Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma Gets A Clue ❯ The Protector ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Ranma 1/2 Fanfic "Ranma Gets a clue"
Written by Asayogure
First Draft (9/14/2000)
Last modified (10/8/2000)

Chapter 10, "The Protector."
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Begin.
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Ranma felt queasy as he walked along the city
streets . . . away from that crazy girl and her
even crazier father! Was every woman in the world
interested in marrying him? Discouraged, and
rather intimidated, Ranma let his mind drift as we
walked, trying to make the shaky feeling in his
legs and the pit in his stomach go away.
The morning air, already brisk, was growing
colder. The air was still heavy with dew and
contained that special mix of flavors that
tantalizes the senses, and seems to refresh you.
Dark clouds were creeping up the morning
skyline, shading the sun slowly as if a tree
leaning in the blowing wind was being pushed in
front of it. Shivering suddenly from the lack of
the morning's heat, Ranma glanced skyward. The
clouds were growing darker as they slithered
across the heavens in inky black trails. 'I have
the weirdest life sometimes.' Ranma lamented to
himself as he noticed the sky, which seemed to be
predicting rain.
Quickening his pace to a jog, Ranma hopped up
on the railing along the water canal. The soft
splashing sounds the water made as the wind picked
up were lost to his hurried mind. Glancing both
everywhere and nowhere at all Ranma tried to get
himself to relax as he ran. Generally as far as
his life went, this was a pretty tame day on the
Ranma-scale. Only one small fight, and one crazy
girl and her family . . . so far.
As he ran, Ranma worried about the path his
life was taking, and worried even more about how
he was handling things, so he missed the warning
bell. A bicycle bell wouldn't give cause for
alarm for most people, unless you happened to know
Shampoo. . . and she knew you.
With her customary, "Nihao! Airen!" Shampoo
jumped up onto the railing with her delivery bike
still under her and proceeded to land on Ranma's
head, bike and all.
"Shampoo . . . what are you doing on my head?
Again!?" Ranma growled, at the same time noticing
that Shampoo was wearing some kind of heavy
perfume that was starting to make him dizzy.
Scrunching up her face in irritation Shampoo
wondered for the millionth time why this was so
difficult, the men in her tribe never gave her
this kind of trouble, Shampoo cut Ranma off, "stop
stupid talking Ranma. Shampoo very busy now. Now
be good husband and give dutiful wife big kiss."
Shampoo chimed happily in her sing song voice as
she leaned over her handle bars to grin at Ranma
upside down-like. Ranma sighed and shrugged his
shoulders hard enough to dislodge his unwanted
baggage.
Flipping end over end in the air Shampoo
landed graceful as a cat, still sitting on her
bike. Huffing, Shampoo pouted, "When husband be
REAL man and take Shampoo? Shampoo getting tired
of waiting. Maybe Shampoo get rid of other girls,
other obstacles, then husband no have more trouble
to deciding . . . " Shampoo suggested slyly as
she glared at Ranma with a dangerous gleam in her
eye. Taken aback and rather surprised, Ranma
gulped and waved his hands back and forth in a
warding gesture.
"Now let's not get carried away Shampoo.
There ain't no reason to start getting rid of
people, it ain't gonna solve nothing." Ranma's
tone of voice was growing harder as he spoke.
"Shampoo think so, Shampoo think she start
with weakest one first!" With that Shampoo
whipped around on her bike and raced off in the
general direction of the Tendou residence,
trailing a cloud of dust.
Seriously worried now, Ranma started to jump
off the canal railing to head her off, when his
foot slipped out from underneath him!
"Sonofa . . .!" Ranma yelled on his way down
into the water. The icy surface of the canal
water was shattered from its calm existence with
the invading body of one now very female, and very
irritated Ranma.
Sputtering and splashing around in the canal,
Ranma grit her teeth and jumped clear of the
water. Landing over the railing in a low
squatting position on the street, breathing
heavily and dripping very cold water. With her
crimson hair plastered across her face Ranma
growled and set off over the rooftops.
Ranma Hopped over fences, buildings, people,
cars and animals like they weren't even there.
Fairly worried now, Ranma raced to stop Shampoo
from harming Akane. Genma and Soun were home.
But whether or not they would be able to recognize
that Shampoo was about to kill Akane would be
doubtful. And even if they knew, Shampoo wasn't
exactly an easy person to stop.
Bounding over the Tendou Dojo gates Ranma
sprinted towards the main house, calling wildly
for Akane.
"Akane! Akane look out! Shampoo is trying to
kill you! Akane! Akane where are you?!" Ranma
screamed as she threw open the patio door and
entered the house.
There sitting at the breakfast table was the
family . . . Akane included, and Shampoo. Sitting
and talking peacefully. Leaning back and
stretching Shampoo patted her belly.
"Ayiah! That good cooking. Killed hunger all
gone. You is very good cook Kasumi Tendou, give
even Shampoo run for her money." Shampoo grinned
and stood up. "Shampoo feel much better now, but
is delivery, have to go." Passing where Ranma was
standing dumbfounded Shampoo winked and leaned in
close to whisper, "next time . . . Maybe husband
do what dutiful wife ask of him, then no have to
worry when run home . . . remember Shampoo own you
. . . husband . . ." Blowing warm air softly into
Ranma's ear Shampoo took her leave of the Tendou
residence.
Sweatdropping, Ranma fell over with an
exasperated groan as her knees gave out. Akane
glanced up and took in her fiancee's latest
appearance.
"Honestly Ranma, do you go looking for water?"
Akane chuckled quietly to herself and went back to
eating. Ranma's goofiness could wait for later .
. . Emotionally and physically drained Ranma
sighed and crawled up the stairs, and into her
bedroom.
Her senses returned to her enough that she
could stand up as she entered the Tendou guest
room. Just as she did so Genma came bounding
through the door, holding his belly and burping.
Turning her head to regard the invasion to her oh
so brief peace and quiet, Ranma, standing in a
growing pool of icy water, scowled at him.
"Hey boy. Thanks for standing watch last
night, you're a credit to the school of Anything
