Author's Note: I know these things usually come at the end, but I
wanted to say some things right up front.
Number One: This is NOT a self-insertion fanfiction. Oh, I know some
of you are going to read through it and say, "Yeah, right, who's she
trying to kid", and to some extent, you'll be right. My character
Arashi is the embodiment of a lot of things that I wish I could be.
(Beautiful, strong, graceful, self-confident.)  However, hers is a
story I would never wish to have. Really. She creates more problems
than she solves, and she doesn't sweep *anyone* off
their feet. Well, unless you count....But I shouldn't give the plot
away, should I? I actually got the idea for this story not as a
fanfiction, but as a regular 
short story or novella. I decided to make it a fanfiction by using the
backdrop of the Ranma 1/2 world for several reasons. The first is that
I love the
Martial Arts aspect to the show. People in that world can do special
techniques that are ordinary to them, but are magical to us. (Authors
call this "magical realism" in case you care). The second is that I
really wanted to play off the yin-yang aspect of the show, the
male-female, light-dark, good-evil.... you get the picture. 

Number Two: Some technical notes about the fic. When people talk in
parentheses, it means they're speaking Chinese. Or Mandarin. Or
whatever. I wouldn't know.
Also, in case you don't know, and you might not unless you speak
Japanese, "Irashaimase", which Shampoo says in the first part, means
"welcome". Its used by shopkeepers to greet potential customers.
On Arashi- Her name was taken from two sources. One is the character
Arashi from X/1999. The other is my friend Okami Arashi, who is the
very person who
taught me what th' heck a fanfiction actually was. My character's full
name is Tasogare Arashi, which means "Twilight Storm". She has long
white hair, and violet eyes. You can find a pic of her at my
homepage(shameless plug!) 
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/garden/2324  
Thank you for bearing with my excessively long rant. I hope you enjoy
the story, please email me with your reactions!



        	  Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

		  "Alone In Time"

	Arashi awoke early on a sticky, humid summer morning. She watched the
sun rise over the mountain tops with a feeling of restlessness. The
nightmare she'd had last night was bothering her. She often had bad
dreams, but this one was different from the usual ones. Arashi
wondered if it was an omen. Omens could come in almost any form, and a
prophetic dream was not unusual for her.
	Arashi looked over at the hut that was her home on the mountains,
miles away from any kind of human contact. It had been enough for her
for
 a long time, but suddenly it seemed something was missing. Arashi
just couldn't figure out what more it was she wanted.
	It wasn't until the heat of mid-afternoon, after her training
exercises, when she was sweeping out her home, that Arashi realized
she was lonely.

