Heart Of Flame, Breath Of Fire

Part 3: The Secret

by Sean D'Anna

=====

This fic doesn't really have anything to do with the game series Breath of fire, 
it has a few similar elements, Like the first name of the main character and a 
few other things. I've only played the first one and I enjoyed it, but it didn't 
have anything to do with the creative process of this fic. 

Akane sat in bed and stared at the ceiling and frowned. She had just ended a 
long work out and frowned as visions of the battle between Kuno and Ryu played 
in her mind over and over. "How could he be so strong?" she wondered. She 
started to undress and smiled as P-chan sat in his corner facing away from her. 
"Your such a little gentlemen P-chan," said the girl causing the pig to blush. 
She was about to remove her bra when a loud crash shook the entire home. "What 
the?" she said as caught a glimps of something moving outside the window; 
whatever it was it was big. She rushed over angrily and slammed the window open. 
"Who-" was as far as she got. In the middle of a large area of broken tiles was 
Happosai, he looked like he had been crushed. The old man struggled to stand and 
looked at Akane pitifully. 

"G-Gotta see..." he stammered before passing out. 

"Who?" she said as she looked around outside. She failed to notice the shape of 
the impact crater, like a large claw. 

A few blocks away Ryu stood on a rooftop and smiled as he watched the scene play 
out. "Well, that was certainly poor luck for the old fool," he chuckled to 
himself as he looked up at the sky and whistled a tune as he turned towards his 
home. "My luck may be turning, Asian dragons have a way of doing that I 
suppose." 

Three days later... 

Ryu gasped for breath as he ran through the streets of Nerima. He ducked into a 
back alley and stopped as a large fence stood between him and the street. He 
considered climbing for a moment and realized that he didn't have time as he 
heard footsteps behind him. He turned and clenched his teeth as a very large 
figure casually walked towards him. He growled and crouched as the man chasing 
him pulled a large metal object off his back. The boy's teeth ground at the 
sound of it sliding out of its hilt. 

The hunter was dressed in a brown leather jacket, blue jeans and army combat 
boots; the man brandished a large machete that looked about a foot wide at the 
base, it was easily six feet long. He was an American with sandy blonde hair; he 
was also about seven feet tall and monstrously built. 

"Well, well, look at what I've found," sneered the man. 

"Cartman," growled Ryu with a smirk appearing on his face despite the situation. 

"That's Cartson pissant!" said the man stiffening in anger. 

"Whatever, I didn't think you'd follow me here. I wonder how many of the others 
are on your ass?" said Ryu as the pair began to circle each other cautiously. 

"Give it up, you can't escape me. I'll hunt you for the rest of my life if need 
be," said the man with a smug grin. 

"That won't be very long if you keep pushing me," said Ryu as he looked for some 
escape route. Then he realized that he had one all along. 

"Well it looks like you got no place to run this time my friend," snorted 
Cartson. 

"Whatever Cartman, see ya," Ryu jumped twenty feet up and over the fence. Just 
when he reached the top however the back of his head exploded in pain and he 
fell face first into the ground. "Augh! Shit, what the hell was that?!" cried 
the boy as he clutched his head and struggled to his feet. 

Cartson placed a smoking shotgun back into the holster he had at his waist. He 
sliced open a large hole in the fence and walked through with a smile on his 
face. "Tough little bastard ain't ya? I should'a known that wouldn't work," he 
lifted the massive blade over his head. Ryu responded with a lightening quick 
jab to his crotch. 

He felt something crush under his fist and smiled as Cartson dropped the sword 
behind his head and fell to his knees clutching himself. "Well it seems you have 
a brain after all. I should have realized that you'd be wearing a cup after the 
last time..." said Ryu as he strolled away shaking his hand in slight 
irritation. 

"Bastard, I'll kill you yet," hacked the man between coughs. He lifted his hand 
and a small pistol appeared from his jacket sleeve. 

Ryu jumped straight up and the shot missed barely, Cartson rose to his feet, as 
the boy landed and slammed the side of the blade into the boys face as he 
recovered from the landing. Ryu was thrown into the side of a dumpster and 
slumped down as he felt his consciousness slipping. He looked up to see the man 
standing over him with a smug grin that wavered as he coughed. Cartson scowled 
and jammed his boot into Ryu's crotch, he grit his teeth and cried out in pain 
as the man twisted his foot slightly from side to side. The man leaned in on him 
and lifted his head with his blade. "Heh, not so tough in the city are ya? All 
these people keep you from usin' any o' them nasty powers. I can't see how 
someone as weak as you got your hands on my dragon heart," he said with a small 
laugh and got himself a nasty snarl from his prey. 

