Ikioi - Part Twelve

The brilliant burst of power instantly sheared away three inside walls and most of the roof, in a furious energy release which sent a sudden and uneasy tremor through the entire neighborhood. The heat generated was brief, fleeting, but the light remained for much longer, glowing outward from within the top floor of the Hibiki residence, a rising beacon that seemed at odds with the night sky. The detonation was the result of a volatile combination of two liberated fronts of energy slamming together, as a young man without will and a beautiful demoness reached the climax of their orchestrated passion.

They collapsed together, and for several long moments, neither Ikioi or Ryoga had the strength or mind to deal with the results of their coupling; a rapidly expanding vortex that was quickly filling most of the space available in the large second story of the house. They simply laid still, Ikioi’s smooth slender arms wrapped securely around Ryoga’s waist and neck. Tangled like a single being in the blankets and sheets, they were both covered with a fine dew of warm sweat which chilled as it evaporated in the cool night air. As they rested, the Portal twisted and spun, light and color disappearing into its very center, which began to pulse with an otherworldly glow.

After counting off several beats of the chi held prisoner within her chest, Ikioi opened her brilliant aquamarine eyes and gazed at the enlarging spectacle through the heavy fall of her rumpled bangs. The Portal, a spinning upright disc of energy and ki, looked like a miniature spiral galaxy, filled with shining points of sparkling power and shimmering dust. The center iris slowly turned on its axis, brightening and dimming with a steadily increasing beat. Light cast by this wonder drowned out the remaining furnishings in the room, washed away the years’ worth of souvenirs and knick-knacks. Everything took on simple tones of stark black, grey and white . . . a negative of what had been reality only a moment ago.

The Portal . . . it was simply . . . beautiful . . .

There was no other way for Ikioi to describe this . . . this shining door to her own Realm. Facing this moment at last, after so many long years, was a joy unlike any she had ever known. Finally her time had come, finally she would be able to leave behind the solid static training ground of the human world and take up the more liberating fluid existence of her own kind. Her final rite of passage had been completed, and now she would be welcomed back into the fold of her mother race, a fully matured and realized Shikome.

Undescribable triumph filled her, erasing the immediate fatigue and prompting a beautiful smile of sheer delight to cross her face. She buried her fingers in the soft thick hair of her oblivious companion and pulled him closer, shivering deep within as his skin slid across hers and she was obliged to remember what had just occurred between them. Ryoga continued to lay still, breathing only lightly and eyes slightly open.

He was as beautiful as the Portal . . . more so . . . as it was through him that she was achieving all she had ever hoped and dreamed of . . .

"Oh Ryoga . . . " Ikioi whispered gently, rubbing her cheek against his as she lifted her small hand, and pressed a finger to the center of his forehead. A brief spark of light indicated her removal of the seal that had kept him in control while they made love. "Wake up, my beautiful Ryoga-kun. Wake up and see what you and I created together."

At first, the only reaction from the young man was a slight fluttering of his eyelids. Then he blinked and stirred, groaning softly as he was brought back to awareness and full control of his body. Ikioi smiled. An angel revived . . .

Ryoga’s initial thoughts were only of exhaustion, it permeated every fiber of his body and his energy levels were dangerously low . . . due to having been siphoned off repeatedly over the course of the last week . . . to the torture he’d endured . . . the sex he had just been forced to take part in. The sex he’d . . .

He carefully and methodically filed that thought away for a moment. Ryoga’s eyes immediately slipped closed, as they seemed far too heavy for him to bother with trying to keep open. He didn’t even have the presence of mind to notice the Portal that had taken up existence in what had once been his family’s house. He simply curled up tighter around himself, letting his head rest on Ikioi’s warm soft chest, drawing in the muskiness of her skin which was still flushed with recent passion.

Comfort . . . for some reason, all he wanted was comfort . . .

"My poor tired Ryoga," Ikioi breathed lovingly, arms wrapped around him close and secure. Her beautiful Heart and Soul . . .

It felt good to be nestled in a warm embrace, to know that he was loved and cared about, and Ryoga was at first content to stay right where he was with the intention of drifting back to sleep. Someone was holding him close . . . just like Akane often held P-Chan . . . and Ryoga had learned to treasure moments like this, as they were rare jewels in his life. (( Someone, at least for the moment, loves me . . . ))

But there was an odd glow in the room that he could see even with his eyes shut, and a gentle persistence in his head that was telling him something was seriously hideously wrong. Inwardly whining over the unfairness of having his cuddly cushion of peace disturbed, he did his best to ignore it, but as his body’s natural and remarkable healing abilities slowly kicked in and began grinding away to bring him back up to full wakefulness, the notion that not all was right began to take a stronger hold on his mind, and mental warning bells started to ring foggily.

Still loathe to move, Ryoga did a vague mental search, looking for any memory that might give him a clue as to what the problem was. His hunt turned up nothing, save for the thought he had just tucked away for safe-keeping.

(( Sex . . . ))

Adrenaline tore into him as he suddenly recalled what had happened and realized where he was - pressed close to Ikioi’s bare skin. A jumble of contorted warped memories came flooding back into his mind . . . memories of holding Ikioi in his arms, exploring her diminutive body with his hands, burying himself deep into her inviting depths . . . and nausea threatened to overwhelm him. Cracking apart, with a soft cry that was half pain and half revulsion, Ryoga pushed himself away from her.

"My Heart?" Ikioi also sat up, tipping her head slightly to one side.

Ryoga fixed his gaze on her, even as he took vague note of the changes in the room and lighting around him, as well as the mirrored light of a shimmering swirl in her eyes. The illusion of being loved and comforted ran like thin ink, washing away under the flickering flashes of their coupling which continued to rain in his mind. Ryoga began to shake beyond physical control.

