Ranma 1/2 is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain. Its sole purpose is to entertain using the characters and plots developed by Takahashi. ALL rights reserved

A sudden chill in the morning can bring on a cold day.

Chapter 5: The ghost and the darkness

Members of a building crew were amazed when a balloon suddenly descended from the heavens. Unfortunately, an iron beam was shaking from its bearing and horrifyingly went plummeting towards the only passenger of the downed balloon. The crew tried to warn the passenger, but they knew it was too late, the beam was almost to the ground. They swore that all they heard was a sudden explosion and the rising of the dust. The remnants of the balloon and its occupants had suddenly disappeared when the haze had cleared. The bewildered crew set about their work as normal. Perhaps they had hallucinated the whole thing?

**************** 

Ranma Saotome did not wake as usual for the sunrise. He had always loved to watch the sunrise although now he did it for a different reason. Today was different from all other days he had had at the Tendo Dojo. Normally when Ranma Saotome dreamed and slept late at night, his sleep was very deep and he could not be awakened except if extreme measures were undertaken. This time however, Ranma Saotome did not know if he was dreaming or if this was the real world.

In front of him stretched a plain, a field covered by blooming flowers of pure white. The stems of the plants barely reached above the ankle, but the flowers were large and beautiful, spreading with the morning sun, the dew from the precious night glistening on the petals, trapping the warmth of the morning sun. He could smell the flowers too. Their scent was an incredible aroma, capturing the very heart and soul of the beholder. The air was crisp and the wind blew a cool breath across the plain. This was what Ranma Saotome saw in his dream, and more.

There was a woman there, not a young woman, but not old either. She held in her eyes the wisdom of the ages. Ranma could see the understanding in her eyes as he gazed at her. It was not a gaze of the pure loving of a man for a woman but it was gaze of mutual friendship, of mutual understanding. He knew he could trust this person. The only problem was that he could not identify the person. It was not as if he could not see her, he just could not identify her. He knew he had seen her somewhere, had known of her before, but he just could not place the face. Even her face seemed to blur when he tried to capture it in his mind. He felt as if he was grasping at a straw that was just in front of him and although not entirely out of his reach, he couldn't grab hold of it no matter how hard he tried. It was as if someone was taunting his memory, trying to pry out something that was there but not quite there.

The person spoke...

"Ranma."

"Yes, I'm Ranma, who are you?"

"A friend."

"A friend? (pause) Where are we?"

"Where we have always been."

"Which is where?"

"Here."

Ranma was about to continue with his so far fruitless probing when his eyes averted to the ground in front of the woman. She was bending down with her body facing a mesh of sticks. He recognised the tepee format of the sticks and was expecting the woman to use some stone to spark a fire. Either that or use a spell. He was intrigued when she placed her hand over the sticks. Why was she doing that? The question was answered when the wood beneath her hand began to spark and suddenly caught afire. Ranma's eyes bulged in bafflement. He had not felt a trace of any magical signature. How had she done that?

The woman did not stop there. She took a handful of chestnuts from an open bag and threw them into the fire. She gave Ranma a sidelong glance and Ranma followed her line of sight into the fire. She held her hands aloft in front of the fire for him to see. Suddenly, her hands blurred and Ranma stood there gaping. As he stood there, the woman repeated the manoeuvre as Ranma watched spellbound.

"How did? How?"

"With practice."

Ranma wanted to say something else; he wanted to ask questions. Someone was pulling him however, pulling him away from the woman in front. She was the key. He knew she was the key. There was something not right with this dream!

"Ranma wake up!!"

"What!"

"We're going to be late!"

"Ahhh!"

*****************

"Ranma, what's wrong?"

"Huh?"

"What's wrong? You can tell me. I'm your best friend remember."

"Nothing's wrong, I just had a strange dream."

"It must have really been strange. You've been like this whole day, even through class."

They reached the inside of the Tendo gates.

"Hey Akane, do we have any chestnuts?"

"Huh, I think Kasumi has a bag of them somewhere in the kitchen. I'll go check."

"Thanks."

