Demonic Language [Momo, Ranma]

For the heaven and hell of it all… understandably, this shit was tweaking.

Learning a single, new Kidō spell… was suddenly the main focus of Ranma’s continuous study, grind and education to become the optimal Shinigami. Hohō, Shunpō, that shit could wait until later – right now, he was neck deep in trying to conjure up red spirit armor just as Morikawa-sensei taught him. Now, when he started… he faultily thought that learning a new Kidō spell would take as long as all the others in his arsenal from Shin’ō Academy. But a new Kidō spell of such new-ness, newity and newsomeness… was wild.

And he thought he got it after a day… only for the armor to be the most sorry ass projection of the complete spell ever. Just because he could manifest the appearance didn’t mean jack shit if the armor refused to armor him. The visuals were there, just not… the most important part – the function.

But fret not, watchers! He’d kept his ears open in Squad 2’s barracks – someone else was rumored to be even wiser in the Demon Way than Morikawa-sensei. Yeah, right, he’d have to see that with his own eyes to confirm – otherwise, whoever attempted to smear Morikawa-sensei’s name like that deserved a fist to the colon.

…

Momo was likely by herself at this time of day, more or less. Now, Ranma didn’t know her precise whereabouts, but his nose-poking did make people buzz about this strange Shinigami seeking the, quote on quote, ‘best Kidō user around these parts’. From afar, it’d appear cryptic – as if he actually knew of Momo’s status and more.

Who knew? A third party would likely think he was someone intently seeking out Momo to settle some sort of feud, or perhaps to seek a getback for… past endeavors that should not be named. Was he a ghost of her past?

No.

He was just Ranma. And how she’d react to the word of mouth going around about this nosey Shinigami seeking out someone like her, in an area so close to her residence, was all up to her. One thing was certain – Ranma had a knack for unintentionally pissing off the wrong people.

Such an individual was bound to attract attention and as the Shinigami wandered the streets, he would walk directly past a petite, dark haired woman, who was dressed like any other Rukongai citizen. Her head, however, quickly turned to watch him though, a look of suspicion crossing her features. She’d heard of his desire for information all right and Momo wasn’t the least bit happy about it. So many years had gone by since she’d left the Gotei and yet now and again, she was still hassled by the occasional Shinigami who wanted to drag up the past. It was like there were members of the group who still deliberately went out of their way to bother her. Couldn’t they just leave her alone?

Still, after meeting Yuri, Momo had come to realise that not all Shinigami were obsessed with all of that and it was that reason why she didn’t immediately snap at the male. Instead, she’d cast a silent kido spell of her own, surrounding herself in what appeared to be shadow, concealing herself from those around her. It was an advanced spell and one that had taken a heck of a lot of work to develop but she’d had over a century to work on it, among others and by now, she almost had an arsenal of spells that were purely her own.

Once she was hidden, Momo would follow the male, her footsteps completely muffled by the spell, waiting for an opportunity to make her appearance. She didn’t want to hurt the guy but the brown eyed woman had no idea about his true intentions and the fact he had so boldly claimed to be seeking her out made her all the more uncertain.

She would follow him for several minutes, until he reached a quieter street and that was where she’d make her move. From behind, she’d utter, her voice filled with a quiet determination, her shadow spell fading away as she cast another spell.

“Hikari no ori.”

From her hand would burst a stream of light, which would travel quickly towards the male and try to form a cage around him. There was time to dodge but with Momo’s level of skill, time would be short and if he couldn’t figure out a counter, he’d find himself in quite a pickle.

Whether her spell was successful or not, Momo wouldn’t look too pleased with the snooping Shinigami.

She must’ve at least heard about him by now… Kidō teachers were often very welcoming, after all. And Ranma didn’t think his nosing around was that big of a deal – he was just curious…

…

He had no sixth senses, so he paid no attention to the reality that he was being tailed by someone. A reality he couldn’t sense nor catch up on, until the hidden individual revealed their presence with a command that made Ranma brake in his tracks. “Huh?” he questioned himself, uncertain if someone was talking directly to him or if it was just random buzz… but it’d gotten a bit more quiet here, so maybe somebody was looking for him! Certainly, it must’ve been this individual he’d been looking fo-

Why was he in a cage?