	Part One: A New Beginning

	The Neko-hanten was buzzing with activity on the cool spring evening.
 Shampoo and Mousse had their hands full dealing with many impatient
customers, and Cologne was turning our ramen and chow-mein like a
miniature whirlwind. "Two orders up....MOUSSE!! Pay attention!" 
         The floor nearly got a taste of the Neko-Hanten's famous top
ramen as Mousse almost stumbled over a chair in his path. 
	"Stupid Mousse!" Shampoo taunted as she waltzed by with a full tray
to serve the bustling throng seated at the restaurant's tables. Mousse
recovered his bearings and rushed off to help her.
	The long, long day finally ended. Shampoo and Cologne worked together
to clean off the tables while Mousse headed out back to change his
clothes and start in on the huge stack of dishes. 
	(Well, great-ganddaughter, it was quite a night tonight, eh?) Cologne
chuckled.
	(No kidding! I lost track of how many customers we served!)
	"Well, do you think perhaps we should hire some help? An extra person
around to help waitress and clean up could certainly take a load off
the rest of us. "
	Shampoo thought about it for a moment. (That sounds like a good idea.
It worked when Ranma here!)
	(Well,) Cologne chuckled again, (I don't think we'd go quite as hard
as we did on your future groom! But, it's settled! Tomorrow, I will
place and ad for some help.)
                   *              *             *
	A pretty, blond haired girl dressed in a waitressing outfit burst out
the front door of the Neko-Hanten and hit the sidewalk at a dead run.
        "Hey!" Cologne stuck her head out the door and looked after
the fleeing girl. "We still have customers to serve!"
	"Forget it!" The girl looked back just once, "Good luck trying to get
anyone to work there!!!"
	Cologne pulled her head back on and sighed. She pogoed over to where
Shampoo was working. (That's the third one this week! I don't think
we'll ever find the help we need.)
	(Don't worry, great-grandmama!  I'm  sure something will come up!)
	"I hope you're right, child."
	"Um, excuse me?" Shampoo and Cologne turned around. In the doorway
was a girl. She was about sixteen, with a bag slung over her shoulder.
She was dressed in Chinese clothes, with a blue top gathered at the
waist with a white sash, and blousy white pants gathered at the ankle.
But it was her hair that attracted the most attention. It was pure
white, like fine sea foam, and reached all the way down the middle of
her calves.  She carried herself with the easy grace and confidence of
a fighter. 
	"Is this the Cat Cafe?"
	"Yes, it is. Irashaimase!" Shampoo stepped forward. 
	"I heard that you were hiring."
	"Yes, we are. " Cologne hopped forward, interested. "What is your
name?"
	"My name is Arashi. I just came to town a week ago. I don't have much
experience, but I'm willing to work hard."
	"Yes." Cologne nodded. "I think you'll do nicely."
                  *              *             *
	Arashi took to waitressing amazingly quickly. She could flip out
orders and deliver them with such speed that she was almost able to
keep up with Shampoo. Even when the evening rush came in, she didn't
frazzle. She kept her cool and doubled her speed. 
	"Yo! Shampoo!" A familiar voice rang through the cafe, just after the
evening rush had ended. 
	"Ranma!!! You come to see Shampoo!!" Shampoo wrapped herself around a
black-haired young man that had just entered. 
	"Yeah! Well, that is, you see, Akane cooked again."
	Arashi looked on in mild amusement as Shampoo dragged her young man
to a booth. Cologne hopped up beside her.  
	"Do you think you could go and help Mousse in the kitchen? I'm afraid
he'll break something if I leave him alone too long."
	"Sure." Arashi gathered up the last of the empty bowls on the table
and headed towards the kitchen. It had been a long, hard day,
different from what she was used to on the mountain. Training was one 
thing, waitressing exercised muscles she didn't even know she had! She
pushed open the two way swinging door with her foot, her hands being
full. The stack of bowls she carried obscured her view, so she walked 
very carefully, moving towards the sound of running water. 
	(Xian Pu? Is that you?) A young man's voice carried across the floor
to her.
	(No, it's me, A-) Arashi lowered the bowls and found herself looking
into the most beautiful pair of green eyes she had ever seen. She
swallowed, hard, and felt her heart fluttering in her chest.  She very
nearly dropped the bowls.
	Mousse squinted at her for a second. Then he retreived his glasses
from the top of his head and put them on.  Arashi found herself able
to breathe again.  "Oh, you must be the new waitress. How do you do?
I'm Mousse."
	"I'm Arashi. Cologne asked me to come back and help with the dishes.
" She felt dizzy all of the sudden.
	"Oh, good. You can dry. Have you seen Shampoo?"
	"Uh, yeah." She took the proffered towel. "She's out front with some
guy named Ranma, I think." The sound of cracking glass was clearly
audible.  "I thought he was her boyfriend."
	"Oh, no. He's her fiancee. He defeated her in combat. It's an Amazon
law that whoever bests an Amazon in combat must marry her."
	"Oh," Arashi said thoughtfully. "I've heard of it. That must mean
you're from Joketsuzoku, right?"
	"That's right. " Mousse stopped scrubbbing , (A good thing since the
plate he was working on was nearly worn through.) and looked at her.
 	"How did you know?"
	"I grew up near there."
	"Did you?"
	"Yes." Arashi wondered how much she should tell him about why she had
chosen to live in the remote mountains of China. 
	"So why did you come to Japan?" 
	Arashi hesitated for a moment. Should she tell him the truth? Mousse
mistook her silence as reluctance to talk about it. 
	"I'm sorry. I guess that's not my business."
	"Oh, no, that's all right. I guess I just wanted to be around people
again. There's really no-one to talk to on a mountain. Tokyo is the
biggest 
city I know of, so I figured I'd definitely meet new people here." She
watched him carefully. Was he really interested, or just being polite?
	"So where are you staying?"
	"I found an apartment just before I applied here. It's kind of
run-down, but it fits my budget, such as it is." She grinned
humorously. "I knew things were expensive here, but I guess I didn't
realize just 
how expensive. So what about you?" she asked curiously, "Why did you
come here?"
	"I followed Shampoo."
	"Oh. She's your...sister?" Arashi asked, vainly hopeful.
	"She's the love of my life..." Mousse's gaze went sort of vague.
"I've loved her since we were both children, but she's always rejected
me. And now, she's engaged to that Ranma Saotome!" He clenched his
fist in anger. 
	"I see," Arashi said quietly. She put away the last dish. "Well, I
guess I'll be heading home now. Is there anything else that needs to
be done?"
	"Um," Mousse started a little, as if just remembering she was there.
"I don't think so. You're not walking home alone at this hour are you?"
	"It's all right. I don't live far, and," she smiled a tight-lipped
little smile, "I can take care of myself."
	"If you're sure..." Mousse said uncertainly.
	(Mu-Tsu!) Shampoo's voice rang out in the kitchen.(Great Grand-mother
wants to close now! Are you coming or staying here all night?)
	(C-Coming, Xian-Pu!) Arashi looked on in amazement as the relatively
mature, intelligent man she had come to know in the past hour
transformed into a fawning, adolescent obsessive at the appearance 
of Shampoo.
	"Oh, Nihao Arashi! Shampoo not know you still here! Great-grandmother
closing now and it time to go home."
	(All right. Thanks, Xian-Pu. See you tomorrow.) Arashi bolted out the
door without looking back, not wanting to see Mousse make an idiot out
of himself. 
	She made it to her apartment without without mishap, and collapsed,
exhausted, into bed. "Guess it's going to be harder to adjust to this
sort of life than I thought," she thought as she drifted into the
dream world.
                  *              *             *
	Arashi knew it was there before she opened her eyes. "Go away!" She
swatted at it with her hand and rolled over. Finally, she risked a
peek, opening her eyes only a crack.
	"Good morning!" trilled a little golden ball of light that floated in
the air just above her chest. Arashi moaned and pulled the covers over
her head. 
	"Not you again."

                   End of Part One


 That's it. Part One. What did you think? Like I said before, email me!

This story, and a whole bunch of other crud, can be found at my homepage
http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/garden/2324

Thank You, and Keep Dreamin'!



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