Somewhere in Tokyo, a demon appeared. 

She was a hulking figure, around nine feet tall from head to toe, two feet taller if you added her 
horns. Bust, waist, arms, legs; all were big and muscular, forming a lovely, yet intimidating 
figure. The outfit she wore was just within the bounds of decency, showing off a lot of her fiery 
red skin. She was a creature that looked as if she were going to make someone's...many 
someone's lives very miserable.

But, she was just an administrative assistant. She didn't get the fun jobs.

Things were pretty hectic back where she was from. A lot of work needed to be done and there 
weren't enough personnel to take care of it all. And as if she didn't have enough on her plate, she 
had to find someone who could take care of the latest summoning that occurred in this region. 
With a sigh and a ball of fire, the demon summoned a clipboard with the "DemCo" logo on the 
back.

She studied the personnel file bound to the front carefully. Apparently, there was an old 
employee whose last known location was placed somewhere in that area. It was speculated that 
she was put in some sort of spirit prison or something. Making the clipboard disappear again, she 
looked around. 

The demon shivered listlessly; the place was just way too pure. It was no wonder; there was a 
temple just behind her. She began walking away from the shrine at a brisk pace. It was no 
wonder the demon had disappeared. There must've been priests or monks here that didn't take 
too well to her kind. Fortunately, none seemed to be around. This shouldn't be too tough.

**	**

Just down a long flight of stairs from the shrine, stood a house where a small family, the ones 
who took care of the temple, resided. Among them was a young girl who seemed more like a 
visitor than a resident these days. Though young, she was quite the beauty, with raven hued hair 
that fell just passed her shoulders and a sailor type school uniform she wore most of the time. 
Even though she didn't reside in Nerima, she was embroiled in a fair amount of trouble, not to 
mention the fact that she had a fair number of suitors who wished her hand in marriage. 

With friends she had made in another time period, she was on a quest to recover an heirloom that 
has been in her family's protection for generations. The search had been grueling and, save a few 
pieces they collected that she kept on her person, quite unsuccessful. Though things haven't been 
in their favor as of yet, with all of the danger they faced, all the battles they fought, she counted 
herself very lucky that she and everyone she had come to care for were still alive.

Whenever things got too hectic, as was the case here, she returned to her home to recuperate. She 
leaned back in her lounge chair, basking in the midday sun; she knew she made the right decision 
coming back. There was a time when she used to take the modern amenities for granted. With 
the experiences she gained on her adventures, though, she swore she never would again. She just 
wished her friends could share in some of the creature comforts she had gotten used to.

One was able to. Although there was another lounge chair he could have used, he preferred to 
lounge in the branch of a nearby tree, the same way he would back in his time period. The man 
in question was quite the peculiarity to the normal person. He wore what looked like a red kendo 
uniform, had snow white, waist length hair and wore no shoes. The most interesting thing about 
this man, though, where his ears, which looked like they were meant for a dog.

He didn't want to get too used to the conveniences of the current time he was in. Doing so would 
make him soft and with everything they had to face on a constant basis, he couldn't afford that. 
Even though none of his friends were weaklings by any account, he knew when push came to 
shove and everything was on the line, it would fall to him to win the day. He had to do all he 
could to keep his fine edge to protect them all...especially her. 

He looked down at the girl beneath him. He cared for her so deeply it hurt sometimes. His 
problem was that his heart went out to another woman, one he knew long before her. He wished 
he could share his heart with both, but that seemed to go against the sensibilities of all he knew 
in both time periods. Even though he loathed the possibility, the time would come when he 
would have to choose. 

That was something to worry about in the future, though...or the past...or...bleh. Time travel was 
so confusing. He sat back into the tree and closed his eyes. Best not to think about any of that 
stuff. 

Suddenly, his eyes popped open and he sat up. His enhanced senses detected something in the 
area that was out of place. He leapt out of the three and landed aptly next to the girl down on the 
lounge chair. Seeing the alarm in his eyes, the girl sat up as well.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

He sniffed the air, "There's a demon close by."