“… Woah,” he awed at the sight of the spell, regardless – he felt like a caged animal in a split second, after all, “Wait, you must be who I’ve been looking for! The one who’s really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really good at Kidō, right? Uhm… did, uh, did I commit a crime or something?”

Cautiously poking the bars of the makeshift light cage he was trapped in, Ranma was lost for words – he must’ve done something to warrant this treatment, after all. He didn’t recognize the woman who cast the Kidō spell… she looked short, nuff said. Petite too. Fancy hair buns. She didn’t really have Erica’s unearthly charms, but she looked friendly and easy to talk to.

… Oh shit. He must’ve done something horrible. “D-Did… wh-… I really feel a lot like I’ve done something wrong here, but I can’t put my finger on it – please help…!”

A sigh left the former Lieutenant as she listened to him, realising that the young man appeared to be anything but malicious. He definitely wasn’t the type of figure who she’d been concerned that he could have been and it seemed like he was just curious rather than having a grudge. That was enough for her and as Momo approached him, she would click her fingers, dispelling the cage as easily as she had summoned it in the first place.

“I’m sorry for the rude form of introduction but not all Shinigami I meet are all that nice to me. Some people have long memories, you know and they love to rub my past in my face. I’m guessing that you’re not one of them, so I don’t see any reason to keep you caged. From the sounds of it, I’m the woman you’re looking for though. My name’s Momo, Momo Hinamori, ex member of the Gotei although that was like a century ago.”

He certainly had a unique look to him and while Momo wasn’t intimidated, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d had a bad incident with a Hollow or something. If he needed healing, she’d gladly offer it but for the time being, she was more interested in exactly what he wanted from her.

“You mentioned something about Kido? Well, you’ve found the right girl for that. I’ve had a lot of practice with it and I quite like teaching others when the chance comes. I’m sure I can help you out if there’s something you want to learn.”

Chuckling, she’d then add. “Whoops. Before I start rambling about that, I should at least ask for your name first.”

Ranma had begun shaking the bars keeping him imprisoned. He wasn’t ready to serve any sentences for merely being curious – he didn’t know this girl’s deal, nor did he know her name, but she was definitely the Kidō expert he’d been seeking! Now, that ultimately meant squat fiddlesticks, since their first encounter turned out like this…

Huh, to his luck, she undid the jailtime and even apologized for the surprise. His opinion of her lightened up as a result, and so did his face – someone as transparent as Ranma (despite the bandages) had a very readable mood these days. Especially after meeting Erica… yeah, she was definitely to blame.

“Your past? The fuck… they some clingy exes, or?” he pondered at first, thinking back to her name… Momo. Momo, Momo, Momo… nope, didn’t ring a bell. Probably didn’t even matter what her past was – Ranma wasn’t going to intervene in ex-lovers’ quarrels or something. Still, that someone genuinely bothered her after, what, a century? Clearly somebody had no life out there.

“Ohhh, that’s perfect! Yeah, I heard about someone like you, and I hoped you’d teach me stuff! I-I didn’t think it’d go this smooth, to be real with you, but I guess I’m just that good with people, ain’t I? Hehe…” he couldn’t help but jubilate his achievement at, in such a short time, receiving a second Kidō tutor. Ranma was a real teacher’s pet, eh?

“Oh, I’m Ranma G-“

Nah, fuck that stupid last name. What imbecile calls their own family ‘violent fury’? But still, she’d probably want to be sure that he was actually enlisted in the Gotei… wait, she wasn’t even a member of them anymore! Screw his last name! “-Gek-something, call me Ranma. Y’know, the pretty door frames type of ranma… but anyway, what I specifically want to practice is, uh, actually Kaidō. Y’know, it’d be a huge help if I could keep myself alive a little… better, out there. Just in case shit happens.”

It was an… interesting angle. Usually, Kaidō was employed to heal others – not oneself. Was it possible? Maybe, he didn’t know all the details yet. His skills in Bakudō, and the basics in Kaidō, were enough to graduate back then, anyway, but if Kaidō could be used on oneself... then Ranma needed it.

It was incredibly clear by now that he had no idea about her past history and Momo was more than happy for it to remain that way. She let him mutter to himself about the possibilities but made no comment here or there, letting the subject phase out and be replaced with something she’d rather talk about. He was quite the chatterbox once he got going but Momo didn’t mind that. It was nice to meet someone new from time to time and he seemed likeable enough.