They had . . . they had . . .

Stomach twisting with an overwhelming feeling of violation and helplessness, acid bile rose in his throat, nearly choking him, and he squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could in an attempt to block them out, lifting his hand and curling it into a trembling fist.

"You . . . y - you . . . " Ryoga couldn’t even form words that would give proper horrific description to what she had done . . . separating his will from his body so that she could have her own way with it . . . leaving him to watch helplessly while she stripped him of his honor . . .

(( No less than you deserved, Ryoga Hibiki . . . )) some accusing part of him whispered. Some part which was watching with cold detachment . . .

"No!"

He’d made mistakes, but he -hadn’t- deserved that! He hadn’t! He had only opened his heart to her trustingly, and she had taken advantage of his loneliness . . . hurt him . . . killed . . . threatened . . .

Suddenly it all crashed together. The anger, the hate, the shame . . . it slammed into Ryoga hard all at once, hitting him with the force of a speeding train, lighting him up furiously, and instinctively he was moving into an attack before conscious thought could even catch up with him. A flare of battle aura shot through him, fueling his lunge forward, driving his fist toward her small perfect face, while an anguished cry ripped itself from his lungs. He only wanted to hurt her . . . hurt her as much as she had hurt him . . .

"Ryoga!" Ikioi’s voice was one of command, without the slightest hint of fear. He understood why a second later when his fist rammed through the wall that had been directly behind her head, splintering and cracking the wood, sending a shooting tremor throughout the entire house. With a snarl of crazed frustration, he yanked his hand out of the wall and turned to find her now standing behind him, directly in front of the Portal.

In his mad rage, Ryoga still took little note of the unreal spinning rip in the fabric of reality. He shot off the bed, angry beyond coherent words or thoughts. There was a painful tug on his ki, one that signaled the unconscious buildup of his power into the finest and most devastating of his attacks. Normally, it wasn’t painful, but this time there was very little strength left in his body, and his wrath was forced to draw on the reserves stored in his abdomen.

Ryoga didn’t care how much it hurt. Acting only on the glittering shards of anger and shame in his mind, he just wanted to release the fire that had built within him, cleanse the filth away with heat and flame. His eyes narrowed, glowing red and molten as he reached in and tore his reserves loose, channeling the energy into his ki, and bringing his hands up in front of himself to hold the forming ball of energy that spun and crackled with the sheer force of his anger. Ryoga laughed, abruptly and sharply, his voice hoarse and sore.

"Shishi - - "

"Ryoga!" Ikioi snapped, her sharp silvery voice darting into his mind. It startled him enough that he glanced up quickly in mid-word, and found her standing before him, a stern glint in her grim eyes. Power winds from both his building attack and Portal behind her tossed her long hair wildly, and the conflicting light sources swam and danced over the curves of her classically perfect shape and bare flesh. Her expression was as cold as the dead of winter, as she raised her hand to her chest, and squeezed her fist closed tightly.

Again, Ryoga was granted a second’s width of time to realize his mistake, then shooting agony jangled through his body like lightning, and his vision began to black over. He was able to yell once before he was driven to the floor and forced to abandon the growing Shishi Hokodan. As the ball of undirected ki was released from his hands, its energy sparked and flashed wildly, a portion of it sinking back into his body, some detonating in the air around him.

Ryoga writhed on the floor in agony, and Ikioi stepped closer to watch him for a long moment, something sad and hurting in her eyes. She had never wanted to hurt him . . . never . . . as she loved him so much and had hoped that he would love her too . . . love her enough to see past what she was and join her willingly and gladly. As he had in the beginning . . . But even as she mourned the necessity of letting him suffer for his disobedience, she was loath to release her hold on his chi. The way his body moved as he was locked in the invisible shackles of pain was captivating, and so similar to the way he had danced with her at the height of their passion . . . if only she hadn’t had to lock his will away . . . if only it had really been him . . . if only he wasn’t fighting her so . . .

Then this moment of joy would have been perfect . . .

Releasing her hand with a regretful sigh, Ikioi gave him a moment to recover his senses, then crouched down beside him, running a gentle hand through his bangs again. She loved his hair, it was so thick and soft. "My Heart," she said quietly.

He coughed and twisted uncomfortably, turning his head to gaze up at her, eyes filled with little beyond lingering pain, hatred, and a slow madness that seemed to be creeping into the crystalline color of those dark earthen depths.

Ikioi’s small mouth turned down into a frown. She brushed his hair back, then ran her hand down the line of his body. "I don’t like hurting you, Ryoga-kun, but you did a very stupid thing. I thought we had an understanding. You behave, and I don’t hurt your friends, remember?"

Ryoga flinched and cast his gaze elsewhere. "Yes . . . "

"This is your last warning, my Heart. The next time you are disobedient, either Akane Tendo or Ranma Saotome will suffer for your rebellion. Do you understand me?"

(( R - Ranma . . . Akane . . . )) Something within Ryoga twitched and a cold feeling poured down his back, the shock of which cleansed his thoughts, stripping them clean of anger. Self-recrimination return to fill its place, and Ryoga gave into the urge to violently strike the side of his head against the floor. He was so damn stupid! He hadn’t been thinking at all, and Ikioi could have easily carried out her threat without giving him another warning. Just like Shirokuro, Akane and Ranma might have been . . . (( Oh Kami . . . I could have killed them . . . I could have . . . Ranma . . . ))

Ryoga shut his eyes tight against the dizzy feeling in his head. He had to hold it together . . . for the sake of the people he cared about . . . he had to maintain! Reaching inside, Ryoga found that cold detached part of himself which had spoken up earlier and latched onto it, shoving his impulsive emotions roughly to one side. Surprisingly, it helped considerably, and he was able to find a frozen center point within the turmoil in his mind.

