Hello again, here is a little more as the previous post was a little
short, as incentive to get some more feedback (hint! hint) ;).  But
seriously, I do have a question to pose as well related to writing.
As I feel this is a stupid question please do me the honor of
answering via email only. 

The question is, "How does one define a chapter?"  From now on, I hope
to post only complete chapters and I want to post real chapters rather
than post parts that look like chapters.  Or does it even matter?  For
some reason my idea of chapters is something as a complete mini-unit
of a book.  I can't for the life of me figure out WHAT that unit is
(possibly due to my chaotic paths of thought).

Also, anybody wanna pre-read this?  Lemme know.

D.Fire

	One-half a Life (tentative title)

	***

	"Why me?", Ranma muttered to herself.  "I must have been born
a water magnet," Ranma grumbled under her breath as she approached the
Nekohanten.  Wringing out her pigtail, she thought, 'There it is.  I
hope I can get some answers from O-baba.'
	As Ranma entered the Nekohanten, Shampoo launched herself at
her beloved husband.  Before Shampoo could reach Ranma, Ranma quickly
side-stepped the glomp, causing Shampoo to grasp in vain at empty air
and to lose her balance.  Seeing that Shampoo was about land in a
heap, Ranma casually reached out and grabbed her shoulder to steady
her.  "Sorry, Shampoo, I'm not here to see you," Ranma tersely
explained.  "I'm here to see the old ghoul."  With that, she headed
toward the kitchen area.
	Before Ranma had even taken two steps, she was assaulted by
the second coldest feeling she had ever felt.  The only time she had
felt a colder feeling was when she first awoke at the morgue.  'What
the heck is that?', she thought.
	"So, son-in-law, you have finally been defeated," Cologne said
as she approached Ranma.
	"How did you know that, o-baba?" Ranma demanded in return.
	"I know, son-in-law, because I can FEEL you.  Perhaps you
aren't the Amazon material I had hoped you would be, if you have
already been defeated and killed this early in your life."  This last
statement was uttered with a sigh, expressing a disappointment beyond
words.
	"What are you muttering about you old ghoul?  Tell me what's
going on," Ranma demanded.  She was starting to grow frustrated with
the whole situation.  Ranma was on the verge of attacking Cologne when
Cologne abrubtly turned to Shampoo, saying something to her in
Chinese.
	Upon hearing what Cologne said to her, Shampoo gaped, and her
eyes widened noticeably expressing her shock.  Aquick exchange then
followed between the old ghoul and her granddaughter in Chinese.
	Ranma could understand a little bit of Chinese since having
spent a considerable amount of time training in China, but the content
of the exchange was way beyond her limited comprehension.  She managed
to catch a few words such as "death" and "husband", but the meaning of
the rest of the conversation was completely lost.  "What's going on?"
she yelled at the two.
	The conversation continued for another five minutes.  Well,
actually, the conversation itself only lasted another 30 seconds or
so, but after that the arguing began.  It quickly escalated to a
shouting matching between grandmother and granddaughter.
	The argument ended, however, with a deafening silence.  During
one particularly long harangue from Shampoo, Cologne casually reached
over and poked one of Shampoo's shiatsu points with her staff,
paralyzing and silencing Shampoo.
	Upon seeing this, Ranma interposed herself between the two,
blocking any further attack from Cologne.  She demanded again but more
forcefully, "What the %!#s going on?!"
	With a casual sweep of her staff, Cologne sent Ranma careening
into the nearest wall.
	'Damn, I didn't even see that coming,' thought Ranma.  'She
must be serious this time.'  Jumping up, Ranma yelled, "I'm ready for
you this time, O-baba.  You won't catch me off guard again."  She got
into a ready stance to fend off other forthcoming attacks.
	"This business no longer concerns you, son-in-law, I mean
Ranma.  As of this moment you are no longer Shampoo's husband,"
Cologne quietly said.  "And we are leaving."  With that said, she
casually hopped onto her staff, and hooking Shampoo, she headed toward
the back of the Nekohanten.
	Seeing the despair in Shampoo's eyes, Ranma thought, 'I've got
to find out what's going on.  I'll probably regret this but ...'
Ranma acted quickly and gathering up her strength, she rushed Cologne.
	Sensing Ranma approaching, Cologne quickly turned and readied
herself for an attack, but to her surprise, Ranma did not attack her.
Instead, she found Shampoo taken out of her grasp and quickly beyond
her reach as Ranma bounded out of the room with Shampoo in tow.
"Wait!  Son-in-, Ranma. Wait!  Come back!", Cologne yelled as Ranma
went beyond the range of her voice.

