Howdy All.  I'm done my little bit of lurking and have decided to go 
back to being more involved in FFML.  To start off I have decided to 
post my latest piece of work.  Hope you enjoy it... I would appreciate 
any C&C given.


Authors Note:  This fic was originally going to be a Ranma-	
Arthurian Fanfic, but as it turns out I didn't like the 	confines 
of Arthur's Realm.  So now that fic has 	evolved into this one.  
This fic is in a medieval 	setting and as such is quite different 
from a normal 	one.  I ask that all readers simply bear with me and 	
read it all the way through before throwing 	their 	hands up in 
disgust. :)  Just to let all of you manga 	purists out there know, 
this is an unabashedly viz 	translation.  So it will not be what you 
are used to, so 	all I have to say on the matter is this: Tough 
luck.  I 	haven’t read any Ranma manga and I don’t plan on 	
reading any anytime soon.  I prefer the movies and 	hate the work of 
reading subbed so I buy dubbed 	only, the result of this is the 
following story.

Disclaimer:  I ask that the great one, Rumiko 	Takahashi or any other 
company that 	produces Ranma 1/2 and has a copyright on 	it, 
would 	not pursue this matter as I am infringing on the 	
copyright laws that surround her characters.  I am but 	a lone fanfic 
writer with no real means of income, 	so even if you were to pursue my 
fic in a court case, 	you wouldn’t get much.


			Raven’s Wing
			Chapter one


	Ranma’s eyes opened slowly.  A lone ray of light speared through 
the window into his eyes.  He sat up quickly, blinded.  Glancing up at 
the clock he swore.

"Dammit! I’m gonna be late for school!" Ranma shouted. 

A whirlwind of motion soon followed as Ranma got dressed and ready for 
school in a record two seconds.  

	He jumped down the flight of stairs and landed with cat-like 
grace at the bottom.  Ducking into the dining room he paused long enough 
to grab his school bag and quickly shovel down an ever present bowl of 
rice.  Ranma paused suddenly realizing that something was quite wrong.  
He looked around the deserted dining room.  He looked at the clock on 
the wall.  It was almost eight.  He looked around the dining room once 
again.  Getting up Ranma walked into the kitchen, no one was there.

"Kasumi?" Ranma asked hesitantly.

"Anyone?" Ranma asked again.

Silence answered him.  

"Maybe they’ve been kidnapped!" Ranma thought to himself.

"Or even worse!  Maybe Akane made breakfast!  They never would have 
survived through that!" Ranma exclaimed.

Ranma walked up the stairs slowly, hesitantly.  He feared what he would 
find in the Tendou’s rooms.  Would he find mangled corpses?  Would there 
be no one there?  Had he been abandoned in this house alone?  Why was no 
one up?  The stairs creaked as he applied his weight on them.  He walked 
softly to the top of the stairs.  Glancing about warily, he moved on.  
He approached Akane’s door, his shadow stretched out in front of him, a 
black figure in the early morning light.  Ranma’s hand reached out to 
the knob slowly, he turned it and leaned into the door.  It opened.  It 
was dark in Akane’s room, the shades had been drawn.  Fearing what he 
would find Ranma crept forward stealthily.  There was an inert form 
lying on the bed.  It also looked as though there was a dark stain on 
the bedspread.

"Oh no!" Ranma thought.

Morbid curiosity pulled him on though and he stepped closer to the bed. 
 He could see a form now, it was still indistinct but it was of Akane’s 
shape and size.  The dark stain was even more evident from closer, still 
Ranma pushed on.  He was now near enough to reach out and touch the 
corpse.  His hand reached out, trembling.  His hand neared the body, 
then shaking, paused.

"Bweeeee!!" squealed something.  A dark form came hurtling out of the 
darkness and hit Ranma soundly in the kidney.  

"Ugh!" Ranma grunted.  He was thrown off balance by the sudden attack 
and fell forward onto Akane’s dead body. 

As it turned out, Akane’s body wasn’t so dead after all.

"RANMA YOU PERVERT!!! WHAM! OW! Akane let me explain! WHAM! OW!" These 
sounds drifted through the Tendou dojo pulling everyone from the sweet 
embrace of sleep, on the first day of summer vacation.

*  *  *  *  *  *		

	Ranma nursed a bump on his head.  He had gotten it quite 
recently and it still stung.

"Stupid tomboy, she didn’t have to throw that chair at me so hard!" 
Ranma said to himself.