Ryoga shakily pushed himself up from the floor. Getting to his feet, he stood before Ikioi and nodded, once again resigning himself to a fate he knew he deserved, "Hai, Ikioi-sama," he agreed, roughened voice catching in his throat. He had made a promise of honor, and he would keep it. For the lives he cared about more than his own . . .

He thought Ikioi looked rather unhappy, but she made a soft sound of satisfaction in her throat, then turned back to the Portal. Whatever had saddened her was immediately washed away under the phenomenon’s shimmering light.

"Look Ryoga-kun," she gestured toward it, wrapping her arms around herself. "Isn’t it beautiful?"

Ryoga didn’t trust himself to reply, as he didn’t think it was beautiful in the least. It looked like a cheap Hollywood special effect to him, it had destroyed his house, and it only represented the misery that would be waiting for him when he reached the other side. He also couldn’t help but wonder what the use of the Portal was in the first place, since Ikioi claimed to be able to displace to any location.

Rather than say anything, however, he remained in his center point, took note of the way she was hugging herself, and glanced to one side, spotting her violet silk drape still laying across the futon, along with his own clothes. The night air was growing chilly, so he quietly retrieved his pants and, after quickly slipping them on, also snagged her drape and stepped forward to wrap it around her.

She smiled up at him, a bit of surprise in her ocean eyes. "Thank you, my Heart."

They both looked up attentively as the sounds of sirens reached them, almost buried beneath the hum of the Portal. Apparently, the destruction of the Hibiki residence’s roof had not gone unnoticed by the neighbors. Ryoga felt a brief moment of uneasiness flit through his mental facade at the thought of facing law enforcement officials, but Ikioi didn’t seem too concerned.

She nodded toward the Portal, the center iris of which was now spreading open, spilling forth with further light and color. Silhouetted deep within the expanding nova, strange shapes were moving, distantly clicking in a bio-mechanical manner that utilized limbs with far too many segments. Staring, Ryoga squinted and lifted a hand to shield his eyes, and realized that he should have been feeling some sense of fear or nervousness, but wasn’t. As the shifting shapes moved forward, closer to the reality he was familiar with, he found himself strangely detached, even though something in the far back corner of his mind was screaming.

(( For Ranma and Akane . . . Let come what may, )) Ryoga thought in a mental tone that was remarkably straightforward and frank. (( I knew . . . I knew from almost the beginning that she wasn’t just a normal girl. I knew it and I accepted it. I gave her what she wanted, freely, I allowed this to happen, so now I’ll face it. ))

Ikioi’s small warm hand found his and she squeezed gently, glancing up at him. The smile on her face and the happiness in her eyes were so pretty, so appealing, that Ryoga decided to imagine that she was the same girl he’d met a week ago, just a lovely young woman who was soft and caring, and whom he had so easily fallen in love with. It was far more pleasant to think of her in that way, rather then to see her as the demon he now knew her to be . . .

"We opened the Portal from this side," she said with quiet joy. "My Brothers have opened it from the other. They’re waiting for us, my Heart. It’s time to go."

Ryoga glanced once again into the light, at the odd shadows moving around within. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Ikioi continued to gaze up at him, apparently waiting for his reaction. Wind from the Portal tossed his hair and flickered across the bare skin of his chest. It felt warm, and carried a sense of endless darkness with it . . . a sense of wrongness. . . and he knew that the only thing awaiting him on the other side was eternal and intangible death.

He should have been terrified, but he wasn’t. At least, not in front of the wall he was swiftly erecting in his head to keep the feelings of panic at bay. He had made a promise . . . a bargain with Ikioi for the lives of his friends . . . (( My friends )). . . sweet Akane and the undefinable possibility that was Ranma . . . Thinking of them gave Ryoga the strength he needed to spread the mental mortar and lay the bricks.

Finally, after a long moment of thus reinforcing his teetering psyche, the young man nodded. "Hai," he said flatly.

Ikioi beamed and moved forward, toward the Portal, tugging at his hand. "Come, my Heart!" Bouncing eagerly, like a little girl, she drew him close to the heat and blinding light of the swirling galaxy, and its hum drowned out nearly everything else. The shadowy figures within paused as if sensing that the young Shikome and her Host were on their way, and the strange chhrring clicks that Ryoga assumed were coming from them increased in anticipation. Her Brothers . . . Ikioi had called them her Brothers . . . Ryoga wondered briefly exactly what she meant, but realized he would be finding out soon enough.

The floor beneath his bare feet began to vibrate. Ryoga thought at first that it was another effect of the Portal, but soon saw that he was wrong, as Ikioi paused and glanced back, her eyes hardening. Wondering what was going on, Ryoga looked back as well, in time to see that the outer wall of his room was buckling inward. Suddenly, the wood splintered and tore with a shattering crash, forcing lumber to fly in all directions. Ryoga pushed Ikioi aside as a particularly large section of the wall flipped toward them, and broke apart wildly in the spin of the Portal. Pieces shot back out, narrowly missing both of them.

Ryoga straightened into a habitual ready crouch as the dust settled, and looked to see what had caused the wall to shatter. There, each standing properly posed in the rumble, dramatically highlighted by the Portal and the flashing lights of the police vehicles outside, a group of five teenagers paused with various weapons drawn, expressions of vicious protectiveness on each face.