"What the?" the man screamed in shock as someone landed on his head sending him 
into the wall. Ranma stood over Ryu with an angry stare and reached down to help 
him up. 

"Thanks," said Ryu weakly. 

"I just don't want Akane gettin' all upset with me cause I let you get killed 
all right?" snorted the boy as he looked at the man slumped against the wall. 
"Who is he?" 

"An old acquaintance. He's a hunter after my heart," said Ryu with a scowl. 

"Why would he want your heart?" asked Ranma with a strange stare. 

"Because if he gets it he also gets my powers," said the boy as he looked at his 
hands and flexed them. 

"So why didn't you just do like you did to Kuno?" said Ranma with an obviously 
jealous stare. 

"Because there are people around here. I could easily kill allot of people if 
I'm not careful Ranma. Even the weakest of my powers could kill a family in one 
of these buildings, even if I hit him directly," said Ryu with a sad gaze. 

"Your really that strong?" said Ranma looking at him with a strange mix of shock 
and pity. 

"Yea, and I can't always control how strong my powers are, that's why I need 
you. I need your help to learn to control my chi," said the boy quietly. 

"Me? I can't help you, maybe the ghoul or the old leach..." said Ranma as he 
looked like he was thinking. 

"The ghoul is trying to kill me too, and I don't trust Happosai with this kind 
of power," said Ryu with a hard gaze. "It's either you or Ryoga, and He's to 
hard to keep track of to do me any good. This damn thing really is a curse." The 
boy pat his chest and frowned as the hunter started to recover slightly. 

"All right, I'll help you out for now. That doesn't mean I trust you though. You 
almost killed Kuno the other day," said Ranma as he looked him up and down. 

"I was hoping that if I could get good enough in martial arts I could maybe 
never have to use my powers at all. Unfortunately I know that will take years," 
Ryu gave him a sullen look. 

"Yea, well maybe we can get you to control them a little better or somethin'," 
snorted Ranma as he looked towards the American with a distasteful frown. 

"Thanks," muttered the boy. 

"Yea, whatever the sooner we get rid of you the better. If I'm gonna help, you 
need to tell me why Taro was so scared of you," said Ranma as he looked at Ryu 
evenly. 

"Fair enough," said the boy with a small grin. 

"Well?" said Ranma impatiently. 

"I tried to eat him. Well I made him think I did anyway," said Ryu with a small 
grin. 

"You tried to what?" said Ranma. 

"I surprised him and managed to catch him after he first attacked me. I tied him 
up and set up a fire and started cooking. When he came to I started asking 
questions, you know, stuff like 'Who are you and why did you attack me?' Basic 
stuff really, he sat there and ignored me so I decided to try to scare it out of 
him. I told him that Minator was a delicacy in my ancient families past and that 
I'd always wanted to try it so I pulled him over to the fire and started to cook 
him," said the boy with an amused look. 

"You what?" said Ranma in shock. 

"I said I started to cook him. You know, I put on some vegetables and basted him 
with some marinade while I held him over the fire," said Ryu looking annoyed 
that he had to explain this. 

"How did you hold him over the fire?" said Ranma looking skeptical. 

Ryu looked at Ranma with a strange smile. "I am pretty strong ya know. I may not 
be a martial artist but I am several times stronger than a normal man." 

That was when the attack came. Shampoo fell from a rooftop and threw several 
darts at Ryu. Ranma shoved him aside just as they landed where he had been. 
Cologne hopped down beside her with a small grin. "We have you," she said poking 
Ryu with her staff. He was thrown back against a fence roughly. 

Ranma turned to face them. "What the hell are you doin'?" he cried angrily. 

"Stay out of this son in law, it is none of your concern," said the old woman 
with her gaze never moving off Ryu. He stood and broke into a run away from 
them, but Cologne was too fast. She poked him in the back and sent him into the 
air. 

"Shit!" cried Ryu angrily as he felt his body being thrown painfully into the 
air. He looked and saw that he would come down in a nearby drainage ditch, he 
braced himself and felt the chill of the water as he landed with a loud splash. 
Unfortunately the ground was only about a half-foot under so the water did not 
do much for the blow. 

Cologne leapt up onto the fence and into the ditch. She looked around and saw 
Ryu was not anywhere to be seen. Shampoo landed on a stump nearby and glanced 
around nervously. Then she saw something disappear into a large drainpipe nearby 
that led to the tunnels of the underground drainage system. "Look," she said to 
her Grandmother. 