Her eyes widened, "Here? You-you don't think it's after the jewel shards, do you?"

The man cracked his knuckles, "Only one way to find out..."



Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

Legacy
 
Chapter 5




Another school day had come and gone; Ranma and Akane were absent from school yet again. 
Ukyou was worried something major had happened. The thought of the two exclaiming their 
love and running away together came to mind, but she dismissed that quickly. The way they 
acted towards each other, that was very unlikely. Gossip as to why they were absent for so long 
had spread throughout school and word was from a couple of eyewitnesses, they had gotten 
caught up in a fight between Taro and the old pervert. During the fight, something may have 
happened to Akane. Ranma was very protective of all of his fiancées. If something did happen to 
Akane, it would make sense that he'd stay with her. Even though Akane was a rival for Ranma's 
affections, Ukyou wished no serious harm to befall her. She'd have to stop by to make sure 
Akane was okay.

Ukyou made her way back to her home and let herself in. Hopefully, the Tendos wouldn't mind 
her popping in late at night for her visit. With the way business had been going, that would be 
the only time she'd have free. Plopping her bookbag down by the door, she undid her hair and 
went to get something to drink.

Speaking of drinks, she wondered how Ryouga was doing. He was in really bad shape when she 
brought him in. Any normal human would've been dead with the amount of fluids he lost. 
Fortunately he was a stubborn one. For a person so depressed, he certainly had a powerful will to 
live. Ukyou placed him in her guest room, feeding him water from an eyedropper to rehydrate 
him gradually. He was still asleep when she left, but he appeared to be in much better shape than 
he was yesterday.

Grabbing a can of juice from one of her large, industrial refrigerators, she noticed the door to her 
back yard was opened. Instinctively peering through, she found Ryouga in the middle of his 
exercises. He looked to be doing a lot better.

There was a ferocious beauty to his forms. The style he used took advantage of his bullish 
strength to power through his enemy's defenses and pummel them into submission. There didn't 
appear to be any room for misdirection or finesse, just a straight-ahead push towards his goal. 
That seemed to be the philosophy Ryouga lived by. Watching his lithe form in motion, shirtless 
as he was, Ukyou couldn't help but blush. He was very handsome, after all. He also had a very 
big heart and nowhere near the ego Ranma had. She couldn't help but wonder why he never had 
a girlfriend. Well, when they finally got their heads together and formulated a plan, he wouldn't 
have that problem anymore, as Akane would be all his...which would leave Ranma to be the 
doting fiancée/husband to her. Ukyou smiled just thinking about it.

Somewhere in his exercises, Ryouga fell to his knees, gasping for air. Ukyou ran to him and put 
her hand on his shoulders, "Hey, hon. You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah," he answered though his heavy panting. "Just got dizzy all of a sudden."

"It's not surprising. After what you were just through, you're pushing yourself way too hard. 
Here..." she handed him the can of juice she was going to drink herself. "And for goodness 
sakes, man, take a seat!"

Helping him to his feet, Ukyou marched him back inside and sat him down at one of the dining 
tables. She went back to the kitchen, got another can of juice for herself and joined him. As she 
sat there, watching him down the juice, she realized, after all they had been through, including 
the time he saved her from that monkey-man on Togenkyou, she really didn't know much about 
him. There was nothing better to do at the moment, so she dug for details.

"So...where do you go to school?" she asked him.

Gulping down the last bit of juice, Ryouga put the can down, "School?" Ukyou nodded. He 
blushed and turned away from her, "I...er...I don't go to school."

Ukyou raised her eyebrow, "You don't go to school?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Well, Ranma and I were in the same Jr. High School when 
we were younger. We got into a lot of altercations and he finally pushed me into challenging him 
to a proper duel. But he was too chicken to fight me and he ran away." Maybe Ukyou was wrong 
about the ego part. She seriously doubted Ranma was afraid. "I followed him on his training trip, 
to see to it that we would finally have our duel..." Ryouga hung his head. "That was when our 
feud really began. After that...school just seemed unimportant."