Ranma started building a fire. He had a sneaking suspicion that the dream was trying to tell him something. Akane found him with a fire going in the back.

"Ranma what are you doing?"

"I'm going to try something."

Ranma threw in the chestnuts and diving in after them with his hands. One second and a scream later, his hands were immersed in the koi pond with no chestnuts in them.

"Are you trying to kill yourself!" shouted Akane as she pulled Ranma hands from out of the pond and inspected them.

"No, no. It's training. I see it now. If I can pull out all the chestnuts without getting burned, I've learned the technique."

"Wha...?"

"Can't you see it Akane? Can you imagine how much faster this will make me?"

Akane was amazed. Ranma was actually thinking of burning off her hands in the name of training. Was she insane? Akane sighed. Even though Ranma looked like she was about to go though with this insane form of training, she was still her friend. Akane Ran inside to get bandages and ointment. She knew Ranma would need a lot of that in the coming days.

Four days later, Ranma was still at it in the fire. His hands were pretty badly burned already and he needed attention almost every night. Fortunately, he was a fast healer, and he could cast some simple healing spells on himself. Akane however did not know this and was continuously worried about her friend and her apparent fixation on learning some martial arts technique that no one else knew about. Everyone was discouraging Ranma from continuing the training except Akane's father. Akane wondered why her father had said nothing, but she did not know whether she should ask her father that question or not. She left that decision for another day.

Ranma Saotome was beginning to wonder if the training was worth it. He had made up his mind to at least try what he saw the woman do, but he had had no real breakthroughs. True, he could now pull a couple of the chestnuts out of the fire without being burned, but the real part that he wanted to master was the speed. His speed had increased considerably, but not to the proportions that he wanted or had seen. He had not had the dream since that night and now he was wishing that it would come back to him again so that he could see the technique one more time. Until that time, all he could do was practice. That was something he was accustomed to. His father had him train tirelessly to perfect some technique he saw someone else do. Ranma was not alien to this kind of perseverance or dedication except this time, he had no one behind him telling him that he act like a man and that the life of a martial artist was fraught with peril. He hated to admit it, but he missed his father. His father always knew which buttons to push to keep him motivated. Right now he was feeling a bit depressed and needed a little motivation. He needed a little zing to keep his head above the clouds. He didn't know anyone at the moment that could give him that kind of push, a push that even though it wasn't a necessity was a comfort.

He was thinking about this while he was with Akane shopping in downtown Tokyo with some of their friends. Ranma in truth never really liked these shopping extravaganzas, but he liked the company though. Snapping back to reality, he followed Akane into another nondescript store. To him, they were all beginning to look the same. Sometimes, they would pass by a martial arts store or a movie theatre with something interesting showing; either that or a store that sold some pretty good food. He would take any one. This time, it was a small diner that specialised in seafood. Ranma specialised in seafood also; when he saw food, he ate it. It was a simple rule devised by his father, and he lived by it, with certain amendments of course.

He was in the mood for some fried shrimp in tomato sauce when out of the corner of his eye he spied a tank. It was a shallow tank infested with lobsters and crabs that were busily snapping at the cook, denying the house patrons their deserved treat. The snapping of the claws gave Ranma an idea and on further reflection, Ranma thought it was an excellent idea. He didn't have verbal motivation, but why not have motivation of another kind. Walking up to the counter, he put on his cutest smile.

"May I try?" he asked the cook.

The cook looked at the crustaceans then at the little girl.

"You might get caught."

"I'm planning on it."

"Ranma, you're not serious about this are you?" asked Akane.

He gave her that look. That stubborn look that told Akane he was going to do just that. Akane sighed and leaned back into an awaiting seat. It was going to be a long day.

Ranma reached in with his hand and tried to grasp one of the lobsters. This action was cancelled when a crab decided to protect its territory.

"Ouch!"

Akane giggled.

Ranma was not to be perturbed as he continued in his quest to get the lobsters. After hours of fishing with his fingers, and receiving numerous lesions on his hands for his effort, he was finally able to pull out one crustacean at a time without getting bitten. The other girls except Akane had already left. By the end of the evening to the delight of the cook, Akane and the patrons who were enjoying the spectacle before them, Ranma was able to fish out more and more of the delicacies without being caught by the protruding claws.

