Grave's New Life

Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: HULK SMASH STUPID DEMON LAWYERS!!! *WHAM!* Sorry, always wanted to say that. Anyway, I own neither Ranma 1/2 nor Gold Digger. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi-sama and High Lord Fred Perry respectively.

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Grave Digger sighed sadly as she sat in her room. There wasn't much there, just a bed and a window. Oh sure, she could escape any time she wanted to, but then she'd leave Ranma to whatever those jerks wanted to do to him. Thankfully, though she felt a bit guilty at this, the creeps had kept her busy enough that her mind wasn't on Ranma very much.

She looked up as a woman dressed in full gray robes with orange trim, pink eyes and short pink hair done up in a bun on the back of her head, and carrying a want with a star on the end of it, her teacher in the magical arts, walked in. "What do you want?"

The spell caster, Array, raised an eyebrow. "You seem to not have your heart into the lessons that I'm giving you."

Grave frowned and shrugged. "Yeah? So?"

Array shook her head. Truthfully, the only reason why she was teaching the Lycanthropoid was because she needed to know how to use her abilities better; which would definitely come in handy if they had to face the Northern Edge Guard, which was becoming more and more likely. "You've only been here for a couple of days now."

Grave blinked. "Oh? Didn't notice the time." She muttered the last part out since she'd rather be with Ranma out and traveling about.

Array rolled her eyes, lifted her left hand and motioned for Grave to follow her.

Grave Digger sighed, figuring that she had to go through another session of training, and followed the spell caster.

As they walked down the halls, Grave noticed that they weren't heading toward their usual place for training. "Um, what's going on?" She hated not knowing what was going on.

Array didn't answer, which made Grave frown a bit. The pink-haired woman led the Lycanthropoid to a door and opened it. "Go inside, there's someone in there who wants to see you."

Grave blinked and narrowed her eyes, but still went inside. As soon as she was in, Array closed the door. Looking around, Grave's eyes widened as she saw someone sleeping on a small bed. "RANMA!"

The yell caused the pigtailed martial artist to wake with a start. Yawning, he stretched. "Uh, wha?" Only to find himself the recipient of a flying crying hug. His eyes widened for just a moment and he froze. Only to look down a bit and see a short girl with spotted hair. "G, Grave? Is that you?"

The little Lycanthropoid nodded into his chest and Ranma wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry Grave. I couldn't protect you."

Grave just shook her head into his chest and tilted her head to the side. "It's not your fault. You tried to protect me, you didn't know that she was that good."

Ranma frowned. "But still..."

Grave didn't let him finish and found a very effective way to quiet him, by kissing him on the lips.

Ranma's eyes widened for a second and his body tensed up a little, before relaxing and leaning back. Grave broke the kiss, snuggled her body against his, leaned her head against his chest and purred. Closing her eyes, she nuzzled her cheek against his chest and smiled a bit. 'I haven't felt like this since that first day waking up with him.'

Meanwhile Ranma's eyes widened and his body went stiff. 'C, C, C, CAT!!' He looked back and forth wildly trying to find the demonic feline threat from hell. Unconsciously, even though he was scared stupid, he was running his hands up and down Grave's back. He couldn't see one, but he knew that there was one in the room.

Grave just smiled more, hugged him tighter and nuzzled her face against his chest. Her tail started wagging behind her ever so slowly.

********

Elsewhere Tirant, the bald leader of the group, looked at Array with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sure that it was a good idea to leave them alone?" His multiple personality girlfriend had just explained what one of her personalities did.

Array nodded. "Of course. Don't forget that on the cell is made up of Dwarven Steel.” And since Dwarven Steel was the best anti-mage material in the land, not to mention that it was really durable, they didn’t have to worry about escape plans anytime soon. Hopefully.

Tirant nodded, that was a peculiar weakness that aura magic had. "One would think that it was almost completely useless."

"True. But if it was, do you think G'nolga would worry about one Arch

Aura-Mage?"

"Point. Still, elemental magic would be better I think." Even though he himself didn't use magic in his powers.

A new voice spoke up. "You would think so, except for the fact that elemental magic has its own weaknesses."

Both Tirant and Array looked up to see Hanza standing there. Tirant nodded. "I know that Hanza. So, what did you come here for?"

Hanza shrugged. "Nothing much. It's just that I got word that Julia

Diggers went to go see her old teacher again, and that her husband and two daughters are with her."

Tirant frowned and scratched his chin. "Hmm, this does complicate matters if Julia tries to get back into the Tournament of Arms."

Hanza rolled her eyes. "G'Nolga already took care of it, remember?"

Tirant nodded. "I know, but her husband could complicate matters."

