WARNING:  DO NOT read this fic without reading the Chronological notes
first, or you will get lost.

Ranma 1/2:  Three Souls, One Heart
by David A. Tatum

Disclaimer:  Ranma 1/2 obviously does not belong to me, but to its creator,
Rumiko Takahashi (and to the producers of the anime...)

Author's Notes:  I've had this in the planning stages for months now.  Now
that Return of the Sister's is stalled until a side story is written, I
figured I'd get at least one part of this thing out.

Chronological Notes (kept separate for those people who NEVER read author's
notes):   Okay, the Ranma stories I write are always a anime\manga mesh
(unless otherwise noted).  Now, the movies are part of the anime-only
collection... and haven't exactly got a set place.  So I'm going to set it
immediately after the second movie, but before about a week before they
return from Toma's island.  For this fanfics purposes, I will say the
second movie happened AFTER the last manga.  (Okay, so Ranma fights a lot
better at the end of the manga than he ever did in the anime- maybe after
he literally tore Saffron apart he couldn't bring himself to fight all-out,
fearing he'd get carried away and do that sort of thing to someone who he
doesn't quite hate so much, like, say, Ryouga.  We'll see if I can work
that into the story, as I like doing things with the anime\manga
incongruities (where do you think RotS's Nodoka came from?  She's not out
of character, she's just got multiple characters...))

On with the story...
-------------------------

Chapter 1:

Toma glared at the young man standing on the flat of his practice sword. 
"Huh... if you had fought that effectively in our earlier battle, Ranma, I
would have given up before we reached the sacred spring, and you would not
have had to destroy it," the young prince snorted, disgusted by his
failure.

Ranma shook his head sadly.  "If I'd known your style as well then as I do
now, I probably would have.  I still might have, but... well, it's easy
enough to see what mistakes you can make after you have made them."

He surreptitiously glanced at Akane, who was watching the sparring match
with interest, before leaping down from the sword.  'There goes another of
those mistakes,' he thought to himself.  'When we were about to get married
two months ago, she told me that she could go through with it because I
loved her.  I denied it, of course- I didn't want her to marry me because
she felt obligated to return my feelings, and I certainly didn't want her
to marry me because our parents made her!  But then... in the battle here
last week, she tells me she likes me the way I am.  Dammit, if only I'd
known how she felt then!  Now, I can't tell her at all, because I've
already denied it!  If I-'  Ranma didn't finish his thought as pain
exploded from his side.  

"Is your mind somewhere else?" Toma asked, surprised himself that the blow
hit.  "You would have been able to dodge that even the first time we
fought."

"True," Ranma nodded.  "I'm not able to focus, though.  Something else is
on my mind."  He couldn't stop himself from turning his eyes towards Akane
briefly, something which she missed but Toma didn't.

He smiled knowingly.  "Ah, of course.  I believe the same thing was on my
mind briefly during our battle.  You mustn't let yourself get distracted by
such things, though, or else you will take many more hits than you should."

Ranma thought briefly to the blow he had taken almost a year beforehand as
his eye was caught by a photo of a particular young woman in a yellow gi
that had flown out of a certain kendoist's pocket.  "Heh... I guess you're
right.  That particular distraction has been getting me hurt for more than
a year now, though I wouldn't want to get rid of it for anything."  He
frowned.  "It nearly WAS removed in a very permanent way a couple months
ago... and I went crazy and tore apart the person responsible- and I mean
tore apart."

Akane was not completely oblivious.  She thought they might be talking
about her, but she didn't know for certain until that last phrase.  There
was only one person Ranma had literally dismembered, and that person was
Saffron.  As he and Toma continued to pretend they weren't talking about
her, a small voice came into her head.  'See?  He does have some feelings
for you.  He just said he never wanted you to go away for anything.  He
loves you, and he KNOWS that he loves you, but he's just too shy to tell
you.'

'Oh, come on!' another part of her argued.  'I can see how he being shy
could keep him from telling me how he feels, but DENYING it?  Besides, he's
a loudmouthed hentai baka- why should I care?'

'Oh, nonsense,' the other voice said.  'You can't lie to me.  I know how
you feel- I know everything about you.  I know you dream about him, I know
you worry for him in his fights... and I know you fantasize about him when
you're alone and hor-'

'Shut up!  That's something which you shouldn't be bringing up when he's
around!'

'Oh?' the voice asked, amused.  'Why's that?  Because you're afraid of what
he might think?  Or because you might actually say what you feel?  Or
because you might forget yourself, tear off your clothes, and drag him to
your bed, regardless of who's watching, like you were dreaming about last
night, hmm?'

Akane blushed.  'H-hey!  That's...'

'Right on target?'