Goes Martial Arts!" Genma grinned and slapped the
boy on the back. Making a fist hard enough to
crack his knuckles, Ranma growled, "yes, but you
aint! You lying coward!"
Ranma felt she could use a good fight just
now. But decided against it, she was too wound
up, and things would just get all . . . crazy-
like.
"Get out, I'm changing old man!" Was all she
said before she shoved Genma from the room, and
slapped the door shut and locked it.
"What in the . . . BOY! Open this door! Your
father needs his morning nap!" Genma howled from
the hallway as he smacked the door frame with his
hand repeatedly.
"You stay out there you pervert. I'm not done
changing yet!" Ranma retorted.
"But you're a boy for crying out loud Ranma!
What is this all a. . ." Genma started to protest
when the door slid open. Ranma was in her bath
robe and still had a rather displeased look on her
face. She also smelled a lot like, rain gutter
water?
"I'm a girl right now you dirty old man, so
just deal with it. You can go take your stupid
nap now old man, I'm gonna go change back." Ranma
said over her shoulder.
"Well that's more like it . . ." Genma started
to say to himself, until he turned around. . .
Piled neatly on his futon were Ranma's wet and
dirty clothes. "Ingrate son of mine. . ." Genma
muttered as he sweatdropped and slowly slid the
door shut behind him.
Ranma took a quick shower, not even bothering
to wait for the water to warm up, and an even
quicker bath, just a dunk in the warm water to
change back into a boy. Toweling off hurriedly
there was still quite a bit of warm water clinging
to him as he slid the bathroom door open and
started towards his room, and promptly had to
backpedal, because Akane was standing right in
front of him, looking at him quizzically and
almost . . . sadly? She had her hands clasped
tightly in front of her and had her shoulders
hunched forward, a sure sign of someone not sure
of themselves.
"Ranma . . . " She began. "What's going on
with you? You were supposed to be up on the roof
standing watch, I went up there at first light to
bring you some breakfast . . . but . . . you
weren't there. I . . . I guess you went to
Shampoo's or Ukyou's for breakfast . . . I . . . I
understand." She said, with a slight shudder in
her voice.
Ranma just couldn't help himself, he knew she
was just curious as to where he went, and wanted
assurance that he valued her more than the other
girls. But he also remembered the cold night last
night, and her painful silence as the family
railroaded him up there, using his honor against
him. He couldn't help it, he resented the family,
and he resented her a little bit as well.
"I uh, went to . . . a special restaurant of .
. . you . . . you just wouldn't understand Akane.
No one understands." Ranma replied in a whisper,
looking at some point over her shoulder. His
voice was catching in his throat. Was he was
going to cry?! What was the matter with him?! He
didn't want Akane to see him cry.
"I do so understand. Look I heard you arguing
with your dad a minute ago, and I know our idiot
fathers forced you to stand on the roof last
night, but if you were arguing about our
engagement with your dad. I understand, both our
fathers are idiots, they both do stupid stuff now,
and they did lots of stupid stuff in the past, but
it's okay now isn't it? It's getting a little
better isn't it? We . . . we're getting better
aren't we?" Akane asked timidly, hopefully.
Suddenly Ranma felt trapped. He had the old
man behind him, pushing him to marry this girl.
Her father also encouraged him at every turn, to
the point of practically throwing him into bed
with her if he could. Now even she was standing
in front of him saying it would be okay. 'It will
be okay,' she had said, suddenly everyone knew
what would be okay for him. What about what he
wanted?! What about what he thought was okay?
Did he love this girl? Was she the one who
was meant for him? He had heard it said that
everyone on Earth had a perfect match waiting for
them somewhere, they just had to find them. But,
he hadn't found her, he had been led here. Was
that enough? Or was it just wishful thinking?
Realizing that Akane was still standing in
front of him, and also noticing that his vision
was starting to blur, Ranma blurted out
emotionally,
"You don't understand me Akane. Not really.
No one does. Oh and thanks for sticking up for me
last night. I enjoyed the freezing cold up on the
roof." Brushing past her down the hallway to the
stairs, his footsteps silent as a ninja's, as
always, Ranma didn't look back and Akane didn't
watch him go. As usual Akane couldn't hear him
go, and as usual Ranma never saw the tears
streaming down her face.
'Damn it!' Akane mentally screamed. 'I
thought we were finally getting somewhere. I
thought we were finally connecting!' Storming
down the hall to her room, Akane slammed her door
so hard it cracked the wood frame, then locked it.
Then Akane thundered into her room, kicking off
her clothes, and changing into pajamas as she
went. Resorting to the emotion that served her
best in these types of situations Akane got angry,
she turned on her stereo, loud, then fell on her
bed.
For a minute she bashed at her pillows,
sheets, blankets and even the wall with her fists,
knees, feet, and anything else handy. Railing
against these inanimate objects with her anger and
frustration and the torment of her soul. Kicking
and screaming she howled her injustice and pain to
the uncaring walls. It was a wonder she didn't
cave the walls in.
'Why? Why can't he just love me? Why does
everything have to be an issue with him? A
challenge? Why can't he just let me inside of his
walls and be with him? Why does he keep pushing
me away? Is it my fault? Do I make him do it?
Is he acting this way because of me?' Akane
thought pitifully to herself in the aftermath of
her fit as her strength left her. Then, clutching
a rather large pillow to herself, and wrapping her
legs about it, she let herself cry. Long drawn
out sobs that echoed even over her music. Her
shoulders shaking and her head buried deep into
the pillows' warm forgiving surface. Hot tears
sprang around her tightly clenched eyelids.
Her breathing came erratically as she cried,
short heaving gasps, followed by an almost
coughing breath that punctuated itself with short
minor versions of itself. Then she would sniffle
and manage to control herself for a second, only
to think of his unkind words again and more tears
would leak out. Soon the pillow was soaked with
them.

