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The heavy, rhythmic drumming of the rain against the tent mirrored the cold calculation in her chest. She had found his camp late at night, slipping through the wet mud and suffocating humidity of the storm to wait in the pitch-black confines of his own shelter. She closed her eyes and inhaled the sharp scent of damp earth, reaching into his backpack to pull out his portable stove. Finding a dry patch of tarp, she ignited the burner. Within minutes, a kettle of water began to whistle a low, angry boil.
It had taken her two years to track him down. Now, she just needed the storm to break so she could exact her revenge.
When the familiar, pathetic squeal of a piglet echoed outside, she extinguished the blue flame. She felt him before she saw him, sniffing at the flap, sensing a presence but entirely unable to pinpoint it. She mentally sneered. To think Genma’s supposedly flawless ultimate technique, designed to completely erase a martial artist's fighting aura, could still be partially detected by a cursed pig's nose.
She could end him right now. She could butcher the animal in a matter of seconds. But she needed the boy.
From the shadows of the tent, she watched him waddle toward the steaming kettle. The idiot didn't even test the temperature. Desperate for his humanity, he upended the freshly boiling water directly over his head.
His squeal morphed into a ragged, human scream of absolute agony as the blistering water scalded his flesh. She didn't flinch as he thrashed, frantically digging through his bag for dry clothes with blistered, shaking hands. She had intentionally let it reach a furious boil, wanting his first moments as a human to be agonizing.
Once he was dressed and clutching his reddened arms, she exhaled, dispelling the oppressive void of her camouflage. His head snapped toward her, eyes wide with the shock of a predator suddenly realizing it was locked in a cage.
"Hello, Ryoga," she said, her voice cutting through the roar of the rain outside.
He squinted through the dim light, nursing his burns. "You..." he stammered, recognition slowly dawning on his face. Because of how quickly he had fled that night, he only knew of the ruin he left behind. "You're... Ranma's girl. What are you doing here?"
“Never learned my name, huh?” she cracked her knuckles, stepping into the meager light. "You dare ask that question?"
He backed away, completely puzzled by the unbridled malice radiating from her.
"Two years ago, during a storm much like this one," she continued, her tone dead and hollow. "Remember that night?"
He blinked, clearly still not grasping why she was hunting him, but nodded, pretending to understand.
"After what you did to him in his sleep," she whispered, "he was never the same."
He narrowed his eyes. "He put me through hell, whatever happened to him, it's his own damn fault."
She stood up. "Whatever happened to him? You issued a challenge, and you attacked him in his sleep." She took a step towards him, adopting a stance that he had no way of countering. "Where was your honor that night?"
He took a fighting stance and looked outside. The raging storm had become quiet, but the dark clouds still filled the sky.
"Worried that I will cook and eat you?"
He glared at her. "And you dare preach about honor?"
"You crippled him," she vanished and repapered next to him, "I'm going to do the same to you. FREEZE!" she screamed as she kicked him in the neck and then proceeded to crouch and hit him just a few inches away from his heart with snake strike.
He winced in pain and jumped outside.
Huh. Lucky bastard, she thought, realizing it was no longer raining.
She left the tent and stomped towards him.
He raised a hand. "Wait, wait I—"
"Saotome Style, Thousand Mountain Path" she said mostly so he had some idea what she had just done to him, "Deadly Snake-Pit Probing Palm."
"Huh, huh..." he said, and wheezed, "you've gotten better."
"My Father-in-law trained me for this moment," she replied "I've waited two years to remove your stain from the planet."
He cracked his neck. "Father-in-law? So, you married him, even as half a man, and half a person."
She narrowed her eyes. "You're a piece of shit."
He looked around his camp. "Looks to me that you're not any better. Why, using assassination techniques and threatening on eating me. Sounds like we're the same. No. You’re worse than me. Damn cannibal."
"Come and try me," she replied.
He removed his bandanas and began to spin them. "Maybe this time I will cut more than your hair."
She closed her eyes. Yes, this is how I need him to act. He's still the same person. Still the same stain in the universe.
When several bandanas came flying her way, she pivoted around and whirled at him, spinning in place while every single razor-sharp piece of cloth passed around her harmlessly.
When she landed in front of him, he was already raising his hand with his belt-sword.
As it came down, she dropped to the ground and captured it with her feet. This left him open for her next attack. She threw a rope around his neck and tied the knot. He gasped for breath.
She wasn't about to stop any time soon. She raised her hand, hitting his stomach, "Fanged Fingers of Steel Welcome-Gate!"
He threw up blood and fell on his knees.
"So? Weren't you going to cut something more than my hair? Where's your spunk? Where's the killer instinct?"
He coughed in pain. "I'm... I'm not... not a killer."
"You are something much worse."
She focused her ki and began to accumulate power. He looked up, clearly sensing it. He probably knew he had only a few seconds left to live.
She brought her hands to her chest and felt the vacuum waves start to form under her fingertips.
"Ryoga, dear?" A voice came from the back.
"A— Aka—" he tried to speak, "Akari, run! Don't come close!"
She looked back at the newcomer. The girl was riding a giant boar but seemed otherwise normal.
"Who are you?" She asked the girl, wearily. No one else should’ve been here.
The new girl didn't seem to hear her, or perhaps, she was too worried for the pig to care. She jumped off her boar towards Ryoga. She whistled and said, "Katsunishiki, kill."
