Leaving, chapter 1


Disclaimer

Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
Slayers is owned by whoever created it.
Note: This isn't a crossover or a fusion. I'm only using the Slayers' 
magic system and the Lina Inverse character. Even then, her situation 
and personality are different from the Slayers series.

"   " spoken
'   ' thoughts, written messages, words with other sarcastic meaning
*   * emphasis

******



     Chapter 1

     One week to the day, to the hour, and as she looked at the
sun, she'd say to the minute. Akane was back in the forest, at the
elbow in the river, the waterfall facing her two hundred feet away.
She was looking up, at the cliff, at a certain rough spot, where
Ranma had destroyed the small point there to fall to his death,
using a technique no one had taught him, with uncanny accuracy.

     Her eyes were dry, though not willingly. She would cry if she
could, but she had no more tears to shed. Instead, she looked at
the waterfall, the bane of Ranma Saotome, in more ways than one,
wishing its impassiveness would come to her and remove the pain
that was in her heart.

     ***Flashback***

     Akane and Ranma were silently walking to school, the latter on the 
street for once. It had been a normal morning, with the usual argument 
about Akane and food at breakfast. They were purposefully avoiding to 
look at each other, which caused Ranma to fail to notice the approaching 
girl. His right arm was suddenly intertwined with two others, a very 
female person leaning on him.

     "Ranchan! I heard Akane tried to poison you this morning, so I 
brought you some okonomiyaki!" From her tangled left arm, she lifted a 
delivery box just high enough for Ranma's nose to detect. His eyes, 
however, were darting between the two girls he was with. "Em... 
Ucchan... That's very nice of you, but..."

     Any attempt to say something, to stop Akane from getting more angry 
or not, was cut short as he was suddenly flattened on the ground by a 
bicycle. "Ayah! Husband okay? Shampoo bring food! Shampoo hear kitchen 
destroyer try to cook again." She got off her bike and glomped Ranma, 
who was now up but not quite on his feet. Ukyo took hold of his other 
side.

     The two food-bringing fiancees started bickering about from which 
Ranma would eat, trying to put their food over the other's, while Ranma 
looked helplessly at Akane, a pleading look in his eyes, but Akane only 
started to glow blue in response. "It's not my fault. I didn't ask for 
this." he said meekly a split second before a large mallet sent him in 
the air with a loud cry of "Ranma you jerk!", the food following him, 
though not as high.

     The two other fiancees glared at her, but since she was still 
glowing and had her mallet they decided to go after Ranma instead. Akane 
turned her back to their retreating forms with a loud "Hmph!", her nose 
high and eyes closed as she walked away. As far as she was concerned, 
those three deserved each other.

     ***End Flashback***

     Akane sniffed as she remembered that moment, and hundreds similar, 
where she just hadn't listened to Ranma. Her attitude had made his life 
only that more complicated, and much more difficult to bear. She 
couldn't help feel a little guilty for Ranma's ultimate decision. 'It's 
not my fault!' His voice, pleading and asking for forgiveness, echoed in 
her head. "Ranma..."

     She looked up at the cliff, at the spot from where Ranma had 
jumped, and saw a shadow. She couldn't quite be sure with the low light, 
but it seemed it was a person practicing simple katas. The shadow's form 
and the katas seemed eerily familiar. 'It's not Ranma... My mind is 
playing tricks on me...'

     "Ranma!" Akane snapped out of her apparent reverie and looked 
towards the sound. On the waterfall's left, at the forest's edge, was a 
small woman, dressed in pink pants and pink T-shirt, the latter barely 
going down her hips to end in a dress-like manner, small white bands at 
the bottom and sleeve ends with a yellow band over her breasts. She had 
long flowing red hair, beginning to curl at the ends, going down to her 
large black belt. She was waving, apparently to the man up the cliff.

     "I'm coming down, Lina!" the man above shouted back, waving as
well. Akane closed her eyes shut for a second, telling herself it
was a coincidence and she had heard his voice only because she
wanted to. There was no man up there, and certainly not one named Ranma 
who had a certain voice that was echoing in her head. She continued 
looking just in time to see the man jump off the cliff.

     Her hand went over her opened mouth to prevent the scream from
coming out. She looked with wide eyes at the man who dived, like it
was perfectly normal, in the white waters, at what she guessed was
the approximate area where Ranma had fallen to his doom. 'It's just my 
memory playing tricks on me. It's just my memory. It can't be real. That 
girl isn't even bothered. I'm the only one seeing this. I'm delusional.'

     A black spot appeared in the water. She blinked. Where was that 
coming from? She could hear the girl talk as the sound carried over the 
water. "You can't scare me by doing that, Ranma. I'm the one who told 
you about the hole, remember?"