Resorting to the last trick he had, Ranma used
the "Saotome secret technique: runaway until you
knows what to do." Ranma ran down the stairs and
out of the house. He didn't care where he ran, he
just ran. As he ran, tears streamed from his eyes
as well. But he was in control of himself enough
to control his breathing, and to be able to move
while he was crying.
He just had to get away. Be alone and think
for a little while. He should feel awful for
treating his family poorly and snapping at Akane
like that, but it was almost as if he felt
nothing. Did he feel nothing? Well obviously
not. This pain in his chest hurt. But not like a
punch or a kick hurt. It felt like someone had
reached down his throat and was squeezing his
heart.
'Why do I feel so bad now after I yelled at
her?' Ranma thought. 'I never feel like this
when the old man and I fight.' Ranma thought as
he ran. Finally slowing to a jog, then a walk,
Ranma looked around, and realized he had no idea
where he was. This area of Tokyo looked kinda
old, and dark. It smelt like old rubber and
trash. The buildings looked rather worn down too.
Where was he?
Dazed Ranma continued to walk, sniffling
occasionally, with his hands in his pockets and
his head down. He didn't really care where he was
anyway. He needed to think.
From the shadows of an alley Ranma had just
passed, a band of about six older teenage boys
watched Ranma go by. Street tough and large for
their age, they made most of their spending money
by beating up dorks like the guy in the Chinese
pajamas that had just passed them. That and they
got the added bonus of a work out. Nodding to
each other they slipped out of the alley and
started walking behind Ranma. Others on the
streets quickly crossed to the other side, they
knew what was about to happen. But it was best
not to get involved. The poor boy.
Ranma knew they were behind him of course.
But he didn't really care. He was too busy to
care. Just a couple of guys following him, they
could follow him all they wanted, as long as they
didn't touch him.
Smiling, the members of the little band
unlimbered an assortment of weapons, from lengths
of heavy chain, to lead pipes and knives and even
a pair of metal nunchaku. The largest of the
group trotted up to Ranma and poked him in the
back with his knife blade.
"All right kid, let's make this easy. Give us
your money now, and we'll leave ya 'lone. Or, we
can just beat it out of you." He added with a
snicker.
'Wow,' Ranma thought, 'I really must be in an
out of the way part of town, for these goofballs
to attack me . . . nobody besides the craziest
martial artists attack me . . . I thought Japan
was supposed to have a low crime rate . . .' Ranma
thought idly as he tuned around.
Turning around Ranma held up his hands palms
out, non-threatening. "Sorry guys, but I didn't
bring my wallet with me, do you accept I.O.Us?"
Ranma quipped.
Eyes downcast in mock deference and
politeness, the defacto leader of the group
smiled, "wrong answer punk." Swinging his hand in
an over handed attack, trying to bring the butt of
his knife to bear on Ranma's skull, the bully
leaned all of his might into it. He was,
therefore, a little stunned when the kid casually
held up a hand and caught and _stopped_ his arm.
Straining the bully tried to move his arm, but it
was like his arm was encased in steel. He
couldn't move it up or down. Then the kid wiggled
his fingers, and suddenly he felt a sharp pain
shooting through his wrist like some one had just
jabbed a fork in it. Losing all control of his
hand the knife fell out and clattered on the
sidewalk.
People had stopped on the sidewalk now to
watch this. Most of them knew of this gang of
bullies, and seeing them get what was coming to
them would be a welcome change from living in fear
of them.
Shrugging, Ranma glanced at the rest of the
gang. None of them moved, sighing he turned to
walk away again. His mind was too crowded to deal
with this right now.
Filled with rage, the gang leader grabbed a
rock from the ground and heaved it with all his
might. Sailing the short distance to Ranma's head
it impacted with a terrific cracking sound.
Ranma's legs crumpled under him and he collapsed.
A collective sigh went up from those watching, too
bad, the kid would probably be beaten to death
now. Yet none of them moved to interfere.
'Ouch.' Ranma thought in the murky ether of
semi-unconsciousness. That had hurt. 'Now why
did they have to go and do that?' He asked
himself. 'Now I have to beat'em all up.' He
sighed. However when he felt himself being pulled
to his feet and he still hadn't seemed to have
regained his sense of balance or self, he knew he
was in trouble. Head shots always did this to
him, he needed another 20 seconds or so to snap
out of it.
Dangling Ranma off the ground, the leader held
him by the shoulders and shook him. "I am gonna
enjoy beating the crap outta this one." He
gloated to his comrades.
'Gotta . . . gotta snap out of this . . .'
Ranma shouted to himself. 'Have to defend myself,
honor of the Anything goes school depends on it.'
Ranma strained to shake himself into action, but
nothing happened. His limbs wouldn't respond.
The leader maneuvered Ranma around into a full
nelson hold, and pulled him upright, and called to
his cronies to come play. Gleefully they advanced
on Ranma and proceeded to slam into him over and
over again. Punching him in the kidneys, smashing
him in the stomach with vicious kicks, punching
him all about the face until he was bleeding
everywhere. His body desperately wanted to fold
in on itself to protect itself, or lie down or
something, but the one holding him, held him up
straight.
Ranma knew he was in real trouble, these goof
balls could very well kill him. He _needed_ to
protect himself. These animals needed to be
taught a lesson, they needed to be brought to
justice. Protection . . . justice. These two
things swirled in Ranma mind and started to take
on a life of their own.
Somewhere deep inside of himself Ranma felt
something very powerful stirring. Something he
had felt before, but now it was something almost
tangible, and it was growing sharper and stronger,
he knew that it had always been there, but now it
almost seemed like he could call it to himself.
Slowly Ranma started to swim out of the ether.
Calling upon reserves of strength he didn't even
know he possessed and he acted.
Using a principal of the art known as
purposeful compliance, Ranma let the one pushing
down on his neck with his arms wrapped under his
arms to push him down more, by ducking his head
down sharply. This threw his attacker totally off
balance. Then quickly reversing the motion into
purposeful defiance Ranma slammed the back of his
skull into his attacker's nose as the now off
balance gang leader fell forward.
Stunned, the attacker loosened his grip, but
not all the way. Twisting and using his hips
Ranma thrust his right hip into the attacker's
groin region, pushing his attacker back a step and
creating distance between them, then lifted his
right leg up and swiftly back kicked his
attacker's left knee out, then recoiled the motion
and snap-side kicked the right one as well. With
his attackers grip now gone and falling, Ranma
whipped around and smashed a vicious back knuckle
strike at the attacker's temple. Dropping him
with the motion he had caused from the two broken
knees.
Standing there reeling slightly Ranma glared
at the rest of the group. They had a beating
coming as well. With a shout they all rushed him,
knives and clubs and chains all swinging. Ranma
turned into a whirlwind of motion and grace.
Parrying knife and club attacks into the other
attackers, he watched almost as if he wasn't the
one doing it, as the would be attackers attacked
themselves. Two went down immediately from knife
wounds.
Then Ranma's hands were moving. Using many
techniques Tofu had just taught him, Ranma lashed
out in the spirit of Justice and protection.
Smashing his riged fingers into sensitive areas of
their necks and arms, legs and groins. The
pressure points, when used in succession like
that, multiplied their effects, and effectively
caused their nervous systems to shut down. Soon
the only one standing was Ranma.
With his breath heaving, Ranma started to
stagger away. When he heard a frantic woman's
shout, "my baby! Where is my baby?!! Please,
HELP! Anyone?! Where is my baby." 'What now?'
Ranma thought in irritation. Glancing down the
street to where a movie theater was letting out,
Ranma saw a young woman in her late twenties or
so, swinging around wildly and screaming
frantically for her daughter, "Rina! Rina! Rina
where are you?!" The mother called.
Grimacing with the pain, Ranma hopped up to
the nearest rooftop, and looked around. There at
the edge of the crowd and quickly disappearing,
was a man holding a kicking and screaming little
girl under his arm as he ran. Breathless Ranma
hopped down from the building and started to run.
Then a little faster, then a little more. But the
man had quite a lead already, and Ranma knew he
wasn't going to be able to catch him, but he ran
on anyway. Running much faster than most young
men his age ever would be able, he still wasn't
able to hit his top speed.
The man was getting away. Funneling
everything he had into his run, Ranma sprinted.
Slowly he started to gain on the man. A fire was
spreading at his side, and something warm was
trickling down his leg, but Ranma ignored it.
Faster and faster Ranma ran, his arms pumping
furiously and his legs flying over the ground.
Jumping over a curb, Ranma's toe caught the edge,
normally not enough to even phase him Ranma went
tumbling, hard, into the pavement. Rolling to a
stop, Ranma tried to pop back up onto his feet,
and promptly fell over again as an incredible pain
stabbed him in on his right side, clutching the
area with his hand, Ranma tried to stand again,
getting up on one knee Ranma lost his balance, and
had to put both hands on the ground to steady
himself.
Leaning back into a sitting position Ranma
noticed he had left a bloody hand print on the
ground. Glancing down to his side he saw that
maybe one of those knife blades had gotten through
his defense after all? Shrugging Ranma tried to
stand again. "Feh, I've been hurt worse than this
before." Ranma muttered under his breath as he
grit his teeth and tried to stand. This time the
pain hit him so hard it knocked him onto his back.
A crowd was starting to form.
'NOOOOOO!' Ranma's mind screamed to him.
'Get up!' He told himself. 'Get up and run you
wimp, you coward, you weakling! Get up and save
her, NOW!' Shame swept over Ranma and he tried to
get up again and couldn't. Ranma's mind howled at
the injustice of it all. If he hadn't been beaten
to within an inch of his life just a minute ago,
he could protect this girl.
'Protection . . . justice.' Those two words
stabbed at his heart as real as any knife blade
could. He was a protector. Not like those corny
cartoons on TV with the dorky character howling
about justice and protection as they made stupid
poses and chanted little songs to themselves, the
real thing. Justice . . . and protecting those
that cannot save themselves. For some reason that
meant a lot to Ranma right now.

