***************************Sining presents*************************
Oh my...Ranma!?
#8: Consequences
Season II

**************************shihlin@pacific.net.sg***********************
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, except the new
stranger who appears in this   chapter. But other than that they belong
to Rumiko Takahashi and Kosuke   Fujishima.(whee I actually remembered
the name)

C&C very, very well received.

 It was a fairly normal Monday morning in Nerima. Everything was quiet
for once and the town people walked the streets, politely greeting each
other as they remarked on how peaceful everything was. Some of the more
nervous citizens of the town remarked about how it felt like it was the
calm before the storm. They could feel it in their bones they said. Ever
since that big fight three days ago, everything had suddenly died down
as if someone had flicked the off switch.

 The chief reason for the fight was already awake and was currently
sitting on the roof-top of a temple he had been calling home for the
past few weeks. His thoughts were a mystery; even to him but they tended
to spiral back to the events of three days ago before he would sharply
rein his thoughts in, refusing to think about it, but soon they would
drift back again. He had no idea how long he sat there; cross-legged, as
he watched the sun rise into the sky.

 There was a reason Japan was called the Land of the Rising Sun, the
sunrises there were near perfect, the rays filtered through the clouds
to give a rainbow effect of colour.

 He might have continued sitting there for a long time yet if a voice
had not startled him. A voice he had been dreading to hear and had been
avoiding.

 "Ranma?" Belldandy said as she walked closer to him before finally
sitting down besides him; a ladder leaning against the roof proof of how
she had gotten up. He shied away slightly, unwilling to face her; unsure
of how he could face her.

 "Yes?" he asked tentatively as he looked away from her.

 "Ranma? Are you okay?" Belldandy asked, concern in her voice, although
he wondered why or how she could be concerned for him. He didn't think
he deserved it, not now. She reached out her hand towards him, her
fingers lightly brushing against his shoulder before he jerked back as
if burned. With an almost curt motion, he stood up.

 "I'll be going off to school now," Ranma said in an almost cold tone of
voice. With a swift graceful motion, he jumped off the roof-top, landing
smoothly on the balls of his feet. Before she could reply, he was gone
from her sight.

 -*-*-*-*-

 Urd woke up from where she was slumped onto the dining table,
surrounded by empty bottles of sake. Almost immediately, she wished as
she groaned and held her head in her hands. "Damn, this is some
hangover," she said, wincing as she tried to remember the proper
incantation to get rid of hangovers. Finally, she remembered it ,
mumbling it under her breath. The effects could be seen almost
immediately as her eyes cleared and the pain in her head stopped. "That
feels better," she said as she leaned back, resting herself on her arms.

 That was when she noticed Ranma passing by her in a hurry, almost as if
he was running away from something...or someone. "Hey, where are you
going?" she called out as he was about to pass her. He stopped in his
tracks and looked at her in surprise as if he hadn't noticed she was
there.

 "School," he said indifferently as he looked her. His eyes; she
noticed, had lost that little sparkle of life they always had in them
before and his face seemed more somber than she remembered. It seemed as
if he was hiding his emotions, shoving them deep down. "I'm surprised
you're not drunk," he continued as he looked down at her.

 "I'm surprised you managed to wake up by yourself this early," Urd
retorted as she shakily stood up.

 "Are you coming or not?" he asked, occasionally glancing behind him as
if he was looking out for someone. Before she could reply however, he
bolted off again.

 "Urd? Did you see Ranma come by this way?" Belldandy asked, a little
hurt at the thought that Ranma might be avoiding her on purpose.

 Before there Urd could reply, there was a sudden commotion coming from
outside of the shrine.

 "Airen!" a certain voice said which made Urd see red. *How dare one of
_she_ still show up here!* Urd thought furiously to herself, her face
darkening as she walked towards the source of the noise.

 "Urd, don't do anything foolish," Belldandy said although personally
she was more worried about the mortal than her sister. Her sister could
hold her own but if one of the lightning-bolts Urd summoned actually hit
the mortal....

 "Oh, I'm not going to do anything I would regret," Urd said with venom
oozing from her voice as she walked out into the open.

 "Shampoo, what are you doing here?" Ranma said, grimacing slightly as
the sight of her brought back a flood of unpleasant memories.

 "Shampoo wanted to see if airen is okay. Airen was hurt pretty badly,"
Shampoo said, as she looked at Ranma with eyes brimming with concern.
That made him feel even worse as he wondered how she could even be
concerned with him after the way he had come so close to killing her.