     "Of course. It just was the quickest way to get to you." There
was a pause, then a shout of, "Ray Wing!" Akane was beginning to be 
seriously puzzled. Where was that voice coming from? It sounded like 
Ranma, so it must be her ears tricking her. It had to be.

     Then she saw the black spot rise from the water. She stared, 
incredulous, at the strong-looking man in black pants, red shirt with 
black hair and pigtail as he floated slowly in the air to the woman and 
took her in his arms, the two of them twirling in the air a few times 
before unceremoniously falling on the ground. They laughed. "I guess I 
still need to practice." the man said.

     "Practice? Ranma, you shouldn't even be able to cast that
spell! It's only been two weeks since you began studying magic!"
Akane was shocked, completely still, as her mind began to draw some 
unpleasant conclusions "Well, what can I tell you? I'm the best at 
whatever I do." The two laughed as they picked themselves up and 
disappeared in the forest, hand in hand.

     Akane shook herself away as the final conclusion came to her. Ranma 
was alive, and he was the man she had just seen walk away. Putting aside 
the other considerations for later, she got up and ran in the direction 
of the couple, passing the waterfall in no time, going down the small 
trail rounding the cliff.

     It felt like an eternity, but she eventually cleared the forest, to 
find herself in front of a large field separating her from a small town. 
The two couldn't be seen anywhere. She stood there, letting the wind 
play with her hair. 'Did I imagine the whole thing? Am I worse than I 
thought?' She calmly walked back to the waterfall and examined the area.

     She didn't know whether to be sad or happy to find the small pools 
of water there. There had definitively been a jumper. Which meant that 
she hadn't imagined the whole thing. She took next to no comfort in 
knowing she was still sane. She looked back down the trail, wondering 
where the two were.

     Two. Ranma wasn't alone. He had done this to be with another girl, 
and the whole thing was obviously that girl's idea. And that girl had 
meant so much to him he had just gotten rid of everyone else, even his 
family, to be with her. 

     Her heart an even bigger mess than before, Akane ran to the
train station, needing to talk to someone desperately. She had
three news to say. Ranma was alive. Ranma had staged his death one
week in advance. Ranma had done it all for a woman.

******

     One week earlier...

     "Good bye! I love you all!" Ranma shouted as he began falling
backwards. As the rock began hiding him from the group, he turned
his back to the waterfall and took a diving position. Ranma aimed
at a precise point in the white waters, adjusting his trajectory to
hit dead center. He didn't have much room for error here, else this
would be a real suicide attempt, not to mention successful.

     Ranma barely registered the change as he entered the waters,
concentrated on his swim. The now-girl found herself surrounded by
rock needles, in a one meter large opening, which continued into a
tunnel under the river floor. The dim light in it reduced to zero
as Ranma felt the large rock over her slam over the opening,
completely covering the hole. Once she lost her speed she began 
swimming, the tunnel slowly beginning an ascent.

     Lungs burning for oxygen, Ranma hurried, the tunnel seemingly
without end. She finally saw a dim light ahead, and after a few
more strokes she broke the water's surface. She took a deep breath
and shook her head of water. "Didn't think I'd make it." She
whispered to herself.

     "Don't say that." a small voice whispered. Ranma was seriously
startled and looked around. "Who's--" She saw the person. "Lina! I
thought you'd wait at your home." Ranma dragged herself out of the
water and stood to face Lina. The woman was already in her pink and
yellow clothes, as was customary of her on the weekends, with a
small backpack over one shoulder.

     "That's what I planned, but I couldn't leave you to wait all
day in this cold and damp cave alone. You need some company!" she
said cheerily, then looked the girl over. "Not to mention dry
clothes. You can catch a cold in that, you know." she said
matter-of-factly. She perked up from her finger-raised position.
"That's why I brought you some fresh clothes! Aren't you lucky to
have a girl like me looking out for you?" She threw the backpack at
her. "Now go change!" she ordered with a corner of a smile up.

     Still rather confused as to how she should act around that
girl, Ranma took the backpack and went to change in the darkness of
what could pass for an hallway. Not seeing what the clothes looked
like, Ranma put them on, stuffing the bag with her damp clothes and
the book she had hidden in her back. Once in the dim light of the
larger cavern, Ranma looked down at herself.

     To find she was wearing the same exact thing as the girl
currently holding her laughter. "Lina!" she growled of rage. Said
girl started laughing, bent in two. "It's the only thing I could
lend you!" she shouted between gasps of breath, taking a step
forward not to fall down so hard she was laughing.