The powerful urge inside him stirred violently
and started to expand. With a large crowd
gathering around him now Ranma curled into the
fetal position and cried out in pain, mind numbing
pain. It HURT! Needles of fire-like energy
stabbed at him, and threw him at their mercy.

Protection! Justice! Those thoughts burned
in his mind like an inferno. He NEEDED to protect
this girl, he had to stand up, he had to run after
them. 'STAND UP!' He screamed to himself. 'GET
UP, NOW! BE A MAN AND SAVE HER!' He slapped
himself mentally. Staggering to his feet Ranma
clutched his side as a sharp pain ripped though it
again, this time tearing something, glancing down
he saw blood oozing though his fingers.
Gritting his teeth Ranma tried to stand again,
up on his knees he saw the man round a corner and
was then out of sight. The frantic mother
oblivious to what Ranma knew, screamed again, "my
baby! Where is my baby?!" The mother's shouts,
the pain inside him, the white noise from the
curious crowds' insipid comments, everything
floated into and around Ranma, and . . . something
inside of himself bent, with each cry of the
mother, with each intake of breath Ranma drew
through his wheezing lungs, with every stupid
sound the crowd made it bent a little more, then
snapped. A barrier in his heart shattered over
something old and terrible and suddenly the world
seemed to be going in slow motion as a flash of
light danced across Ranma's vision, the crowd of
people seemed to literally stop.

Protection, justice . . . Protection, justice
. . . Protection, justice . . . Protection,
justice . . . Protection, justice . . .
Protection! Justice! . . . Protection!
Justice! . . . PROTECTION! JUSTICE! . . . the
thoughts swirled around his mind, stabbing him
everywhere, he HAD to do something.

Falling to his knees Ranma surrendered to the
overwhelming awful powers that were trying to grip
him, trying to gain control. And then all hell
broke loose.

