You don't have to go through with your threat now, Lurker ^_^...
PM Productions Presents
A Phillip Masters Fanfic
Feelings Are Blind
Part Five:  Endings and Beginnings

	Everyone turned to the door.  Kasumi stepped aside and Tenchi came out
from behind her.  He looked around the room, confusion and worry alight
on his face.  His gaze fell on Ranma, and it softened instantly.  He
began to walk over to the short red hared girl.
	Ranma stared, dumbfounded at Tenchi.  He felt like pounding his head
clean through the Dojo wall, save everyone the trouble.  He could not
believe Tenchi just walked in the door.  What of his promise not to show
up?  Was this some sort of retribution from a god he didn't know he
insulted?  He sighed and shut his eyes for a moment.  In the face of
utter annihilation and imminent pain, he just couldn't bring himself to
be angry at Tenchi for showing up.  
	"Who are you?" Akane asked suddenly.  Ranma had almost forgotten about
the two girls who were still glowing next to him.  
	Tenchi, regardless of battle auras, walked right up to Akane and bowed
deeply.  "Hello, I'm Masaki Tenchi.  Pleased to meet you."
	Akane blinked, obviously not sure of what was going on.  She bowed
unsteadily, keeping an eye on Tenchi just in case.  "Uh... hello...
Tendo Akane."  
	He turned to the purple hared girl and repeated the process.  She bowed
back, though just as suspicious as Akane.  "Shampoo of Chinese Amazon
tribe."
	When Tenchi stood upright again he smiled.  He looked at Ranma, who
seemed to be fighting something inside.  "Are you okay, Ranma?" he asked
as his brow furrowed in worry.
	Ranma shook his head and stood up straighter, drawing his lips into a
small smile.  "Sure, why wouldn't I be?"
	Tenchi stared for a while longer, trying to dig into Ranma a little
deeper.  He found his couldn't, if there was one thing Ranma was great
at besides Martial Arts, it was hiding his feelings.  "I'm sorry I came
back Ranma... I saw an explosion on the news and came out to find out if
you were okay.  Please don't hold it against me."
	Ranma almost had to grit his teeth.  The situation was about to get
really ugly.  He should have been thinking of a way to get out of the
Dojo with Tenchi.  Should have been thinking of a story to tell Akane
and Shampoo.  Should have been doing anything but feeling warm and fuzzy
because Tenchi had cared about him!  He grabbed his head and moaned
lightly, wishing his troubles would go away.
	As usual they didn't.  They simply magnified.  Tenchi was almost
instantaneously at Ranma's side.  "You're not okay... what's wrong?"  He
toyed with the idea of putting an arm around Ranma for support, but
still wasn't sure if it would be met well.  Though it was taking all of
his will power to stop him from doing it regardless of repercussions.
	It was then Ryouko decided to happen upon the scene.  "Wow, what
happened in here?" she wondered as she looked around at the wreckage.  
	Akane and Shampoo looked up at the new arrival.  "Now, who's that?"
Akane asked, her patience seeming to grow even thinner than it already
was.  An amazing feat of physics on a par with her mallet handling
skills.  
	Tenchi looked over at the pirate turned demon.  "That's Ryouko, a good
friend of mine."
	"Oh." the two girls replied, still nonplussed. 
	Ranma was in agony.  His head was throbbing like some evil energy was
trying to break out of it, and every beat of his heart lent to its
power.  He felt like yelling out.  He felt like... he felt like...  He
turned and threw his arms around Tenchi.  Tears finally squeezed out of
his clenched eyelids as he pressed his face against Tenchi's chest.  He
felt like being close to Tenchi, and damn the world if they thought it
was wrong!
	Tenchi was frozen in place like a mannequin.  He wasn't sure what he
just did, but it seemed to have an effect on Ranma.  He found himself
extraordinarily happy that Ranma decided to pick him, however he was
also upset at the girl's seemingly unbearable pain.  Slowly he brought
his arms up to wrap around Ranma slight frame.  He pulled her closer to
him, feeling their warmth shared between them.  
	Akane and Shampoo looked on in shock.  It took their minds a few
moments to comprehend the visual signals they were receiving.  It just
didn't make sense.  Why was Ranma in the arms of that... man?  "R...
Ranma?" Akane whispered as reality caught up with her.
	Shampoo faced the situation like a true Amazon warrior.  After the
shock faded she almost instantly leapt to attack.  She found a pair of
breasts bigger than even her own suddenly in her face.  She looked up at
a grinning Ryouko, who waved a finger at her and said, "Uh uh, little
girl... you leave them alone."  Shampoo back away for a moment,
assessing the situation.  The woman was definitely much bigger than
herself, but was she as good a fighter?  She lashed out with her right
fist in a punch that could easily level a brick wall.  Ryouko brought up
her hand and caught the punch in her palm, her face didn't even flinch.  
	Ryouko's grin grew even wider as she saw shock register anew on the
girl's face.  She closed her hand on Shampoo's fist and squeezed
softly.  "Little girl, I told you to back off." she ordered with a quiet
but warning tone.
	Shampoo winced slightly as heard her knuckles popping slowly.  The
woman was much, much stronger than she had anticipated.  She may be the
bravest of Amazon warriors, but contrary to common belief she wasn't
stupid.  She nodded her head and backed away once Ryouko had released
her.  She rubbed her sore hand, though fortunately nothing was actually
broken.
	Ranma found himself clinging onto the back of Tenchi's T-shirt, trying
to pull himself closer and closer to him.  He felt so calm and happy in
Tenchi's arms, he just couldn't explain the feeling it gave him.  It was
as if something was lifted from his mind, and an invisible force began
to flow from his chest.  It was warm and forgiving, and caused a
euphoric sensation whenever he breathed.  He moaned softly, the feeling
being almost too much for him.