She did, however, make a short joke as he referred to his charm, needling him just a little. “Mmm. Charming enough to find yourself in a cage because you were mistaken for a stalker. You have quite the appeal indeed.” It was only a joke and the fact she chuckled afterwards would make that all too clear. Now that the tension had lifted, there was no reason for her to be distrustful and she looked rather more relaxed.

“Anyhoo, it’s nice to meet you Ranma.” She went on to say. “I’m not sure if I can help with self healing all that much, as Kaido does tend to need another person in order to do it. A healer uses their spiritual pressure to help the patient recover after all and I imagine that trying to play both healer and patient would take an awfully big toll on the caster. It may be something that can be done, as there are a few kido users out there who work on making new fields of spells but it’s not something that I can teach you. For now, I think we should focus on improving what we know is possible.”

Beckoning him to come with her, Momo would then set course for her home. “I have a practice area back at my house where I test out my kido. Let’s go there and I’ll see what I can do for you. How are your kido skills in general, by the way? Bakudo? Hadō? Chant skipping?”

Charm was charm! This guy got himself a girlfriend, mind you! Ranma did not hold back his pouting at the comment, scratching his face in annoyance. The tension had lifted completely to him, and he wasn’t one to hate banter at all. But clearly, his coolness escaped her… she’d learn, in due time!

But either way, he now made a new friend – record fast, too. And for a bit, he was eager to learn how to heal himself, so that Erica wouldn’t have to worry so much about him and his reckless endeavors, for he had habits that were hard to break. Kaidō had been used to patch him up an endless amount of times now, so he didn’t expect it to be more rigid than that… but Momo knew better. And her revelation made his eyes widen.

For now, it was more a research area than an actual possibility. Far above his weight class. Then what now?! “I- …” Come to think about it, Mizu- I mean, Morikawa-sensei mentioned similarly that Kidō deserved more respect than that from him. He wouldn’t master Kidō in one day, week, month or year. Getting better always took time, but Ranma’s nature was inherently impatient and that. A clash inside of him that he needed to let cook for a time, lest he misses out on the fruits of his efforts.

Which meant… he followed her. Saddened, sulking a bit, wondering what else to learn, but alas – he was curious, and patient enough, to follow the expert. Who knew? Maybe she had something sick and extraordinarily extravagant to teach him! Maybe she, like Morikawa-sensei, had some sort of ultra-new Kidō that she’d like to pass down to someone. The possibilities were endless!

“My Bakudō’s solid. Not the best, but easily my favorite branch,” Ranma spoke proudly, almost as if his nose grew in length as he continued, “Hadō… not that much, honestly. I, uh, Hadō #11 is a staple, but I haven’t really… eh?” So he already had a preference, clearly… chant skipping? “T-That’s… I mean, I can skip the chant, yeah, but it makes the spell weaker. Like, way weaker.”

A smile crossed Momo’s face again as she led him through the Rukongai streets, her demeanour completely different from how it’d been a short time ago. Yet, that was her now, suspicious until she had no real reason to be. She knew that she was a little silly in being quite so obsessed still but there were still people out there who liked to shout at her or worse, insult her son, a decision that more than a few individuals had regretted. The dark haired woman might not be a Lieutenant anymore but that didn’t mean she couldn’t still stand up for herself. On the contrary, she believed that she was a far more potent threat now.

“That’s curious. A lot of people that I’ve spoken to over the years seem to prefer Hadō, probably because of the explosions and damage that they cause. It says quite a lot about you that you’d prefer the art of binding instead but don’t take that as an insult. Both fields are equally valuable and in the right hands, a well aimed Bakudo can end a fight before it’s started.” Momo replied, thinking back on her own experiences in the past, before chuckling. “You just found that out with my cage, I guess.”

She lived in one of the nicer districts and as they walked, the ex Gotei member would smile and wave as they passed a few shop owners who she bought from often.

Speaking again after a bit, thinking over his words, she’d then add. “It sounds to me then that you’re a pretty good Kido user as it is. It’s natural that you’d lose a lot of power by skipping the chant at the moment and even now I lose a little bit of power although the loss is so low that I’m good with skipping all the time these days. The spells I make don’t even have chants, just a name. I’ll show you one later on if you like but it’ll have to be just one because sometimes they scare the neighbours.”