Suddenly on his feet with his arms
outstretched, Ranma's eyes closed and he screamed
words, which had no meaning. Face pointed
heavenward he called out with strange words no one
had ever heard before, again and again he cried
out. Clouds appeared overhead, quickly and
unnaturally, roiling in on powerful currents of
cold air to blot out the sun. The wind chilled
and thunder rumbled. Calling again and again to
the heavens Ranma stretched his arms heavenward
and turned his hands palms up. With crackling
energy lightning struck his outstretched right
hand. Once, twice, then both hands
simultaneously.
The sizzle and heat of the energy blew the
crowd surrounding him back. Again and again
lightning struck his hands, and instead of killing
him as it should have done, he seemed to suck the
energy into himself. The wind rose up and swirled
about him. Faster and faster, making a living
wall of motion. The wind carried away people's
hats and odd pieces of clothing, but Ranma stood
untouched in the center of the chaos. The wind
was not a normal wind, it had form and motion and
substance, like it was alive. It swirled about
him so fast that the crowd was forced to back up
even further, or face being cut down by it.
When the wind abated there stood Ranma, arms
at his sides now and breathing heavily, head
hanging down to his chest. Standing upright but
swaying violently from side to side like a
marionette without a puppet master, he suddenly
snapped his eyes open. They were swimming with
quicksilver light. His body was literally glowing
white from his intense focus on his need for
vengeance, justice and protection. Tinged at the
tips of the glow was a blue radiance.
Holding his right arm out Ranma uttered a
single word of the bizarre language, and the world
went silent. Again Ranma said the word, then
again, louder and louder he said it all the while
holding his arm out. Slowly a streamer of white
energy flowed out of his outstretched hand.
Snaking it's way in the direction the man had went
the ribbon of light grew larger and brighter, then
rapidly gained momentum, shooting around people
and buildings, now the ribbon of light energy
darted in the direction the man had gone. Out of
sight now all that was visible was Ranma swaying
back and forth chanting the single word and the
pulsating ribbon of light streaming from his
outstretched hand.
In the distance a thunderclap worthy of the
Gods sounded, then silence ensued. Calmly Ranma
stood his ground. Quietly chanting the word over
and over again. A minute passed then the cord of
light seemed to grow almost solid, at the edge of
the square a man appeared, with a little girl
under his arm, he was being pulled backwards, and
his feet were dragging noisily across the ground,
his limbs were locked in place, only his eyes
seemed to be able to move, and they were darting
around frantically.
Snapping his arm back like he was cracking a
whip Ranma yanked the man to him. Sailing across
the square on unnatural currents of power the man
jerked to a stop in front of Ranma. Holding his
other hand out, Ranma commanded something in the
bizarre language and the man's arm holding the
girl raised obediently. Crying, the girl dropped
to the ground, and quickly raced to her mother.
The frantic and tearful mother enfolding her into
her like she was trying to absorb her, and
embraced her little girl again.
Ranma's eyes were locked on the unblinking
eyes of the would-be kidnapper. The kidnapper
looked afraid, but like he was trying to be macho
at the same time. Coldly he stared back at Ranma.
Ranma smiled a feral grin.
Raising both hands skyward, palms up and
clawing, the man did the same on invisible
tendrils of power. Then shouting his cries of
vengeance Ranma made breaking motions with his
hands, and the man's limbs began breaking. Then
Ranma made a violent throwing motion, and the man
now with two broken arms and legs went flying
across the street, and collapsed, broken and near
death.
The power raged inside Ranma. It cried for
blood. It NEEDED to kill. Betrayers . . .
parasites . . . the refuge of the world preying on
the weak and innocent. Those who would shatter
another's life to fulfill their sick dreams and
desires. They all needed to die. Rage gripped
Ranma now as he stalked towards the man, to finish
him off. Like a wild animal with a kill in sight,
and the blood of the kill already sampled, the
power cried out to finish it. Advancing a step in
the would-be kidnapper's direction Ranma's
brilliant white aura started to glow red around
the edges instead of blue. When suddenly he felt
a slight weight about his waist gripping him
tightly.
"Thank you for saving me misther." The little
girl sobbed, slurring her words as only small
children can, ignoring the fact that this person
was glowing weird colors and was doing odd things,
and rubbed her nose on Ranma's knee as she
sniffled.
All thoughts of death and destruction fled
Ranma as the beauty and innocence of the little
girl invaded his mind. Sinking down to his knees
Ranma gathered the girl into his arms and held her
while she cried. Permitting himself a small
breach of control, Ranma let his tears roll down
his cheeks as well as he held her head to his
chest and cried in her hair. The stress of what
had just happened finally hit him and Ranma
started to go unconscious.
As he slumped forward a brilliant flash of
white light swept out of him and another thunder
clap sounded, this time right over the square.
The light struck everyone in a radius of one
kilometer in the eyes. The light muddled their
immediate memories as to make them indecipherable.
The mother of the little girl maintained
enough sense to be able to recognize Ranma as a
protector and not a threat to her little girl, and
went to call an ambulance for him, she knew her
girl was safe with him.
A short while later Ranma's head snapped up as
the growing sound of an ambulance grew nearer.
Like the ebb and flow of the sea, the obnoxious
tone of the ambulance siren dug into Ranma's
nerves like claws on a chalk board. Jerkily
standing up Ranma deposited the little girl back
into the arms of her waiting mother and began to
walk, or more accurately stagger, away. The
mother made as if she were going to try to stop
him, but one look at those troubled cloudy eyes of
his was enough to change her mind.
The air had the odd smell of charcoal and the
sea after a storm. Seeing as he was in Tokyo that
was even more bizarre. As he walked, the sky
continued to grow overcast and a chill wind picked
up. The wind darted into Ranma's clothes as if to
remind him that all his physical power still meant
nothing to the wind.
Ranma felt . . . weak? His arms and legs were
shaking and he had no energy. Limping home Ranma
took a street parallel to the one he had wasted
that gang on, if they were up and about right now,
they would probably try kill him, and in his
current state they just might succeed.
Stubbing his toes into the pavement as he
short stepped his walk home Ranma's mind raced.
He was fairly sure he had just done something odd.
The evidence was very similar to that from when
Akane healed Nabiki. He couldn't remember
anything, and things that shouldn't have been able
to happen, had happened. And to top it off he
felt very drained, but unlike Akane, he didn't
seem to be able to recover as fast as she had,
when she had been acting all weird like this.
Crossing a small low bridge that spanned one
of the many channels in Tokyo, a wave of dizziness
swept over Ranma causing his nausea to reach it's
limit and then cross it, his knees gave out, and
sick to his stomach, he crawled over to the edge
of the bridge, throwing up into the water and all
over the bridge.