"He thinks he has escaped us?" said Cologne with a withered grin. She pogoed 
over to the hole and peered in. Shampoo landed nearby and stood in front of the 
pipe. She smiled darkly and climbed in. She walked forward into the tunnel 
system and frowned as she reached a large square room that lead to many other 
pipes. She was about to turn back when she saw a pair of yellow eyes in the 
darkness that seemed to glow. "You no get away Shampoo!" she said to herself as 
she stalked towards them. 

"My thoughts exactly. Die," said a voice that seemed to come from all around 
her. She looked down one of the tunnels as a low rumbling slowly grew into a 
roar. She moved closer to one of the larger pipes to see flames rushing towards 
her. 

She looked around with dead calm for an escape; to panic now would mean certain 
death. A man hole cover was the first thing she saw and she jumped up onto the 
ladder that led to it and climbed. She reached the top, just as the floor below 
her seemed to become covered in flames. They moved like water along the ground 
and spread to the other tubes; unfortunately, they also rose upwards towards 
her. She shoved the cover up and scrambled up through the hole as she felt the 
flames lick at her feet. She quickly rolled away and a small burst of flame 
erupted from the now cover-less hole. She stood and dusted her self off. She 
could see the covers up and down the street had begun to glow bright red. She 
frowned and peered carefully into the darkness below the street to see the 
flames had vanished as quickly as they had appeared. No evidence could be seen 
that they had ever been there save for the hissing of the cooling concrete and a 
small rat skeleton. 

She walked back to the sidewalk and looked at her leg passively. She had been 
badly burned on her right calf and would need to have it looked at. About that 
time the adrenaline in her system began to die down and the shock of what had 
happened to her hit her hard. She turned and emptied her stomach onto the 
sidewalk and gasped for breath as she grabbed her body and started to shiver 
with a frightened look in her eyes. Regaining herself somewhat, she looked at 
her reflection in a nearby store window and glared at it for a moment. She stood 
tall and made her way back to her home. She would just have to be patient now, 
Her Great Grandmother would not fail and she would have the last laugh in the 
end. That was the way of things, the Amazon tribe remained the strongest and it 
always worked out. Still, this Ryu would pay. He would pay for threatening her 
and humiliating her like this. Strangely the voice in the tunnels did not sound 
like him at all... 

Ranma stood next to Cologne and glared at her. "What the hell do you think your 
doing?" he cried angrily as he stood in his girl form in the water. 

"Why hunting, son in law," said Cologne cheerfully. 

Ranma was about to retort when Cologne's eyes went wide. "Son in law jump now!" 
she cried as she leapt into the air. 

Ranma followed her up and onto the fence. Then a huge blast of steam hit him and 
he screamed as his entire body was scalded. He managed to keep his balance 
somehow and jumped down onto the street. Cologne watched in horror as Ranma 
stood and joined her. They watched with shocked expressions on their faces as 
almost liquid looking flames shot out of the pipe like a geyser. The flames 
flowed onto the water and almost immediately evaporated it. "Shampoo!" cried 
Ranma as he prepared to jump down after her. 

Cologne stopped him. "Son in law, if Shampoo was in there then she did not 
survive," she said with a ghostly look on her face. It was clear that she had 
not quite understood what she had just told him yet. 

A few moments later a manhole cover moved to the side and Ryu climbed out 
looking angrily at Cologne, he seemed close to tears. "I warned you," he said 
simply before diving back below into the darkness. 

"Hateful being! I will hunt you to the ends of the earth for this! I swear it!" 
screamed the old woman as she fell to her knees and glared into the darkness 
below the street. All either of them could see was the concrete bottom twenty 
feet below. 

Akane sat and stared at the television and grew more agitated by the minute. 
Ranma had not come home from school yet and Ryu was late for his lesson. "If 
he's done anything to him," she muttered angrily. 

The phone rang and Soun stood from reading his paper. "Hello? Yes. Well thank 
you for calling. I understand. Goodbye." 

Akane looked at him questioningly and he sat at the table. "It seems Ryu ran 
into an old friend from out of town and had to miss today's lesson." 

"Then where is Ranma?" said Akane quietly. "I bet he's at Ukyo's or with that 
Shampoo!" she growled to herself. 

She stormed up to her room, before she reached it however she heard a noise. She 
gasped and looked into the room that Happosai had commandeered when he arrived. 
Inside a familiar figure rummaged around. She looked around and tensed herself 
before walking in. 

Taro glared at the empty room and frowned. He had risked allot coming back here 
and came up empty again. He kicked over a pile of carefully folded panties and 
cursed to himself. Then he heard a noise from the hallway. The Tendo girl had 
seen him; he frowned and glared at her as she entered the room nervously. "What 
do you want?" 

"Just to talk to you, about Ryu," said Akane quietly. 

"What about him?" said Taro as he glared at her in anger. 