Triumphantly, Ranma held out a large lobster that he had found buried at the back of the tank. It was by far the largest of them all and easily the most expensive. The cook gave Ranma an approving eye. All that activity had brought in a lot of curious and excited potential customers who wanted to see a teenaged girl pulling crustaceans out from a fish tank barehanded. Ranma easily drew a crowd and as the girl pulled them out many potential customers decided on which crustacean they wanted to order. Business had exponentially grown during the afternoon and the manager decided to award the girl with the treat.

"That one is yours if you want it."

"Really?"

The manager nodded his head.

"Thanks," replied Ranma before he bounded out of the door with Akane in tow.

At home, Ranma gave the gift to Kasumi before he headed outside again to the area where he usually kept wood for the fire. Quickly he built the fire and procured a handful of chestnuts from the bag he kept with the wood. He knew Akane was looking at him from the side of the Dojo.

Akane was a pile of worries at the moment. Ranma was stubborn, even more stubborn than she was. She had wanted to ask Ranma about Kanma for a long time, but every time she worked up the courage to ask Ranma about her cousin, Nabiki or Kasumi popped up or she just didn't have the guts to go through with it. She remember a time when Ranma was sitting alone, watching the sun dip below the horizon when Akane got the desire to ask her about Kanma. Akane had approached Ranma. Ranma faced her and asked her what was going on. That was the time she could have asked that she should have asked, but she chickened out at the last moment. If someone had dared her, she probably would have done it, but no one knew about her secret crush on Kanma so there was no motivation for her to actually confront Ranma. She wished someone else knew but there wasn't anyone that she could trust with something like that except Ranma.

Now, with Ranma's intense desire to learn some technique for the last couple of days, Akane found her attempts at finding out information totally curbed by Ranma's zeal for martial arts. Ranma had even temporarily halted her training due to her own intense training. Akane would have gone to Nabiki, but she didn't want her sister knowing about Kanma as yet. She did not want her sister harassing her all the time. Nabiki was her sister but did she trust Nabiki with her secrets? Yeah right! She had only known Ranma for a few weeks but the chemistry between them was undeniable.

These days, all Ranma thought about was that technique she wanted to learn. That frustrated Akane since the job of nurse usually fell to her. At least Ranma didn't totally ignore her. They still spent the last hours of the night talking about arcane topics that she did not even share with her sisters. That was probably the best time for her to ask about Kanma, but Ranma always found some way to get her mind off Kanma and onto some story or the next they had heard. She had even found herself telling and re-telling stories from her past. She did not know how Ranma had that power over her. She had this ability to just change the subject when they were almost about to talk about the subject. It was so frustrating.

Akane watched as Ranma threw the chestnuts into the fire. She could actually hear Ranma counting. Then she saw a blur and heard a cry. Thinking something had gone wrong, Akane ran towards Ranma quickly. All Akane saw was Ranma turn around, then she felt herself spinning in the air.

"I did it Akane! I did it!"

Akane saw the discarded chestnuts on the ground. Indeed she had done it. She had pulled out all the chestnuts from the fire. She gave Ranma a hug but still found herself in the smaller girl's arms as she twirled around the backyard. Ranma released her but continued celebrating as he jumped and somersaulted around the yard.

As if sensing the mood, Kasumi shouted that dinner was ready, and both girls retreated to the house.

Ranma was pleased. After all that, he had finally mastered the technique and although he did not want to sound like an obsessive compulsive person, when someone gave him a challenge his mind would not let him rest until he had completed the challenge. The challenge was completed and Ranma felt more at ease.

Ranma relieved at achieving his goal took a moment to lie back and relax and found Akane staring at him. He thought this was kind of unusual.

"Akane, is something wrong?"

"Um...no, except you have a beaming smile plastered across your face for the last five minutes and you haven't even touched your food."

"Oh..." With that, the vacuuming began at a slow steady rate that looked like a normal person eating but really wasn't if you were paying attention.