     Ranma let the girl have her fun, but when it lasted too long
she shushed her, getting her attention by dumping the bag at her
feet. "Lina, do I have to remind you there are people looking for
me?" She pointed down another hallway, where most of the light was
coming from, with the sound of water rushing. "If I could hear your
fireball, they can hear you laughing. And some of them aren't
afraid of water."

     Lina let the rush fade. "Oh, come on. That waterfall is loud
enough. You didn't hear the water, you only saw the steam coming
out. Don't tell me you don't remember how we met? That was only a
week ago!" She had a slight trace of indignation in her voice.

     But even that small trace was enough to affect Ranma. She
turned away and began rubbing her temples, eyes closed, constantly
repeating, "Not her, not her, not her..." (1) Lina saw this and lost
her small anger. "I- I'm sorry, Ranma. I forgot. It's my fault."
she said softly, approaching the other girl cautiously, hands
forward.

     The words worked like magic on Ranma, who regained her cheery
attitude almost immediately. "That's okay, Lina." she said with a smile 
to the girl. "I guess I still have to get used to emotionally
normal girls. I'm sorry."

     Lina snorted, putting her hands on her hips. "What did I say?
I'm the one at fault--" She stopped as she saw the results of her
serious tone on the poor girl. She let out her breath slowly,
pinching the bridge of her nose. "You know," she said softly, "I'm
beginning to see what the others saw in you. You're very nice and
kind, but you can be so dense I could just wring your neck sometimes." 
She saw the flinch those words brought and resisted the
urge to scream. She slowly took a deep breath and let it out.

     "I am sorry for my words. I am in your debt for the pain I
have inflicted you." Lina said formally, putting her hands together
and bowing deeply. Ranma looked at her incredulously. Then she
couldn't take it anymore and burst out in laughter. Seeing the old
Ranma was back, Lina redressed herself and cracked a smile. Then
just tipped the other girl backwards.

     Flailing arms would have done much better with feathers
attached to them, but since Ranma didn't have any she fell back in
the water anyway. She surfaced and spit out some water. Dragging
herself out once more, she grumbled, "Maybe we should just start
over.", wriggling the water out of her pigtail. Lina giggled.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist. It was just too tempting."

     Ranma sighed. "Just for fun, eh? You better not have lied to
me last week, 'cause I'm really looking forward to doing things
just for the fun of it. Martial arts are fun but my father always
make everything so serious." (2)

     "Correction. He did." she said, tapping Ranma's nose with a
finger. "You'll never see that stupid man ever again. He wasn't
even a real father, you know that. He just used you to realize his
dreams." Ranma became sad but still nodded slowly.

     "I'm okay. It's hard to let go. It's hard to think of them as
people who didn't really care and were just using me." (3) Ranma took
a deep breath and sighed. She was nudged by the smaller girl. "Come
on. Cheer up. You're putting them behind, and making a new life for
yourself. And speaking of new life, I brought a few books to occupy
ourselves until dark."

     "More magic?" Ranma said quickly, suddenly happy and hopeful.
Lina smirked. "No, Ranma. Not magic. You have to take your time to
learn magic. You can't push yourself like in martial arts. I
brought school books." The following groan had been anticipated.
"You're not the only one who hates school, Ranma, but if you're
going to live a more normal life you'll have to bear the work like
everybody else." Ranma nodded resignedly. "There's also the fact
that final exams are three weeks away." Lina added as a side note.
Ranma slumped her shoulders.

     Lina saw this, smiled ever-so-slightly but was still
disappointed. She wasn't about to challenge Ranma to get the
motivation, as that would be endorsing his old lifestyle, something
she was entirely against. But when it concerned school, she could
see Ranma still needed an incentive. "Tell you what, Ranma. For
each subject you study, I'll tell you the basis of one kind of
magic. As an actual magician, I can tell you more than that book
Father gave you. What do you say?"

     "Deal!" Ranma replied enthusiastically. "But we'd need a
little more light than in here. You wouldn't happen to have a
lamp?" she queried. Lina shook her head. "We'll have plenty of
light at the entrance behind the waterfall, and the two rocks there
were put for a reason." She took the other redhead's hand and led.
"Let's get started. My school bag is already there." Her enthusiasm
brought on another groan, but Ranma otherwise kept silent.

     They walked down the cave and turned to see the waterfall at
the end, the sound of rushing water filling their ears. Ranma
blinked. How could Lina expect him to study with that noise? "Lina,
I--" She stopped as she realized she could barely hear herself.

     There were two large rocks, with a flat surface on top, on
each side of the cave, far enough from the entrance to be dry. Lina
took a bag from the floor and opened it, getting out one book and
a writing pad. Ranma sat on the left, confused, while Lina wrote a
note. She then showed it to her. 'If you're really focused on
studying, you won't even hear the waterfall.' Ranma frowned.

