Ranma � belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, viz video, and a few others

This story is using  two ideas borrowed from a few different fics.
Richard�s; Storm�s End:  How Ranma dies
That and another fic that I don�t remember the name of or the author.
If you are or know the author of the story please email me: how Akane
reacts to Ranma�s death.
The rest of the story is mine, any other similarities are just
coincidence.
C&C is welcomed




Pt. 1
Into The Night



"Ranma, let's go for a walk down the beach."  She was very nervous.
She'd been planning this for days now, but the actual execution had
taken
lots of nerve.  She used all of her strength to smile at him.  "Let's
take
some lunch and make an expedition out of it."

Ranma had looked at her in alarm.  "Um...you didn't make the lunches,
did you?"

She grimaced, then stilled her face.  She wasn't going to let his
idiotic comments deter her.  "No, Kasumi made lunch for everyone.  I
just took
enough for you and me."  She took a step closer to him, hoping he
wouldn't
hear how fast her heart was beating.  "What do you say?"

Ranma gulped.  He licked his lips and looked around, as if trying to
find an escape.  Akane resisted an urge to send him flying through the
window.

Finally, he looked back at her, and his face softened ever so
slightly.  "All right."  His eyes immediately widened, as if he was
surprised at his
own acquiescence.

Akane pounced before he found an excuse to back out.  "Come on,
then."  She whirled and ran to the door, grabbing a bag with their
lunch in it.
She stood there, waiting for him to come with her.

"Now?"  He looked around.  Their families were in the other room,
watching a newscaster on television.  "Shouldn't we tell them where
we're going?"

"Why?"  The last thing she wanted was for everyone to make a scene,
Father in particular, although Ranma's mother wouldn't be far behind.
"We can
take care of ourselves."

"Okay."  Ranma visibly gathered himself, then joined her as she headed

out the door to the beach.

 It was a beautiful day,  the warm breeze that blew in off of the
ocean made the day just seem all that much better.

Ranma and Akane walked down along the beach.  Just out of the reach of

the waves.  Both were silent, and enjoying the peace that was being
offered to them.

Ranma reached out his hand, just as nervous as he had been after they
had left Shinnosuke.  Akane smiled and grabbed it.  His face was
comedic in the
frightened expressions that crossed it, but it finally settled into a
more or less content look.  They were far enough away from the others
that they couldn't be seen, which Akane knew was important to Ranma.
He needed to be brought along slowly.  Come to think of it, she
probably wasn't up to any public displays of affection, either.  She
looked up at him, his muscular body glistening in the sunlight.  She
wondered if he would
try to kiss her.  She wondered if she would try to kiss him.  That
made her blush.

They continued on down the beach hand in hand.  After a while Akane
pointed out a cave that was on the side of cliff that looked out over
a small portion of the  beach and ocean.  "That looks like a good
place to have lunch."  They climbed a small ledge that lead up into
the cave, and did a little exploring of the cave.  When they came back

to the opening they noticed it was beginning to rain, and decided to
eat the lunches while they waited for the storm to pass.

The storm wasn�t passing, after an hour the storm suddenly picked up
in intensity.  The wind was now howling, and the rain was like a
curtain that was suddenly drawn over the land.  Ranma decided it was
best they left before the storm could get any worse.

Ranma made his way to the edge of the cave. The rain washed over him
and he changed forms.  The now female was looking down the small
distance to the beach, a grim look on her face.  Akane looked over her

shoulder.

The beach was gone.

It its place, the ocean had risen, the winds blowing the waves
violently against the rocks of the small cliff.  Protected as they had
been from
the storm, they had also not seen the storm tide rising.

Akane and Ranma looked at each other.  Ranma spoke quietly.  "We're in

a lot of trouble."

They both looked up.  The cliff continued up for another ten meters or

so. Not so great a distance to climb.  Akane grimaced; not so great
when
the sun was out, the wind calm, and the rocks dry.  Not so great when
to fall
didn't mean you fell between the pounding ocean and the unforgiving
rocks.

They looked at each other again.  Ranma sounded very grim.  "We don't
have much of a choice.  I don't think we can stay here."

Akane nodded; the wind was getting worse, and she could already feel
the spray of some of the waves as they crashed against the cliff.  It
wouldn't
be long before the water covered this ledge.  She looked regretfully
at the
bag.  She would have to leave it behind.

Akane examined the cliff closely.  There seemed to be easy handholds
all the way up.  She plotted a course and pointed it out to Ranma.
She
nodded. "Okay, Akane, you go first.  I'll follow right behind you."

Akane looked at Ranma for a moment, feeling like she should say
something. Her courage failed her, though, and instead she went to the
cliff face
and grabbed a handhold.  She set her feet and lifted herself up.

Outside the protection of their ledge, the wind beat on her in
earnest.  She cried out.  It felt like a living thing, something that
wanted to pull
her off the cliff.  She took a couple of deep breaths and lifted
herself
up again.

