Oh my Ranma
                                   #5
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OMG! and Ranma 1/2 characters belong to their resective owners. So
please don't sue me.
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 Darkness. He was in total darkness but he wasn't alone. They were there
with him, he could smell their fetid breaths, could hear their soft
sounds of anticipation, could see their ethereal eyes glowing in the
darkness.
 There were tens of them, there were dozens of them. The number always
changed, but one thing never did. The fear, the shaking of his soul down
to it's very foundations.
 And they came, their predatory claws raking more than skin. With every
sharp scratch, it seemed like his soul shattered further.
 Ranma sprung up, his arms propping him up from behind as sweat poured
down his face. It took several moments for his eyes to focus. It took
several moments more to assure himself that he was safe, he wasn't back
in the pit.
 Damn, it was that old dream again. Why couldn't it leave him alone? Was
he doomed to have nightmares for the rest of his life? They had been
getting less and less frequent but still they appeared every now and
then as if to remind him his memories were true. To taunt him because of
his fear. He had been fortunate today, usually he'd take longer than
this to wake. Moments where he relived his moment's in the pit, trapped
in the body of a ten year old, both emotionally and physically. He could
fear every scratch they inflicted on him, could feel every emotion as
clearly as if it had been yesterday.
 "Ranma?" There was some anxious knocking on his door. Taking a moment
to compose his voice; he couldn't show them fear. Fear was to be kept
hidden, like some precious treasure.
 "Yeah?" He said when he was sure his voice wouldn't tremble with the
slightest fear.
 " You okay? We heard you scream." That was Belldandy, even now her
voice seemed like a shining beacon in the swelling darkness which
threatened to swallow him. He hadn't even been aware he had screamed.
 "Yeah, ....I am." He answered as best as he could.
 " You sure, maybe we should come in and check?" There was some fumbling
to open the door.
 " No!" Ranma said a bit too quickly, he could not let them see him like
this. He could not let anyone see him like this.
 " You sure? I could help."
 " JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Ranma screamed, not having the patience to
answer politely.
 There was a slight pause before he could hear footsteps walking away
from his door, from him. Even though he couldn't be sure of it, he
thought he heard Urd's mutter of "Jerk."
 He sighed, burying his face in his hands. Urd was totally right, he was
a jerk. He had just screamed at the person who had been the nicest to
him in his life, and all because she was concerned about him. What made
him push people away, was it because he was afraid? Afraid they would
all turn out to be like Oyaji and use him? Or leave him?
 "Oyaji, dammit! Why'd you have to dump me into the pit anyway?" He said
softly, with a slight trace of  regret.
 And it was with such thoughts, he found himself in the kitchen brewing
himself of herbal tea.
 *I am such a jerk, such a jerk.* Ranma repeated over and over to
himself. Those words seemed to calm him down slightly, until his
repeated litany slowly but surely dragged him into a drowsy sleep.
 ****
 " That boy is a total jerk. We were just concerned about him." Urd said
in a put-off tone.
 Urd stopped in mid-step to avoid bumbing into Belldandy who had
suddenly turned around to look at her. It was one of the few times that
Urd could remember seeing Belldandy angry, even slightly angry.
 " Don't say that. You don't know what he's been through."
 " What are you angry at me for? It's Ranma who shouted at you."
 " I'm not angry at Ranma. If you knew what was done to Ranma, you
wouldn't be either."
 " What was done to him anyway?"
 Belldandy took a few deep breathes before continuing. "It's better if
you see it for yourself, I'll show you what Ranma was dreaming about."
 Urd nodded, unsure of what was to happen. And the images began, along
with the terror. She had never felt such abject fear before as she felt
and saw Ranma's every emotion. Every slash of the claws. She closed her
eyes, wanting for the fear to go away but it didn't. She could still see
it as clearly in her mind's eye.
 Finally the images stopped, the fear stopped. Urd opened her eyes
shakily. "Kami-sama, what was that?!" She whispered, horrified.
 " That was the Neko-ken training that Ranma was put through." Belldandy
said sympathetic, although this time her sympathy was directed at Urd.