That really caught Ukyou's interest. Wasn't that the same training trip Ranma told her about 
before? The one where he got cursed to become a girl? Could Ryouga have gotten cursed too? 
"What happened?"

His blush deepened, "I'd rather not say!" She was sure of it now. He DID have a curse. She 
grinned inwardly; she would have to find out exactly what he turns into. She didn't know it, but 
she was grinning outwardly too and it made Ryouga very uncomfortable. 

Ukyou shook her head clear. She had an opening for her request...she couldn't get distracted 
now. Her newfound quest to uncover his cursed form will have to wait for later. "Listen, sugar, I 
know we both want the same thing: to break Ranma and Akane up so that I can get him and you 
can get her. But I have to say, this changes things."

"What do you mean?"

"Akane's a smart gal and she's getting smarter every day. You don't think she'd want to get 
involved with a dummy, do you?"

"She's involved with Ranma, isn't she?"

Ukyou's eye twitched. She didn't appreciate the jab, but if she was going to convince Ryouga to 
stay, she couldn't lose her cool. "The POINT is, if Akane's anything like me, she appreciates the 
brawn, but she's going to want a brain to go along with it. She's going to want someone at her 
educational level to have intelligent conversations with. If you want that person to be you, you're 
going to have to do more to better yourself."

"You mean, I should go back to school?"

"Exactly."

Ryouga shook his head, "I'm so far behind, I don't know where to begin. I can't even find where 
I live so that I can find out what High School I'm supposed to be going to."

"You manage to find your way here often enough," Ukyou said, "you can stay here."

"S-stay here? With you?"
 
Ukyou nodded. "There are equivalency tests you can take to make sure you're placed in the 
proper grade level. I can tutor you with that and anything else you need help with. And in return 
for everything, you can help me run the restaurant."

"I don't know," went Ryouga. The whole arrangement did sound nice, but it had the chance of 
reigning in his freedom.

"Think about it," continued Ukyou. "The work, here and at school would go a lot smoother with 
the two of us together. On top of that, we can put plans together to get Ranma and Akane by our 
sides where they belong. The closest we've gotten to success was when we worked together. I 
know if we start working together again, we can get the ones we love with us in no time."

He thought about it. It did make sense. Doing what they were doing apart wasn't working very 
well. It was about time he changed tactics. And it would be nice to have an actual home for a 
change. "I'll do it."

They shook hands and Ukyou smiled, "You won't regret this. Now, before the restaurant opens, 
go wash up. You stink!"

That big sweat drop appeared on Ryouga's head. She was wrong about one thing. He was 
regretting it already.

**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**

Autumn stood in the park where she and Mousse had their duel. Apparently, the Nerima Martial-
Arts Repair Crew hadn't shown up there yet, as the markings from their battle still littered the 
area. It was only one day removed but it already felt like many lifetimes ago. She couldn't look 
at the battlefield any longer; it was too painful. 

She walked over to the swing set and sat down on one of the swings. It was just so typical of the 
way things went. She finally found a man who captivated her; a man who proved he was strong 
enough to handle her affections and he had to be from a rival tribe. Even though Mousse was still 
hooked on that other girl, she could tell something was there between them as well. But this...she 
couldn't see how they could get over their inherent tribal enmity.

Autumn looked up; the sky, which had been clear blue for the last few days, was marred with the 
gray of oncoming clouds. Seem fitting with the way things had been going lately. This Nerima 
seemed to be a nice town with a lot of promising possibilities for her. Now, she didn't think she 
could bring herself to stay there. It was a shame to have to leave already, she was just getting 
used to the place. But if staying there meant she had to keep feeling what she felt at that moment, 
it wouldn't be worth it in the long run.

"Hey..."