 "I..I'm fine," he managed to choke out after a while, feeling even more
guilty as he saw her face cloud over with relief. Relief for him. "How
about you? You've recovered by now right?" Ranma asked with slight
concern. When she nodded slightly, he gave a small sigh of relief. It
eased his conscience slightly but nothing would ever erase the mountain
of guilt he carried.

 "What are _you_ doing here!" Urd yelled as she approached the Amazon.
If not for the fact that Ranma had quickly imposed himself between her
and the Amazon, she would have continued marching up until she was close
enough to strangle the blasted girl.

 "Shampoo here to visit airen! No concern you white-hair girl!"

 "Oh, I'll make it my concern!"

 "Urd, stop this please!" Belldandy said as she joined Ranma in trying
to restrain Urd from the Amazon.

 Finally, after a while of bickering among the two women, Ranma had
enough of it. "Shut up!" he yelled and strangely enough they did as he
said as they each looked at him with a slight fear, wondering if he was
going to go berserk again. He turned towards Shampoo. "Shampoo, I'm
fine. Why don't you go back to the Nekohanten first?" he said before
Shampoo nodded obligingly before picking up her bike and riding away.

 "Bye bye airen, Shampoo see you later." And with that, she was gone.

 "What were you thinking?! Challenging Shampoo like that," Ranma said as
he turned to Urd and started berating her.

 "Pfeh, I would have made short work of her with my magic if you hadn't
sent her away!"

 "That isn't fair! She doesn't stand a chance against your magic!" Ranma
said angrily at Urd's apparent ruthlessness.

 "I don't care," Urd said simply as she gritted her teeth and locked
stares with Ranma. "And what gives you the right to lecture me anyway!
What if I don't do as you say!? What are you going to do, beat me up
too?"

 Ranma flinched as he had been struck, staggering back slightly as his
knees seemed to give way.

 "Ranma!" Belldandy said as she rushed to his side but he waved her
back. With an agonisingly slow motion, he drew himself up, his head
slumped down and his bangs covering his eyes.

 "You're right. I don't have any right at all," Ranma said softly and
Belldandy's heart ached to hear the hurt within him. Before anyone else
could respond to his statement, he turned away from then and ran.

 Belldandy watched after him as he disappeared off into the distance,
part of her wanted to chase after him and comfort him yet the other part
of her told her that he would be happier if he solved his probelms by
himself. He had always been too proud to depend on outside help.

 "Urd! Why did you have to say that," Belldandy said as she turned back
to Urd with what could be called a slightly angry expression on her
face. "You know he can't be blamed for what he did! And he feels guilty
enough, do you need him to feel even worse!? Why can't you let go of the
past? The girl wasn't to blame for the killing, she wasn't even born
then. It's over Urd, please let it go before it consumes you," Belldandy
said as worry started to frame her features once again. She hated to
think what would happen if Urd couldn't let go of her anger and became
attracted to the..._darker_ side. Due to Urd's half-demon nature, she
was more easily influenced by such things.

 "It's easy for you to say that!" Urd said as she tried to stifle the
sobs that were threatening to break through..... and failed miserably.
She started to cry, coarse, wracking sobs that sent tremors throughout
her whole body. "You've never lost someone you've loved before! You've
never fallen in love before and you don't know what it's like to lose
that someone! Damn it, if only I had been there in the first
place....maybe I could have done something to stop the event from even
happening in the first place....if only," and with one last trembling
sob, Urd collapsed to her knees as she pressed her hands to her face and
tried to stop the tears but they kept flowing as sorrow washed over her
like a river.

 Belldandy watched in sorrow as she looked at Urd. Without a word, she
dropped to her knees before Urd before giving her a comforting hug as
she cradled Urd's head in her arms.

 "I'm sorry," she said simply. Sorry for the experiences Urd had to go
through, sorry that she couldn't do anything to help, to lessen the
pain. It was said that time is the best medicine but some wounds could
never be healed fully.

 -*-*-*-*-*

 _Killer_

 _Killerkillerkillerkillerkillerkillerkillerkiller_

 "No! I didn't mean to hurt them!" Ranma screamed to himself as he
clutched his head in his heads, trying to force the voices out of his
head. Almost unbidden, images flowed into his mind. the same images that
had been plaguing his dreams. He could remember the delight he had
experienced then as he felt several of Shampoo's ribs snap beneath his
brutal attack, could remember the sadistic pleasure he received as he
took Akane down, could remember the vivid taste of blood on his lip;
some of it his own, and he remembered how much he liked it.

 He shuddered violently as he tried to reject the memories. Tried
desperately to believe what Belldandy had told him, that it wasn't his
fault, he hadn't been in control. It didn't make him feel any better at
all....