Ranma led them, taking his position at the front of the group, grounding his feet defensively with hands raised in readiness and fiery red battle aura flaring around him. He was flanked by Shampoo and Mousse, the Amazon girl balancing on one foot with her bon bori held over her head, and the myopic boy merely standing still, hands tucked deeply within the sleeves of his robe. Ukyo, brandishing her large battle spatula, crouched low behind them, and to her right Akane was ready with a huge mallet that looked far too heavy for a girl of her size to possibly lift.

Ryoga stared, stunned by the unexpected scene before him. He’d anticipated Ranma and Akane, and perhaps even Ukyo, only because Ikioi had said that they would come. But . . . (( Shampoo and Mousse? What . . . why would they . . . ? ))

On the other side of the Portal, Ikioi stood and brushed herself off pertly. To their credit, none of the teenagers let slip how startled they were to see her in a state of near-nudity. Ranma, for one, was too busy looking over Ryoga, taking note of the exhaustion that hung around the Lost Boy like a dismal cloud, seeing the strange glazed detachment shining on the surface of his eyes and the lines of stress etched into his face. But more than the physical signs, the pig tailed martial artist could feel something . . . something fractured and crumbling both in the Lost Boy’s waning aura and within the shaky touch of his mind. Ranma growled lowly in his throat and stepped forward, swinging his gaze toward Ikioi accusingly.

She’d hurt him . . . she had hurt Ryoga . . . now she was going to pay . . .

"Give me back my Ryoga, you bitch," he hissed.

Ryoga blinked.

Then Ranma was moving forward, wasting no time, a feral growl coming from his throat. As he sped toward Ikioi, he curled his hand into a fist and the battle aura surrounding him was immediately called down into his hand. With a yell of "-Kokoro Kogatana!-", a scalding red blade of pure ki grew from his knuckles, and he drew his arm back with the intention of plunging it downward at Ikioi, launching himself into the air above her.

Ryoga snapped awake, seeing a gleam of welcome challenge in Ikioi’s glittering eyes. Panic dashed through him. (( Nononono!! She’ll kill him! ))

With a kick of adrenaline and a speed he would never have guessed he possessed, Ryoga threw himself across the short distance that separated him from Ikioi, hooking his arm around her waist and yanking her along with his momentum out of Ranma’s line of fire. The pig tailed martial artist came down immediately in their wake, his ki-blade drilling into the floor where Ikioi had been standing. The wooden boards shattered as their structural integrity was violated, and Ranma was thrown backwards from the explosive force of his own attack.

He slammed against the last remaining inside wall, inducing a sizable crater. As he fell to the floor, Akane and Ukyo hurried to either side of him, and stood with weapons drawn protectively.

Ikioi got back to her feet, slipping out of Ryoga’s hold. She gazed at Ranma, lifted a slender eyebrow and laughed lightly with what was almost polite amusement. "-Your- Ryoga?" she purred. "Oh really, Ranma. You’ve spent years insulting him, teasing him, breaking him down and telling him he was worthless, and now you have the audacity to stand here and try to lay claim to him? It should be obvious, even to you, where his loyalties lie."

Ryoga backed off a step, his expression pained, and the newly erected wall in his mind already crumbling. Nausea swam in his stomach, and he cast his dark eyes downward, not trusting himself to meet the gaze of any of his . . . (( Friends, they’re . . . they’re my friends . . . )) . . . his friends . . . they had all come to fight for him, and he wanted more than anything to join them . . . to rebel and take back his chi . . .

But if he did . . . he would be breaking his promise, and Ikioi would kill them all.

"You lying bitch," Ranma groaned as he pushed himself out of the rumble of the wall and got back to his feet. He saw Ryoga’s expression, and felt the despair that the Lost Boy was projecting. "What’s obvious to me is that you’ve -trapped- him into being loyal to you. I’ve felt everything you’ve done to him, you sadistic monster, and the way I figure it - you tortured him into making you some kinda promise. And I know damn well that Ryoga don’t break his promises . . . "

Ranma’s gaze darkened and the battle aura shimmered around him once again. "So, I’ll break it for him . . . "

Ryoga was floored again. Ranma had felt . . . had felt everything?

Ikioi’s expression of amusement didn’t change. "Too late, Ranma Saotome," she replied simply.

"Is not too late!" Shampoo retorted venomously, stepping forward, her amethyst eyes narrowed and cold. "We take Hokou Onchi back from you now!"

"That’s right, Sugar," Ukyo put in, re-grounding herself with battle spatula poised over her head, ready to strike. "Ryoga-kun is one of us."

"And we protect our own," Akane finished, the glare in her own gaze hot enough to melt glass.

Ryoga was mentally reeling - overwhelmed and just a bit confused. He glanced up as each of the girls made their firm and challenging statements, unable to believe the ferocity he could plainly see within each of them. Were they really so determined to fight . . . for him? The Lost Boy felt like he was about to shatter into a million glass shards . . . all these years he had convinced himself that he had no friends . . . that no one cared . . . and yet here were five people facing off against a demon on his behalf . . . risking their lives for . . . him . . .

"Protect him from what, Akane Tendo?" Ikioi asked the gi-clad girl directly and pointedly. "From someone who -really- loves him? From someone who values him unconditionally for everything that he is, and has the courage to tell him that, rather than hiding behind convention and taking him for granted?"

Akane flinched, but remained steady, grinding her teeth together.

"You don’t love him." The tone of Ranma’s voice was deadly, and he crouched lower like a cat about to spring. "And you value him only because you can feed off him. He’s nothing but a source of energy for you, ain’t he? Well, I ain’t letting you take him! He’s mine!"