     Another message came quickly. 'Shut up and take it like a
man.' "Hey!" Ranma shouted, then quickly slammed a hand over her
mouth, looking outside. From this side of the waterfall, one could
see the other side in a fuzzy, shimmering sort of way, far from a
clear picture, but Ranma still spotted a figure next to the
waterfall, at the forest's edge. She flattened herself against the
right wall, taking Lina with her.

     The questioning look was answered by nervous pointing in the 
figure's direction. Lina looked quickly and understood. She took
her notepad and wrote, 'Anybody you know?' Ranma shrugged but
didn't make a move to check. 'You can't be seen from this side, you
know.' Ranma shot a glare at the smiling face and observed the
figure.

     From what she could see, it was a woman in a yellow sundress,
on her knees, head lowered in her hands. A quick mental recall told
Ranma only Akane had that in her wardrobe. But the reaction was far
from anything she would have expected from the girl. She motioned
for Lina's pad. 'I think it's Akane. Didn't think she'd be crying
for me, though.'

     Lina saw this and frowned. Ranma could really be a dense idiot
sometimes. Of course Akane cared about her fiancee, even if she
didn't show it most of the time. And Ranma seemed unaffected by the
girl's emotional state. Lina forcefully took the notepad from Ranma
and hastily wrote a reply, adding it with an angry face. 'You're
not bothered by this?!?'

     Ranma raised an eyebrow and calmly wrote back. 'She is- was
the main source of my suffering. Whatever feeling I had for her I
lost awhile ago. Frankly, a little part of me is happy that I'm
finally hurting her back.' (4) Lina was surprised at this. While it was 
true that girl had brought it upon herself by having the temper
tantrums of a three-year-old, she hadn't expected this from Ranma.
Even if she only had known him for a very short time, Lina felt
really close to Ranma. After all, it was a crying boy who had
poured his heart out to her a week ago. It may have been only a
resume of his life, but it still had been six hours long.

     She was shaken out of her wondering by a tug on her sleeve.
She read the message that was inches from her face. 'Could you make
a small gust of wind to drench the two of them? I don't care about
Akane but I really want the guy splashed.' Lina looked to see a
second figure, black pants and yellow shirt, kneeling next to
Akane, a hand on her shoulder. She raised a questioning eyebrow and
Ranma added an underlined 'Please!' on the notepad.

     Lina shrugged and gathered her mana energy, raising a hand to
face the boy. "Diem Wind!" Her words were lost in the waterfall as
the weakened spell sent a gust of wind towards the two victims,
splashing them with about a bucket's worth of water. She smiled as
she saw the boy disappear, leaving a puddle of clothes. Akane
seemed utterly shocked to find a small black pig in them.(5)

     The following yell of "Pervert!!!" was perfectly heard. Lina
took the notepad from Ranma. 'That was Ryoga?' Ranma nodded rapidly
with a large smile. 'You just broke your promise not to tell, you
know.' The other girl shook her head and wrote, 'Ranma Saotome is
officially dead. The dead can't break promises.' Lina took the pad
from the smiling redhead and handed her a math book. The smile
changed faces.

(1) Weird for Ranma? Considering he was always beaten to a pulp right 
after a girl had raised her voice at him, I think not. Psychological 
trauma doesn't discriminate its victims. And since Ranma doesn't want 
the association to continue with Lina, he tends to shy away from a rise 
in her voice. More will be explained later in the fic.
(2) Honestly, IMHO, I don't believe Ranma ever did anything just for the 
fun of it. Sure, he took pleasure in his actions sometimes, but they all 
had a more serious reason behind it. Like I said, it's my opinion, so 
you don't have to agree.
(3) Sounds like brainwash, you say? Hmm... (innocently) I wasn't aware 
there was mind-manipulating magic in Slayers... (shrugs) Doesn't really 
matter, anyway. It's not brainwash, only a strongly biased opinion. Yet.
(4) Doesn't sound like Ranma? Read note 3.
(5) That one goes out to those who thought my little note at the end of 
my prologue was for nothing. (author does raspberry)


******

     Monday after Ranma's death, Nerima...

     Akane and Nabiki slowly walked to school, both looking at the
ground right in front of them, the former sometimes glancing over
her shoulder. Nabiki noticed this and smirked. "Miss having the
idiot on the fence?"

     "Of course not!" Akane snapped back. "How... could... I..."
Her voice had trailed off and was now barely more than a whisper.
"I miss him..." she admitted, having stopped walking. "I just can't
believe he-- he--..." She couldn't say it.