 " Who..." Urd wet her parched lips and tried again. "Who would do such
a thing to a child?" She knew of Neko-ken, knew of the unfortunate
side-effects. She knew it well.
 " His father, Genma."
 " What! His own father did this to him?" Urd said, disbelieving. What
kind of a jerk would do that to his own son. But she remembered the
events from the day before, the promise of sepekku and she knew.
  ****
 Someone was shaking him gently. If he concentrated he thought he could
hear a small voice telling him to wake up. A gentle voice which seemed
to be getting louder and louder, until...
 " RANMA WAKE UP!!"
 "Huh? What?!" Ranma jolted upright, still seated at the table where he
had drooped off to sleep.
 " What a sleepy head you are. Belldandy tried waking you up but she
couldn't. So she asked me." Urd said as she straightened herself from
having to lean forward and shout into Ranma's ear.
 " Oh, it's only you." For some reason, Ranma's off hand tone irked Urd.
She suspected he was still mad about what had happened on Sunday when
almost all of Ranma's other fiancee's, except the one called Akane had
dropped by about why Ranma hadn't met them as he wrote he would. Of
course when they found each other had received a letter from Ranma, that
had only made things worst resulting in a full-scale fight that had
nearly demolished the temple. If Belldandy hadn't been able to restore
the temple to it's original state, they would have been sleeping in the
out. She suspected that Ranma somehow suspected her of sending all the
letters even if he wouldn't say so.
 " Time to go to school Ranma." Belldandy passed him a bento, even now
Ranma could smell the delicious smells which drifted out.
 Ranma groaned as he remembered that fact. *Great, just great.* He said,
supressing the urge to yawn. For some reason every night he had one of
those dreams, he always felt exhuasted the next morning.
 " Sure," Ranma smiled taking the bento from Belldandy, being sure to
thank her for it before rushing off to school.
 Belldandy waved back at him, before she realised something. "Urd,
shouldn't you get going?"
 " Relax, I'll just teleport over there." Urd said, stretching lazily as
she began moving to the television(which Urd had managed to acquire
somehow).
 ****
 "Ranma Saotome!"
 "Huh?" Ranma stopped in the middle of the school courtyard, looking
around to see who had called him.
 " So you are the one!!" The speaker was a tall and thin figure, with
brown hair and eyes. He had high cheekbones and the flesh was stretched
tightly over them.He wore a standard school uniform, although it wasn't
the same as Furinkan High's. Ranma for the life of him couldn't remember
seeing him around before(Although strangely enough, the guy reminded him
of Gosunkugi).
 " Who are you?" He asked impatient, he didn't really feel like holding
buckets in the hallway today.
 The speaker took a dramatic breath before continuing in his haughtiest
voice. " I am Furino Karniharo,the Blue Lightning!! and I am here to
challenge you for Ukyou's hand!" A dramatic pause filled the air for the
briefest second.
 "Clang!" A metallic spatual bounced off Furino's head, plastering him
to the ground. "I told you already, I'm engaged to Ranchan!"
 " Ukyou, you know this guy?"
 "Uh....heh heh," Ukyou chuckled nervously. " Yeah, I met him in grade
school."
 "Ukyou!" Furino glomped onto Ukyou's right leg even as she tried to pry
him off.
 *This is great!* Ranma thought, exultant. *That makes it one less
fiancee I have to worry about!!* " Well I won't bother you two now, see
you." He waved lazily as he walked towards the Furinkan High building,
trying hard not to snigger outloud.
 "Hey, wait for me Ranchan!" *Clang! CLANG!* "Dammit, let go of me!!"
 " Never, this shows that we were meant to be Ukyou. Why fight fate?
Let's get married today!"
 "VILE MISCREANT!! HOW DARE YOU NAME YOURSELF AFTER ME, THE FAIR NOBLE
KUNO!! THE BLUE LIGHTNING OF FURINKAN HIGH!!"  He had to let go of
Ukyou  in order to avoid being hit by a speeding bokken. Attached to the
handle of the bokken was Kuno, who was ranting even more than usual.