She looked up and saw that face she had been daydreaming about, with the overly thick glasses 
and framed by that long black hair. She gave him a sad smile, "Hey yourself."

Mousse sat down on a swing besides her, "Look...I'm sorry about what happened this morning."

Autumn shook her head, "Don't be. It wasn't your fault. I just wish things could've been 
different." She couldn't bring herself to look at him. She likely would've broken down if she 
had. "Aren't you taking a risk even being here talking to me now?"

"Hey, I'm already not one to follow tribal rules one hundred percent. May as well break a few 
more, right?" 

She laughed despite herself. "Well, one good thing came of this. It made your decision a lot 
easier."

He looked skyward as well. Clouds rolling in? Hope it's not going to rain any time soon. "No...if 
anything, it's made things a lot harder."

Harder? What could he be thinking? Did he not know about the severe trouble he could get into 
with his tribal elders for fraternizing with an enemy? She wasn't too thrilled with the possibility 
of getting in trouble with her tribal leadership either. The public humiliation she'd have to 
endure...she shuddered to think about it. But while her tribe was big on psychological 
punishment, his tribe was more creative when it came to their judgments...training at Jusenkyou 
for example. She could handle the aftermath of her sentence...could he?

Autumn's head snapped up as her keen senses alerted her of incoming danger. "You got to be 
kidding me," she said to herself. Whatever it was that gave her that feeling, it was getting closer.

"What is it?" Mousse asked, concerned.

"Hopefully, it's nothing. Stay here, just to be safe." With that, Autumn ran out of the park.

Mousse couldn't figure out what was wrong, his own sense of danger not alerting him to 
anything. Of course, he wasn't one to sit on the sidelines, if he could help things. "Nope...no 
staying here and being safe for me!" He jumped to his feet and followed her.

**	**

"You're startin' to make a habit of missin' school, ain't ya?" Ranma asked his fiancée as they 
strode through town.

"I just can't bring myself to face anyone at school, yet," answered Akane. Though she didn't feel 
up to going back to school yet, she also didn't want to stay in that house. Since their little talk, 
her father and oldest sister have tried to speak to her. With all of the dishonesty she had to endure 
until then, she couldn't be bothered with anything else they had to say. "At any rate, what would 
I tell my friends about...these changes? I doubt they'll take too well to finding out I'm a 
monster."

"You don't have to tell 'em anything if you don't want to," Ranma shrugged. "Of course, you'll 
have to be careful with stuff like gym, if you don't want it to come up." Akane wasn't sure if that 
was meant as a pun or not...though, she didn't think he was clever enough to mean that as a joke.  
"And how much longer are you going to avoid your family?"

Akane sighed, "Who knows? Maybe the rest of forever?" Ranma looked at her. "Come on, 
Ranma, they didn't have to hide it from me as long as they did! If they knew something like this 
could've happened, they should've told me earlier!"

"And if they did, how would you have taken it?"

"I don't know..."

"Probably as well as you're taking it now. On top of that, you would've been worrying yourself 
to death, wonderin' if every little twinge you felt meant you were changin'."

"So what?" went Akane, getting angry. "You're saying they were right in keeping this from 
me?"

Ranma shrugged again. "I dunno. I can't say if they were right or not. All I know is they did 
what they thought was best, since they didn't know if you were gonna change or not. I just 
wouldn't hold it against 'em, is all."

Akane shook her head. He was one to talk. He didn't exactly forgive and forget when it came to 
a lot of the stuff his father did to him. Of course, he never held a grudge against his father either.  
She didn't know what to do. She just didn't feel like forgiving them just yet. 

"YOU THERE!"

Ranma and Akane stopped in mid stride. A strange blonde girl stood in front of them, blocking 
their path. "I don't know how you managed to be here without me noticing before, but now that I 
found you, you won't get away!"

Akane looked at her fiancée, "And who is this?"

"How am I supposed to know?" went Ranma, defensively.