"Now Ranma, what can you expect when you sneak into her room 
constantly?" Genma asked, chuckling.

"I already told you I wasn’t sneaking into her room!  I was just 
checking to see if she was okay!!" Ranma exploded.

"Sure Ranma, that was why you were creeping around the house when there 
was no one up to see you?" Nabiki asked archly.	

Ranma sighed, exasperated and collapsed on his folded arms.

"Why won’t anyone believe me?" Ranma moaned.

"That’s because you’re a moron" Akane returned.

"Tendou, isn’t it great to know that they are getting along so well?" 
Genma asked dreamily.

"Yes, I know what you mean Saotome they’re just like a married 
couple..." Soun continued.

"What are you talking about?!" Akane demanded "We are most definitely 
not married and are most definitely not a couple!!"

"Kasumi she, she _yelled_ at me!" Soun complained, as he collapsed into 
tears.

"There, there father... it’s okay... I still love you" Kasumi murmured 
consolingly, while patting him on the back.

"I can’t believe I’m hearing this..." Nabiki said flatly, rolling her 
eyes.

The wall exploded inward to reveal a stalwart Tatewaki Kunou standing 
amidst the rubble.

"Kunou baby you’re paying for that you know" Nabiki said, frowning 
slightly.

"What is this I hear?  My beloved has be shunned by the evil Saotome?  
Aha! Now she can be all mine!" Kunou shouted triumphantly. "Along with 
my pig-tailed goddess of course" Kunou continued, after a short moments 
thought.

A whistling noise brought Kunou up short.  He glanced quickly over his 
shoulder to see an umbrella flying towards his head.  He quickly blocked 
it with his bokken.

"I’ll not allow you to disrespect Akane in this way, you swine!" Ryouga 
shouted at Kunou.

Ranma quickly stiffled a chuckle at the thought of Ryouga calling 
someone "swine".

"A challenge then is it?  Very well then, I shall accept it.  But be 
warned I shall not grant you mercy in your final moments!" Kunou 
declared arrogantly.

Ryouga snorted, then raised his umbrella and attacked.

Oblivious to the dispute was Ranma and Akane who were busy yelling at 
each other, it was abruptly punctuated when Akane picked up a glass of 
water (which just happened to be sitting there) and doused Ranma with 
it.  A very angry Ranma-chan got to her feet.

"What did you do that for!?  You never give me a chance to explain!" 
Ranma-chan yelled.

"That’s because you’re always lying!" Akane shot back.

Just then a rolling ball of fury burst down the door and entered the 
room.  It was Shampoo and Ukyou.  They both had the remains of a meal, 
supposedly intended for Ranma, in their grasp and were attempting to 
choke the life out of each other.  Amidst all this chaos Nabiki sat 
eating her breakfast.  This simple joy was, however, taken away from her 
by a foot landing in the middle of her rice bowl.  Nabiki’s eyebrows 
drew downward sharply.

"Okay.  That’s it.  I’ve had enough." Nabiki said, enunciating each 
word. 

Everyone in the room stopped to look at her.

"I’m tired of all of this fighting all the time!" Nabiki continued.  
"You all need a little cool down, so let’s go to the beach and spend a 
nice peaceful afternoon there, okay?" Nabiki said, phrasing her simple 
suggestion in the form of a statement.

Everyone stood staring at Nabiki.  Kunou was the first to recover.

"I for one would love to spend this beautous afternoon frolicking in the 
waves and basking in the  beauty of Akane and the Pig-tailed girl!" He 
said gracefully.

"I’m not going to leave you alone with Akane, so count me in too" Ryouga 
said.

"A day at the beach would be nice" Akane said.

"I’ve got nothing better to do" Ranma said.

"Ranma honey don’t leave without me!" Ukyou said from beneath Shampoo’s 
elbow.

"Ranma not go without Shampoo!" Shampoo said from under Ukyou’s spatula.

"Yes, I think we could all use a nice relaxing day at the beach" Kasumi 
said nicely.

"Okay, it’s settled then!" Soun said looking around with a smile on his 
face.

	      *  *  *  *  *  *
	
	Everyone had taken a short break to go and change into their 
swimming outfits and to grab a spare change of clothes.  Then they all 
piled into the Kunou limousine and headed off towards the beach.  Upon 
arriving, Ranma-chan immediately ran into the ocean followed quickly by 
his two most agressive fiances Ukyou and Shampoo.  Kunou got out and 
stood in between the running Ranma-chan and the limo with Akane in it, 
looking back and forth undecided.  Ryouga calmly exited the car and 
helped Akane out, then he helped to set up the place where they would be 
eating lunch.

