Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Memories Off ❯ Vanishing Act ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: WE DON'T OWN RANMA 1/2!! We think that's all ya need ta know! ~_~

A/N: Hey!! We adopted a fic!! The author who started this story didn't feel like writing it anymore, so she asked us if we could continue it. We do know her, so don't go saying stuff like, Why did she pick you guys of all people? O_o Okay? And we also changed a couple of things from what she originally wrote to fit our writing style, and we fixed the things that a lot of people, who reviewed her story, were confused about. Now, if you haven't noticed, this is gonna be a major AU! With OOCness here and there. :p Also, you might want to know that Ranma and everyone else are older! Ranma's 19, so he's a whole lot more mature (and SEXY!! XD), but he still hasn't met the Tendos yet! Enjoy.

Memories Off

by Elysium & Lonely Soul ((Originally by DJ Otaku Mamasita))

Chapter 1: Vanishing Act

It was early morning, and a young man stood watching from a distant the form of a young woman as she walked away down the endless dirt road. His azure colored eyes seemed so sad, yet so full of love, as he followed the movement of the girl. The girl he loved.

His fist balled up around a small pendant with a scarlet-colored charm. Before she had left, she gave it to him to remember her by, and she said that it showed a sign of her promise to come back because the pendant use to be her mother's and it was very special to her. Even though he knew she was going to come back to him, he still had to force himself not to run after her and tell her not leave and to just stay with him forever.

"Goodbye..." He whispered to her when she disappeared from his sight. He wanted to say more, but his words couldn't reach her anyway. I'll find you again... I promise... He thought to himself as he continued to stare down the dirt road, completely lost in his thoughts and memories of what they shared together.

"Ranma!!!"

Only a few minutes had passed before Ranma's time alone to think was broken. He quickly snapped out of his trance by the sudden yell of his name and turned around to see who had called him. He saw his father, Genma Saotome, immerge from the thick brush that was beside the road he stood on.

Genma glared at his son. "What are you doing boy? You look like a zombie! We were suppose to start training 30 minutes ago!"

"Oh yeah... I was just saying goodbye to Ak-- I mean...uh...Ayato," Ranma responded, trying his best not to sound sad. His gaze dropped to the ground, scared that his eyes would tell his father something he didn't want him to know.

"Well, come on then. Nothing is more important than your training, so we must get to it," Genma said firmly to Ranma. He noticed that his son seemed to be hiding something from him, but he decided to ignore it instead since lately Ranma always seemed to be off in his own thoughts.

"Hmph. It must be that Ayato person," Genma said to himself as he began to walk back to the dojo that he and his 19 year-old son were staying at for the time being.

They have been staying there for the past five weeks undergoing rigorous training. During those weeks, he and his son had met several excellent martial artists. Ranma for instant, met a very interesting young man named Ayato Shintani. Though Ayato was quite small for a 19 year-old boy, he had amazing skills.

When they first met, Ayato was pretty sure that he was much better than Ranma and challenged him. Ranma did end up winning the fight, but not only that, he gained a good sparring partner and friend. Over the course of the last five weeks they became almost inseparable. And during the last three weeks before Ayato had to leave, Genma began to notice that they became a little too close for his comfort. So one week ago, he finally confronted Ranma about it.

**Flashback**

It was night time, and both he and Ranma were laying on their futons after a long day of hard training. Before his son fell asleep, Genma looked over at him and thought to himself, I have to know...

He coughed to get Ranma's attention and tried to say the right words. "Ahem. Ranma, I notice that you and that Ayato boy have been spending a good bit of time together. Yo--"

"Yeah, I know Pops. Me and him are best friends. I've never connected with someone like that before. Not even with Ukyo. It's...amazing," Ranma said, with an almost dreamy expression on his face, not even noticing that he had interrupted his father.

Genma's eyes bulged out when he saw his son's "dreamy" expression and was terrified. Oh NO! My son!!! Please Budda, God, Ali, whoever! Please don't say that my son is... gay! If he is, we can never return home... Nodoka would have us committing seppuku the mintue she found out! It's bad enough that the boy is cursed!

Trying to insure that nothing was wrong with his son, Genma uneasily asked Ranma, "Uh...son? Hm... How should I say this? Um...Are you....uh well..." Genma closed his eyes and whispered, "Gay?"

There was a long pause. Ranma didn't answer and after five minutes of no response, Genma slowly opened his eyes and found his son sound asleep.

