[Author's Notes:  I started this story, as you can see, about a month ago
and am now into the third chapter.  I'm going to release them here in hopes
of getting some C&C on my work, which seems to have been fairly scarce
lately.  Please, send me comments, compliments, or criticism!  I can take
harsh words, and they're a hell of a lot better than no words at all. ;)]

Ranma 1/2:  Mirror Images
by George Masologites
guilds@mail.serve.com [Hunter Kid]
© 7/21/1997  All Rights Reserved
Introduction

    Well, now.  Welcome to the realms of Ranma 1/2, the making of which I
can take no credit.  The credit goes to Rumiko Takahashi and her wondrous
imagination, and, since I'm writing this without her permission, this story
isn't to be sold or anything like that.
    Don't really feel like putting down the rest of the legal stuff, so
basically:  "If anything bad happens, it's not my fault."  There.  
    Mirror Images is an 'alterniverse' sort of fanfic - a 'what if?' story.
 In this case, it would read something like, "What if Ranma liked Ukyou
better than okonomiyaki and she had helped him out with a misunderstanding
and Happosai had named but not baptized a certain boy in a spring that had
three things in it?"  You may have already guessed what the plot is about,
and a lot of the happenings are replays from the TV Series and such, but
what would have happened if the 'what if' I described above was true.
    Enough babble, already!  On with the story!

Prologue
Decisions

    It was a clear day, and a warm spring breeze whispered its way through
the lush green valley of southern Japan.  Up above, scattered white clouds
dotted the endless expanse of azure sky, and a blazing sun sent down its
heat to warm the valley.  Birds chirped happily, which blended pleasantly
with the running of a crystal brook nearby.  The wind blew a bit harder for
just a moment, blowing into a little boy's face, who giggled and continued
eating.
    The little boy, dressed in a small white gi with his black hair tied
back into a small ponytail, was eating an okonomiyaki, sitting on a small
hill next to his father, a heavy-set man maybe thirty years of age, who had
a thoughtful expression on his face.
    "Ranma, m'boy," the boy's father said in a deep voice, sounding a bit
unsure of himself.  "Listen well, and answer your father."  He paused, as
the boy, Ranma, looked up at him with cheerful blue eyes.  "Which do you
like better?  Ukyou or okonomiyaki?"
    Ukyou Kuonji, as the boy's father knew, was a young girl that lived in
this valley with her father, an okonomiyaki seller.  Ukyou and Ranma had
become quite good friends over the past month or so, a friendship borne of
rivalry.  When Ranma and his father had first arrived in the green valley,
it was so his father could begin to train him in the art of fighting,
martial arts.  
    After roughly a week of intense training, they had discovered they
weren't alone in the seemingly isolated valley.  There were two others
staying currently in the valley - Ukyou and her father, and it was Ranma
who found them first, while he was gathering firewood.  He had smelled the
cooking okonomiyaki and rushed to the cart, promptly jumping over Ukyou and
stealing one of the okonomiyaki, eating it on the spot, and running off.
    Apparently this had gone on for a few days before Ranma's father had
found out, and he encouraged it, as did Ukyou's father, who both thought of
it as a way of training.  If Ranma won the fight, he got a free dinner.  If
Ukyou won, Ranma got chased off, though it seemed that the ponytailed boy
hadn't lost yet.
    Earlier on the present morning is when the question had come from
Ukyou's father to Ranma's father - he had asked him if Ranma would marry
Ukyou.
    "Hmm...a marriage between your daughter and my son, eh?"  Ranma's
father had asked, stalling for time, then sighed deeply.  "I'm sorry to say
that Ranma's already been promised."  He really did regret that; he thought
of Ukyou as a fine young girl, probably a worthy bride for his son.
    Ukyou's father regretted it, too, and had given a heaving sigh.  "I
see."  He exhaled deeply.  "How unfortunate.  I was going to offer my
okonomiyaki cart as the dowry..."  He trailed off and shrugged.
    The other man had been surprised at this.  The cart would have enough
food in it to sustain him and Ranma for many years on the road, and, with
Ukyou, they'd have an indefinitely supply of food, always at hand.  His
stomach rumbled slightly.  "I'm not sure," Ranma's father had said,
indisicion flickering across his stern features.  "Give me a day to think
it over.  I'll ask Ranma, I think."
    Ukyou's father had found that satisfactory, so here he was now - asking
his son which he preferred, Ukyou or okonomiyaki.  He was kind of hoping
that Ranma would choose the latter, so he wouldn't be burdened with a
little girl, so he had brought Ranma a present - a particularly well-cooked
okonomiyaki to make sure he chose the food over the girl.  And if things
went the way Ranma's father wanted them to, he would feel justified in
stealing the cart and leaving Ukyou behind.  It would undoubtedly give him
moral qualms, but not as bad as the stomach qualms he'd get if he didn't do
it.
    Instead of answering, Ranma grinned up at his father.  "This
okonomiyaki's good," he said cheerfully.  "Did Ukyou make it?"
    "I think so," the heavy-set man answered absently.  "So which do you
like better, Ukyou or okonomiyaki?"
    Ranma grinned again.  "Ukyou!"  He declared.  "If Ukyou made the
okonomiyaki, that makes her better, right?"
    His father coughed slightly, fleeting thoughts of leaving Ukyou behind
anyway going through his head, but he cleared them.  He didn't want his son
angry at him, no matter what.  "I see, m'boy," the heavy-set man said, a
little guiltily at what he had been about to do.  He stood up, brushing off
his white gi.  "Stay here and enjoy the food, boy, and let me go inform
Ukyou's father..."