Hanza smirked. "Big deal. Julia has no honor on Jade anymore. We shouldn't have to worry about her."

Array held up a finger. "As I told you before Hanza, it's not Julia that we have to worry about, but rather the Northern Edge Guard."

"Hmm, yeah, so what are we going to do about them?"

"Nothing for right now. We need to find a way to incapacitate them, while being able to use them after the Tournament of Arms is over."

Hanza frowned. "That's too long for me."

Array smirked. "Let me guess. You want to get your "revenge" upon Sheila of the Edge Guard right?"

Hanza glared at the multi-personal woman. "Of course! After all, it IS her fault that I was changed." Hanza clenched her fist. "I swear I'm going to make her pay for what she did to me."

Tirant and Array rolled their eyes at the man-turned-woman's antics.

Tirant shook his head. "If the Northern Edge Guard come snooping around here, I'll let you take on Sheila. Alright?"

Hanza nodded and smirked. Turning around, she started mumbling to herself all that she would do to the little Jagwere when they met again.

Tirant shook his head. "Why do we have to work with such idiots?"

"It's either them or the Great Stooges Gang."

"Good point."

********

Grave frowned and quit purring, she felt Ranma tense up, but she couldn't figure out why. Looking up, she saw him looking all over the room, as if trying to find something that was hidden. "Ranma?"

Ranma relaxed a bit and calmed down as the purring stopped. "Yeah, Grave?"

Grave Digger frowned curiously. "Why were you so tense a moment ago?"

Ranma shivered. "I heard a c, c, c, c, c, feline purring. Remember what I told you about the N, n, n, Neko-ken?"

Grave nodded. Suddenly it became clear to her. "You're afraid of cats aren't you?"

Ranma nodded, feeling a bit ashamed for admitting to a weakness like that.

Grave sighed. "Don't worry, that cat won't bother you anymore."

Truthfully, she didn't know why he could hang around her if he was so afraid of cats in the first place. 'Probably has to do with the fact that I don't have any facial features of a cat.'

Ranma blinked. "You sure?"

Grave nodded, closed her eyes and leaned her head forward to rest on the crook of his neck. "Ranma?"

"Yeah, Grave?"

"Just hold me."

The pigtailed martial artist nodded and hugged her to him.

Grave sighed happily as Ranma held her. She didn't know if he loved her, but right now, she didn't care. The feelings that she was receiving by just thinking about him made her feel warm, secure and loved. But when she was able to touch him, much less hug him, she realized how deep her feelings ran for him.

There was one thing that Grave Digger knew... She knew that she would do ANYTHING to keep Ranma safe and happy, even if she had to work for the bad guys.

Ranma for his part was a bit confused. 'What? What is this feeling?' He couldn't understand it, every time he felt as if someone or something was going to hurt Grave Digger, there was a pain in his chest that he couldn't describe. Yet at the same time, seeing her happy and alive created a warm feeling in his chest that he didn't know what to do about.

********

Sheila frowned as she looked at the reports. "Nothing! How can there be NO sightings of her?!" She and Gar were sitting in the Brass Bone Inn, one of the many food places in Seer's Hamlet.

Gar sighed. "Sorry sis."

The smaller Jagwere pouted. "This isn't really fair!"

Gar shook his head. "Sheila, sis, I don't know why you're so gung-ho on finding Grave Digger. There haven't been reports of anything out there. So, just why are you so bent out of shape trying to find her?"

Sheila sighed. "You really want to know?" Seeing Gar nod, she folded her arms on the table, rested her head on them and then spoke. "Mostly to help Brianna out. I still feel bad about what happened."

Gar raised an eyebrow. "You still do?" 'Gee, Brianna blames herself over Gaja's death and Sheila blames herself for the start of that whole debacle.'

"Yeah. I do." Sheila had another reason why she wanted to find Grave

Digger. She wasn't going to tell Gar why, he might think that she was a little crazy.

Gar just shook his head, even though he knew that Sheila couldn't see it. "Don't worry about it. No one blames you for what happened."

********

"Whoo Hoo! Look at the flubber fly!"

G'nolga blinked at that and went into the room that she was passing by.

"Rook? What are you looking at?" The Undead Knight was looking into a crystal ball and laughing at something he saw on there.

Chuckling, Rook turned to her. "Oh, just something I picked up from the Earth Realm. I used a modified viewing spell to look in on what the people there call a "T.V. program" and came across this show called the "Simpsons". It's rather funny, but stupid."

G'nolga nodded and wondered about the sanity of some of the people she was working with. "Well, whatever, I'm going out to practice a little. Tell baldy if he asks about me."

"Sure, will do." With that, Rook turned back to his viewing crystal.