"Gah!" Genma practically fell over. "Stupid boy! I'll just have to ask you again later when you aren't with Ayato," he said to himself, while he rolled over on his futon to sleep.

**End of Flashback**

At the remembrance of what happened that night, Genma looked over his shoulder to see Ranma staring off somewhere. At least he's walking. I can't believe he's this sad over something like a "friend" leaving, he thought and continued to walk towards the dojo.

Ranma finally looked over to his father when he knew he wasn't paying attention to him anymore. Man, I don't feel like trainin' at all today. I want to leave already and go after...her, he thought as he held the necklace in his pocket. His thoughts continued in this way until they finally reached the dojo and began their training which continued for the rest of the day.

~*~*~*~

Later that night, while everyone was asleep, Genma violently shook Ranma awake.

"What da hell do ya want?" asked a very annoyed and sleepy Ranma.

"Shh!!" Genma put his finger in front of his lips and whispered, "Son, we have to leave now!"

"Wha?" Ranma drowsily asked.

"Here's your stuff!" Genma quickly said as he gave Ranma all his belongings stuffed in a big backpack. "Let's go!"

Ranma was still half asleep, so Genma practically carried his sluggish son out the door. He continued to look over his shoulder to see if anyone was following them.

After a few moments, Ranma was now wide awake, and he turned to his nervous father as they ran towards who knows where. "Uh pop... you mind explainin' what's going on?"

"Hehee, you see son... uh your Pops has NO money, so we have to escape now because we can't pay the bill for boarding and eating at the dojo," Genma nervously responded.

"Then why didn't we stay outdoors like we always do?"

"Well, what had happen was...uh..um.. I just figured we could stay for free. I mean after the first five days we stayed there, they still hadn't said anything about a bill, so I figured we could stay a little longer. That was until Chen Ning [A/N: He's the dojo master] asked me today, after our training, how much longer we were going to stay so he can start writing up a bill. I said that it would only be a little longer... I was plannin' on leaving yesterday anyway, but I couldn't find you. I guess you were with Ayato, so I couldn't tell you then," Genma finished and looked over at his son, waiting to hear his son's response to that.

"Yeah, I was with Ayato. Well sh-- I mean he, yeah he was leaving today so I figured I should hang out with my best friend as long as I could." Ranma said, trying to cover up for his bad wording. Yesterday was practically the best day of my life. If only...

"I see..." Genma said interrupting Ranma's thoughts, not really buying what he said. "Well anyway, now that you know, let's stop running now. We are far enough away from the dojo."

"Sure, but I can't believe you actually thought that staying there was free! I was over there thinkin' you had everything covered," Ranma responded, trying to get off the subject of "Ayato".

Both men stopped beside a tree and dropped their packs. They took note of their surroundings, which was kind of difficult since it was really dark. They didn't sense any danger so they sat down to catch their breath. Ranma started to go into thinking and thought, I really hope we're going back to Japan. Then I can go and find her, and we won't ever have to leave each other again. He decided to ask his father where they were going, so he looked over at him and said, "Hey Pops, where are we gonna go now?"

Genma thought for a moment, then replied, "I planned to remain here, but I've decided we should go back to Japan. I--"

Ranma interrupted Genma by yelling out, "YES!!"

Genma looked at Ranma strangely and was confused by his son's sudden out burst. "Are you okay boy? What are you so happy about?"

Ranma blushed. "Well, I was just...uh happy to be going back home."

"Why?"

"Because... we haven't been home in fourteen years, so I got a little excited, yeah," Ranma stuttered as he tried to hide his joy at finding out he was going back to Japan. Not that it really matter that he was going home, he just wanted to find his girl.

Genma stared at his son but continued, "Anyway, as I was saying before you interrupted me, we are going back to Japan to stay at the dojo of a very good friend of mine. His name is Soun Ten-"

"GENMA!!!!" interrupted a very pissed off voice of a built Chinese man who was swiftly running towards the pair.

"Why does everyone want to interrupt me?!?!" Genma screamed in annoyance. "And who are....?" Genma stopped short and his voice turned into a mere whisper towards the end of the sentence when he finally recognized who the Chinese man was.

"Chen Ning!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, Genma! It is I, Chen Ning! Did you think you and your son could just leave without paying?" asked a very angry Chen Ning. He stood before Genma and Ranma with a glare and a deep frown on his face.

Genma looked pathetic at the sight of Chen's eyes, and Ranma, well, he just looked good as usual.