     "I know." Nabiki said softly, patting her sister's back.
"You're not the only one, you know. Cologne, Kasumi and Auntie
Saotome all agree something was off about Ranma's death, but unless
you can find a way to survive that fall, we don't have much choice
in saying he's dead. It's like the police said. With all those rock
needles at the bottom of the fall and the large stone right over
him, there's no chance of survival."

     Akane sniffed. "I know." She stayed there for awhile, slowly
getting ahold of herself. Finally, she took a deep breath and let
it out. "Let's go." she said with the beginning of a smile.

     "Now that's more like it." Nabiki replied, falling in step
with her sister. "You need to be yourself if you're going to pound
Kuno into the ground." She paused for a second. "Come to think of
it, without Ranma I'm giving three to one odds the mob of boys will
be back too. I hope you stayed in shape." she said, smiling, to an
angering Akane.

     "Calm yourself, Akane." Nabiki added quickly. "You have to
watch your words if you want to get rid of Kuno. Just beating him
up won't do anything."

     Akane took in a relaxing breath. "You're right. Ranma always
said I had to watch my temper." Nabiki tripped on her feet but
managed to stay up. "S-say what?!?" She stared incredulously at her
sister. "You're actually listening to what Ranma said?"

     She shrugged with a smile. "I'm not stupid, Nabiki. I know my
problems. And I'll be damned if I let Ranma's death be in vain on
me. He couldn't face his problems, but now I'm willing to face mine
once and for all."

     That caught the older girl off guard. "I'm impressed." Nabiki
said honestly. "You're finally growing up." She received a glare
and tried to look innocent.

     "Say," Akane began after a minute of silent walking, "you
still haven't told me why you're going with me, especially in a
school uniform."

     Nabiki smiled mysteriously. "I don't have to tell you
everything, sis. I'm just tagging along to see how the day turns
out. The uniform is just to blend in."

     "You're not planning to sell information about Ranma's death,
are you?" Akane said darkly, glaring at her sister. Nabiki shook
her head. "No. I may like money but I'm not completely heartless.
I'll answer the questions so you don't have to."

     Akane smiled softly. "Thanks, sis. I don't know how I could
face them without you." She received a shrug. "What are sisters for? I 
hate to say this, but my four-day weekend came just at the right time."

     "I know. But it also gave Kuno more time to annoy me. It's bad
enough he visited every weekend, now he gets to boast that his
purity and superiority finally drove Ranma to admit his wrongdoings
and end his life like an honorless coward, without the proper
rituals. And it doesn't even get him off my back."

     "Aah, don't sulk." Nabiki said teasingly. She stopped walking
just before Akane shot her another glare. "There's Kuno. Good luck.
Try not to send him in the hospital." She caught the flying
schoolbag and watched her sister stomp over to the kendoist.
"Here's to hoping." she said to herself with a smile, before
following.

******

     Same day, Nekohanten...

     "But, Shampoo! Now that Ranma's gone, we can finally be
together!" The blind boy attempted to hug the object of his
affection but was knocked away.

     "Shampoo no care! Ranma not reason Shampoo no go after Mousse.
Shampoo not interested!" A backhand sent the annoyance back once
more.

     "But Shampoo, I love you!" Mousse got near but didn't try to
hug her, this time. It still infuriated the Amazon, who grabbed a
nearby chair and slammed it on his head. <I don't care!!!> she
yelled back in Chinese. Most of the chair broke, but she continued
to hit him with it. <When are you going to understand I don't love
you!?!>

     When there wasn't enough chair left, she began to kick the
unconscious boy. After the fifth strike, she felt a poke at the
back of her neck, and fell over Mousse, paralyzed. <That's enough,
Xian Pu. Mu Tsu is down and unable to hear you.> Cologne rolled
Shampoo off Mousse and examined him. <He'll be feeling those for
awhile.> she commented. <I agree he needed to be put back in his
place, but you shouldn't work yourself up like that for an inferior
male.>

     One more touch of her cane and Shampoo was back up. <Now take
him up to his room. And hurry, we have to open the restaurant
soon.> Shampoo grabbed a leg and began pulling. <Yes, great-grandmother. 
I'm sorry, great-grandmother.>

     The boy's head was making a satisfying bump against each step. 
<Stupid Mu Tsu. Now I have even more work to do. Stupid male, can't stay 
in his place...> The speech was old, the speech was known by heart, and 
Shampoo was used to mutter it to herself while dragging the blind boy to 
his room.

******

     Same day, Niigi...

     "Ranma, stop that!" Lina immediately bit her lip as she heard
the angry tone of her voice. Luckily, Ranma apparently wasn't
affected, or hadn't heard, as he continued to do flips and
cartwheels, from the sidewalk to the fence, a large smile plastered
on his face. 'I can't blame him for being happy, I guess.' she
thought, his smile slowly rubbing off on her.