    The lunch bell rang, and chaos ensued.
    The large building at the edge of town was a boys' junior high school,
and, without girls to impress or otherwise act like fools for, the boys
that went to this school contented with beating up on each other, and
knocking each other out for the good food at lunch.
    Lunch food had never been particularly wonderful tasting, but some of
it was better than the other stuff, and hence, the boys who managed to get
the good stuff before the others were considered 'superior' in some way, at
least for a short while, until their strutting and boasting about it got
them jumped in the hallways.
    Today was no worse than usual, with the crowd of young boys yelling as
they entered the cafeteria, trying to get to the lunches first.  Needless
to say, they were soon sold out of the 'good stuff.'  
    "This's it!"  A largish woman yelled loudly from behind the counter.
"Last curry bread of the day!"  Curry bread was the day's special, and
whoever got this last piece would have the right to boast about it for
quite awhile.  The lady threw it into the crowd, and a determined looking
boy with an orange and black bandanna tied around his head that didn't
match his uniform at all bounded high above the crowd, his hand
outstretched to catch it, yelling, "It's mine!"
    A grinning ponytailed figure jumped up from behind him and bounced off
the first boy's head, catching the curry bread in his mouth, and landing on
the other side of the crowd, chomping down the food with a wide grin.
    The bandannaed boy glared daggers at him from the edge of the crowd, as
the lady yelled, "Okay, who wants sweet-bean bread?"
    "You..." the bandannaed boy grated harshly in a voice that was
surprisingly deep for a boy as young as him.  "Who are you?"  He demanded,
clenching his fist.
    "I'm Ranma Saotome," the ponytailed boy said in a cheerful voice,
wolfing down the bread contentedly.
    "Ranma Saotome," the first boy growled, "I shall never forget the
offense of the curry bread!"  He stormed off through the cafeteria doors
with a great show of anger, with Ranma looking surprisedly after him.
    "That was pretty mean," a startlingly gentle voice said from behind
Ranma.  Ranma looked behind him, surprised, then his face relaxed as he
recognized the voice.  It belonged to a boy about Ranma's height, with long
brown hair tied into a flowing ponytail down his back.
    "Oh, hiya, Ucchan," Ranma greeted the new arrival with a grin.
    "You just really made that guy mad," the brown haired boy observed, in
his high-pitched voice.  It sounded quite like a woman's voice, actually.
"Maybe you should go apologize, hm?"  Close inspection of this boy revealed
that it was, in fact, a girl.  She was apparently dressed as a boy so she
could attend the school, but her face was a little too pretty for the part.
    Ranma looked a little guilty.  "Yeah, maybe, Ukyou," he said, rubbing a
hand through his unruly black hair.  "I'll talk to him tomorrow, I guess."  

    The next day, things happened just as before, except with chow mein
bread instead of curry bread.  Things happened so similarly it was almost
comical - the boy with the bandanna leaped to get it and Ranma intercepted
him, grabbing the bread in his mouth and kicking the other boy in the
shoulder.
    The both landed a little to the right of the crowd around them, and
Ranma was about to walk off nonchalantly, when he noticed the brown haired
girl watching him with a flat gaze.  "Er..."  he said nervously, turning
back to the bandannaed boy.  "Hey, I'm...sorry about yesterday, and all
that.  You know."  The bandannaed boy looked at him curiously.
    "I'm trying to apologize," Ranma stated, fingering the chow mein bread,
and breaking it in two.  "Here," he said, tossing half to the other boy.
"Seem fair?"
    The bandanned boy looked skeptical, then grinned at Ranma.  "Thanks,"
he said simply, in a somewhat surprised tone, as if he hadn't expected
Ranma to share the bread.  "Even if it was just because your girlfriend
asked you to."  
    "Wha...?"  Ranma asked, peering closely at the other boy.  "My
girlfriend?"
    Ukyou chuckled.  "Well, you noticed that I was a girl.  You're pretty
perceptive, bandanna-boy."  She smiled at him, and from the way his eyes
opened a little more, it was obvious that he didn't think she looked much
like a boy at all.  "It's a good enough disguise to attend this place,
anyway.  The administration didn't really care."  She shrugged.
    "I see," the bandanna-wearing boy said thoughtfully, munching on the
chow mein bread absently.  "So...er...what's your name?"
    Ranma leaned over to Ukyou.  "He's hitting on you," he whispered loudly
into her ear.
    "I am not," the other boy protested, folding his arms across his chest.
 "I just wanted to know her name."
    "Sure."
    Ukyou smirked.  "It's no big deal."  She smiled at the bandannaed boy.
"My name's Ukyou Kuonji.  Yours?"
    "Ryoga Hibiki."