 " Who are you!" Furino demanded before turning to Ranma. "Remember
Saotome, two days from now in this very courtyard. I challenge you for
the fair Ukyou's hand." Without even waiting for a reply, he ran away
into the distance.
 " How dare that foul peasent besmirch my fair name like so! Me, the
great noble Kuno. The true Blue Lightning!!" Kuno went on until Ranma
couldn't stand it anymore and punted him into orbit.
 " Put a sock in it willya!" *Great, one more enemy.*
 ****
 Not many people were overly concerned about the newcomer having
challenged Ranma, that sort of things was always happening around him.
So it didn't make too much of surprise when everyone ignored the
challenge although Nabiki was already setting up a betting pool.
 The only one who seemed overly worried was Ukyou, she was biting her
lower lip nervously every now and then.
 "Ranma." She dragged him under a tree, shooting a fierce glare at
anyone who even came close. Akane only sat faraway, glaring back at them
but she wasn't near enough to hear them. "You have to be careful."
 " Huh, why?"
 " Because this guy is smarter than Ryouga or Mousse. He loves to spring
all sorts of stupid traps on people." Ukyou said, looking at him
apprehensively. She would have gotten rid of Furino a long time ago
except....he seemed so pathethic whenever she started to mention that
she didn't like him that she didn't have the heart to do it. She didn't
want Ranchan to see her like Shampoo or Akane, leading other men on. She
wanted to be the only one who truly only needed him.
 " So? I'll be careful."
 " Good," Ukyou seemed to be a bit relieved. Truth was that Furino
didn't really mean any harm, but his traps had a way of getting out of
hand. *Like that time with the fishmonger...*
 " Is that all?"
 " Yeah," Ukyou nodded positively.
 Ranma turned to walk away. "Thanks for the advice," He said, not
looking where he was stepping.
 "Ranma look-"
 *THWANG*
 The noose snapped tightly around Ranma's foot, catapulting him into the
air where he swung, suspended in the air like some sort of rag doll.
 "Out..." Ukyou finished lamely.
 *Great, just great.* Ranma thought.
 ****
 "Man that was hilarious." Urd giggled, annoying the hell out of Ranma
mainly because he was the source of her mirth. Ever since she had seen
that stupid incident where he had stepped in to the guy, Furino's trap
she had been using it as bait to irk him.
 " Shut up," Ranma said sulking, in the end he had managed to get
himself down by pulling himself up so he could untie the rope. But it
had been too late, virtually the whole campus had seen him and he was
now the laughing stock of the school(even though they were wise enough
not to show it to his face. Well except Urd...and Akane.) That had been
a terrible blow to his ego, that he could have been caught by such
a....stupid trick! *Baka!! You couldn't even see such a simple trap!!
Baka!* He was his own worst critic.
 " I mean, you didn't even see that." Urd said, continuing as if she
hadn't heard him.
 " Shut up!" Ranma said a bit more loudly, but not really shouting
either. That was when his foot slipped on the fence. Desperately he
tried to keep his balance but it seemed the fence was too smooth to get
any grip on. No sooner had he put one leg down onto the fence then his
foot slipped again, leading him to slide around in jerky uncontrolled
movements.
 Urd watched with amusement. What was Ranma doing?? Could he actually
be.....dancing?? Even now, that idea seemed to absurd for her to
imagine. Mr. I-don't-care-about-anything-but-martal-arts was dancing??
Would the surprises from this world never end?
 Ranma finally managed to flip forward, landing forward onto the fence.
He held his hands out slightly to steady himself even as his feet worked
to balance him.
 "Ta-dah," He said when he was sure he wouldn't slip off, trying to pass
off what he had just done as intentional.
 That was when the portion of the fence he was standing on broke off and
fell into the river.
 ****
 Ranma-chan was not happy. First of all he was soaking wet, second he
was female. And lastly, Urd was laughing at him again.
 "That was hilarious. You trying to show off and falling into the canal
instead." Urd said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.
 " THAT FENCE WAS SABOTAGED!!" Ranma-chan yelled, "IT WASN'T MY FAULT!".