********

Outside of Ranma’s cell, Hanza looked at it and frowned. 'Once I take care of that little Jagwere, I'm going to take care of that little Werecheetah. After all, she doesn't deserve happiness if I don't have any.' Besides, she wanted a lot of money, that's the only reason that she was even teaming up with Tirant in the first place.

********

Brianna sighed as her father got done telling her and Gina about how come their mother and G'nolga had that bloody feud between them. "All because mom was always just a little bit better in fighting... G'nolga didn't have to make it so personal, did she? What kind of idiot goes around swearing vengeance just because someone's a little bit better than them?"

********

Across the Multiverse, several people sneezed. One of which was a certain prince named after a vegetable. Another was a certain person who couldn't find his way out of a paper bag.

********

Theodore Diggers, a man in his fifties to sixties, with short gray hair, a goatee, and wearing a black mage suit shook his head. "Brianna, things like this happen. G'nolga is an extremely good warrior and prides herself on being such a good fighter. For her, coming so close to winning, only to lose in the end is like a slap in the face."

Gina Diggers, Theo's oldest daughter, nodded. "I know. It's like me making an incredibly useful invention, only to find out that someone else created a better one."

Brianna nodded, sighed and sat down. Theo raised an eyebrow at this.

"Brianna? Is there something you wish to tell us? Ever since you, Séance, Genn and Julia came back from Jade, you've been a bit depressed." True, they were on Jade at the moment, but he was talking about when Brianna and the others got back to Earth the first time.

"Oh nothing." However, Brianna's eyes weren't on her father's, but rather she was looking at the ground.

"You're lying. Brianna, you know I can look at your aura and tell if you're lying or not. So just tell me what's wrong. I know that it's bothering you, and I'd like to help you."

Brianna sighed; she silently cursed herself for trying to trick her dad. "Well, it's like this dad, sis. When Genn, Séance and I went for a vacation here on Jade, well...."

Brianna then went on to explain what happened. That she was there, not for a vacation, but to bring Raphiel back to life, which she succeeded in. However, certain effects that happened because of her quest weren't what she wanted.

Gina stared wide-eyed at her sister. "My god! Brianna! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Brianna looked at her and frowned a little. "You would've gotten upset that I didn't tell you the truth in the first place."

"You're damn right I'm upset! First you lie to everyone and make them think that you and Genn are going on vacation and nothing would go wrong, then you hide the fact that your 'Grave Digger' persona is running around free, and lastly..."

"Gina. That's enough."

The two sisters looked at Theo. "Dad?" They asked at the same time.

"Gina, the reason Brianna didn't tell you these things was because of what you are doing right now. She didn't want to make you, me, your mom, or anyone else worry about her."

Gina slumped a bit, her dad was right; she was making a really big deal out of this.

Theo shook his head and scratched his beard. 'So my youngest daughter’s other half is running around freely huh? But... If she was causing problems, the Mage Council would be onto her already.' "I don't think that it's too big a problem."

Gina and Brianna looked at him, surprised. Before they could say anything, Theo lifted a hand up. "Listen to me girls, before you say anything." The two girls nodded and waited for their dad to say what he had to say. "First off, if Grave Digger was doing something terrible, the Council of Mages would be all over her and punishing her for doing wrong."

Brianna saw a small flaw in that. "What about Tanya? She's still running around doing who-knows-what?"

"True, but she's on Earth. Grave Digger is on Jade. And I don't think that she knows the Dimension Door spell." Not that that was a very convincing argument, at least to Theo, he hoped it would calm his two daughters down. Stroking his beard a bit, he continued to speak. "But, don't worry about it. If she was causing problems anywhere, you would be hearing about it. Don't you think?"

Brianna blinked. "You're right." The Lycanthropoid sighed and it seemed as if a HUGE weight was removed from her shoulders. "Thanks, dad."

Preview of next chapter: "Well, it seems they found a way to keep you in here Ranma."

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up Grave. I'm still going to try and get us out of here."

"Well, we'll see. After all, things have to come to a head sooner or later."

"I prefer sooner to later. But that's just me."

"You know Ranma, we haven't told anyone about the next chapter yet."

"So? I don't really know what's going to happen myself."

"Buu go bang bang!"

"WRONG SERIES!!"

"Buu sorry."

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[1] I couldn't help it. I was watching some "Simpsons" episodes the other day, and I just couldn't help it and put a reference in here.

[2] Ranma may or may not be falling in love with Grave Digger, though she said that she loves him. Anyway, Ranma's got strong feelings for the small Lycanthropoid and will do ANYTHING to ensure her safety.

[3] DBZ references. Sorry about that, just thought it would be funny. No... Vegeta and Majin Buu will NOT be making an appearance. That was done just because I'm in a silly mood.