    Surprisingly enough, after that day's little chat, Ryoga became quite
good friends with Ranma and Ukyou.  Ranma liked him well enough, but it
seemed that Ryoga didn't have too many other friends in the school.
Neither Ranma nor Ukyou had ever heard of him before.
    "That's because...well," Ryoga looked nervous, "I don't really come to
school that often, you see..."  He trailed off, looking embarrased.
    "Yeah?  Me neither."  Ranma grinned at him.  "I stay home a lot, to
practice martial arts.  Me, Father, and Ukyou here and going on a training
mission to China, pretty soon.  We're going to be there for awhile, so I
figure I better practice some before we go so I don't get too far behind."
He poked Ukyou playfully, who grinned broadly back at him.  "Ukyou uses
weapons," he offered as an explanation, "so she's always got the edge on
me.  I'm trying to learn to use the bo staff, but not having too much
success."  He grumbled something under his breath.
    Ryoga looked even more embarrased than before.  "It's not that I stay
home on purpose," he admitted, "it's just that...I can't find the school
half the time."  His face glowed a bright red.
    "Why not?"  Ranma cocked his head curiously at him.
    "I don't know," Ryoga replied, looking unhappy.  "But I can't ever seem
to find where I'm going.  Sometimes it takes me days to find my house again."
    "That is pretty bad," Ukyou commented.  "How about me and Ran-chan walk
you to school and back?"
    Ryoga's eyes widened.  "You'd do that...for me?"
    Ranma grinned.  "Hey, wolf-boy, what are friends for?"  Ranma had taken
to calling Ryoga 'wolf-boy' because of a pair of fangs that the
bandanna-wearing boy had.  They were noticible, but somehow looked natural
on him.  Ranma thought they served to make him look like a wolf.
    "Thanks."  Ryoga looked happy.  "I'd like to ask another favor of you,
if it isn't too much trouble..."
    "What?"
    "I'm a martial artist, too, actually," Ryoga said with a sigh.  "I used
to attend the dojo at the edge of town, but I never could find it when I
wanted to, so the master there kicked me out.  Who trains you two?"
    "Pop does," Ranma responded, shrugging.
    Ryoga swallowed slightly.  "D-do you think he would consent to teach me?"

    Ranma's father, Genma Saotome, refused.  "I can't take on another
pupil, Ranma," he said, in an emotionless voice.  "I've got my hands full
training you two."
    Ryoga looked hurt, so Ranma tried again.  "C'mon, pop, he's got
potential."
    "I said no."
    Ryoga cleared his throat.  "Er...I could...pay," he offered hesitantly.
 "I don't have too much money, but I've got enough around to..."  He
shifted uncomfortably.
    Genma looked thoughtful.  "Pay, eh?"  He grinned at Ryoga.  "Well,
then, I suppose I could teach you.  We're going to China in about a week,
though, you understand..."
    "He could go with us," Ukyou interjected suddenly.  "He wouldn't have
to pay, then, either.  Having an extra hand to survive in the wilderness
where we're going is a help, not a hindrance."
    Ranma's father glowered at Ukyou, then sighed and sat back.  "You're
right, Ukyou," he admitted sourly.  "Well, Hibiki, if you want me to train
you, you'll have to come to China.  Give up your schoolwork.  Leave
whatever life you've got here for several years."
    "Sure thing," Ryoga agreed with a grin.  "I don't really go to school
too often, anyway, and I don't have much of a life here - my parents hardly
know I'm alive, because they're never at home."  He explained hurriedly
about his sense of direction, adding that his parents were worse than he
was.  "I've no idea where they are," he said, a little downcast.
    Genma felt kind of sorry for the boy.  "Alright, then.  But be
prepared, Hibiki - the training won't be easy."
    "Hai, sensei."  Ryoga grinned at him.
-----------------------
There the prologue.  Please, send me C&C at guilds@mail.serve.com.