It was a painstaking process.  She would set her feet, reach up and
grab something, lift a leg, find a foothold, push herself up, find
another
place to set her other foot, move her other hand.  The cliff offered
plentiful places to put a foot or hand.  It was the wind that made it
difficult,
filling every space between her and the cliff and exerting remarkable
force.

Akane moved slowly upwards, making slow but steady progress.  The wind

was an incredible thing, becoming stronger than she could have ever
imagined. Every time she lifted herself up, she had to fight to make
sure the
wind didn't blow her completely off the face of the cliff.  And it was
still
getting stronger.

After an incredibly long period of time, Akane looked up to see grass
right above her.  This was going to be difficult.  The grass wasn't
going to
provide as solid a handhold as the rockface had.  She reached up and
felt
along the clifftop.  She didn't feel anything besides grass.  She dug
her
fingers into the soil, then moved her foot up.  Finding a good, solid
foothold, she
pushed up.

She nearly lost it.  Lifting part of her torso up over the top of the
cliff exposed her to the full force of the wind.  It pushed her back,
and
her hand slipped in the grass.  For a sickening moment, she was sure
she was
dead.  The wind suddenly turned into an unexpected ally, changing
direction to
push her towards the clifftop.  She reached her other hand up and dug
it into
the grass. Pawing with her hands and practically jumping with her
feet, she
managed to bring her whole body over the top of the cliff.

She had no time to be grateful.  Still lying on the grass, she turned
herself so that her head and shoulders were over the top of the
cliff.  She
looked down at Ranma.  Ranma was still about two meters from the cliff
top.
As she tried to lift herself up the cliff, Akane immediately saw her
problem.  She was smaller than Akane in this form, and lighter as
well.  The wind
which was dangerous to Akane was deadly to Ranma.  Ranma had to move
shorter

distances up the cliff to compensate.  Her face was filled with
determination, but Akane could see the fear as well.

Akane's mind raced for an answer.  None of Ranma's special techniques
would be particularly effective now.  Ryoga's Breaking Point might
have been
helpful down on the ledge; they might have just burrowed their way
up.  If
they hadn't just brought the cliff down on their heads in the process.

Akane looked quickly around.  There was a house some hundred meters
away.  She might be able to run there, grab some rope, come back, and
lower it to
Ranma. Akane felt the wind racing along her body, though, and knew
that she
didn't nearly have enough time, even if she could find rope quickly.
The
issue would be decided long before then.

Akane looked down at Ranma and felt her chest tighten.  Ranma was no
longer moving; she was just gripping the rocks in an effort to hang
on.
Akane reached her arm down as far as she dared, but she was still a
good meter from
Ranma's nearest hand.  "Ranma!"  She couldn't even hear herself.
Maybe it was
a coincidence, put Ranma looked up.  Their eyes met, and Akane saw
fear
in Ranma...and even worse, resignation.

"Ranma!  Reach up!  Just climb a little farther, you can do it!"
Akane still couldn't make out her own words in the wind and rain, but
Ranma seemed
to understand.  She moved her foot, found a foothold.  She lifted
herself
up, and for a moment the wind grabbed her.  It pushed her to the side,
so that
she had to quickly find new handholds.  She lost a couple of
decimeters in the
process.

Akane edged herself over so that she was directly above Ranma again.
She strained herself, but Ranma was still a meter away, perhaps a
little
less. Ranma looked up again, her face no longer showing fear, but
rather
sadness.

"Don't give up, Ranma!"  Akane reached down further, letting more of
herself hang over the edge.  For a moment she lost her balance, and
had to
quickly pull her hands up to keep from falling over.

Ranma saw this, and shouted something at Akane.  Akane couldn't make
it out, but she could guess that Ranma was telling her to move back
from the
edge. There was simply no way Akane was going to leave this cliff
without
Ranma. Settling herself as best she could, Akane reached out her hand
again.

Ranma sighed.  She looked down and seemed to mumble a prayer.  She
looked up at Akane, and shouted something, very loudly.  Akane still
couldn't
hear her. Akane shook her head and strained her fingers, trying to
reach as
close as she could to Ranma.

Ranma looked up at Akane and smiled.  It was a simple smile, and she
looked happy.  She said something, not shouting, simply saying it.
Then
Ranma braced herself against the rockface, bent her knees as much as
she
could, and jumped up.

It might have worked from a ledge, but against the rockface, Ranma had

pushed out as much as up.  Ranma strained to try and grab Akane's
outstretched hand, but her own momentum carried her away from the
cliff.  Then the wind
grabbed her, and flung her viciously down out of Akane's sight.

Akane's mouth hung open.  This was not possible.  Ranma couldn't die.
He'd faced death so many times before, and he'd always won.  He'd
always
found a way to exploit the enemy's weakness, to use the slimmest hope
to
achieve victory.  It was simply a fact, Ranma could not be killed.

Akane shifted herself along the edge of the cliff, trying to get a
view of the ocean below.  It was possible that the tide had risen
enough that
Ranma had merely fallen into the ocean.  He - she - was an excellent
swimmer,
and if she could escape the rocks, she might be able to swim to a safe
beach.