"Usually, when some new girl appears, saying stuff like that, she ends up saying she's engaged 
to you."

"I doubt that. I don't even know her."

"I recall you didn't remember who Ukyou was either."

"Err..."

"PREPARE TO DIE!!!" Autumn charged the couple, a pair of scimitars drawn. Ranma jumped 
away, intending to draw this new figure away from his fiancée. If she was, somehow, involved 
with him, he didn't want Akane hurt in the crossfire. Of course, if she was, somehow, involved 
with him, he would have to have a 'word' with his father who had a bad habit of putting him into 
situations like that. 

Coming back to ground, Ranma dropped into a defensive position ready for any oncoming 
attacks. This girl looked to use a similar fighting style to Mousse. It shouldn't be too hard to 
bring her down, if such was the case. He waited, but no attack ever came. He looked back 
towards Akane and found that she was the one under attack. "Huh?"

This girl, whomever she was, was no slouch. Her attack speed was blinding. Yet, somehow, 
Akane was able to expertly dodge every strike. Ranma was amazed Akane hadn't been sliced in 
two yet. The girl was in Shampoo's league when it came to speed. Sure, Akane had gotten better 
recently due to rigorous training, but she had never displayed this kind of speed before.

Apparently, Akane didn't realize herself what she was doing. She was too busy doing it to 
notice. "Who are you? What are you attacking me for?" she demanded.

"Do you even have to ask?" returned Autumn. "I could detect your stench from a mile away, 
demon!" Akane's eyes widened. How could this stranger have known? "It's my duty as a demon 
hunter to purge your vile kind from this world!" 

Autumn backed Akane into a fence that blocked the walkway off from a gully filled with water. 
With her prey cornered, Autumn went for a final decapitating strike. However, Ranma got in 
between them, grabbing her wrists, protecting his fiancée. "I dunno who you are, lady, but there 
ain't no way I'm gonna let you hurt Akane!"

"So, you got this poor guy under your spell and are using him as your shield?" Autumn taunted. 
"You pathetic creature!"

"That's funny," Ranma chuckled, "usually I'm the evil one who has you under my spell, 
Akane!"

Of course, that was when Mousse decided to show up. His blood boiling at the scene of Ranma 
and Autumn struggling, he rushed in and tackled the pigtailed martial artist. Falling to the 
ground, Ranma instinctively used his momentum to roll, kicking Mousse off of his person. 
Mousse, for his part, managed to flip in mid air and land safely on his feet. 

"Mousse! What do you want now?" went Ranma.

"Don't you have enough girls chasing you?" blasted Mousse. "Leave Autumn alone!"

"Leave HER alone?" echoed Ranma. "She's the one who attacked us!"

"What?!"

With the obstacle out of the way, it was time for the finishing shot. Autumn focused her ki and 
the swords began glowing a bright light blue. The purified energies along with the silvery steel 
of the swords would certainly cleanse the world of the defiled monster. She made an arching 
swing, the energies in the swords exploding as it came into contact with the ground. Their 
intended target, however, managed to jump out of the way at the last second, balancing herself 
on the top of the fence as Ranma usually did on their walks to and from school. 

Undeterred, Autumn charged her purified ki into the swords again and leapt after Akane. Akane 
sidestepped the strike, however, and as Autumn reached her level, she grabbed the Amazon's 
plentiful robe and yanked with the momentum, ensuring Autumn would continue over, falling 
into the gully.

Autumn's eyes bugged out of her head, "NO! NOT THE WATER!!!"

*Splash*

The three teens still on street level looked down into the gully. That was quite the commotion she 
made about the water. All three immediately wondered the same thing...could it be that this new 
girl also had a curse? The waters bubbled and a figure broke through to the surface. It was 
Autumn, still in her same form. Apparently, she had no curse. However, the blonde in her hair 
was slowly washing away, turning her hair a deepening red.

Autumn growled, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I HAD TO DYE MY 
HAIR TO GET IT THAT PERFECT SHADE OF BLONDE???"