"Hey, Chen don't be so mad! We can pay later... yeah. Just, uh, wait awhile," Genma stuttered in fear. He was trying to hide behind Ranma, while forcing Ranma to walk back with him.

"Coward! I thought you were a bum when you stayed at the dojo. Always lounging around and eating. Not once did you help clean up or fix the dojo like the rest of us," Chen Ning responded angrily, a eerie green aura flickered around him.

"I am no coward! I'm just broke, so if you'll send the bill to this here address," he handed Chen a piece of paper, "we'll be on our way!" Genma suddenly turned and started to run, dragging his son along.

"WHAT!?!?! This is my address you punk!" Chen looked up from the paper he was reading and saw Genma and Ranma running off.

"Come BAACK!!!" Chen yelled and ran after them.

"Uh pop, I don't think that was good idea," Ranma said looking over his shoulder to see a pissed off martial artist chasing after them. As Ranma said this, he stupidly tripped over a tree root for not paying attention to where he was going.

"Well, what else was I suppose to do? Hey, run faster! He's right behind.... us..." Genma stopped dead in his tracks when he finally noticed that Ranma wasn't beside him anymore. Instead he saw Ranma flat on his face, and Chen Ning quickly catching up to him.

"Ranma!"

"Don't worry Pop, I can handle it."

"I don't think so little boy," Chen said as he tightly grabbed a hold of Ranma's arm. He looked over to Genma and said, "Genma, for your stupidity, your son will suffer the consequences!"

"Oh okay, as long as it isn't me," Genma said, sighing in relief.

Ranma and Chen just stared at Genma in shock.

"POP!" Ranma shouted angrily.

"Feh, fine then." Chen closed his eyes and began whispering an odd chant in Chinese.

Before Ranma could get out of Chen's grasp, he suddenly became paralyzed and his eyes opened in horror.

Oh no, I can't move!!!! And my head... it feels like someone is pulling something out of it, he thought. He unexpectedly began to have flashes of a girl. It was like he was watching a movie and he saw everything clearly. The girl had beautiful, short midnight blue hair, and golden brown eyes that glowed with warmth on her beautiful face. Next to her, he saw himself. They begun sparring, laughing and talking and just enjoying themselves.

Then his head burned in pain and the flashes stopped. He dropped to his knees, taking in deep breathes. He took no notice of the outside world as he tried to remember what he just saw.

"Ranma?" Genma worryingly said, looking at his son. Ranma didn't respond; he just continued to stare at the dirt ground, panting.

"Genma, I placed a spell over your son which made him forget the thing he holds most dear to his heart," Chen said, standing over Ranma's hunched figure. Then he said to Ranma, " Maybe next time your father won't be such a fool, boy."

"He's forgotten what he holds most dear to his heart?" Genma wondered and then his eyes opened in surprise. "OH NOOOOO!!!! My only son has forgotten his own father!!!" Genma cried out in utter shock.

Hearing what Genma had just said, Ranma snapped out of his trance and stood up. "Forgotten you? Feh, I wish, but what the heck are you talking about Pop?" Ranma said stretching.

That calmed Genma for a second, but then he froze in fear. "It is worse than I thought.. The most important thing to you must be.. your martial arts! That... that means you have forgotten it all!!!! NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!! Fourteen years of endless training all for nothing!" Genma cried out again with an ugly sobbing noise. At this realization, he fell over like statue and shattered to pieces. Both Ranma and Chen Ning gazed down at Genma with disturbed looks on their faces.

"Are you sure that's your father?" Chen whispered to Ranma. Ranma looked over bewildered and replied, "Yeah, at least I think so. That's what he's been telling me anyway."

Ranma turned to his father, who had pulled himself together and was now laying on the ground with foam coming out of his mouth. Gross, Ranma thought.

"Hey Pop, just what the hell is going on here? What did you mean I've forgotten the martial arts? I can kick your ass right now if you like; that'll show you I haven't forgotten anything."

This brought Genma back to reality and he said with joy, "You haven't forgotten the martial arts?"

"No, how could I?" Ranma said, confusion written all over his face.

"Well...."

During the conversation, Chen Ning took the opportunity to noiselessly creep away from the two. My work here is done. The boy may not realize it, but what he's forgotten, he will never remember. And I know exactly what he's forgotten. It was that girl who disguised herself as that male martial artist Ayato Shintani.

To be continued...

A/N: Confused? Hopefully you aren't too much. ^_~