"Why are you afraid of him?" said Akane as nicely as she could. 

"Me? Afraid of him? I've been looking for him for a long time now, I found him 
and he won't get away this time. That was just a clever ploy..." Taro began to 
explain unconvincingly but Akane interrupted. 

"I may not know you well at all but I know you'd never 'pretend' to be afraid of 
someone in front of me and Ranma. You know something about him. Maybe even what 
Ranma seems to feel," she said looking at him coolly. 

"Why the hell should I tell you anything?" snorted Taro indignantly. 

"You don't have to," said Akane looking defeated and turning towards the door. 

"You'll turn him away if you know what's good for you. He is very dangerous," 
said Taro giving her a hard gaze. 

"Why? Why should I? He's never been anything but polite. He sort of reminds me 
of Ryoga in a way. I'm sure I could be friends with him if..." started Akane 
defensively. 

"Curse me for being so damn nice," snorted Taro as he glared at her and crossed 
his arms in disgust. 

"Look you don't know anything about him. I met him in China, back when I was 
looking for Happosai. You don't want to get mixed up with him." 

Ryoga sat in the Cat cafe' and frowned. It wasn't like them to offer him a free 
meal, much less one with some information on the side. 

"What's this all about?" he asked as he dug into his ramen. 

"I have some information for you, a way to defeat the son in law. Be warned the 
price you must pay is great," said Cologne. 

"I don't have much money." said Ryoga eyeing her carefully. 

"That is not what I meant, you of all people should understand that. You must be 
willing to do anything to defeat my son in law," said Cologne carefully. 

"You know I will," said Ryoga bitterly. 

Cologne pulled out a photograph of a man practicing in a dogi. "Good, this man 
has a great and powerful secret. If you can take it from him then you will 
easily be able to defeat my Shampoo's groom," Cologne's voice seemed to tense as 
she mentioned Shampoo's name. 

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Ryoga. "What's this secret?" 

"Because this man has become a threat to our tribe. He must be dealt with; I may 
not be able to catch him because he will be wary of me. You how ever..." said 
Cologne cautiously. 

"How does this help me defeat Ranma?" said Ryoga as he looked at the photo of 
Ryu. 

"He holds a magic item, a dragon heart. If you can get it away from him you will 
become strong enough to defeat Ranma. However this is no easy task, he is a 
ruthless and cunning soul completely evil. The most powerful of chi attacks are 
at his disposal. He is not, however, a martial artist, he will try to defeat you 
using his hands at first most likely and if you can defeat him quickly..." 
explained Cologne. 

"Then I might be able to get this thing away from him," said Ryoga with a slow 
comprehension crossing his face. 

"You must defeat him," said Cologne. 

"Why should I help you? How do I know this isn't just some trick to get 
something you want?" said Ryoga calmly. 

"If you do not do as I say Akane Tendo may be in danger," said Cologne with a 
carefully planned amount of worry in her voice. 

"What?" said Ryoga as his full attention was placed on her immediately. 

"He is training at the Tendo training hall. He has already almost killed my 
Shampoo; he may turn on Akane Tendo as well if pressured. He is very dangerous," 
said Cologne with a hard stare. 

"Akane?!" gasped Ryoga as he stood. "If you're lying about this..." he said as 
he stormed out into the night. 

"Why we use stupid pig boy?" said Shampoo as she limped out of the kitchen. 

Mousse followed close behind her. "You shouldn't be walking on that leg Shampoo! 
Let me carry you," he said only to be punched in the face by his beloved. 

"He may draw the boy out. I doubt he will take the dragon heart himself but he 
may make the young Ryu careless enough to be caught. As it is he will probably 
stay out of sight for a while." 

"When I get my hands on him," growled Mousse from the floor. He looked at 
Shampoo and clenched his fist. "Fear not Shampoo I will avenge your injury!" he 
cried falling to his knees before a stool. 

"Idiot," muttered Shampoo. 

"At any rate we must smoke the prey out into the open, it is far too dangerous 
when cornered," said Cologne as she sipped at her tea. TBC... 

You're probably wondering what the hell is going on right now if you haven't 
figured a few things out yet. Don't worry it'll all get cleared up in a week or 
two. We'll find out how much success Akane has with her conversation with Taro 
and vice versa. 

More about Ryu's motives and his problems, including Cartson. How will Ranma 
handle the near death of Shampoo and does he even know she is still alive? What 
the hell happened at the beginning of this Chapter? [The opening scene with 
Happosai.] and how does the print involve Ryu? 

And then there's Ryoga... 

Lots o' questions this time I'd say. 

Ja 

Carrotglace 

C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com