Ranma jumped forward again, fueling himself into an attack with his own words. With a silent mental cry of conflicting anguish, Ryoga moved to step in front of Ikioi, but she didn’t allow the assault to progress that far. Raising her hand, she threw up a shield, against which Ranma slammed violently. Ikioi thrust her hand forward, and the pig tailed martial artist was once again thrown through the air, this time landing heavily between Shampoo and Mousse. The teenagers converged around Ranma as he staggered to his feet.

"Damn bitch . . . " he snarled at Ikioi. "I got through your shield before, I’ll do it again."

"This fight is pointless, Ranma Saotome," Ikioi replied matter-of-factly. "You can’t hope to beat me and Ryoga is mine. So give up, go home and forget him, just as you always have."

"Ryoga is -mine!-" Ranma insisted, ki-blade springing to life from his fist once more.

Ryoga felt a jolt travel through his body, as he stared at Ranma and saw his stubborn determination illustrated so poignantly in the shine of the blade and in the scowl of anger on his face. (( Ranma . . . )) Ryoga whispered in his mind, his thoughts stunned and milling about wildly. (( You mean that . . . you really mean that . . . ))

Ikioi glared at Ranma, then her expression turned more thoughtful, She took a step back, putting Ryoga closer to the group, and nodded. "Very well, we can settle this easily. I’ll let Ryoga decide for himself. My Heart - - "

Ryoga jumped, looking the very picture of a startled deer, as Ikioi addressed him. He gazed at her, dark eyes wide and frightened. What was she doing? Let him decide for himself? She wasn’t actually going to let him choose, was she . . . ? A brief shining spark of hope ignited within.

And was immediately quelled as Ikioi rested her hand pointedly on her chest and gazed at him, eyes large and shimmering like sun-touched waves on an ocean. "I’m giving you a choice, Beloved," she said gently, the silvery tones of her voice soft and pure. "Either come with me freely, or remain here with Ranma Saotome."

Ranma was clearly taken aback by Ikioi’s apparent change of heart. He straightened and growled at her suspiciously. "What the hell are you trying to pull?"

"I’m not trying to pull anything," Ikioi tipped her head slightly as if she thought that notion was rather funny. "The choice is, and always has been, Ryoga’s."

All eyes swung to Ryoga, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet those gazes. Lowering his face, the young man wished he could die right then and there, as he knew damn well that he really had no choice at all. Despair flooded into his mind, eroding away the crumbling remains of his stoic wall, and he began to shake again, fighting not to go to his knees. How could she . . . how could she do this to him? Force him to give recognition and voice to the trap she had snared him with? If it was only his life at stake . . . but it wasn’t . . . He had given his word, and if he broke that word, Ikioi would kill Ranma . . . she would kill them all . . .

In the Portal behind him, the strange clicking chrring sounds had grown more distinct, an indication that whatever was waiting within had moved closer, perhaps wondering why Ikioi and her Host were taking so long to enter. Ryoga shoved his attention firmly away from the noises, but they had served to remind him . . . remind him that Ikioi was not an everyday threat . . . she was a demon . . . and she held his soul, and the lives of his friends, in her grip . . .

"Ryoga . . . " Ranma called lowly, as he stepped forward, trying to get the Lost Boy’s attention. Ranma could plainly feel the unhappiness and intense hurt coming from the young man, and on some level, he knew what Ryoga himself knew. He could see it in the way Ryoga stood, tired and limp as if he were about to collapse like a puppet with slack strings. Ikioi had threatened their lives . . . and Ryoga was giving the Shikome his loyalty to save them . . . "Ryoga!" Ranma said again, more urgently. "You don’t have to do this. We can handle whatever she wants to throw at us, buddy, trust me!"

Ryoga refused to look at him, heart breaking, pieces echoing through his empty chest as they fell. Despite Ranma’s bravado, the Lost Boy knew better. They could not hope to fight someone who was capable of teleporting them anywhere with only a thought. He clenched his hands into fists and fought back the tears that wanted to come.

"I . . . I’m sorry Ranma . . . " Ryoga choked out, somehow managing to maintain his stance and composure despite how everything was teetering wildly in his mind. After a moment, he was finally able to gather himself enough to lift his head and faced the group of friends directly.

"Mina-san . . . " he began with a faint trembling smile. The hoarseness in his throat was evident to everyone, as it sounded so unlike the smooth tenor tones he usually possessed. "Th - thank you . . . all of you . . . You don’t . . . you don’t know what it means to me that you all . . . that you . . . " The sentence fragmented in his mind and he couldn’t get any more of it out. Swallowing hard, his dark eyes met Akane’s. "It means more than I could ever tell you . . . "

Akane brought her hands up to her mouth and attempted to stifle her own tears. She could sense what his shakily delivered words were leading to. "Oh Ryoga . . . " she shook her head emphatically. "No . . . "

"But," he continued, this time shifting his gaze to Ranma. "I’m g - going with Ikioi."

The group responded with a chorus of exclamations and protests, most of which Ryoga didn’t hear, as he was caught up in the intensifying glitter of anger in Ranma’s eyes. Statements consisting of : "Ryoga honey, you can’t be serious!" "Hokou Onchi! Shampoo no let you go with bad woman!" and "Hibiki, don’t be a fool!" piled one by one on top of each other, as the young man simply stared at Ranma . . . his rival . . . his friend . . .

(( My friend . . . please understand . . . )) Ryoga begged silently, miserably, as the two young men stared at each other.

Ranma hissed lowly, lifting his fist once more, bringing it up alongside his face. His mouth formed a vicious grim line as his ki-blade snapped to life once more, its savage color and light reflecting deep within his glacier eyes.