 ------

 "Where am I now!" Ryouga yelled as he tried to look for a sign. "This
is all your fault, Sao--" Ryouag began before trailing off abruptly,
memories of his last fight with Ranma surfacing in his mind. Some of the
memories were vague and hazy but the clearest one was of him waking up
in a hospital somewhere with Ranma lying in the bed next to him. He
remembered the shock he had when the nurse had told him Ranma had
donated blood to him even though Ranma needed it himself to recover. But
then again, it had been Ranma's fault he had ended up in the
hospital....but that wouldn't have happened if he challenged Ranma to a
fight even when Ranma didn't want it. He found himself inspecting his
life, all those moments when he had blamed Ranma for something, had it
really been his fault?

 Now that he thought back rationally on it, some of them weren't totally
Ranma's fault and were partially his too. Had he been humble enough to
ask Ranma to lead him to the yard behind his house, he could have had
the fight and not followed Ranma to Jusenkyo where he had gotten his
curse. But because his pride had not allowed him to even consider asking
Ranma for help, he had gone on by himself only to arrive four days late
for the match.

 He found himslf thinking back to the fight again and remembered pushing
Ranma over the edge with his perfect Shi Shi Hokodana. He wondered why
he had done so, it hadn't been like him at all.It was like some voice
within him had called out for him to punish Ranma and he had been unable
to disobey it.

 Vaguely, he remembered a dark-haired woman offering him something to
eat when had been in pig-form and looking around for Ranma. Could it
have been a drug of some sort he wondered, one that would make him lose
control of the mass of anger and depression within himself. If it was,
that meant the woman was probably out after Ranma too. He'd have to warn
Ranma if that was so, they might not be good friends but they weren't
enemies any more.

 ------

 "Are you okay now, Urd?" Belldandy said sympathetically as she gently
stroked Urd's back like a mother.

 "*sniff* Yeah, I think I am," Urd said, her eyes still red and puffy as
she leaned forward onto the table.

 "Well, I'll go get you some tea," Belldandy said as she stood up and
walked towards the kitchen.

 "Belldandy?"

 "Yes Urd?" Belldandy said as she looked over her shoulder to Urd.

 "Thanks, and...I'm sorry bout the things I said."

 "That's okay, you didn't mean them anyway," Belldandy said as she went
into the kitchen, trying to relax her mind as she prepared the tea. Any
other day and she would have found some simple pleasure in doing it but
now she was overly concerned with Urd and Ranma. She wished she could do
something to help them both but she couldn't think of anything. She
especially wished she could help Ranma but he seemed to be avoiding her
nowadays.

 So distracted was she by her thoughts that she didn't notice a familiar
figure rising out the kettle of hot water. At least not until it glomped
onto her.

 "Oneechan!"

 ------

 "Foul Saotome, how dare you still show your face around here!!" Kuno
yelled as he charged at Ranma, his bokken held high over his head to
deliver some 'divine' retribution, or so he believed. Almost immediately
a wide space was cleared between the two individuals.

 Ranma watched with a bitter smile as he noticed the look of fear on
some of the student's faces, it hurt even more to know that the fear was
directed at him. "Go away Kuno, I don't want to fight," he said calmly
as he walked straight towards Kuno.

 "I shall punish you for harming Akane Tendo!" Kuno said as he raised
his bokken slightly when Ranma was within striking distance before
smashing it down as if he intended to cleave Ranma into half.

 It would have worked too, if Ranma had still been in that spot though.
Kuno regarded the shattered concrete before him before swiftly looking
behind him only to see Ranma still continuing on his way as if nothing
had happened.

 "I didn't want to hurt Akane.....if I could, I would do anything to
stop the whole incident from happening," Ranma said as he looked up into
the sky, his back still towards Kuno. "If only I could," he trailed off
sadly.

 With one final look over his head, Ranma entered the school.

 -----

 "Skuld!? What are you doing here?" Belldandy asked in surprise as she
looked down at the 12 year old girl that was currently hugging her.

 "Waah! I was so lonely Oneechan!" Skuld said as she tightened her hold
on Belldandy. "I couldn't take it any more so I decided to come down to
see what you and Urd were doing," Skuld said as she let go of Belldandy
and looked up into the older goddess's eyes.

 "I'm glad to see you too Skuld," Belldandy said in sisterly affection
as she hugged her younger sister. Although she liked it being on Midgard
with Ranma, she missed her younger sister sometimes but now that Skuld
had come down to Midgard, things were looking up. And then she
remembered Urd and Ranma's present moods and decided it might not have
been such a good time. Skuld was nice but she was rather capricious
sometimes. But then again, Urd might cheer up at having another family
member around.