Akane tried so see through the gloom of the storm and the sheets of
rain. She thought she saw something moving in the waves.  She watched
that
area of the water and saw it.  It was Ranma. She watched as Ranma's
body
submerged once more into the ocean not to rise from it again.

He couldn't be gone.  He just couldn�t be gone.

Akane stared  down into the water lost in the fact that Ranma had just

plunged into the ocean and didn�t come back up.  She slowly stood up
never taking her eyes off of the water below. She stood their for some

time not moving from that spot. A sudden flash of blinding lightning
lit the sky forcing Akane to cover her face.  This finally brought her
some what out of shock, and she begins to move.  She takes a few steps
back from the edge.  With nothing left for her she begins to run away
from all that she has known. The world blurs by.  She no longer cares
what happens too her.

In a dark place a pear of eyes watch as the body falls into the ocean,

bobs a couple of times and finally slips below the surface not to be
seen again. In a dark room a figure stood laughing at the chaos that
it was just beginning to release



*********

They hadn�t predicted rain that day let alone the storm that crashed
down on the people. The storm came out of no where.  No, warnings to
be had for anyone in the area.  It was the most fierce storm they had
ever had. Doing more
damage than ever thought could be done.  Accomplishing the
impossible,  Ranma Saotome was dead, with his fiancee Akane Tendo. The
storm that took both of them away from their loved ones didn�t last
long.  Their family and friends left grieving trying to
understand how this tragedy had come about them.

A month after the deaths no one wanted to admit that they weren�t
coming back.  Still hoping that one day they would both walk through
the door arguing.  Why? No bodies where found, and as one comes to
know Ranma they come to expect the impossible.

*********

In a small room in a abandoned building, a girl slept on the floor
lying in a fetal ball.  She could have been considered pretty, if not
for all the dirt Covering her.  She had lost most of the life in her,
and looked as if she had not eaten in a few weeks. Her
clothes ripped and starting to fall apart do to constant ware.
The room was in worse shape than she was, if you didn�t consider her
emotional state.  Newspapers for covers, and other kinds of litter
strewn
about the room.  The only food in the building was a open can of beans

that had been sitting there for a few days.

The girl seemed to be having a bad dream, or remembering something she

didn�t want to remember.

"No....don�t........please.....Thank you god, oh thank you god"

Slowly her eyes open to the world.  The smile that had started onto
her face suddenly turned into a look of anguish, and she curled into
herself even more. Weeping once again at all she had lost, of the past

and of the future that she would never have now.
There was no tears however, she had not cried a single tear in weeks.
Life had nothing to offer her any more, and she was close to joining
the one she loved.  She could finally admit it, not that anyone else
would ever get to know of it now.  Her joining with her love was not
that much further in the future.


*********

�Is everything ready�

�yes�

�Then begin we don�t have much time�

*********

After that last dream she didn�t want to stay.  She was determined to
be with her love and not even death was going to stop her from being
with him.

*******

�We must do it now�

�ready�

�do it�

*********

She was about to leave the building for the last time when there was a
brillant flash of light outside the building. She walked over to a
window and looked out.  Nothing was diffirent, no flames, no oni,
nothing that could have coused the flash of light.  What made it even
stranger is there had not even been a noise with the light.  Then
someone knocked on the door. �That�s strange no one knows I�m here.
Why would anyone knock on the
door?�  She just stands there looking at the door wondering what she
should do.

The door opens, and there stands the person she never expected to see
again.

"Hi Akane"

"R-R-Ra-Ranma" escapes Akane�s lips before she starts crying and
running over to him. When she reaches him she embraces him in a
crushing hug.

"c-c-can�t b-b-b-breath"

Akane looks up into Ranma�s face, and loosens her hold on him a
little.

"R-r-Ranma, is it really you"

Ranma just shakes his head as he tries to regain his breath.

"b-b-but how, I mean you were...." Akane makes a gesture as she trails

off.

"It�s a long story, and I don't understand most of it myself."

 "I don�t care, so long as you never leave me again." Akane leans her
head against his shoulder and begins to cry harder.

end for now.


Well what do you think.  I know there are some places that need work,
but hey like most my stuff it dosn't get to see any prereaders before
it hits the list.  Oh well.
My other stories are still being worked on if at a slow pace.  I have
been trying to get a search engine up and running however I am having
trouble with the perl script.  If anyone could give me some help on
this I would appreciate it very much.
Also I have been working on a vrml version of the Tendo dojo.  This
has been harder than what I thought it would be.  I would like to make

it into a multiuser chat home/room what ever you would like to call
it. I am also looking for some help in this area.

This is going to be a crossover, I really wish I could get away from
them.  I wanted this story to be soly Ranma but.... I know too little
on Magic Knight Rayearth to do the story well.  I could use a site
that has synopses of the
fist and second series, as this will take place after both, so I need
info on both of them.

My web address has recently changed to
http://rampage.ml.org/sector2/~ranmas/index.html
(to those in the ring just for the ring homepage just replace the
index with ring. for the web ring page. sorry the fragments need
updating once again)  My geocities page will be up for a while. So
untill the next chapter comes out, later.