"Yeah," he snarled, shimmering anger straining against his every word. He could feel the Lost Boy breaking apart, and it was Ikioi’s fault. "I understand, Ryoga. I understand perfectly . . . "

A battle cry tearing from his throat, Ranma threw himself forward again, thundering toward Ikioi, drawing the ki-blade back for an attack. This time, he was determined to take that little bitch down, to tear the smirking knowing smile right off her face for what she was doing to Ryoga, for what she had forced him to say. As he raced forward, Ranma saw her raise her hand again, summoning the shield that she used to protect herself, but he simply continued his charge, consciously concentrating every ounce of his anger and hate down into the Kokoro Kogatana blade he wielded. Putting all of his momentum behind the thrust, Ranma threw his arm forward, and the mental knife tore through the shield as if it were nothing more substantial than a paper wall.

He saw Ikioi’s eyes widen with surprise. Apparently, she hadn’t been expecting him to break through her barrier again, and neither had anyone else. He heard Shampoo and Ukyo shout encouragingly, and saw blank amazement on Ryoga’s features as well. A macabre grin crossing his face, Ranma kept moving forward, all of his attention narrowing down to encompass only the spot directly above Ikioi’s heart - his ultimate target.

He heard Ryoga frantically call out his name, then something hit him . . . something that streaked out from the glowing light of the Portal. It slammed hard against his front, and Ranma suddenly found himself struggling with a cold writhing body, grappling with multiple chitinous appendages, as his forward attack was abruptly halted and he was once again propelled backwards. An eerie chittering buzz filled his ears, then turned abruptly into a squealing scream as he managed to get his arm free and jammed the ki-blade hard and deep into whatever it was that he was fighting with. Ranma slammed jarringly against the floor once more.

Growling, he quickly recovered his senses, heaved the twitching baggage off of himself and scrambled back to his feet, taking only a brief moment to note creature’s decidedly arachnid appearance. Then Ranma’s attention was captured by a challenging cry from Akane, and he looked up to see her caught in a dancing circle with another of the creatures, which seemed oblivious to her raining blows with the mallet. Then another attacked him.

In fact, each of the teenagers were now fighting two or three of the insectile monsters, and more were pouring from the Portal. They had the look of daddy-longlegs, with a hard compact body hanging in a sling of six primary legs. The limbs were long and at the first segmented joint each divided into three more limbs, granting the creature astonishing mobility and grasping power. Ranma dispatched his own attacker, then was immediately confronted with another, even while he watched, startled and repulsed, as one of the beasts jumped on Mousse from behind and wrapped all eighteen limbs tightly around his body, pinning his arms down and rendering the Amazon unable to utilize his vast array of hidden weapons.

Unthinkingly, Ryoga charged forward, quickly yanking off several of his bandannas with his right hand and twirling them in preparation. The attack was aborted as Ikioi’s hand flashed out and wrapped around his left wrist, and the slight girl jerked him back to her side. His initial reaction was one of anger, and he swung around with every intention of delivering a blow that would decisively stun any normal opponent, only to be met with the cold shine of her eyes, and her free hand already in place over his chi. She flexed her fingers slightly, to induce the blackening of his vision and the incapacitating paralysis which brought Ryoga heavily to his knees.

(( Ikioi! No! )) Ryoga’s mind shrieked. (( Let me go! Let me help them! ))

"Be still, Ryoga," Ikioi said simply, tightening her grip. Ryoga’s body stiffened against the torture, and the black suffocating agony consumed him once more.

Ranma whirled around, feeling the Lost Boy’s pain descend into himself like a disemboweling knife. He had time for a strangulated cry of, "Ryoga!! Stop it, you bitch!!" before he was once again beset by several more of the creatures.

Mousse was still grappling with the spider on his back, while being attacked by two more in the front. Though close, both Ranma and Shampoo were busy with their own attackers and could offer no assistance. As the young Amazon struggled to free himself, losing his balance and toppling over, he aimed his fall so that he would slide feet-first into another of the creatures, knocking it backwards and slamming it violently against the remains of a bookcase. It writhed and squawked under his foot. The spider on his back hissed as it was raked roughly across the floor, and it reared its small armored head, opening a mouth filled with gleaming translucent jagged teeth.

Having dispatched his most pressing problems, Ranma began to move forward to help, but Shampoo was at Mousse’s side faster, even as she fought off her own horde of chittering nightmares. Seeing that her bon bori had little effect on the creatures, she had quickly abandoned the weapons in favor of the Kokoro Kogatana blade. With a challenging cry of "Aiyah!", the violet-haired girl sank her ki-knife directly into the small body mass clenched tight against Mousse’s back. It screamed disturbingly and fell away from the young man’s body, curling up in a blackened twist of legs.

Seeing that taken care of, Ranma spun around with the intention of making a line toward Ryoga, but was distracted by Akane’s yell. He turned back to assist, only to find that Ukyo was already there. Placing themselves back to back, both girls now had their ki-blades out, and though their blows weren’t strong enough to kill as Shampoo’s did, they were able to sever limbs at a surprisingly skilled and rapid rate. The spiders bled a strange clear goo whenever they were maimed, and within no time a dangerous slick of the stuff was coating the floor.

"Don’t worry about us, Ran-chan!" Ukyo urged, giving him a confident grin and the quick flash of a victory sign. She plowed her blade into another creature, sending it scurrying away screeching.

"She’s right, Saotome," Mousse and Shampoo had fought off their most immediate threats as well, and came to flank Ranma, both with knives blazing. Mousse gripped the pig tailed boy’s arm and gestured toward the Portal, drawing Ranma’s attention to Ryoga, who was still immobilized and on his knees, a pale expression of pinched distress on his face.