 " That's what was so funny." Urd said with a straight face before
bursting into another fit of giggles.
 Ranma-chan sulked further, shoving his hands deep into his pocket. He
was definitely not happy and this continued even until he reached the
temple.
 He stormed in the room, intent on getting a hot bath and changing back
to male. He definitely needed to relax and hot bathes tended to have
that effect on him. He would just soak in the furo, soaking up the
warmth without a care in the world.
 " Ranma, you look an awful mess. What happened?" Belldandy asked,
concern shining in her eyes.
 "Nothing," He answered as best as he could, having Urd mock him for the
whole journey had put a strain on his temper. "If you'll excuse me, I'm
going to take a bath." He stalked off, bristling as he heard Urd start
to tell Belldandy about his day, amusement plain in her voice.
 * Accursed Furino! I shall teach him not mess with Ranma Saotome!* He
thought. *Note to self, have got to stay away from Kuno. Now I'm talking
like him.* The idea scared him slightly, if he was talking like Kuno
what would happen if he started acting like Kuno?? Mentally he had a
vision of hims shouting to all his fiancee's "I CANNOT DECIDE, I MUST
HAVE YOU ALL!!". *Brr.* Ranma shivered at the thought.
 "Nah, me and Kuno are way too different." Ranma-chan said outloud as
if trying to convince himself. He plopped down into the furo, silently
soaking up the tender heat.
 That was when he felt something brush against his leg. Frowning, he
peered into the murky water of the furo making out a slightly sinewy
shape brushing against him.
 In a flash, his hand shot into the water grabbing the shape, bringing
it out into the light so he could see what it was. What he saw seemed to
be a short snake, no longer than his forearm and with a fish's head and
things shaped like fin's running up and down it.
 In his surprise, he tightened his grip slightly on the eel, causing it
to squirm suddenly.
 The eel didn't really like being squeezed so it did the only thing it
could, it classified Ranma as a predator and prepared to shock him.
 *****
 "YOOOW!"" Belldandy and Urd's heads both turned towards the furo, where
the scream had come from.
 "That was Ranma." Belldandy said, breaking into a run for the bathroom.
What had happened now? Oh why, oh why was she botching up so badly on
helping Ranma? He seemed to be in more trouble now than before.
 Belldandy opened the door. And immediately blushed, turning her head
away. Urd looked in, only to see a naked Ranma lying unconscious on the
floor while an eel swam happily in bathtub.
 "Oh my." Urd whispered as she caught more than a glance of him.
 ****
 Ranma sat, his arms crossed in front of him. He had a rather unusual
expression on his face. Belldandy sighed, that was the face he always
put on when he tended to get mule-headed. She doubted anyone could
change his mind when he started getting stubborn on her.
 " No." His voice was flat and emotionless. "I am definitely going to
fight that guy.
 "I thought you didn't want Ukyou as a fiancee." Urd broke in, leaning
against the doorway in a rather casual manner.
 "This has nothing to do with Ukyou!" They were surprised at his
outburst. "This has to do with this...BAKA!! placing all sorts of stupid
traps for me!!" *not to mention annoying the hell out of me,* "Besides
it's a matter of honour, I have to accept and fight!"
 Somewhat calmer, he went on. "Beside's I'm the best, no one can defeat
me." He said, grinning in his cocky way. That was when he felt it.
 Spinning round, he managed to see a huge green sphere soar towards the
sky before plummeting down to earth again. He could feel the energy, the
ki flowing through the ball. A mass of sorrow, grief and depression. He
could feel them clearly yet they were muted slightly, as if smouldered
with a blanker. It was the difference between watching a match live and
on television. A slight difference, which made all the difference
sometimes.
 *Ryouga...* He thought, not sure why he did.
 ****
 Two days passed rather quickly, by then Ranma had gotten less
predictable preferring to change his routine daily. Naturally he fell
into less traps, not that less traps were laid down but that he avoided
them. Of course this meant that other people fell into those traps.
 That day, the sky was bright and clear, the sun shining down in all
it's glory. They met, two opponent's in the middle of the schoolyard.