     She let him waste his energy, continuing at her leisurely
pace. At least, Ranma had been too happy to complain about school
or uniforms this morning. Though she had to agree with him. The
dark blue and square forms didn't fit well with him, and he looked
very different with them. Well, the pigtail was unmistakable.

     Lina finally spotted the school. Time to put an end to Ranma's
antics. "If you don't stop right now, Ranma Inverse," she said
sternly, though not too much, "you won't get to know what being
normal is all about." He finally stopped jumping and looked at her,
curious and surprised. "All of those acrobatics aren't *normally*
possible. Unless you stop showing off, you'll attract attention,
and that's precisely what Father warned you against."

     Ranma slumped his shoulders. "You're right. I'm sorry." He
then just burst of joy. "I'm just so happy to never turn into a
girl again!" he practically shouted, extending his arms and
pivoting on himself.

     "I know, but keep it to yourself, okay? There are things
better left untold in life, like magic." They shared a look and
smirked. Ranma let Lina walk past him and fell in step, putting an
arm around her. "Come on, let's go to school." He laughed at her
raised eyebrow.

******

     Same day, somewhere...

     Ryoga was lost, and he didn't care. Well, he did care. He could 
always find his way to the Unryu farm, if Akari still wanted him after 
all that time. Still, he didn't know exactly where it was. The only 
times he had found it was by getting lost. Which meant he didn't care 
that he was lost. No. That meant he *did* care. He shrugged, not caring 
for a philosophical debate with himself.

     Without realizing it, Ryoga turned left around a tree. One of the 
reasons he couldn't go in a straight line was that he tended to look at 
the ground right in front of his feet. Since that reduced his field of 
vision, he never noticed his sudden changes of direction. He did notice, 
however, the grass below him turn into pavement suddenly. He blinked and 
looked up at his surroundings.

     It was just another typical town. One he didn't recognize, but that 
was normal. He never knew where he was, just like he never knew where he 
was going. On the other side of the street, a girl in uniform was 
walking with a boy doing acrobatics around her, seemingly very happy. 
Ryoga observed the boy, not caring for the conversation. The ease with 
which the moves were made spoke of a very good martial artist, and the 
movements seemed familiar.

     Before Ryoga could analyze the boy's moves any further, he stopped, 
talking for a small time with the girl before putting an arm around the 
girl and walking away, disappearing behind a corner. Ryoga shrugged and 
continued on his way.

     He had taken one step forward when he realized why he had felt this 
familiarity. A vision of the two students right before they turned the 
corner flashed in his mind. The boy's hair. The pigtail. Added with the 
acrobatics, it could only match one person. Ranma. Ryoga turned around 
and ran for the corner where the two had turned. The street came up 
empty, but he could see a large building at the end, probably the 
school, so he ran some more.

     Ryoga turned another corner to find himself on a small hill 
overlooking a forest. (1) He blinked, confused, and looked around. There 
was no trace of civilisation anywhere, only forest and mountains as far 
as the eye could see. Ryoga raised his arms and looked at the heavens, 
taking a deep breath. "WHERE IN THE WORLD AM I NOW?!?!?"

1)   IMO, Ryoga always getting lost is more than a bad sense of 
direction. I believe that the entire Hibiki family is magically cursed, 
for some reason, to randomly teleport somewhere on the planet at random 
intervals, something they have no control over and usually aren't even 
aware of it. To them, the transition of surroundings is perfectly 
normal. Let this be a lesson to all you kids out there. Never anger the 
powers that be.

******

     Following Saturday, slightly before noon, Nerima...

     Akane had managed to get ahold of herself in the train ride,
and was now running back to her home. She was no longer sad, but
she wanted answers. And she'd be damned if she didn't get them. She
could count a few people who'd work with her to find
Ranma, and she'd go enlist their help.

     She practically stormed into the house. Kasumi had been calmly
dusting the living room when she saw the girl enter, looking more
determined then ever before. "Oh my! Akane, you're back early. Did
something happen?"

     "Damn right something happened. I want you to call Nabiki and 
Auntie Saotome. Tell them to come here as fast as possible." Akane 
continued straight to the stairs.

     "Is- is it an emergency?" Kasumi queried, still in her soft
voice. "Yes. Ranma's alive." "Oh my!" she couldn't help but
interject. She thought for a moment. Suddenly, it all made sense.
She rushed to the phone.

     Kasumi did the calls, then hung up the phone, sighing. Why would 
Ranma have done this? Well, maybe Akane had an answer. She had surely 
seen him for more than a moment to be so convinced of the fact. She 
decided against asking Akane right away, as it was probably something 
she wanted to say only once in front of the others.