"You go kill Shikome, we cover you, Ranma!" Shampoo directed breathlessly, her eyes shining with the strange delighted heat of a good challenging fight.

"Hai!" Ranma snarled, snapping his own ki-blade back to life and shifted his gaze to where Ikioi and Ryoga waited before the Portal. Filling the space between them and Ranma was a growing sea of clicking creeping arachnids.

Steeling himself, the pig tailed martial artist tore directly into the undulating wave of creatures. The hideous beasts chattered and jumped at him, legs wide spread and grasping, mouths hissing open as they sought to bury their teeth in his flesh. Hot anger blazed through Ranma’s body, fueled by the pain still coming from Ryoga, and he threw his knife arm forward repeatedly, with a war cry of "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" The resulting thrusts were a blur as he rapidly impaled creature after creature on his blade, trusting Shampoo and Mousse to handle things on either side of him.

Ikioi chuckled lightly as she watched the trio struggle. "My Brothers will make short work of them," she decided. Turning away from the fight, she dropped her hand, thereby releasing Ryoga from his torture, and watched impassively as he fell forward onto his hands and knees, retching dryly.

She gave him a moment, then settled her hand on his back. "Come, my Heart. We might as well leave."

Ryoga tried to yank away from her, and succeeded only in toppling sideways. As he lay against the floor, attempting to summon strength enough to move, sounds of the fight invaded his ears . . . the screeches of the creatures as they were killed or wounded . . . shouts and battle cries from the teenagers as they fought . . . Akane’s yelp of pain and Ukyo’s angry answering echo . . . the sound of Ranma’s yell as he poured more speed into his Chestnut Fist . . .

(( Ranma . . . ))

Tears filling his eyes, Ryoga shakily lifted his head and took in the scene that matched the sounds . . . Ranma was moving through the disturbing sea of swarming creatures like a bulldozer, and scorched bodies were flying in the wake of his ki-blade. Shampoo and Mousse fought like one unit, side by side, taking care of anything that tried to attack Ranma from the side or behind. All three were covered with bloody scratches from the tipped claws at the ends of the spiders’ legs, and Mousse’s robe was torn open down his chest from the right shoulder, edges of the white material stained wet and red.

Akane was down on one knee, still holding her own, but sheltered by a fiercely protective Ukyo, who was mutilating the horrid beasts whenever one dared venture near. Both girls were doing their best, but Ryoga knew that it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. The ingrained drive to help them gave him the second wind he needed to push himself heavily to his feet, hands still tightly clutching the bandannas he had stripped off earlier.

"Akane-san . . . Ukyo . . . " he whispered, and started to stumble forward, but Ikioi grabbed him once again and held him back, slender fingers wrapping around his wrist like an iron shackle. She narrowed her ocean eyes slightly, frowning as he twisted his arm to free himself.

"Ryoga . . . " she said in a reminding tone.

Overpowering desperate despair rose within him as he weakly tugged against her hold. "Ikioi, stop this, please! You promised you wouldn’t kill them!" Ryoga wailed, turning toward her with insane pleading in his eyes. He couldn’t bear to see his friends hurt . . . die . . . because of him. "Please! I’ve kept my end of the deal, I’ve agreed to go with you. Now, you keep your word, Ikioi! Stop this!"

The look she gave him plainly said that he was walking on a very fine line, and she tightened her grip on his wrist, taking grim satisfaction in the grinding of bones beneath his skin. Ryoga winced and shuttered at this new pain on top of the lingering traces of his chi being crushed, but he held his ground, continuing to gaze imploringly at her. He knew damn well that he was pushing his luck, that she was under no real obligation to keep her end of the bargain. She could kill everyone and there would be nothing that Ryoga could do to prevent it, promise or not.

Ikioi frowned hard, angrily. This was not the way things were suppose to go! He was suppose to love -her-! He should have accepted the illusions she wanted to give him, should have followed her willingly and unconditionally, should even now be sequestered peacefully away in her Realm without having offered any protest or rebellion! But he wasn’t. He had defied her at every turn, and for some reason he still continued to care about the very people who had been hurting him for years! It didn’t make any sense, and seeing the concern for his friends reflected so poignantly in his expression . . . for the first time, Ikioi was angry enough to kill him . . . She briefly considered simply tearing his chi apart, scattering it to the winds and starting over with someone who was perhaps not as strong, but at least manageable.

But she shoved away that thought almost as soon as it came to her. She was so close to her goal! Failure wasn’t acceptable, and she loved him, damn her anyway. She had grown used to the fluttering feel of his chi, cherished it, and desired no other. And he -was- manageable. All she had to do was remind him . . .

Ikioi continued to crush his wrist, and brought her free hand to her chest pointedly to further the threat. This time, Ryoga flinched, conditioned fear rising within him. He immediately ceased his struggle and let the bandannas he was holding flutter to the floor, going limp with defeat.

"Good boy," Ikioi praised tightly, and was gratified to see the shame that colored his face and caused him to cast his eyes downward. Shame and pain . . . the two collars that kept him tethered to her. "Now, it’s time for us to leave. Once we are through the Portal, without our energy, my Brothers will easily succumb to your -friends’- defenses." The emphasized word was hissed more than actually spoken. "The sooner you cooperate with me, the sooner they’ll be safe, is that understood, my Heart?"

Ryoga caught a sob in his throat and nodded, briefly squeezing his eyes shut and trying to block out the terrifying sounds of the fight. If that was the case, then he would waste no more time. Turning, the Lost Boy faced the Portal . . . faced its light and color . . . he moved into the blinding glow, and at that moment his only real wish was to die, to have his life end right here and now before he was forced to take this final step into Hell.