Curious about his goals in the field, she’d then ask. “So, other than trying to figure out a self healing spell, what else interests you? The sky's the limit when it comes to kido and as long as you have the imagination and power, you can create almost anything.”

”I-I can explodinate a Hollow or two… mhm… yeh…” Ranma hummed, thinking back to all of his blunders with Hadō spells exploding in his face prior to Morikawa-sensei’s teachings about actually taking it fucking easy with demonic arts, and not belittling them with such reckless usage. He’d learned his lesson the hard way, but thank the Soul King up there that Ranma still learned his lesson… damn took near forever.

“It says quite a lot about you-“

“About what?!” he panicked, almost as if she was insinuating some sort of bad trait in him. Did she think that he was a coward who couldn’t fight back?! Huh?! He could fight back! He’d show her here and now-

Oh… never mind. She meant something else. If anything, now she implied that he was efficient and could end a fight before it even started – it was definitely not meant in a literal sense in his case, but Ranma could believe whatever he wanted to. His nose spiked a little in pride at that. “It was a fancy cage ya trapped me in… b-but I was ready to- I mean… if I wanted to, I might… maybe… coulda broken out? Hmh? Maybe? Not too sure, actually, but-“

… It might’ve proven too much a hassle. Likely, he would’ve just given up and asked her to release him without starting a fight. Ranma was like that.

His nose grew longer at her further compliments of his Kidō skills, but then she mentioned spells without chants at all, and his eyes widened as well as his opening mouth: “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no chants? So all you say is the name, and then ‘poof’?”

He did initiate practice with one of Morikawa-sensei’s unique spells, the S-… Seikotsu Sōkō? Yes, that, exactly – Seikotsu Sōkō. However, to this day, he hadn’t been able to manifest the entire armor, and it’d been a good while since he started practicing it – and Morikawa-sensei was still a Vice-Captain, and thus a very busy Shinigami! He couldn’t bother her every day…

“Bet, it’s like quickdrawing spells! I… I think I tried once, but it didn’t work as well as I’d hoped,” he uttered, reminiscent to his fight back in Africa against that floating eyeball and his struggling attempts at defense. That disc… if he remembered correctly, he was in such a hurry that he skipped the entire chant, right? He still got launched into the ground, but it was an attempt – a genuine attempt was made! Give him some slack!

“Alright, then! Please, take good care of me, Hinamori-sensei!” he toasted, actually holding up his damn gourd right in front of her face via muscle memory.

Listening as he reacted to her various points, Momo would continue to lead the way, looking forward to getting back home so that the two of them could get to work. The thought of working on her favourite art always caused her heart to beat a little faster and it seemed that she was not the only one to feel the same way. A part of her felt that perhaps her talents would be better served if she taught at the academy but that was instantly tossed aside by her reluctance to trust them. She was better off where she was, training on a one to one basis.

“Heh. You’d have to try fairly hard to escape my cage spell as I would say that it would match any of the higher ranked bakudo. Maybe in the mid to high 70’s perhaps. Enough to keep most people that I capture with it nicely locked down. Believe me though, I can understand your fondness for the field as I am too, even though back in the day I was known for my use of more unusual spells.” She spoke casually at this point, recalling a few moments from her past, where such spells had proven to be incredibly useful.

A pause followed and then she resumed. “As for chant skipping, yeah, it’s basically a form of quickdraw kido. It works best as a surprise attack for lower skilled users as the power drain is rather high. For a skilled user though, it’s just as good as using the chant. The best way to improve is simply keep practising although I’d also suggest to start with the lower numbered spells. Skipping a chant on a higher numbered one can backfire pretty badly. All you do is state the number of the spell and the name, while visualising it in your mind. That’s all there is to it to be fair.”

As an example of what she meant, Momo’s eyes would turn towards a man who was struggling with a cart, the back wheel stuck in a divot in the road that was making things difficult. The woman would simply point a hand in the direction and utter. “Hadō 1: Sho.”

The bolt of energy would hit the road, causing the wheel to rise up out of the divot and allowing the man to continue on his way.

Turning to her, the man would nod, before moving on.

Momo would turn her head to Ranma and smile. “See? It’s just that easy.”