She didn't respond for several seconds before a new line of thought
occurred to her.  'Say... who are you, anyway?  You've been talking in my
head for more than half a year now.'

'You really want me to tell you?' the voice asked, surprised.  'All right,
fine... but you're not going to like the answer.'

'Try me,' she demanded.

'Well... I suppose you deserve to know that.  I'm someone who once tried to
kill that man you love- who, despite your misgivings, seems to love you
more than life itself- much more.  After all, while I was here, I did a
little searching of your memories- there was a time he said he'd give up
his life for his martial arts, but he wouldn't give up his manhood.  Well,
what did he do when YOUR gender was threatened?  Not your life, your
GENDER!?  He destroyed what might be his last chance to restore his
manhood!'  Akane was silent for a moment, and the voice continued. 
'Anyway, I once tried to kill him, but failed.  He... you BOTH saved me
when I nearly destroyed myself in that attempt.  I doubt you even remember
me, though- though you might remember what I did.  I was known as th-'

"Hey, Akane," Ranma broke in, breaking into her thoughts and chasing away
the voice.  "Oh, sorry about startling you.  Toma and I are done now, so if
you're ready for some practice yourself I'll help you work out a little. 
Might as well make use of these training facilities while we can- Toma told
me we should reach Japan in a couple of days."

Akane, a little flustered at the sudden interruption but unable to get mad
at Ranma about it, merely stood up and nodded at him.  After all, it wasn't
often Ranma actually VOLUNTEERED to help her work on her martial arts...

*	*	*	*	*

Floating in a sealed wooden crate, a once-powerful entity dreamed of what
it once was.  It could only dream, however, because even if it were to
escape from its airtight prison it would never be able to return to its old
self- the jailer had made that impossible with the specific ward he had
used, in combination with the powerful spell which had placed it.

This dream had been dreamt by the crate's prisoner since its one-time ally
had betrayed it on the beach and stolen its power before capturing it and
forcing it into the floating... no, hell was better than this prison.

Oh, true, had it had the chance, it would have betrayed its ally as well,
but not until they were nearer to its goal of world conquest.  Somehow,
though, their goals were not the same- it wanted power, the ally wanted
wine, women, and food.  And it had been 'scaring away the women.'

Like many others this night, however, its thoughts of the past were
intruded upon before they could be completed.  However, unlike the others,
this particular being was happy about the intrusion- for the crate in which
it was held was broken open, and the seal was destroyed.  Now, all that the
oni had to do was to break the curse of perversion that its one-time ally
Happosai had placed on it.

*	*	*	*	*

Hideki Yoshii, a footsoldier in Prince Toma's Royal Guard since the
floating island had last been near Japan three years ago, had been enjoying
himself for the first time since he accepted that advertisement and took
the soldiers job.  Sure, employment in any army was certain to have a lot
of hard work, but there was little danger of actually going to war in an
army as small as Toma's, and the job was on a tropical island.  Tropical
islands were filled with pretty girls who would be in awe of a 'mighty
warrior,' right?

The true horror of the island 'paradise' was hidden from him until after it
was too late to turn back.  Who would have known that there weren't ANY
girls on Toma's island?  Oh, sure, there was the Prince's harem, but all
those girls were his 'property,' and so if anyone were to do anything with
them...  Well, perhaps it wouldn't have been as bad as he imagined it would
be, but it still probably would be pretty painful.  The Prince had shown
himself to be a very... intimidating... fighter.

But finally the girls were 'released' into the custody of his minions, and
so he quickly snatched the nearest girl and dragged her off to his room. 
Despite her surprise at the sudden change in her condition, the girl soon
fell to his charms, and nearly two years of his pent-up frustration had
been released in one night.  She was now talking about marriage, but...
well, Hideki wasn't too certain he was ready for that just yet.  Still, now
that he thought about it, she wasn't a bad catch, and most of his army
friends were getting married to their girls.  Maybe it wouldn't be TOO
bad...

"Good-bye, dear," Yoshii said, absent-mindedly kissing his lover on the
cheek.  "I'm off to work- I've got beach patrol tonight."

She smiled, grabbed him, and gave him a VERY deep, passionate, and
lingering kiss.  "I'll just have to wait till morning then, won't I,
'Deki-chan?"

Nah, probably wouldn't be too bad at all...

*	*	*	*	*

Yoshii glanced around his patrol station.  Where was the man he was
supposed to relieve?  He gripped the army-issued ceremonial trident that
was the symbol of his post (well, largely ceremonial.  The steel tines on
it were sharp enough to tear through inch-thick armor) tighter, and looked
around cautiously.  Something about this whole situation felt wrong...