And something did die within him. Something soft, young and hopeful, something he had always kept hidden within the deepest locked rooms of his heart. It fell away, splintering into jagged fragments to lay glittering on the floor of his mind with the rest of his psyche. When Ryoga looked ahead at the endless eternity of death that awaited him . . . he realized that there was no point in keeping that which he would never need again. Better to let it all go now . . . consciously and willingly . . . rather than have it stripped from him layer by layer over the span of centuries.

(( You brought this on yourself, )) that cold detached voice in his mind told him once again. (( It’s what you deserve, now get on with it. ))

Quietly . . . Ryoga obeyed and released everything, relinquishing every desire, every potential, every grudge, every-thing- he had ever felt. He stripped it all away and let it go . . . until the only thing remaining was an empty hollow space which had once housed the emotions and feelings that made up who he was.

Ranma had almost reached them. As he hooked his blade into the underside of another creature and pitched up over his head, the chilling feel of Ryoga’s final resignation swept coldly into his own mind, and stopped him in his tracks. A group of spiders latched onto him, and he fought them off almost automatically as he reached out and tried to touch auras with Ryoga, tried to lend strength and support to the Lost Boy. He felt only fragmented pieces of his friend’s mind and emotions slipping away, falling into surrender . . . Frightened, Ranma tried to mentally grasp them, draw them into himself for safe-keeping, and was cut by their razor edges in the process.

Panic sang at the edges of his own mind. Ryoga was giving up . . . abandoning himself . . . becoming lost as he never had before . . . (( Ryoga . . . )) Ranma chanced to look up and saw Ryoga stepping mechanically into the glow from that spinning swirl of glare and color.

"Ryoga! No!!" he shrieked, and scrambled over the last few spiders, crushing them beneath his vindictive anger as he closed the remaining gap between himself and the two silhouetted in the Portal. Ikioi paused to glare at him, long black hair swirling around her slight body as the wind caught it. She held her hand up and summoned the barrier once again, not even flinching as its formation gruesomely cut a number of her own Brothers in half, giving the Lost Boy the moment he needed to pass through the seal of non-reality that would lead him to her Realm.

Ryoga felt himself slip through a shimmering liquid-like substance, and then he was beyond the hold of the real world. A long silvery tunnel stretched out before him, rippling and undulating with the same rhythm as the pulse of the Portal itself. Far in the distance, a dark speck indicated the opposite exit . . . the entrance to Ikioi’s Realm. He regarded it all silently, dispassionately, for there was nothing left within him that was capable of reacting. Everything had been left behind.

"Ryoga!!" Ranma screamed as the Lost Boy disappeared into the luminescence of that hated Portal, plunging his blade viciously into the shield that Ikioi had erected. It didn’t go through with quite the same ease as it had before, but that wasn’t a concern. The only thing that mattered was getting through before Ikioi followed Ryoga, before the young man was irretrievably lost to him.

"Too late, Ranma Saotome," Ikioi smiled gently, standing before the twisting phenomenon which highlighted her soft curves gently, looking very beautiful and very unlike a demon who had just stolen away the one person that Ranma loved above all others. "He’s mine now. Mine forever."

A hoarse primal cry tore from Ranma’s throat as he pulled back once more and slammed the Kokoro Kogatana against the wall of her shield. A web of bio-electric power danced over its invisible surface, penetrating it, shattering it. Even as the ki-peices were falling, Ranma was propelling himself forward again, intent on taking Ikioi down once and for all. Glittering tears falling in his wake, Ranma sprang into the air, readying the blazing ki-blade, aiming it right for Ikioi’s smirking and self-satisfied smile.

Triumph gleamed in her brilliant eyes as she simply stepped into the Portal and melted into its shining light.

Ranma skidded to a halt, shocked for a moment into paralysis.

They were gone . . . they were both gone . . . he . . . he’d lost . . .

Feeling numb, he reached out with his mind and tried to touch the Lost Boy’s thoughts, only to find nothing there that he could reach. All that seemed to remain were the lingering insubstantial shards of emotion and personality that Ryoga had released and left behind. They settled gently into Ranma’s head like cherry blossoms on a flimsy breeze.

Ranma staggered backwards, stunned, then realized that the Portal was closing up behind the Shikome and her Host. Its center iris was swirling shut, drawing in all of the light and color that it had been spewing, and the spiral arms that defined its parameters slowly began to draw inward.

From somewhere behind him, Ranma heard Akane sobbing. He stared at the shrinking Portal, working through a whirl of stunned thoughts that assaulted his mind.

He’d lost . . . he’d lost the fight . . . he had lost Ryoga . . .

Anger grew then, quickly replacing the shock. Ranma growled low in his throat and centered himself, finding that calm icy point within his chi where he could think clearly, gathering up all of the final remains of Ryoga’s presence and securing them there, close to his heart where they would be protected.

He rejected his failure, denied it. This battle was not yet over, and he would not accept or recognize defeat . . . he was Ranma Saotome, and Ranma Saotome never lost . . . -never-! Curling his hands tightly into fists, Ranma lifted his head and screamed a wordless battle cry at the night sky.

Having thus issued his challenge to the Fates, and without another thought or hesitation, Ranma threw himself headlong into the closing Portal, ki-knife held before him to clear the way. He was peripherally aware of the others yelling after him, but ignored them as he slipped through the sealing iris and shot into the silvery tunnel beyond.

(( Ryoga!  I will not lose you!  I will -not- lose you!! ))

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