     'Father would be so happy.' she thought. 'It is too bad he is with 
Grandfather Happosai and Uncle Saotome training on the road. Oh, well.' 
With her ever-present smile, she returned to her cleaning.

     In the dojo, Akane was letting go of some frustration about Ranma 
leaving like that. And for a girl. The cinder block practically turned 
to dust under her hand. A girl he probably hadn't even met before his 
first 'training trip' to those falls. The damn womanizer. Why was she 
going after him again?

     She took a deep breath and sighed. Because she had feelings for 
him. What those were at this moment, she wasn't sure, but that part of 
her still demanded answers, and she would go get them. At least, the 
other fiancees didn't know. It hurt to have been rejected, but at least 
the three others had also been spurned.

     Akane's thoughts stayed on Ukyo for a moment. She was the only 
other who had close ties to Ranma, and she was his best friend. She was 
also a friend of sorts to her. A small feeling of guilt started gnawing 
at her conscience. Perhaps Ukyo deserved to know. The okonomiyaki chef 
had been utterly devastated by the incident. The only thing that kept 
her going was the restaurant. Finally, there was enough guilt in her for 
Akane to leave the dojo and call Ukyo.

******

     Nekohanten...

     <I can't stand you anymore!!!> Shampoo shouted at the top of her 
lungs as she whacked Mousse in the distance. <And stay out!!!> The blind 
boy did a graceful arc in the sky, reminiscent of another boy who had 
frequent flyer miles. At the moment he was cursing the total absence of 
cloud in the skies. All he needed was one small splash of water and he 
could fly away instead of having a very hard landing in some back alley.

     But luck was not with him, and he unceremoniously embeded himself 
in a full garbage can, which slowly but surely tipped forward. Mousse 
found himself stuck, staring at the ground a few inches in front of his 
face, where his glasses currently lay, something rather unpleasant 
beginning to seep through his robes on his back. He tried shaking 
himself out, with barely perceptible progress. He stopped when he heard 
a familiar voice shout from inside the open door next to him.

     "WHAT?!? Ranma's alive?!?" Mousse would have leaped of joy if he 
could when he recognized the voice as Ukyo's, somebody who could help 
him, and became utterly furious when her words repeated themselves to 
him in his head. 'No. No. It can't be. Ranma died when he jumped down 
the waterfall. There was no way to survive that.' A small voice piped up 
in his head, the one which always played devil's advocate, and tended to 
be right. 'But she said he was alive, didn't she? And she's not alone. 
Whoever she's talking with says he's alive too. It must be true.'

     Mousse grinded his teeth. True or not, he had to verify it. He'd be 
damned before he let that womanizer steal Shampoo from him. The only way 
to do that was to go and make Ranma stay dead before the news got to 
Cologne and Shampoo. In his anger, he forced his arms wide, deforming 
the garbage can enough for him to slip out. He picked up his glasses, 
got on his feet and returned to the Nekohanten.

     He entered his room by the window, always left open in case he was 
coming back as a duck, and gathered his things. Weapons, mostly, which 
he hid on his person at the usual places. After shouldering his pre-made 
traveling backpack, he went downstairs to the kitchen, to get some 
supplies before leaving. He was halfway through stuffing his face when 
Cologne hoped in.

     "What are you doing?" The look of shock in his eyes didn't help 
him. "Where are you going, Mousse? I need you to do a few chores. The 
lunch hour is beginning. What would Shampoo think if you left her to do 
your part of the chores?" A look of guilt crossed his features, but he 
quickly lost it. For the moment, preventing Shampoo from returning to 
Ranma's clutches was more important than helping her out.

     "I have other things to do." he said dismissively as he began 
walking out. "No you don't." Cologne replied quickly, paralysing him 
with a quick poke on the back of the neck. He fell forward, hitting the 
floor hard, and she turned him around. "What is it that you have to do 
so urgently?" He refused to speak.

     "You defy me? That is not very wise. The penalties for defying a 
matriarch are very severe." He still kept silent, though was beginning 
to sweat slightly. "Listen to me, Mousse. Unless I receive complete 
loyalty from you, I shall never let you marry Shampoo under any 
condition. Now speak."

     Mousse was sweating profusely, caught between a rock and a hard 
place. If he spoke, Cologne would go after Ranma and he'd lose his 
chance. If he didn't, Cologne would never let him marry Shampoo, and he 
permanently lost his chance. Unwillingly, he resigned himself. Even if 
they went after Ranma, there was still the possibility Ranma was no 
longer interested in Shampoo, though Mousse found that idea ridiculous. 
With a sigh, he told her.