When Ranma was finished, to the amazement of Akane, he still felt energetic. He needed to do something.

"Hey Akane, wanna spar later."

"Yeah!" If there was one thing Akane liked, it was sparring.

Ranma waited on her then the two made their way to the Dojo.

***********

Ranma fell asleep that night with a smile plastered across his face. He had plastered Akane to the wall. Actually, Akane had plastered herself to the wall when she missed with one of her punches and lost her balance. She made intimate contact with the wall and Ranma found himself prying her off the wall and tucking her into bed. He wasn't about to take off her gi and change her clothes for her. He still had his honour and his principles. Blood surged through his veins since he was invigorated by his victory. He was invigorated, but he knew he needed sleep also. He would have a good night's sleep, he was sure of it.

Three hours later, Ranma found himself in a field: a field that was covered with wide expressive white flowers. It was the same field he was in the last time he had had a dream like this. Everything felt so real. He touched a flower. He could feel the silk-like smoothness of the petal as he stroked them; he could smell the unique scent as it wafted into his nostrils. How was this possible? So real, it was all so real! He had never had dreams like these.

Wait a minute, he was he could...it wasn't possible. How could you be awake during a dream? It was impossible, but he was awake. Awake, and conscious about everything around him. It couldn't be. You never remembered your dreams: that was a rule about dreams. He had never thought about that before. How could this happen?

"You're not dreaming," explained a voice behind him.

"You," replied Ranma as he quickly turned around, "Then, what is this?"

"This is your consciousness," replied the person.

She still looked like someone he knew, but he could not place the face at all. He just wished he could. She was familiar somehow, just like this place was. The only problem was that he could not exactly place where they were or who the person was. He had others questions to ask the woman though.

"Who are you?"

"A guide."

Ranma was surprised.

"A guide to what?"

"To what you want to be," she responded. Ranma hoped she would not carry him in circles again.

"And what's that?"

"Only you know."

"So what was that technique?" he asked trying to change the questioning.

"The Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken."

"Strange name."

She did not respond.

"So why am I here?"

"Because you chose to be here."

"I chose?" questioned Ranma, surprised. When did he choose this?

The scene around him then drastically changed and Ranma found himself on top of Mt. Fuji looking down on the rest of the island. He could see the four lakes, he could even make out the trains as they slumbered around on their risen tracks.

"It is your choice," she replied, "To be a martial artist or to be a Maiden, the choice will always be yours."

Ranma stared at her and the background behind her. Time passed as he continued to watch.

"You are only just beginning to learn," she added.

She wove a pattern in the air. Slow enough for him to see but fast enough for the words to have effect. She did it again and again, giving him time to study the pattern.

"Who are you he asked?"

"Just a ghost, a ghost through time."

Then Ranma felt himself falling, falling through a pit. He could feel the air rushing past him, blowing his hair past his face. He was falling quickly. Then suddenly there was nothing...it was pitch-black all around him. No light, there was no light. He moved to the right to the left, he saw no light, then he looked up and finally when he looked down, he saw light, a small pinhole of light. Why was it below him? Then he realised it was not below him, but above him. Then he really observed where he was and what position he was in. He was not standing, no, he was floating and floating upside down. He righted himself and then commanded himself to move forward. He did. He moved, slowly at first, then more quickly, then he was going so fast that his lips began to pull back from the force of the wind.

He tried to slow down, the pinhole was getting larger and larger, but he did not know what was on the other side. He desperately tried to force himself to become slower. It was working, he was slowing down, but he wasn't going to slow down in time. The pinhole was as big as a basketball and getting bigger. He was getting very close now and with the speed he had, he braced for the impact.

"Wuh!!" he shouted as he impacted with the hole.

He counted to three and nothing happened. He removed his hands and peeked through his eyes. He was back in his room: safe in his room.