"It’s awfully nice of you to help out Ryouga" Kasumi said sweetly.

"Uhh... thanks Kasumi" Ryouga said hesitantly, blushing slightly.

Nabiki plopped herself down on a beach towel and began to sunbathe.  She 
was suddenly struck by a funny idea and decided to try it out.  She 
looked innocently up at Ryouga.

"Hey Ryouga, do you think you could oil up my back for me?" Nabiki asked 
as she turned on her stomach and undid the bikini straps across her 
back.

Ryouga stood staring, his face turned beet red and he began to stammer.

"Uhh... I... I mean... uhh... umm... I... Nabiki...." Ryouga stammered. 
 Luckily he was saved by Akane, who seeing his distress took him by the 
arm and led him off onto the beach.  Ryouga’s eyes glazed over and a 
little drool formed at the corner of his mouth as he was dragged by his 
beloved over to a mound of sand.

"Ryouga, lets make something in the sand" Akane said to him.

"Okay Akane" Ryoug said, laughing nervously.

Akane sat down and began to mound up sand into a large pile.  Ryouga 
helped her and soon they had a pile of sand that came up to Ryouga’s 
waist gathered.

	Meanwhile, Genma and Soun had set up the Go board and were 
happily playing a round.

"Kasumi could you bring some of that lemonade over here?" Genma asked.

"Why certainly Mr. Saotome" Kasumi responded sweetly.

"Aha! Genma I have you now!  Look here, with this move I win!" Soun 
declared, triumphantly.  Genma looked on in dismay.

Hearing the sound of running feet Genma looked up he saw Kunou running 
towards them shouting.  He smiled and backed up.

"My goddess in pig-tails your one true love is come to acompany you and 
join you in your frolic amongst the waves!" Kunou shouted as he ran 
forward.

Nabiki looked up from her sunbathing.

"Hey, Kunou-baby watch out for the Go board" Nabiki warned.

Wham!  Black and white stones went flying in every direction as Kunou 
tripped over the board scattering the game to the four winds.  Soun sat 
staring in shock his winning stone in his hand.  Genma smirked.

"Well Tendou, looks like that game was ruined... we’ll just have to 
start all over!" Genma said with a smile.

*  *  *  *  *  *

	Ranma-chan swam among the waves.  She liked doing it because it 
was like flying.  The only difference was that when she swam she 
couldn’t breathe.  She also missed swimming in the ocean as a guy.  It 
just wasn’t the same, she could remember visiting the ocean when she was 
very little and swimming then, but she hadn’t been able to do that for a 
long time.

"Ranma honey! Wait up!" Ukyou shouted as she struggled to catch up to 
Ranma against the current.  

"Mrowr!" declared the waterlogged and bedraggled cat floating beside 
her.

"My pig-tailed goddess I shall date with you!" yelled Kunou, as he ran 
into the waves.  Unfortunately Kunou was buffeted by a sudden wave and 
stumbled into Ukyou.  They toppled to the water, Kunou on top.

"Watch were the hell you’re putting your hands you jackass!" Ukyou 
yelled at him, as she slapped him silly.

"Ranma Saotome how dare you take my darling Shampoo from me!" a voice 
bellowed from the shore line.

Ranma looked up to see Mousse standing at shore shaking his fist.

"Eh? Mousse?" Ranma-chan murmured to herself.

Ranma-chan watched on as a very wet Kunou rose from the shore.  He 
looked around and saw Akane in her bathing suit.  He rose and struck a 
gallant pose then ran at breakneck speed towards Akane his arms open 
wide.  Mousse was still shouting at Ranma and didn’t see the approaching 
danger.  Kunou ran past him and accidentally knocked him into the water.

"Quack!!" The duck bellowed angrily.

Nabiki simply laid back and smirked.

*  *  *  *  *  *

	Ryouga pushed some more sand away and dug a little.
-Yes, it’s definetly starting to take shape- he mused.

"Hey Ryouga watcha making?" Ranma-chan asked, as she walked up behind 
him.

"Well it’s a-"

"Looks kind of like a _pig_" Ranma-chan interupted.

Ryouga whirled around in a rage.  Ranma started to laugh.