"Well aren't you a sorry sight." A scratchy
wizened old voice crooned. Too drained to even
venture a come back Ranma simply nodded and
continued to throw up, his whole body shuddering
now as the nausea took him.
"So you finally touched it didn't you? You
finally let the power have control didn't you? I
knew this day was coming, but I never would have
guessed that you would have been able to use the
power at such an early age . . . remarkable."
Cologne declared.
Watching her out of the corner of his eye
Ranma continued to dry heave. The fact that
Cologne always seemed to know things ahead of
Ranma, and things she should not know in the first
place was keeping in step with her knowing about
this . . . this, whatever this was. Laying down
flat on his stomach, Ranma reached down and
scooped some of the rushing water into his hands
and dipped his face in it, rinsing and refreshing
himself and at the same time changing into a girl
for the second time that day. Standing a few
seconds later with a little more dignity Ranma
turned to face the old ghoul and demand some
answers.
She was no longer there. Shrugging Ranma
stuck her hands in her pockets and continued
walking. "It's better this way anyways, she
always makes things worse." Ranma said to
herself.

"The time of prophecy is at hand son-in-law!"
Cologne shouted from down the street behind him,
turning slowly, Ranma saw her silhouette black
against the late morning sun. "A battle is coming
soon son in law, one that I doubt you are ready
for. I will return to help you soon, prepare
yourself for your ultimate test!" Her grave words
echoed loudly and clearly across the distance
between them like it didn't exist. With that she
turned and vanished down the rooftop, as only
Cologne could do.
Taking a deep breath, Ranma pressed the palms
of her hands into her eyes, trying to keep her
mind inside. What on earth was everyone talking
about? Prophecy, power, magic, battles? She was
just a sixteen year old Martial Artist for crying
out loud!
Deciding to deny things for the time being,
Ranma picked up her pace and started to run home,
the landmarks were starting to look more familiar,
he had a general idea of what section of town she
was in, it was the same section that Nabiki had
been assaulted in. Nabiki . . . assaulted. Who
HAD assaulted her anyway? Ranma re-affirmed her
decision she had made when Kasumi had been
attacked. Whoever was messing with her family was
about to be sorry, she and Tofu together could
take on just about anything.
Reaching the Tendou dojo Ranma paused on the
street outside. Akane was in there. That meant
she would have to deal with that whole situation
again if she went in there. Because if Akane was
crying, Soun would be crying, and if Soun was
crying Genma would be looking for her. Glancing
at the shadow lengths in the garden, Ranma judged
she had only been gone about an hour. Sighing to
herself Ranma steeled herself to Genma's ranting,
and Soun's blubbering.
Inching the courtyard gate open Ranma peeked
her head inside. Nothing. There was no movement,
no sound, no sign of anything. Getting slightly
worried Ranma opened the gate all the way and
walked into the garden, her senses on edge,
straining to detect danger before it found her.
Her head swiveled from side to side looking for
things out of place, and her steps and stance took
on a battle poise.
Sliding open the patio door with a soft
swishing sound and a snap as the door slid into
the wall lock, Ranma looked for signs of danger.
There were none. A flash of white on the dining
table caught her eye, walking over to the table
Ranma picked up the note, in Nabiki's ledger
perfect writing it read,


"Saotome:
We went out of dinner and a movie. Akane
wouldn't answer her door, and her music has been
on loud all morning, you KNOW what that means.
You better fix things before daddy finds out.
I'll keep them busy until late. Tofu is still
sitting with Kasumi, or reading that dumb book of
his, so you should have no interruptions.

Your future sister in law;
Nabi-chan

p.s. you ever call me that in public and I will be
forced to kill you."