     "I overheard Ukyo talking to someone, and she said Ranma was 
alive." For the first time in his life, Mousse saw Cologne completely 
surprised. She recuperated quickly, however. "Really? And you intended 
to go and try to kill Ranma? And keep it a secret from me? I'm usually 
disappointed in you, Mousse, but this his a new low." She splashed him 
with some cold water and threw the duck in a cage.

     'So Ranma is alive...' she mused. 'Who could have told Ukyo? Hmm... 
I've heard the Tendo girl went back a few times to those falls. If 
anyone, it's her.' Cologne hopped to the dining room, where Shampoo was 
quietly wiping tables.

     "Shampoo, close the restaurant. We have to go." She received a very 
confused look. "But, Great-grandmother, lunch hour about to start. Where 
is place we must go so urgent?"

     "We are going to investigate a rumor. Ranma may be alive." The 
table under Shampoo's hands turned into a pile of wood. "What?!?" "Close 
the restaurant and prepare your things, Shampoo. We are not the only 
ones after Ranma." The girl was a blur as she closed the main doors and 
ran upstairs.

     Cologne shook her head and followed her. "Ah, to be young and in 
love..." she sighed. She could only wish Shampoo was prepared to be hurt 
again. If Ranma had been so ready to fake his death and leave his own 
family behind, he probably hadn't even given a second thought about 
Shampoo. At least, it would be a life lesson for the girl.

     After getting a few things and adding them to Shampoo's backpack, 
Cologne led the way to the Tendo residence. They arrived just as the 
Tendo girls, Ukyo and Nodoka were leaving. Nodoka took a step forward. 
"Can we help you, Cologne?"

     "I assume you are going to Niigi to search for Ranma." Akane and 
Ukyo shot an angry glare at Nabiki, who raised her hands and shook her 
head. "Shampoo and I wish to help in the search."

     "Very well, Cologne." Nodoka said before any of the girls started 
objecting. "But there will be no fighting, no provocation and no 
potions, magical or otherwise, from your part. Is that acceptable?"

     "Of course. My priority is the same as yours. The search for Ranma 
will be in complete cooperation." Cologne said smoothly. Nodoka nodded 
and motioned to the four girls. "Let's go, then. I have a wayward son to 
find." They all nodded and the group headed for the train station.

******

     Kuno Mansion...

     Sasuke wasn't sure if he should give that information to his
master or not. Of all the bad news he had had to deliver, this was
the worst. He cursed himself once more for suggesting to spy on the
Tendo home, in case the object of Kuno's affection ever needed
something.

     Of course, Sasuke knew any such action on Kuno's part would be
met by failure. It didn't take a dimwitted flea to understand Akane
wasn't interested in Kuno. He had only suggested it so he could
spend more time away from the Kuno household, which from 'bad' had
gotten to 'hell is better' since Ranma's death. Especially when
Kuno had discovered that even without the 'evil magician' around,
Akane was still 'ensorcelled'. Added with the 'denied of my
vengeance' speech, the kendoist was not pleasant to be around.
There was only so much ringing in the ears someone could take.

     Letting go of a resigned sigh, Sasuke checked everything once
more before entering his master's chambers. 'Carriage ready
outside, check. Bag of spare bokkens, check. Clothes, check.
Reserved rooms at the most distinguished hotel in Niigi, check.
Hotel people warned in advance, check. Did I forget anything?'

     From somewhere away in the mansion, Kodachi's laughter echoed
in the large hallways, sending a shiver down Sasuke's spine. 'Oh.
Right. *Her*.' Sasuke looked longingly down the hallway for a second, 
then back at the large doors in front of him. 'Should I prepare her 
things as well?' He slumped his shoulders. 'Of course I should.'

     Silently cursing the fates for putting him in the clutches of
the Kuno family, Sasuke set to his task. 'There are worse things,
I suppose.' he repeated the saying, for the nth time. Now all he
had to do, like countless times before, was to find those worse
fates, so he could look unto his life with a little happiness.


End Chapter 1

******


     Author's Notes:
     I don't have much to say this time. I hope you like the fic, and 
any C&C is appreciated, to be sent at ranma_666@hotmail.com. I'd like to 
thank my pre-reader, Adiaze, for giving me a few good ideas to 
supplement this fic with. I will consider extensive flames as written 
permission to write and post your death in gruesome detail. I have a 
very vivid imagination. You have been warned, and I do not make light 
threats.

	Next chapter will be about Ranma's new life and the search. I can't 
give you a precise time for it, though. Ideally, two weeks. In reality, 
no one knows.

      "The girls of the Internet. Oohh... I'd go on-line with them any 
day!"
        -Homer Simpson.

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