"Kyah!" a voice cried loudly, giving Hideki just enough time to leap out of
the way before a different trident would have gone through his chest.

"What in-" Yoshii cried from his knees as the polearm was thrust at him
again by someone who was wearing the same uniform he was.  Instinctually
acting on his training, he rolled back and cross-checked the attacker's
thrust to deflect it above him.  He felt a sharp blow to his chin as the
back of the weapon's shaft was flicked into his face, and went flying
backwards.  He slowly stood up, his vision blurred.

Yoshii blinked, trying to focus.  For a brief instant, his head cleared,
and he could see his opponent clearly.  'Are those... horns?' he thought,
seconds before a glint of steel caught his attention.  He raised his own
trident defensively, but the blades on his opponent's polearm sliced
through the wooden hilt of his own weapon.  Fortunately, though, the
last-second action had deflected the blow a bit, but not enough to stop it.
 Just the flat of the metal tip grazed him, but that graze was delivered
with more force than Yoshii had ever experienced.  He was sent flying to
his side, colliding head-first into a tree before falling unconscious.

*	*	*	*	*

Ranma was slow to awaken.  Blinking, he slowly opened his eyes to see
Akane's anxious face as she shook him.  Immediately, three things pierced
Ranma's sleep-ridden mind.  Akane's waking me up... she's not doing it with
the mallet or a bucket of water... and she looks worried.  Hmm...'

He bolted upright.  "Akane, what's wrong?!" he asked, a little concern
creeping into his somewhat panicked voice.  Not enough that he couldn't
deny it if he had to, though.

"Toma said to join him in the hospital right away- it's an emergency.  One
of his soldiers was nearly killed!"

Ranma visibly relaxed, now that he knew none of his friends had been
harmed.  "Okay.  You go tell him that I'll be with him right after I get
dressed, okay?"  Akane nodded and ran out of the room.  "Huh... she's not
acting like herself.  Must be something serious."  He stood up, slipped on
the previous day's shirt and pants (because he didn't think he had time to
recover his one clean shirt from the laundry) and dashed off towards the
hospital.

When he arrived, Akane was standing next to another young woman, her arms
circling her comfortingly as she cried.  Ranma looked down into the bed
they were standing next to, and noticed one of the island's Royal Guards
lying unconscious, his head and side covered in gauze bandages.

Toma stepped out of the shadows and whispered to Ranma, "Can I talk to you
privately for a moment?"  Ranma nodded, and followed the prince to a small,
isolated room.  "You saw Hideki Yoshii- the soldier who was in the hospital
bed.  According to his lover, Marie Desaix, she was coming to the beach to
surprise him when she caught what looked like one of our soldiers standing
over him, about to run him through with a trident.  The attacker ran upon
discovery, but she was able to get a good look first.  What she saw leads
me to believe I might need the help of you and your... friends."

Ranma nodded.  "Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I'll help you.  What
is it that she saw?"

"Two horns, here and here on his head," he gestured.  "Like a man possessed
by an oni."

Ranma stood unmoving for a moment before bursting out into laughter.  "Oh,
is that all?  We've already dealt with that sort of thing once- I'm pretty
sure we can do it again.  Just start getting a bunch of spirit wards made,
and we'll handle it."

*	*	*	*	*

'Damn,' the oni, still possessing Master Sergeant Alejandro Perez (a native
of Spain who had joined Toma's band when the floating island had been in
the Pacific seven years before), thought to himself.  'I thought Happosai's
spell had failed, and that I was still able to direct the actions of the
more weak-minded of those who I possessed, but I was forced to run from
that woman.  It looks as though I was wrong, though- I can only control the
wills of men with little mental discipline when there are no women around. 
Without a host which I can act through, my plans will fail or I will have
to build my strength till I can fight without a host.  This is not
acceptable- I am going to have to find a way to end this curse he has
placed on me.  It will take too long to build the strength without being
able to react to other women.  But how can I force my host to make love to
a woman when I must run from one if I'm in a man?  I mean, I suppose I
could possess a woman and find a lesbian, but I can't control females that
easily- they would have to WANT me to influence their actions, or I can't
get them to do more than petty attrocities like that Kasumi girl I was in.'
 Alejandro shook his head.  'So what do I do?'

Perez's spirit, a weak little soul but well hardened due to his years of
service in various militaries (he had been a mercenary for some twenty
years now), spoke up in a machiavellian attempt to regain control over
himself.  'Well, you could START by taking over a lesbian, and rape another
woman...'

'No,' the oni thought absently.  'If it isn't consensual, it doesn't count.
 What I need are two women ALREADY in love with each other... and what are
the chances of finding two women like that on an island like this?'