Crumpling the note up Ranma walked into the
kitchen and tossed it into the garbage. Quickly
putting a kettle full of water on high flame onto
the stove Ranma popped the fridge open and
rummaged around for a snack. Dumping the hot
water over his head, then wiping his head off with
a dish towel, Ranma continued to fix his snack.
If he was going to walk up those stairs and
confront Akane . . . he might as well die with a
last meal.
So Ranma fixed himself a "small" snack.
Chuckling to himself Ranma thought, 'Saotome super
secret Snack Technique: how to fix and eat enough
food for three in less than five minutes, without
disappointing Kasumi by leaving a mess in the
kitchen.' Wolfing his food down made him feel a
little better, and it seemed to restore some of
the energy he had lost when he . . . no! he
wasn't going to think about that.
Sighing mightily to himself Ranma pushed his
chair back from the table with a noisy scrape and
shuffled out of the kitchen and up the stairs,
hands in pockets and head held low . . . this
wasn't going to be fun.
Arriving outside of Akane's door Ranma could
indeed hear her stereo up to full volume. Pausing
a moment to collect himself Ranma knocked on the
door. Waiting a few minutes Ranma knocked again a
little louder. Still no answer, shouting her name
Ranma slammed on the door with his closed fist.
Why did she have to make everything so difficult?
His anger getting the best of him Ranma hit the
door a little too hard, and with a loud breaking
pop, the door caved inward.
Ranma froze, there laying on the bed was
Akane, she appeared to have cried herself to
sleep, and before she had let herself drift off,
she had undressed! Laying atop the covers in her
underwear, what little clothing she had on was in
serious disarray from squirming around while both
crying and sleeping. Sitting up on the bed,
propping herself up with one hand behind her, and
pulling a blanket to cover herself, Akane
drowsily, but with a definite hint of anger in her
tone of voice asked, "what do YOU want?"
Ooops. Ranma had made a little boo-boo. This
was one of those situations you always hear about
people getting into, and you always assume will
happen to someone else. Unfortunately, we are all
someone else to everyone else.
Dumbfounded Ranma stood staring at Akane. Why
did the sight of her semi-naked do this to him, he
had seen his female side plenty of times, and it
was better built to boot.
Stammering, Ranma tried to apologize for the
door and his perverted viewing pleasures.
"I . . . um . . . look Akane, it's not what
it seems, I mean . . . I . . ." With a loud sigh,
Ranma hung his head and muttered,
"Look I'm sorry okay, I didn't mean to yell at
you earlier, and I didn't mean to break your door
down, or peek at you, I'll just go now Akane, I
know you hate me."
"RANMA!" Akane yelled at him as he turned to
leave. "Get back in here!" She said a little
quieter. Obeying, Ranma stood back in her
doorway. "Close the door and come inside you
goofball." Akane rolled her eyes and chastised
him. Glancing at the door hanging crazily on two
of it's original three western style hinges, Ranma
shrugged, and forced the door back into the now
slightly warped jam, an awful squealing, scraping
noise emanating from it as he did so. Turning
back around Ranma stared at Akane's toes, since
she was still almost naked.
"Come here Ranma." Akane ordered. 'Oh boy
here it comes.' Ranma thought as he braced
himself for a smacking. "Sit down on the bed
Ranma." Akane ordered him again. His ire rising
slightly Ranma let her order him around, he was
the one who had wronged her first.
"Ranma . . ." Akane began. "I . . . I'm
sorry I didn't stick up for you, and I'm sorry I
stuck my nose in where it didn't belong, you had
every reason to get upset with me." Akane stated
in a cold distant monotone, as if she had given
up. "I know you don't love me, I don't know who
you do love, but I won't get in your way anymore.
We can pretend to be engaged to please our idiotic
fathers, but I won't try to interfere anymore,
okay? You don't have to hate me anymore, or
resent me, I release you."
Her words struck him to the core. She
released him? She knew he didn't love her?
Pretend to get along with him?! No, no, no, no,
no! This wasn't supposed to happen at all.
Quickly Ranma turned to look at her, was she
testing him? To see how he would react if she
didn't behave rationally, to see if he loved her
no matter what? 'Why do women do these things?'
He wondered. Totally oblivious to her state of
dress now, Ranma grabbed her hands, causing her to
drop the blanket, and exposing her even more,
neither one of them seemed to notice.
"Akane, you cut that out! You know that I l .
. . lo . . . like you. What is going on in your
fool head?! Why do you think I hang around this
place still huh? Not to make my old man happy you
can bet on that." Biting her lip Akane looked
away. "Besides, with your cooking, I must be
building up a serious resistance to poison
attacks, it's even training." Ranma joked,
slapping Akane on the back, trying to lighten the
mood. Growling Akane slugged him, then quickly
slumped her shoulders and leaned against him
sighing defeatedly.
"Yes but . . . I . . ."
"Yes but nothing Akane . . ." Ranma said
quietly.
"Ranma do you . . .?" Akane left her question
unanswered, hoping Ranma would fill in her blanks.
Ranma gently cupped her chin in his hand, and
slowly turned her face to look at him.
Reluctantly she dragged her eyes to meet his,
and to her surprise she saw it, she saw him let
his guard down ever so slightly, she saw kindness
and caring, and worry and l-love? . . . or
something like that anyway? In his eyes. He
wasn't lying, he really did care for her.
"Oh Ranma!" Akane's voice caught as emotions
she had just spent the better part of an hour
trying to bury jumped up into her throat.

*SLAP*

The echo of her slap was louder than the
stereo. "You insensitive jerk! Stop scaring me
like that!" Rubbing his jaw in complete surprise,
Ranma decided he had deserved that. Her stereo
was getting on his nerves though, so quickly
hopping off the bed Ranma walked over to it and
turned the volume down to a human level.
Then he walked back over to her bed and sat
down gingerly at the edge, acutely aware of her
lack of clothing again, and the fact that they
were basically alone in the house for the rest of
the day.
Akane didn't seem to mind at all though.
"Ranma!" She yelped at him. Swinging his eyes to
her he saw her pointing to the spot on the bed
beside her by the wall. "Get over here you stupid
pervert jerk." She said in a light teasing tone
of voice.
Hesitantly Ranma complied, wondering what she
wanted. They were far to young for . . . THAT!
Sitting stiffly beside her Ranma waited for her to
take the lead. He was always waiting for the
girls to take the lead, he was such a . . . such a
. . . wimp! . . . in some matters anyway . . .
Akane watched him out of the corner of her
eye, grimacing to herself as she saw him wrestling
with his doubts and insecurities. Akane patiently
waited for him to take the lead for once in his
life. But after a few minutes it was obvious he
still wasn't ready for much of anything. Sighing,
Akane leaned into him, wrapping him in a big bear
hug, and promptly jumped away from him.
"Ranma! You're hurt! What in the world . .
." Akane looked at her hand in horror, coated in
Ranma's blood.
"Oh . . . that . . . I forgot about that."
Ranma said with hand behind head in embarrassment.
"I uh . . . got in a little, um, fight when I went
for my walk earlier." Ranma said uncomfortably.
"What is the matter with you?! Why didn't you
. . . why didn't you have Dr. Tofu fix this the
second you walked in the door you big idiot! Are
you trying to kill yourself?!" Akane glared at
him as she dashed to her closet and grabbed a T-
shirt to use as a bandage, and dashed back to the
bed, tearing Ranma's shirt off she gasped as she
saw the wound.
A six centimeter gash across his side, already
with some puss around it and clotting with dark
angry colored blood, the surrounding skin was very
swollen and infected looking. Akane's hand darted
to her mouth in horror as she recoiled from the
wound. She hadn't been prepared for . . . that.
"What . . . what happened to you . . .?"
Akane finally managed to ask. Her breath was
coming in short panting gasps now, like she was
hyperventilating. Her knees felt weak, and the
floor seemed to be rising up to meet her.
Ranma was hurt, he could be dying. She had to
save him. She had to get the doctor! Dashing to
the door Akane yanked with all her might, and
almost dislocated her shoulder. Ranma had lodged
it in there good!
Glancing over at Ranma, Akane's heart almost
stopped, he was bleeding from the wound freely
now, and it was dripping down his side, leaning
against the wall his eyes were half shut and he
seemed to be breathing very slowly!
Panicked beyond reasonable thought Akane
jumped onto the bed and slapped him, hard. "Don't
you dare die on me Ranma Saotome! I'll kill you
before I let you die on me.
Emotions taking control of her Akane slumped
against him and wrapped him in a tender hug.
"It's gonna be all right Ranma. You just lay down
and rest and I'll go get the doctor . . ." Akane
whispered in his ear, Ranma nodded imperceptibly,
his strength was fading fast all of a sudden, he
needed to sit down and have a talk with his body
about doing things like this to him at the worst
times.
As she held him her hand brushed his wound,
and sparks felt like they leapt from her hand!
Glancing down Akane noticed the skin around his
wound seemed to be a little less swollen and red.
Curious Akane looked at her hand and found no
trace of blood. "What in the . . . " Akane
muttered. Tenderly, Akane lowered her hand to
Ranma's side, and cupped the wound.
Ranma sat up straight and gasped. Then yelped
out loud, "ahhh! That hurts!" Terrified Akane
yanked her hand back and Ranma slumped back onto
the bed.
Looking at her hand again Akane found no
blood, and now it seemed to be glowing a faint
yellow! Looking at Ranma's side again, Akane
sucked her breath in sharply. The swelling had
gone way down, and the redness was almost
completely gone and the wound had closed about
halfway.
Ranma was lying on the bed now, moaning and
tossing his head from side to side in incoherency.
The wound must have given him a slight fever as
well . . . or something like it.
Grimacing Akane closed her eyes and gently
covered Ranma's side with her hand again. This
time her hand seemed to almost fuse with his skin.
Odd sounds seemed to be chiming in her head,
almost as if she was hearing voices from far away,
with her eyes closed she couldn't see anything,
but her eyes felt . . . funny, like they were
heavier or something and she smelled . . . she
smelled . . . the wind? Her room suddenly smelled
like a late summer afternoon in a meadow, with the
breeze carrying all sorts of exotic smells to her
eagerly awaiting nose.