He checked to se if anyone had been in his room. There were no signs of intruders. Ranma wiped his forehead and was surprised that it was wet. He checked and found that the sheets on the futon were all soaking wet. This would not do. He gathered the sheets and silent made his way to the laundry room. Depositing the sheets and dressing the futon, Ranma climbed back in, but his mind would not allow him to sleep. Ranma sighed and kicked off the covers. He crept downstairs and heated some water in a kettle with one of his spells. He then disappeared over the fence and poured the water on himself. He felt like a night on the town: a night just watching the stars.

Ranma found himself on top of some house he did not know, watching the stars. He had always done this when he could not sleep or when something was troubling him. For some reason, he knew trouble was afoot. Something was afoot, something always was. If it wasn't his father with some crazy, scheme, it was someone out for repayment of some debt or another. He closed his eyes and tried to think. Tried to sort out in his mind what the woman meant. She said it was his choice. What choice was that? He had hoped for a bit of rest and normality that seemed to evade him every time he searched. Why should it come to him now?

"Ranma prepare to die!"

Ranma was brought out of his reverie by the threat. Who wanted to challenge him now, was it another one of those people his father had stolen food from again. If it was, he wasn't going to take responsibility for his pop's actions. Slowly he turned his head to face his aggressor and was pleasantly surprised.

"Hey Ryouga what's happening?" greeted Ranma.

"Don't give any of that!" bellowed Ryouga. "You ran out on that man to man fight and I'm here to send you to hell for what you've done to me."

"Hey that wasn't my fault. Let's just forget about it okay?"

"Ranma where's your honour, running away from a fight."

Ranma was getting annoyed. Insults were one thing but blemishing his honour was another thing entirely. Those were fighting words. If Ryouga wanted a fight, Ryouga would get a fight.

"Okay Ryouga, right here, right now. Let's settle this once and for all."

Ryouga's eyes gleamed as he waited. He was ready to pulverise Ranma. Finally he would get his revenge and... well after that, things would work out for themselves, but he wanted his revenge first.

Ryouga attacked using all the knowledge he had built up over the years. He had studied many styles in his travels and he used them all to his advantage. Ranma waited and learned as he battled with Ryouga, he blocked the stronger boy's punches, but he studied the style. He liked to learn new styles. The Anything Goes School was founded on being the most diversified in its fighting style. Anything was allowed. Ryouga would have travelled to places and studied under sensei that he might not have met before. Ranma would learn. It was also to his advantage that he learned quickly too.

Ranma knew that Ryouga would not throw everything at him, he would keep some of techniques a secret until he really needed them. There were some ploys to counteract that.

"Come on Ryouga. I get a better fight with a stray dog."

"Ranma stop mocking me!"

Ryouga was quickly growing more demoralised as the fight progressed. He was using most of his repertoire but Ranma had not succumbed to any of his techniques. To further complicate the matter, Ranma had not even tried to attack him as yet. How did Ranma manage to evade and block his attacks so easily? It was if he had extra time to defend himself with. Ryouga could not figure it out.

Ranma was amazed. Training from the amaguriken had made him faster, but also, it made his reaction time a lot quicker than it used to be. Instead of waiting for his body to execute what he wanted it to do, it reacted simultaneously with the thought. That gave him a lot more time with which to defend himself and plan his next move.

He toyed with Ryouga as he always had. He had always liked fighting with Ryouga because he do just that. They would fight and even though Ryouga was a dangerous person to fight because of his skill, he could toy with Ryouga, knowing that Ryouga would get himself lost before anything serious came of their altercations.

Ryouga was quickly getting pissed. Why didn't Ranma attack him fully? It was as if Ranma didn't think of him as a threat. He would show him, he would show Ranma who was better. Ryouga had learned a little bit about ki and using it to his advantage. Ryouga took a little time and let the ki flow though his body, making him more aware about what was around him, making him stronger. Making him see...

Ranma could tell that something was happening to Ryouga. He hadn't felt that much power rise in someone without using magic. It felt as if Ryouga was just brimming with energy. Hmm...this might just get interesting.

"Ranma now its time for you to pay!"

Ranma smirked. This was what he enjoyed the best.

"Come one, let's see what you've got!"