She launched herself at Akane again. Autumn no longer had her swords, losing them in the 
waters below. So she grabbed what appeared to be a spirit ward and as she passed her opponent, 
she placed it on her forehead. Akane howled in pain as she was enveloped in what looked like a 
ball of electricity. Unable to bear the pain, she fell to the sidewalk with a sickening thud.

"AKANE!" shouted Ranma.

"What in the world did you do?" chastised Mousse.

Autumn tried to ring her clothes dry, "I just slew a demon."

"That's not a demon!" informed Mousse. "That's Akane Tendo! She's a friend of mine! And 
she's the fiancée I told you that Ranma likes!"

It was then that Autumn remembered Mousse's explanation and all of the names clicked. 
"Er...Oops..."

*WHAM!*

This time, it was Autumn that fell to the ground unconscious. Akane stood over her prone form 
with the spirit ward crumpled in one hand and her idiot slaying mallet of justice in the other. 
"THAT HURT, YOU KNOW!!!"

**	**

"So, you're a half-demon, hmm?" Once everyone finally settled down, they went back to the 
park and explained their interesting stories to one another. "Now I see why that ward didn't work 
all the way on you," said Autumn, rubbing her head where she was struck.

"That's certainly a new development," Mousse said. "When in the world did this happen?"

"A couple of days ago," answered Akane. "Trust me, no one was more surprised than I was."

Ranma blushed, "That's what you think."

A smirk appeared on Mousse's face. "Really? Is there something else in this story that you 
hadn't told us?"

"Nothin' you gotta concern yourself with," snapped Ranma. "So, what about you? You got 
yourself engaged to her? What does this mean about you and Shampoo?"

Mousse shrugged, "Honestly, I have no idea..."

"Feh," went Akane. "If I were you, I wouldn't marry either of them. They're both out of their 
minds."

"Hey!" shot Autumn.

"You have to admit," said Mousse, trying to stop another fight from erupting, "you didn't make 
that great a first impression."

Autumn seethed, but finally relented the fact. "You're right." She stood up and bowed politely to 
Ranma and Akane. "I'm sorry I attacked you the way I did. It was uncalled for. Since it was my 
mistake, I won't come at you as a slayer, nor will I give you the kiss of death for defeating me 
earlier." She stood straight up and shot Akane a glare, "But you better keep yourself out of 
trouble. I'll be keeping an eye on you, half-demon." With that, she left. Mousse stood up, gave 
the engaged couple a shrug and followed.

Ranma laughed, "Jeez, it just gets better and better here, doesn't it?"

"Like I said...out of their minds," mumbled Akane, shaking her head.

**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**

"Finally!"

The demon's assistant came upon the biggest tree there was in the area. She could almost see the 
spiritual energy that seeped from its branches. This was going to be a somewhat delicate 
procedure. She would need to slice the spirit binding off of the bark without damaging the tree. 
Any damage inflicted to the tree could also damage the imprisoned demon inside. 

Extending her hand, an energy sword materialized in a ball of fire. Taking careful aim, she 
brought the sword up and swung it down with all of her might. The tree took no damage at all. 
Unfortunately, it looked as though the binding didn't either.

"Hey! What are you doing there?"

From the direction of the shrine, came the man with the dog-ears with the dark haired girl on his 
back. The assistant studied the dog-eared man carefully with a raised eyebrow. "Nah. Just a half-
demon." A half breed like him wouldn't be satisfactory for the job. She turned her attention back 
to the tree and brought her sword up for another swing.

*Twang!*

The fiery energy that enveloped the sword dissipated. The assistant looked at it in shock, then 
back to the newcomers. The dark haired girl leveled a bow and arrow at her, the arrow shining 
with purified spiritual energies. Just great! That must be the priestess of the temple. If she was 
going to finish her errand, she'd have to do away with them first. She roared, her eyes and hands 
glowing a fiery red. The demon's assistant charged the duo, looking to take both of them out in 
one shot.