	Tenchi struggled to keep his knees from turning to jelly.  He had never
felt such an intense feeling for any one person.  It was as though he
were holding his life in his arms, and nothing could make him let go. 
He was afraid it might kill him if he let go... even worse, he was even
more afraid he might lose Ranma forever.  He didn't know why he felt
that way, but it didn't change the reality of it any.  He found himself
wondering briefly why he felt such an intense love for this girl he had
only met a day ago... but he found he didn't care.  Why was not
important as long as she was with him.
	"Ranma!  What are you doing?" Akane screeched, her faculties finally
catching up with her.
	Tenchi felt Ranma stiffen in his arms, and he looked down.  He felt her
nails dig into his back lightly, and he took it as a way to tell him to
let go.  So he did, not wanting to hold her against her will.  She fell
away from him, then looked up.  Her cheeks were stained with tears and
red from rubbing against his shirt.  She smiled at him lightly, as if to
tell him everything would be okay.  He relaxed, as he believed her.
	Ranma turned after smiling to reassure Tenchi.  He faced his fianc�e...
the one girl he would actually call his true fianc�e.  "Akane," he
began, then stopped and breathed.  It was not going to be easy to tell
her... her of all people.  He inhaled deeply and tried again, "Akane,
I... I..."  He shook his head sharply.  Why was it so hard to just come
out and say it?  He firmed his resolve and opened his mouth for the
third time.
	Unfortunately, he couldn't get a word out because the sky suddenly
flashed with a brilliant light.  Ranma looked upward through the hole in
the Dojo roof at the fading burst of illumination.  Everyone else joined
him, staring out of at the sky, which was turning back to blue.  "What
was that?" he asked.
	"I don't know." Akane answered.  
	Ranma turned to see if Tenchi knew anything, but found him absent. 
"Tenchi?" he called out while looking around.  He saw him standing on a
pile of rubble at the back of the Dojo, looking at something outside. 
He ran over to him to see what drew his attention like that.  What he
saw almost made him back away again.  "What in the hell is that thing?"
	"A Juraian space ship." Tenchi replied simply.
	"Juraian?  Isn't that what you're part?"  Ranma hadn't recalled the
name of the alien race Tenchi was supposed to be descended from until he
had mentioned it again.  He noticed him nod in response.  "So, they're
here in peace then, right?"
	"I'm not sure yet."  With that, Tenchi stepped completely out into the
backyard, still staring up at the strange wooden vessel.  
	Ranma followed Tenchi almost instinctively.  They both walked out onto
the grass, their hair blowing in the wind generated by the engines of
the massive craft above them.  Ranma noticed in passing that Akane ran
up beside him, Ryouko and Shampoo not far behind.  "What is that?" she
asked him.
	"A Juraian space ship."  He turned to look at her.  "You see, Tenchi is
from Earth, but his family is not."  He drew his gaze over to Ryouko,
getting a really good look at her for the first time.  "And something
tells me she isn't either."
	Ryouko huffed up slightly, not sure whether she had just been insulted
or not.  "What's that supposed to mean?" she exclaimed.
	"You are alien, aren't you?" 
	"Well, yeah... I am."  Ryouko figured, what the hell?  She knew about
Tenchi, why not herself?  She winked, "But don't go spreading it around
town."
	Ranma grinned, then looked at the hovering ship.  "I'd think they'd all
know by now anyway."
	Ryouko laughed, a calm sound.  "Don't worry about that.  You can't see
a Juraian vessel unless it wants you to... humans may be tough, but they
are especially easy to fool with cloaking shields."
	Now it was Ranma's turn to wonder whether he had been insulted or not. 
His pride was not really on his mind for once though.  No, they had
bigger things to deal with first.  "Are they just going to sit there, or
what?"
	"Or what."
	Every head tilted down to see who had spoken.  It was a tall man with
greenish hair and a nasty scowl seemingly permanently etched into his
face.  He deepened his brow even farther as he noticed he had everyone's
attention.  "Before you ask, I am Veca, a rouge scientist in search of
something... obviously I am not going to tell you what that something
is.  That would be no fun."
	"Typical bad guy."  Commented Ranma, placing a hand on Tenchi's back. 
"Shouldn't pose too much of a problem."  Famous last words.
	"I'm wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you."  Veca laughed, a
deep throaty howl.  He raised his hand and three foot long silver spike
emerged from his wrist.  "For one, you don't even know for sure if I am
a 'bad guy,' as you so barbarically put it."  A blue streak of
electricity traveled up the length of the spike with a snap.  "For
another, you don't know what I'm here to do, even if I am a 'bad guy.'"  
	"You're not Juraian, are you?" Tenchi asked suddenly.
	Veca smiled, "Very perceptive, Tenchi.  I am indeed not Juraian... I am
not from any one planet.  I am a genetically engineered creation, much
like Ryouko there."
	"How do you know what I am?" Ryouko yelled, stepping forward
threateningly.
	The spike was now beginning to glow red hot, and the static sparks were
increasing in power.  "How do I know?  Don't you think I should know
about my own sister, Ryouko dear?"  He laughed again at her shock, then
his face darkened, "Now, sister," he extended his hand without the
spike, "give me the gems."
END PART FIVE
Whoops... sort of did it again... but I was able to get this out the
next day!  I am rather proud of myself for that.  Comments still greatly
appreciated, of course ^_^.  Till next time, thanks for reading,
PMasters (4-1-98)