 "Wait, if you're here. Who's looking after Yggdrasil??" Belldandy asked
and no sooner had she finished her sentence did the telephone start
ringing angrily.

 ------

 Ukyou watched worriedly as Ranma sat on his chair, looking out towards
the window. Since he had appeared in class, he had hardly said anything
at all. Even a rock was more vocal than him. When ever she tried to ask
him something, he would merely give her a curt answer and the only
intiative he had taken in the conversation was when he had asked if she
was fine. He seemed to be greatly relieved at her answer but after that
he clammed up. Why couldn't he just see that she was worried for him?

 Akane tried to settle the feelings that had risen in her as soon as she
saw Ranma. She wanted to rush to his side and comfort him as she noted
his depressed state yet another part of her was afraid of him. She
wondered why she was feeling this way, could it be that she actually
like the baka? No! That couldn't be it at all, she didn't miss him at
all and she was happier now that the engagement was over....was she? She
wished she knew...

 ------

 Shampoo was humming merrily to herself as she rode on her bicycle. She
was happy that Ranma had actually shown concern for her this morning. It
was one of those moments she lived for, if only that white haired woman
hadn't shown up and ruined the moment...

 Her eyes glazed over slightly as she started day dreaming of Ranma. She
managed to snap out of it at the last moment and swerve to avoid running
over the person standing in her way.

 "Sorry, Shampoo no see where she going," Shampoo apologised since it
had been her own fault anyway.

 "That's okay," the person said. It was then Shampoo noticed the figure
throwing something in her direction. Instinctively she leapt off her
bike as something struck it before exploding into a cloud of gas.

 "*cough* *cough* What you think you doin..." Shampoo yelled before
trailing off as the gas started to work it's effect onto her. Within a
second, she was slumped down onto the floor. The figure stooped down and
heaved her over his shoulder.

 -----

 "It's all your fault we're powerless now squirt," Urd said as she
looked pointedly at Skuld.

 "I'm not a squirt!" Skuld protested as she glared at Urd. "And if you
had come back to help me like you were supposed to, instead of goofing
off on Midgard, I wouldn't have gotten lonely and come down!"

 Just as Urd opened her mouth to retort, the doorbell rang.

 "I'll get it," Belldandy said as she arised and walked towards the
door, a small smile appearing on her face as she did so. Urd seemed to
be feeling better already, bickering with Skuld as they always did in
Asgard.

 "Excuse me, does Ranma Saotome live here??" the figure at the door
asked. From the attire, Belldandy guessed the figure was probably
another one of Ranma's acquaintances. Swathed in blue from head to foot,
the person was imposing to say the least.

 "Yes, but he's at school right now," Belldandy said, putting up as
pleasant a smile as possible. She hoped the person wasn't looking for
Ranma to fight with.

 ------

 It was currently English period and Ranma was mentally calculating the
hours left before school would end. He tried to ignore the concerned
looks that Ukyou and Akane were shooting towards him, choosing instead
to continue staring out the window.

 Suddenly without warning he leapt away from the window, his eyes
narrowing as the rest of the class wondered what he was doing. A
split-second later, the windows shattered for no visible reason.

 The students near the window gasped in surprise and shock as they
flinched and covered themselves protectively with their arms. Strangely
enough no shards of broken glass hit them. Within seconds, a strange
mist began filing into the room from the window and when it finally
dissipated, a strang figure stood in the middle of the class room,
looking at Ranma.

 Ranma noted critically the strange clothes the person wore, almost
ninja-like in attire. A sash of cloth acted as a belt, holding up blue,
baggy pants. He especially noted the naked katana that was strapped to
the figure's back.

 "Ranma Saotome?" the person asked, pointing towards Ranma.

 "Yeah, what do you want??" Ranma asked although he had a sinking
feeling he knew exactly what the stranger wanted.

 Without warning, the figure flicked something towards Ranma. Acting
instinctively, Ranma snapped it out of the air only to see that he was
holding a rolled-up scroll in his hand.

 "I challenge you, last of the Saotome line, to a fight. Meet me at the
place in the scroll."

 "Sorry, I don't fight anymore," Ranma said as he turned his back on the
figure.

 "Oh, really?" The figure's voice held a faint note of interest. "Your
mother would be most disappointed, not to mention your other fiancees,
that you wouldn't rescue them."

 That got Ranma's attention immediately as he turned back to the
figure,  anger blazing in his eyes. "What did you do with them!!"