 "So you managed to escape all my traps Saotome."
 "SO YOU'RE THE ONE!!" Almost as one, the whole school population of
Furinkan high shouted, stampeding in way not usually seen(unless one
imagine's the girl's chasing after Happosai) towards Furino and promptly
bashing him up.
 " Do you know how many traps of yours I fell in!!"
 " So you sabotaged the water heater!!"
 Mayhem broke out while Ranma look on, eyes narrowed. When they were
done, he could see Furino flattened to a pancake, nothing more than a
greasy spot on the ground.
 " Ack..."
 " Baka," Ranma said turning to go.
 " Wait Saotome, if you take that step you'll regret it!" Ranma looked
back, somewhat surprised when he saw Furino trying to rise. Grudgingly,
his respect for the guy went up. Not many people could have taken such a
beating and gotten up.
 " Forget it, you're in no condition to fight. We'll do this some other
time." Ranma said, back facing Furino as he flipped his pigtail behind
him. What was the honour in beating up on someone who was injured.
 "I'm warning you Saotome."
 Ranma ignored him, placing his foot in front of him. That was when the
ground gave way, dropping him into some sort of pit.
 Somehow Furino had somehow managed to recover fully and was now
standing triumphantly over the pit. "MWAHAHAH! I warned you Saotome, now
face your greatest fear!"
 At that instant, faint meowing could be heard from within the pit.
 *NOO!!! Not this!!* Ranma's mind screamed when he heard the sounds.
Fear gripped him, arcs of electric nerves making him convulse. He could
almost imagine the green glow eyes shining at him from the darkness, the
smell of blood slick fur. Yet something felt wrong, if only he could
control his fear enough to see what it was.
 His hand groped around the pit, grabbing onto something soft anf furry.
Bringing it out into the light, he prepared to gaze into his worst fear.

 " A SOFT TOY!?!?!?!"
 " Damn, and I was so sure he wouldn't notice the difference." Furino
sworesnapping his fingers together.
 Ranma climbed out of the pit, holding what appeared to be a rather cute
cat soft toy in his hand. " YOU WANTED TO TRICK ME WITH A SOFT TOY!?!?"
Ranma couldn't believe this as he thrust the toy in Furino's face.
 " Uh...you see. Cat's are kinda hard to get in such a short time since
I only got the information today," *It took me the other two days to get
the money Nabiki wanted, damn she asks a lot.* Furino scowled before
going to try and explain himself. " And..uh....Nabiki offered to rent me
those soft toys and the tape of cat's."
 By then, almost all the spectator's eyes had narrowed to slits as they
all stared at Furino.
 " That's pathethic!!" Ranma yelled, punching Furino off into the
distance. "Don't you dare come back until you're better!!"
 Having done so, he looked at the soft toy in his hands. *Tricking me
with some soft toy. What does he take me for? An idiot???*  That
particular thought made him feel like throwing the darn toy down and
jump up and down on it.
 "Ranchan, you did it!! You defeated him for me! I guess that means you
like me best!" Ukyou gushed as she glomped onto Ranma, constricting him
in a tight bear hug.
 "Ranma!!" Uh-oh. That was Akane, and she did not sounds happy.
 "Airen let go of spatula girl now!"
 *Sigh....why me?* He thought as the mayhem began.

The end.

Author's Note: Sigh, this chapter took me a longer time than usual due
to several factors. Writer's block, school projects, lots of tests and
homework. School is getting harder and harder to cope with.
Thanks to my pre-reader's.
      RiverStar <riverstar@funky.wow.aust.com>,
             talon@sgi.net <talon@sgi.net>,
  Smiling Kitty <NikoNeko@netcom.ca>,
             Emry <emry@nova1.net>,
  Farooqui, Nouman <nfarooqui@findsvp.com>,
             Daniel Friedrich <s0152586@fhtw-berlin.de>,
             Myrriden <sm39316@chs.mat-su.k12.ak.us>

Sining
'Legend becomes reality...
girl crosses time to meet boy...
and together, they begin a journey of mystery and adventure.'