"Ranma quit bugging Ryouga!" Akane yelled from the other side of the 
pile of sand.

"It isn’t my fault it looks like a pig" Ranma retorted. "What do you 
think P-Chan?" Ranma continued inocently.

"Ranma.... DIE!!" Ryouga bellowed as he charged at Ranma.

Ranma-chan smiled and set herself for his charge.

Akane sighed and continued shaping the pile of sand in front of her.  
Her modeling was punctuated by sounds of a battle she couldn’t see.

-Those two sure seem to fight a lot!- She thought to herself.

Abruptly, Akane’s hand encountered something hard in the sand.  She 
uncovered it, it seemed to be a flat surface.  She began to dig around 
it, her curiosity aroused.  Several minutes passed and it was still not 
uncovered.  Unnoticed by Akane, the waves in the ocean began to die down 
until the ocean was eerily still, like a still water pond.  

Everyone temporarily stopped what they were doing to gaze around 
nervously.
	
Akane continued to uncover the disk and soon had it mostly uncovered.  
The disk was midnight black in color and had four triangles on it.  The 
top-most point of each triangle pointed in a different direction, and 
beside each point was a letter in a strange language.  In the middle was 
silvery script.  

By now the sky had become quite overcast, and lightning punctuated by 
thunderclaps erupted constantly.

Akane traced the topmost letter with her finger, clearing out the sand. 
 The silvery script erupted into blue flame and a hole appeared.  Sand 
was quickly pulled into the vortex, Akane clutced vainly at the sand but 
was dragged into it screaming.

"RANMA!!" She wailed as she disappeared.

Ranma looked up to see Akane sucked away, he quickly ran towards it.  
Similar shouts echoed throughout the beach.

"My pig-tailed goddess don’t go!  Akane my beloved!  Oh the humanity!" 
Kunou wailed as he ran towards the vortex.

"Akane!" Ryouga and Ranma yelled as they dove into the vortex.

"Mrowr!" Shampoo howled as her cat form hurtled after Ranma.

"Quack!" The duck honked, flying after the cat.

"Ranma honey!" Ukyou shouted, running after Ranma.

Soun jumped up from the Go game.

"Akane! My little girl don’t go!" Soun took off after everyone else.

"Running won’t keep me from winning Tendou!" Genma shouted.

"Oh my!" Kasumi said softly, a dainty hand pressed to her mouth.  She 
quickly gathered the picnic basket and walked briskly after he father.

"Kasumi, you aren’t serious!" Nabiki stated flatly.
Kasumi wasn’t paying attention.

"If they’re going on a trip they’ll need some food" Kasumi explained 
sweetly, then turned back to the vortex.

"Kasumi that could go anywhere, knowing these people!" Nabiki tried 
again.

Kasumi seemed not to hear.

"Fine!" Nabiki shouted standing up and following Kasumi.

Genma sat laughing.
"Ha Ha Ha! This leaves all the food for me!" Genma reached for the fish.

The vortex was now so strong that anyone within fifty feet was dragged 
in whether they wished it or not.  The vortex’ strength was astonishing 
as it pratically snatched the fish from Genma’s hand.  The fish began to 
fly towards the vortex.

"Hey! My fish!" Genma shouted as he ran after it.

The fish vanished into the portal and Genma threw himself after it.

The quiet midsummer afternoon was quickly returned to normal with no 
trace of anyone ever having been here.

*  *  *  *  *  *

	Raven dismounted off of his horse, he flicked his pure white 
hair over his shoulder as he brough his worn rump down from the saddle.

-Damn! I’ll always hate those saddlesores...- He thought to himself.

Raven lead his horse over to a tree and looped the reins over a branch 
leaving enough slack so that his horse could still graze.  Raven looked 
around.

-Yes, this place will do nicely for tonight- He mused.

He looked at his horse, Hawk, and spoke to him.

"If you try to run away again tonight, i’ll track you down and break 
your legs.  Then i’ll ride you around at a gallop for about five days." 
He threatened ominously.

Hawk shivered at the threat.

Raven, satisfied he and his mount had an understanding, returned to his 
chosen clearing and began to prepare a fire.  He dug himself a firepit 
with a small shovel he produced from his saddlebags, then dug around for 
his flint and tinder.

"Damn, I know I put it in here" Raven muttered to himself.

