap. Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"
She leaped inside its guard, delivering a rapid-fire string of punches into its abdomen. Again, it felt like she was hitting something completely unyielding. The creature kicked, catching her leg, and one claw slashed across her robes, tearing them badly. She winced; any closer, and it would have torn her badly as well.
She leaped away, and the creature continued to trudge heavily towards her.
"I'm not hurtin' it. It took my best attack, and kept on comin'." She reached back almost automatically, and readied the nagimaki. "I'm gonna have to use this..."
- - - - -
Atop a telephone pole, the small, black-haired girl watched the battle silently. One hand tightened reflexively on her katana.
-Shaolan...-
- - - - -
Ranko brought the nagimaki down into the ready position, and scowled. "Come on, you big ugly--"
The creature moved, again with the unexpected speed. She parried its claw-rake with the glaive, and severed three fingers. The creature roared with pain. She grinned, pressed her advantage, and leaped past it, slashing a leg as she moved.
Again the creature howled. Ranko touched down, leaped into the air as a massive paw slammed into the pavement where she'd just been standing.
She was in a dojo.
She blinked, and looked around.
It wasn't the Tendo dojo; the iroha were in Chinese characters, not Japanese, and the shrine was missing. She heard the rumbling purr of a kitten, and forced herself not to look for its source.
"You need to target the mask."
She turned, to see another redheaded girl.
No, to see -herself-. As she was in spirit form...a redhead with long hair, much longer than her own, but with the same scar, the same robes, and the same nagimaki.
"Strike the mask. It is the only way to defeat it."
The creature roared again, and she rolled to the side, dodging another rake. She slashed down, severing the tendons across the back of its hand.
"Target the mask, eh?"
The beast seemed to know her target; one arm was raised, ready to parry a leap attack. She dodged inward, spinning to slash the knee; as the creature moved to counterattack, she leaped straight up.
The nagimaki passed through the bone mask as though through air, cutting straight through the creature's skull and out the top. She landed, the nagimaki finding its way effortlessly to its scabbard, and watched as the creature dissolved into a spray of black mist.
- - - - -
The black-haired girl shook her head.
-I don't have time to follow her...but I can't doubt that my Captain will send someone to watch her.-
She leaped to the next telephone pole, continuing her mission.
- - - - -
"Ranko!" Akane dashed forward as the Redhead staggered into the dojo.
"So tired..."
"What happened?"
Ranko collapsed forward, and Akane caught her.
"'Kane...I saw ghosts...I fought one, a really nasty one..."
"There's blood on your glaive."
"I know...not mine." She smiled weakly. "I'm not hurt, though it was a close one."
Akane stared pointedly at the rip in her robe.
"I know...close." She tried to pull herself upright, failed. "But I'm so tired..."
"Ranma!"
"Yeah, Akane." Ranma reached down, picked up the smaller girl, and held her close to his body.
There was a shimmer, and she vanished. Ranma collapsed to the floor.
"Ranma!"
"I'm okay...just dizzy." He sat up slowly. "I've been in a helluva fight."
"With what?"
"I don't know exactly." He shuddered. "But it was definitely a bad guy."
"What did she--"
"I split it in half with my nagimaki." He grinned, almost a predatory snarl. "He won't be botherin' anyone else."
"So why was she--"
"I used up all my energy." Ranma looked down at his hands, flexed them into fists. "I guess I can only stay away for so long, and that time is shortened if I get into a fight."
"Oh."
"So I came back here, to recharge." Ranma glanced up. "You keep sayin' 'she', but ya gotta remember, Akane...once we come back together...it's all me."
- - - - -