Ryouga attacked with a kick, his foot aimed straight for Ranma's head. Ranma swerved, allowing Ryouga's foot to swing over him, but his foot did not stop there. Ryouga's foot smashed into a lamppost, which exploded on impact. The explosion propelled Ranma away from Ryouga. Shaken, Ranma flipped himself to face Ryouga who was grinning widely.

"So Ranma, what do you think now?"

"You're still too slow to beat me Ryouga," taunted Ranma. He was excited. How did Ryouga do that? How did he make the whole lamppost explode? He needed to see it done again. He had used ki before, but he had never been able to control it like Ryouga had just done. To see the technique done again, he would have to make Ryouga continue fight him in his enhanced state.

This time, Ranma attacked. Ryouga smiled as the two of them spun an ephemeral web of intricate beauty that could never be duplicated again. Ranma was quicker; Ryouga was stronger. The classic pitting of strength versus agility and the ensuing chaos was classic too. Two warriors fought in the middle of the night. They were uninhibited by anyone else. In a busy city, their twilight campaign was shielded by the noise of the nightlife. The citizens this far into the interior of the city had grown accustomed to the noise and so they slept as the environment outside was brought to rubble by the brawling of two powerful youths. Their brawling did not go entirely unnoticed however; someone in the shadows saw them as they moved haphazardly, Randomly picking their destination as they evaded or sent each other to unknown destinations. The shadow tracked them as they moved. Duty demanded it. The figure waited in the darkness.

Ryouga just couldn't get his hands on Ranma. He would either block his attempts or evade them without being seriously hurt. Ryouga reached for a few of his bandannas.

"Hey Ranma, catch!"

All Ranma heard was the buzzing sound behind him and instinctively he jumped and sailed over the bandannas that ended up imbedded in the surrounding wall. The shadow thought that this was enough. It was time to act.

Ranma and Ryouga faced each other again when they distinctively heard the sound of something cutting through the air. The swooshing sound was their only warning before over a dozen metallic objects imbedded themselves in the street where both of them had previously stood.

The figure came out of the shadows.

"Ranma is mine!"

"Says who?" retorted Ryouga.

"Ukyou Kuonji. Now step aside, this is a matter of honour. Ranma Saotome, I challenge you!"

"No you don't," shouted back Ryouga, "I challenged him first." Ryouga was getting angry, this upstart martial artist dared to claim Ranma's attention. He didn't know who this person was, but he wasn't the least bit intimidated by the huge metal thing strapped to his back.

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"So what if you did!"

"Then I get to fight him first!"

"No you don't!"

Ranma watched the both of them and his head switched back from one to the other as they verbally fought.

"I fight him first!"

"No I fight him first!"

"Let's settle this. Ranma, who fights you first?"

Ranma saw two powerful marital artists descending upon him and he backed off. He didn't like the look of that huge thing in the other fellow's hands.

"Ranma answer me!"

"Yeah Ranma, answer the question!" shouted Ryouga.

"Um...ahh...who are you again?" Ranma asked the boy he couldn't recognise. Who was this boy?

"Ukyou Kuonji! You stole my yattai!" retorted Ukyou. She couldn't believe that he would steal her dowry and then on top of that, he would forget about her!

"Ukyou..." Ranma rumbled the name through his mind. It was sounding familiar. It reminded him of someone he knew a long time ago. "Ukyou...Ucchan! Hey Ucchan, how have you been? I've missed ya man!"

"Don't you dare call me that Ranma Saotome!" She was getting angry. How dare he call her that of all things? He was supposed to take her away with him, instead, he took away the only thing her father had to offer as her dowry, destroying her honour and destroying her life and her hopes. Her aura started so show. She vowed to her father that she would make him pay and he would pay.

"Yeah Ranma...huh?" Ryouga was lost again. This time he wondered why the man had said that.

Ranma smiled. "I can take the both of you on! Let's see what you've got."

Ryouga and Ukyou faced each other.

"Together?" asked Ukyou.

"Together," replied Ryouga.

Ranma sighed. Why did he have to go and open his big mouth?