'Well,' Perez contemplated.  'It's said the man who stole the Prince's
woman away from him could change his sex with water.  Perhaps-'

'RANMA?  You mean RANMA'S here?!'

*	*	*	*	*

In the hospital room where Hideki Yoshii lay unconscious, two young women
talked.  One was in tears, and the other was trying to comfort her.  Two
observers watched them from the doorway, unseen.

"I haven't known him for very long," Marie began.  "That doesn't mean I
didn't love him as much as if I'd known him for my entire life.  I kept
hoping he'd ask me to marry him, but now..."  She broke down, unable to
continue.

"You sound like he's dead already," Akane said softly to her friend. 
During her brief imprisonment by Toma, Marie and she had talked a lot. 
Then, when the whole incident with the spring was over they had resumed
their blossoming relationship.  "But he's not, thanks to you.  He'll wake
up and, in time, I'm sure he'll ask..."

"But he came so close!" Marie insisted, moisture flying from her eyes as
she spun on the other girl.  "I came so close to losing him, it feels like
I have!  Don't you know how that FEELS?!"

"Well..."  Akane thought back to the time in the martial arts figure
skating contest, when Ranma took the blow from the couple cleaver for her. 
He wasn't even breathing when Akane first saw him, and for that brief
instant she had thought he was dead.  "Yes, I do.  Ranma has taken many
blows in order to protect me, and one of those times he wasn't even
breathing after doing so.  I was so scared..."

'True,' the voice which had been talking to her earlier said.  'You have
felt that once or twice.  But think of how many times he thought he lost
you?  Once he thought you were trapped as a duck (and was willing to marry
you anyway, I might add), three times he thought Saffron had killed you,
once thought you had completely forgotten him when Shampoo used that
formu-'

'ENOUGH!' Akane's mind screamed.  'And weren't you going to tell me who you
are?'

'Well-'

"Then you know how I feel right now," Marie broke in.

Akane frowned.  "Ranma and I have had a very rocky relationship, and so
it's easy to forget sometimes what we've gone through for each other. 
Ranma's probably thought I was dead- or lost forever- several times more
than I thought he was.  We've normally forgotten how we felt in those
instances, though, because we've made each other mad almost immediately
afterwards.  But yeah, it does hurt.  A lot..."  She sighed, and wrapped an
arm comfortingly around the other woman.

One of the two shadows in the doorway slipped away, and the other soon
noticed and followed.

*	*	*	*	*

"Ranma, what's wrong?" Toma asked, concerned.  Ranma's face seemed to be in
pain, and he had no idea why.

"She's only partly right, you know," he said.  "It does hurt- more than I
hope you'll ever know.  But she got part of it wrong- I've NEVER forgotten
how much it hurts to think I've lost her.  I would rather face a thousand
cats than let anything happen to her..."

Toma, realizing the seriousness of Ranma's words, forced himself to not
laugh at the reference to cats.  He had heard of both the fear and the
reason behind the fear, and it seemed so amusing to think of a martial
artist of Ranma's caliber turned into a quivering mass by a common
housepet- or a meal, to some of his people.

However, his words had sparked another thought in him.  "Ranma, I've been
wondering for a long time- why were you more interested in the water than
Akane?  If, as you say, it hurts so much to lose her, then why-"

"Because," Ranma said forcefully.  "Akane should be free to make her own
decision.  If she wanted to marry you, I would not have stood in her way. 
But if she had asked me to keep you from her, you probably wouldn't be here
right now."  He sighed.  "If I ever marry her, I'm going to make sure she's
willing to- and not because I might want it, but because SHE wants it.  And
if I'm ever sure she does, then heaven help those who might stand in my
way- man or girl, young or old, friend or enemy."

Toma stood back for a moment- Ranma usually looked so relaxed and
easygoing, despite the obvious stress he was under.  However, right now
Toma saw a Ranma he had never seen before.  Little did Toma know there had
been only one time the world had seen Ranma as he looked that second- and
that was when he had been tearing one of his enemies limbs off for nearly
killing the woman he loved.

"Uh... Ranma?" Toma asked tentatively.  "Relax- you look ready to kill
someone."

Ranma took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.  Slowly he let it out, and
with it some of the tension from his muscles.  When he opened his eyes, he
smiled sadly and turned to Toma.  "Sorry about that- got a little carried
away.  Don't worry- it's unlikely Akane and I will ever really know how we
feel for each other, so it'll probably never happen."

"That's not-"

"Anyway, shouldn't we be trying to find to find the others so we can hunt
down your oni?"  Ranma asked.

Looking at him with serious concern, Toma could only nod.
--------------------------
Thanks to my prereaders, Freemage, The Rams, and H-Packrat.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
                             desaix@sysnet.net
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