An urging from his sword interupted his search.  He stood up immediately 
and drew his midnight black blade.  It slid out of the sheath 
noiselessly.  Raven glanced around wearily, and Hawk nickered.
Raven swung his blade three times over his head and planted it in the 
dirt at his feet.

"Okay, you can come out now... let’s get this over with so that I can 
get some food." Raven shouted.

It was silent for a count of three.  Then the woods exploded into motion 
as a dozen creatures charged into the clearing from all sides.

They were about eight feet tall and covered in shaggy fur.  Their blood 
red eyes glowed with their hatred and their dog-like maws constantly 
dripped a green ichor.

Raven gazed at them curiously.
"So have you gorthaks gotten any better at fighting?" Raven asked.

In response the gorthaks charged as a group.  Raven casually leaned 
forward and plucked his sword from the clutches of the earth.  He then 
leaped forward and tucked himself into a ball and rolled between one of 
the gorthaks legs.  He came up quickly behind one and spun immediately 
swinging his sword.  In mid swing he issued a silent command to his 
sword, and the sword became a very large axe as it buried itself in the 
back of the gorthaks knee.

The gorthak screamed in agony.

Raven wrenched out the blade with a small shower of blood and whirled 
again.  He swung his blade around again and it became a very pointy dirk 
as Raven buried it to the hilt in the wounded gorthaks kidney.  The 
gorthak screamed once again and collapsed.  The other gorthaks paused in 
their charge and regarded their downed companion.  They all turned as 
one and charged anew at Raven.

Raven smiled and willed his dirk to sword form.  Raven ran towards the 
pack and jumped again.  His sword became a long pole with blades on both 
ends in mid flight and tore out two throats on the way.  Raven hit the 
ground rolling and came up to bury his blade deep in a Gortaks stomach. 
 He quickly reversed his direction and rolled backward as the gorthak 
attempted to grab him.  As Raven came out of his roll he launched his 
sword at the gorthak that had just attempted to grab him.  His sword 
shimmered in its flight and became a dagger that suddenly blossomed in 
the gorthaks eye.  But then the remaining gorthaks were on him.

One gorthak swung at Raven who nimbly danced out of the way.  Another 
swung down at him with a crude sword.  Raven’s sword suddenly appeared 
in his hand and he parried the blow, although the blow made his arms go 
numb from the sheer strength he held his parry.  But then he felt a 
searing pain across his shoulder blades and he was thrown forward 
violently.  Raven rolled with the momentum of the blow between the 
gorthaks legs, getting a cruel idea he held his sword high as he began 
to come out of his roll and felt it connect with the soft fleshy tissue 
between the gorthaks legs.

Raven came to his feet and turned to see the gorthak he had emasculated 
keel over in pain clutching itself.  One of the gorthaks rushed him and 
swung down at him with its club.  Raven danced back and nimbly ran up 
the club and jumped off the gorthaks shoulder.  On the way he kindly 
opened a hole in the gorthaks neck to help it breathe better. 

He flew through the air to crash into yet another gorthak, knocking it 
off its feet.  Raven looked up and smiled when he saw one of the 
gorthaks partners raising its club.  The club whistled down and smacked 
wetly against the gorthak that Raven had been standing on.  Raven, now 
standing inside the gorthaks reach smiled his thanks and nodded his head 
while slitting open the gorthaks stomach, spilling its entrails out in a 
steaming pile at its feet.

The remaining four gorthaks looked at Raven and bellowed their anger.  
They all charged him in a pack.  A big mistake.  Raven quickly planted 
his sword in the ground and cupped his hands behind the hilt.  The 
gorthaks were closing quickly.

"SHADOW-DEATH-STRIKE!!" Raven yelled.
A black gem set in the hilt of the sword glowed and power surged out 
from it.  Black lightning cut through the remaining gorthaks 
disintegrating them into charred piles.

Raven sighed and retrieved his sword.  He cleaned his sword and placed 
the blade to his forehead.

-Thank you once again, my faithful companion- Raven thought to the 
sword.

-You are welcome Raven, although I hate the taste of gorthak blood, I 
rejoice in the fact that the foul beasts are departing this world- the 
sword responded.

"I simply wish I could be a normal kid again, I want to have real 
friends and a family" Raven whispered aloud.

-It cannot be much longer, you must last for the final battle.  I know 
you are young, sixteen is not the ideal age to be fighting the evil 
hordes of Mardoth- the sword sympathized.

"I’m so lonely... and there is no one else..." Raven whispered.

End Chapter 1