Ranma tried his best to ward off two very angry and determined martial artists and strangely enough he was doing it too. He had been trained well by his father and in their travels he had come up against more than one fighter at the same time. His father always planned to make his training harder so he always asked the other sensei to make things interesting. Ranma had formulated a new technique when dealing with multiple aggressors: make them make themselves lose. Thus, all Ranma did was flip and side in between their attacks using his extra speed. Of course, Ukyou and Ryouga were unaccustomed to fighting together and they sported more bruises from their own encounters than from Ranma's retaliation.

As things always happened in the universe, Ryouga pulled out his belt and straightened it into a weapon while Ukyou readied for a sharp strike. Ukyou's strike missed Ranma by millimetres as did Ryouga's but they did manage to hit some other targets. Ryouga got pounded in the head while Ryouga's belt managed to slice something that was not meant to be sliced. Ukyou covered her chest and turned around to the amazement of both Ranma and Ryouga.

 "Hey Ucchan, what's up?" asked Ranma as he confronted his old friend by pulling on her shoulder causing her to shove him off unceremoniously and also causing Ryouga's strike to sent him flying. Unfortunately, Ryouga was left staring at two round mounds that were covered over by binding tape. The blood rose to his face and the only thing that prevented him from passing out was a high pitched shout from his blind side that just happened to lure him out of his trance.

"Ryouga, stop staring at hi..." then he saw...her? Ucchan was a girl!

"Oh...um...Ranma," gasped Ryouga. He looked at the slightly damp redhead girl then he looked at the other girl with her clothes torn open. He knew what it looked like.

"It's not what it seems!" he shouted in his defence. Okay, maybe Ranma was not his girlfriend, but all the shouting from the other day had him thinking and maybe it was time he should get a girlfriend. Ranma was the perfect girlfriend for him. She was a martial artist, she wasn't a sissy and she was actually the first girl he could look at for a few minutes without falling unconscious. Besides, she was the only girl who had paid him any attention in years and if there had been some history between them well things might just...

"Stop staring at me you pervert!" shouted Ukyou who broke out of her short trance to send Ryouga flying with a sweep of her spatula.

Ranma knew from experience that it made no sense trying to follow Ryouga. He would get lost as soon as he reached the ground. He too pried his eyes away to prevent him from staring; at least until Ukyou mended her top to his satisfaction. So his childhood friend who he thought was a boy was actually a girl. His life got interesting with every turn.

Ranma thrust out his hand.

"Ranma Saotome."

"Ranma Saotome? (pause) Ukyou Kuonji. Are you any relation to Ranma Saotome the boy?"

"Yeah, he's my cousin. So what did he do to ya anyway?"

"How do you know he did something to me?" asked Ukyou suspiciously.

"Um...well it wasn't hard with all that shouting," defended Ranma.

"Oh..." replied Ukyou, her face slightly coloured. "Well when we were younger, our fathers engaged us but Ranma ran out on me with my dowry. Now I have to make him pay for my dishonour." Ranma clenched his fists; he would have to have a little talk with his father when he returned. Now what was the most painful method he could use to bring his point across to his father? There had to be some way of salvaging his relationship with Ukyou though. Hmm...

"Ranma talked about some friend he called Ucchan. Pop...uh...he said his father carried him off with a yattai..." He had better not tell her he had thought she was a boy all this time. Ranma had to quickly defend himself from almost getting creamed by a runaway fist and said the first thing that came to his mind. "Ranma also said his old friend was cute..." he blurted out.

"He said what?" asked Ukyou her face flushed with embarrassment and excitement.

"He said you were cute," replied Ranma, more to himself than her.

"Did he really say that?"

"Of course he did!" replied Ranma. Ukyou blushed brightly.

"Well next time, tell your cousin that his cute fiancée is looking for him."

Ukyou jumped into the branches of a tree into the night. Ranma was about to follow her when the words sank in. Cute fiancée? Ranma slumped down next to a wall. Fiancée! That was all he needed to further complicate his life: more fiancées. He had Dai to deal with and she was turning out to be more than a handful. How would he explain Ukyou to her? Note to self: kill pops the next time he saw him.

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