 "If you want to see them again, meet me there," the figure said as it
dropped a small pellet onto the ground. Almost immediately, smoke began
filling the room again, causing several students to cough.

 "Oh, and I wouldn't be too late if I were you," the stranger's voice
echoed in the smoke-filled room.

 "Damn it! Tell me what you did with them!!" Ranma yelled as he launched
a flying kick at the spot where the figure had been standing previously.
Connecting with nothing but air, he rushed to the window to see someone
running away. Without hesitating, he jumped down.

 "Ranma!" "Ranchan!"

 The cries of two concerned women filled the air as they rushed to the
window only to see Ranma running off as well.

 ----

 "That jerk, I can't believe he didn't wait for us," Akane said as she
ran besides Ukyou.

 "Quit bad mouthing Ran-chan," Ukyou said as she scanned her
surroundings, trying to look for a sign of where Ranma had gone.

 "This is too easy," a familiar voice said behind them. Before either of
them could turn around, they felt someone touch a spot on their necks
before darkness closed in on them.

 -----

 "What do you want!" Ranma yelled as he looked about the clearing.

 "Glad you could make it," the stranger said, stepping out from one of
the trees.

 "Cut the crap! Where are they!!How do I even know you have them!?"
Ranma yelled.

 "I knew you would ask that, so I brought some things to convince you,"
the figrue said as it reached behind him and tossed a big bundle towards
Ranma.

 Ranma noted that the bundle contained the wrapped katana his mother
always carried around, along with a bonbori and a giant spatula. But
what got his attention most was the apron that was used to tie the
objects together. He recognised it as being one of Belldandy's favourite
aprons, the same one she had been wearing this morning when had left
her. With a sickening sense of horror rising in him, he stared at the
apron. "No..." he said softly to himself.

 "Well Saotome? I don't have all day, will you fight?"

 Ranma raised his head to look at the figure, a spark of rage already
shimmering in his eyes. "You BASTARD!" Ranma yelled as he lunged for the
figure, his hands ready to throttle the life from the stranger.

 The stranger dodged faster than Ranma could follow, raising a leg up
into the air. Before he knew it, Ranma was sent sprawling back onto the
ground, sliding for a while before he managed to stop himself. With a
grimace, he pushed himself back up, ignoring the dirt that was now
clinging to his clothes.

 "Sloppy Saotome, I expected better from your reputation. You shouldn't
have let your anger distract you like that," the stranger said as it
started to lower his leg down onto the floor.

 *Damn it, this guy is good,* the (still) rational part of Ranma's mind
thought and warned Ranma not to be too confident or impulsive.
Unfortunately, the rest of Ranma wasn't listening at the moment. "What
have you done with them!!"

 "You defeat me and I'll tell you where they are, Saotome. If not...."
the figure said trailing off.

 "Damn it! Fine, you'll get your fight!" Ranma said. Part of him
quivered in anticipation of the fight, the adrenaline pumping through
his system once again. Another part of him cowered in the fear that he
would go berserk again. But he didn't have a choice here. "What kind of
fight do you want!" he said, expecting the worst, some sort of stupid
martial-arts dancing or ice-skating again.

 "One match, Saotome. To the death...." the figure said, it's eyes
shining with steel determination.

 To be continued in Chapter 9: <Title still undetermined>
A few points to address: 1) No, the dark haired woman ain't Mara so I
hope nobody mails me telling me that Mara has blondhair. At least she
looks like she has blond hair in the manga.
      2) How did he manage to kidnap the goddesses? Well, he gassed them
like he did to Shampoo.

Auth notes: To anyone who has waited for this, I'd just like to say I'm
sorry about having it come out   so late and please don't kill me. I've
got an excuse, really I do.....at least I hope I do.   It's been about
an year since I came out with Oh my...Ranma!? and I'm really sorry
about taking this long to write chapter 8. People who's read the first
chapter of   OMR!? may notice a _subtle_ change to the name. Namely(no
pun intended) the   addition of a "!". When I first started OMR!?, it
was my only series at the time and I   was able to get about 1 new
chapter out about every week for 7 chapters. But then, I   slackened off
after chapter 7, not sure what direction to take. I had ideas but I
felt   they could be improved on so I spent times writing other stories
until I could finally   come up with an idea I liked. This idea by far
isn't perfect but it's the best one I've   had so far.  Anyway, thanks
for listening to my rambling. Anyway, I hope you enjoy   this chapter
which took several months to write.

  P.S I need pre-readers since I lost my original pre-reader list. If
anyone would be   interested in pre-reading for me, please tell. Thanks
^_^

Sining
Member of FanWorks Unlimited
http://members.xoom.com/Sining