	***

	Ranma was bouncing from roof to roof, heading toward the Tendo
household with Shampoo slung over her shoulder.  About half-way there,
she felt a warm wetness starting on her shoulder and running down her
shirt.  Fearing that Shampoo had been injured someway, she slowed and
eventually halted on a rooftop.  Laying Shampoo on the roof, she began
a cursory examination.
	'Hmm, no dark stains anywhere, so it can't be blood,' she
thought silently.  Thinking for a minute, she finally spoke to the
motionless figure, "Sham - Shampoo, are you hurt somewhere I can't
see?  Use your eyes ... to ... tell ..... me."  'It was her eyes,'
Ranma thought. 
	Taking a closer look, Ranma finally noticed the trail of
wetness starting from Shampoo's eyes and running down the sides of her
face.  Shampoo had been crying, and from the looks of it, had been
crying ever since Ranma left the Nekohanten.  "Shampoo, why are you
crying?  Umm, do you want me to take you back to your grandmother?"
Ranma asked.
	Hearing Ranma's suggestion, Shampoo frantically began shaking
her eyes from side to side in denial, calming only when Ranma soothed
her by saying, "Okay, okay.  We won't go back yet."
	Relief was evident in Shampoo's eyes after hearing Ranma say
that, but that look was soon replaced by the returning look of sadness
and utter loss.  They sat there in silence for a minute before Ranma
had enough courage to ask, "Shampoo, do you know what's going with me
and your grandmother?"
	Using her eyes, Shampoo motioned up and down, indicating a
solid yes, but after that the tears returned in full force and more.
This time, Shampoo was not only crying, she was sobbing, and her
breath came in wracked heaves.
	Seeing her pained sobs, Ranma could not do anything but
respond.  Awkwardly holding Shampoo in a semi-hug, she soothed the
sobbing girl by saying, "Don't cry, Shampoo, I'll find out what is
going on.  It can't be as bad as that."  She rocked the girl back and
forth trying to calm her, but the sobbing only worsened.
	"Damn, I need to know what's going on, and you can tell me,
but you can't!", Ranma gritted through her teeth.  "I know!"  With
that, she gently placed Shampoo over her shoulder again and headed off
in a direction different from where she was heading before.  Off in
the distance she heard a muted, angered squeal.  'What was that?', she
wondered.  'It sounded like ..."

	***

	Ryouga had been a wandering through an unknown city.  'I must
find my way to the Tendo dojo where I'll find that good-for-nothing
coward Ranma and I'll find him and crush him and kill him and then
Akane will be mine and then I'll be with by beloved Akane and she'll
hold me and I'll be happy and ...' he thought to himself (hey, it's
train of thought) before he interrupted himself by noticing two dark
figures on a rooftop two houses away.
	'Hey wait a minute.  I know that pigtail!  It's Ranma!', he
thought and seeing a bit a red.  'But wait.  If that's Ranma then I
must be in Nerima', he excitedly thought, 'and I can see Akane again!'
The red died down a bit.  He was about to yell out him customary
challenge, "Ranma, now I'll kill you." when another thought percolated
through his brain, 'If that's Ranma, who is that with him.'  He could
just barely make out a girl's outline as the second shadow, 'A girl.
If that's Akane ...'  The red returned with a vengeance and Ryouga
started to quietly approach the shadowed pair.
	Half a house-length later, Ryouga could make out more of the
girl's outline piecing out the outline of long hair and round hair
ornaments.  'Hmm, round hair ornaments.  That can only be Shampoo!  At
least it isn't Akane.'  The red in Ryouga's vision died down again.
'But if it isn't Akane ... then Ranma is cheating on her!!  I'll kill
you, Ranma!'  This time, the red came back with a vengeance coloring
the blackness of the night with maroon.
	Ryouga was about to let out a yell, which turned into angered
"Bwee!!" as some rainwater, once held back by a random piece of
flotsam, came rushing down a roof and splashed him.  All he could do
at that point was jump up and down in frustration cursing in pig.

	***