She turned her attention to the giant boar and blinked when it took a Sumo stance. Because of course the girl was some sort of Martial Arts Boar trainer.
Ryoga coughed some more blood as the girl came to him. "No, he's no match for her."
The girl turned towards her.
She cares for him. She cares for this monster.
Then she saw the girl's tummy. She is pregnant.
The girl’s face screamed with worry as she realized she had done a grave mistake sending her pet pig at her.
"Katsunishiki?" the girl muttered.
"Too late," she told the girl as her Ki had reached its peak, "Saotome Style, Thousand Mountain Path, Ultimate Attack, Demon God Multiple Strike!"
The boar had no chance. It was clearly strong, but its speed was lacking.
Razor sharp vacuum blades came at him and passed his body like it was butter. The pig didn't even got to scream in pain as his body collapsed.
"Katsunishiki!" the girl cried in absolute desperation.
The would be assasin closed her eyes and turned around. "Ryoga Hibiki, if I see you or your girl again, I will kill you both. Understood?"
He groaned in pain and looked at her with absolute confusion. "Wha- Why?"
"I came to kill a pig, I did so," she told him. "Explain to your girl what you did, admit your part in her precious pet's death. I'm curious if she will still weep for you after learning what you have done."
She looked down at the girl who was glaring at her with hatred so deep it could be an abysm. "I'm sorry you sent your pet to kill me, next time you raise a pig, don't teach it to kill, because sooner or later, it will meet something meaner and scarier."
She began walking away. "But honestly, do as you please, I don't care."
She didn't want to see that girl's face ever again. The girl's tears were much like hers, but her boyfriend still could move, still could walk by her side. She still had her unborn child.
She boarded the first train back to Tokyo.
As she waited for it to arrive, she took out her wallet and stared at his face. His despair had become boundless when it happened.
Their relationship had improved after Ryoga’s attack, but he felt like he didn't deserve her. He felt that there was no point in her marrying him if he could not pull his weight as a martial artist. He argued that there was no point for the Tendos to unite the schools if the Saotome side couldn’t perform.
Genma’s contribution to the art wasn’t the panacea the old panda had expected. Truthfully, it caused more problems than solutions. But it had made her strong, probably among the strongest in the whole world.
But no matter how strong she became she could never be strong enough to bring a smile to his face. Not until they kissed and she promised him to follow him if he dared to check out early. She hated threatening him with her own life.
It took a lot more to take him out of his funk.
She closed her wallet, thinking that she should have killed Ryoga when he was still a piglet. It's what he deserved. Then, she wouldn't have seen the girl.
The walk to the dojo was long, especially because she wasn't in the mood for roof-hopping.
I wonder if Genma will be angry at me for not finishing the job? If he was, the stupid panda could go at it. He could've done it himself years ago.
When she reached home and walked up the stairs, she realized she had been crying for hours.
Nabiki found her staring at the bedroom door. "Akane? What's going on?"
She tried to stop the flow of the tears with her sleeve. It didn't work.
Nabiki came rushing at her, uncharacteristic worry in her eyes. "You... what did you do?"
"Something terrible," she said.
He had insisted that she should not go with the training. They had their ugliest discussion because she had thought he was insinuating that she was too weak to control it. In truth, he feared that she was too strong, and that she would act and damn the consequences.
He had been right.
She knocked on their door twice, before sliding it open and getting inside. She closed it behind her before Nabiki could ask her to elaborate.
He was on their bed, staring at the ceiling.
“Hey,” she said, trying to sound like everything was fine.
"Two days," he said with a low raspy voice. "You have been gone two days."
"You know where I was. He's not so easy to track down."
"Why did you do it?"
She sat next to him and held his hand. "I... I didn't do it," she said, and it pained to see that he sighed in relief. "I might have done something worse."
He smiled at her and caressed her face with his one good arm. "Okay."
"Okay?" She asked him, "that's all you're going to say? "
"Come to bed, please?" he asked her.
She sighed and dropped her dirty clothes and snuggled next to him.
She waited for him to ask her what she had done.
Instead, he said, "I thought we had agreed that we would leave this revenge stuff behind, that you would— that you would take over your father's classes and..." he drifted to sleep.
These days he barely had any strength, especially when she caused him to worry for her.
She waited until he woke up. He smiled at her.
"I had— I had miscarriage," she finally said. And he stopped smiling. "I... we cannot afford another attempt, not for a few years. Our finances are in the toilet."
He took her hand into his. "I see."
"He didn't just cripple you, he... it's his fault, he killed your son."
He closed his eyes, clearly in pain. She went to the medicine in the drawer and gave him several pills and a glass of water.
Once she had helped him drink it all, he grimaced. "That's not his fault. It's on me. If I could support us, if I could at least pay for the procedure..." He closed his eyes and cried. "If I wasn't alive, you wouldn't have to carry my burden."
She embraced him hard. "I only want you."
He managed to nod. But she could tell that he didn't believe her.
"We will try again in a couple of years, it will—" she stopped as rivers of tears fell from their eyes, "it will be fine."
She held him close until he went back to sleep. She realized that she would have to keep a constant eye on him before he tried to free her of his burden again.
She closed her eyes, wondering how long it would take for the girl to come to take revenge on her.