Faster than the assistant could account for, the dog-eared half-demon struck her in the face. She 
paused for a moment, then fell to her knees and started crying. "WAAAH! YOU BRUTE! HOW 
COULD YOU HIT MY BEAUTIFUL FACE LIKE THAT???"

He facefaulted. That wasn't exactly what he expected. He regained his composure and stood over 
her, "Okay, just what the hell were you about to do?"

The assistant sniffled a couple of times and answered, "There was a recent summoning in this 
area, but we're so busy, there aren't enough demons to answer the call. But there is a demon 
that's imprisoned in that tree."

"A demon's really imprisoned in our sacred tree?" the dark haired girl inquired. "And you were 
going to set it free?"

The assistant nodded. "And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling 
kids!" Just then, the binding on the front of the tree split in two and fell apart. The three gathered 
were blinded by a bright light that emanated from where the first cut was made. "Well, what do 
you know? My first attempted worked after all!"

When the light died, what appeared to be a beautiful woman stood in front of the sacred tree. 
"Ah, it's so nice to be free from that damned tree! Heh...I made a rhyme!" She stretched to work 
the kinks out.

The assistant stood to her feet and addressed the newly freed demon. "Welcome back to the land 
of the living. Sorry to have to do this so soon, but we're really short handed and we need you to 
take care of an assignment...erm..." The assistant made her clipboard reappear and she looked 
over the personnel file again. "Ah...Arame!"

The demon, Arame smiled. It had been a very long time since she heard anyone speak her name. 
"I'm afraid not. I have my own business to take care of!" She brought up her hand and fired a 
bolt of energy at the assistant, knocking her back.

The assistant propped herself up on her elbows, "Dammit, I need to start getting hazard pay!" 
She enveloped herself in a ball of fire and disappeared.

Arame turned her attention to the two that remained. Checking out the dog-eared man, she licked 
her lips, "Hmm...Pleasure before business."

He drew an old, rusty sword he kept on his side and in a flash of energy, it became a fearsome 
looking blade. "I don't know why she brought you out, but I'm gonna do away with you RIGHT 
NOW!" He brought the huge sword to bear and charged, intending to slice her right down the 
middle. 

However, Arame dodged his attack and positioned herself behind him. Before he could recover 
to make a second strike she grabbed him by the neck. "My, you are a ~scrappy~ one, aren't you, 
puppy-boy?" she taunted in a melodic voice. Using her free hand, she trailed a finger from his 
chest, down his stomach and...points south. Her eyes lit up, "Oh! Oh my! The pup is very gifted! 
What do you say you stick with me, hmm? I can show you some...interesting spots where you 
could bury that bone."

"Wha???" he stammered.  This wasn't the first time someone hit on him while in the heat of 
battle. At least it was a woman this time. Still, he wasn't quite sure how to take it.

The dark haired girl definitely didn't like what she saw. She growled, baring her teeth like a 
ferocious animal. "SIT BOY!!!" At her words, a magical necklace that lay around the dog-eared 
man began to glow and it slammed him into the ground. "And as for you...TAKE THIS!" She 
drew back on her bow and fired. Once shooting through the air, the arrow erupted with spirit 
energy. 

Arame tried to shield herself from the attack, but the arrow penetrated her defenses. The block 
managed to deflect the arrow enough to keep it from striking her full on, but the pure energy it 
gave off damaged her severely. If the girl managed to shoot off another arrow, she'd be done for. 
"Another time." She blew the dog-eared half demon a kiss and then flew away.

He managed to scrape himself off the ground and dusted himself off. "Was that really 
necessary?"

"Was it really necessary for you to just stand there and let her grope you?" 

He hurmphed and turned away, looking in the direction Arame flew. "Whoever she is, you hurt 
her good. Even still, she's a dangerous one. Whoever she's after is going to be in for one hell of 
a fight..."

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