Ranma arched his back as Akane's hand touched
his wound. The pain was incredible. His mind was
almost at the point of taking a vacation it hurt
so bad. Then suddenly it was taken from him. The
pain the soreness, all of it, and not just from
his side, his whole body felt like it was floating
in warm soothing liquid. Opening his eyes Ranma
looked up to see Akane kneeling next to him, her
hand covering his wound and her eyes shut tightly.
Her face was scrunched up in what looked like
worry, and for some strange reason her hair was
moving around like it was blowing in the wind, but
there was no wind in her room . . .

Akane was tired, so very tired. Trying with
all her might to hang on to Ranma, to heal him and
fix him, her strength finally gave out.

Just as suddenly as Ranma's pain had left him,
so was Akane's collapse. Falling on to him Akane
lay still for a few seconds. The second her hand
left his side and their bodies came into contact
Ranma's body felt like someone had snuck up on him
and zapped him with a huge shock of static
electricity. Instantly he felt drained.
Rolling over onto her back, and off of Ranma's
chest to lay beside him Akane suddenly felt very
refreshed.
Ranma glanced at her and saw for the faintest
of seconds a swirling vortex of quicksilver in her
eyes, then it was gone.
Sighing heavily Ranma leaned back into his
pillow and pressed his hands palm first into his
forehead. This was getting all freaky-like.
"Akane . . ." Ranma started out
"Y-Yes Ranma?" Akane answered hesitantly.
"You gotta find something else to drain after
ya do that, I am not the energizer bunny." Ranma
monotoned, smiling to himself.
"Idiot!" Akane growled and chucked a pillow
at his head. Sitting up and looking at the bed,
Akane was amazed to find it clean, without a trace
of blood. Quickly looking at Ranma's side Akane
breathed a sigh of relief to find him completely
healed. Looking over the rest of his body, she
saw all his other little cuts and bruises were
gone too.
The small part of Akane's mind that demanded
to know what the hell just happened Akane squished
under a shield of denial for the time being . . .
she wasn't ready to even consider what she had
just done. She just wanted to sleep very badly
all of a sudden. Grinning like a happy fool Akane
snuggled up close to her fiancee. He WAS her
fiancee after all, there HAD to be SOME fringe
benefits, and having someone to sleep with is very
very nice.
Sighing mightily, Akane buried her head into
Ranma's neck, and snaked one arm around and behind
his neck, and the other under his arm and around
his back, then draped her leg over his knee,
holding him as lovers will. Sighing deeply and
taking in the smell of him, and feeling his
deliciously warm and firm skin pressed against
hers, she let his heart beat carry her to
unconsciousness. She knew she could trust Ranma
to behave himself if she wasn't initiating
anything.
Ranma's mind was heading for a critical
overload, Akane had practically enveloped him!
Where had this come from?! One minute he was
dying and she was saving him, the next minute she
was wrapping him in a bear hug?
What was he supposed to do? Copying the way
she had her arms around him, he encircled her neck
with one hand, and draped her waist with his
other, he left his legs still though, since the
tremendous vise of her legs was gripping him very
tightly almost as if she possessed him.
In her sleepy state Akane sighed or was that a
moan? Ranma had heard about girls moaning, and had
always wondered what it sounded like, then he
jumped slightly as ten sharp sudden pricks of pain
lanced down his neck and back, as Akane dug her
nails into him, marking him as her property.
It kinda hurt, but she was pulling him real
close to do it, and being pressed into someone who
is smaller than you and female, and seems to like
you for some odd reason, is a very nice sensation.
Akane smiled to herself as Ranma threw a blanket
over them quickly and then hugged her back. He
had accepted her in a way, she still hadn't gotten
him to say he loved her, but she had a feeling
that he would some day soon. He had come awfully
close today.
"I wonder what will happen tomorrow?" Akane
whispered to her lover. Her soulmate, whether he
knew it yet or not.
"Tomorrow . . . tomorrow Akane, we start the
plan. Tomorrow all hell is going to break loose.
By the way . . . do you still have that pup-tent
and your sleeping bags?" Ranma answered her,
whispering in her ear with just the faintest of
volume, she was the only one in the world who
could hear him right now.
"I . . . I think so Ranma, why . . ." Akane
answered back sleepily.
"You'll see." Was all Ranma said as he hugged
her close and started to drift off into sleep.
Satisfied for the moment Akane drifted off into a
sleep that only lovers can enjoy, a perfect union
with your soulmate, warm and safe in their bed,
that lets you sleep the best sleep possible, even
if it was mid-day.

__________________________________________________
En d.

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