Gambler's Ruin
						
						 
			by Kyle Emmerson


	Ranma 1/2 and all of its characters and situations
are the creation and property of Rumiko Takahashi. I use
these characters and situations without permission.


*****

	Prologue: Gone Astray

	The night rarely bothered Ryouga. It was just one of
those things, except it only came after the day. Most
complained of the nippy cold while they slept in tents or
sleeping bags; Ryouga did no such thing.

	He had slept in a sleeping bag for almost as long as
he could remember; except when he slept in Akane's bed as
P-Chan, that is.

	The cold of night nipped at Ryouga, but it went
mainly unnoticed to his motionless form. What was
bothering him most were the insects, and various animals
noises in the vast jungle he had gotten lost in.

	It wasn't as thought he couldn't face down any animal
that decided it wanted to have Ryouga as their next meal,
but rather the fact that the animal would descend upon
him while sleeping. Ryouga may have been strong, but he
was just as vulnerable as anyone else while sleeping.

	Ryouga had long since gotten used to being lost for
long periods of time. Even months at a time, but he
usually always found his way home.

	Home. The word was alien to him. He had only been
home a small number of times in the past year, so his
true home became his pack. As long as he had his pack, he
was home.

	But where Ryouga lay on the ground, with the burning
embers of a fire recently burned out, did not feel like
home. The vast jungle felt farther away from home than he
could ever have envisioned.

	He knew where he was. At least, he had a vague idea.
The numerous villages he had come across since getting
lost in the jungle had told him he was in Africa
somewhere, due to the large amounts of Africans, none of
which spoke japanese.

	He had been lost for months now, but how he got to
Africa, he could not even begin to imagine. The farthest
he'd ever been from Japan was a desert, which, as Ryouga
could remember, was not far from Jusenkyo.

	Even so, Ryouga rarely left Japan. Usually, if he was
on a beach of some sort, he would turn in the opposite
direction. This time around, however, he had gone across.

	On a ship, of course. The thing that drew him to
cross over to China was no more, and no less than a cure
for his curse.

	It took Ryouga a while to convince Akari to allow him
to seek a cure at Jusenkyo, after the springs had
returned to normal, but eventually, she agreed. And then
Ryouga was on his way.

	He sighed. Apparently, he had taken a wrong turn
somewhere.

****

Author's notes:

	I know. It doesn't look like much now, but it _WILL_
be something. For you Ryouga fans out there, this is a
strictly Ryouga fic, Ranma & Co. may be showing up in the
epilogue, but only talked about before then. I've actually
had this fic planned out since March. For those of you who
remember my original prologue (I think I posted it back in
April), I've decided to take a completely different
approach. <shrug>

	Anyways, some of you may be asking 'Why is Ryouga
lost in Africa' of all places?... Wait until the next few
chapters. You'll see why. BTW, for the dinosaur fans out
there, this ones for you. ^_^

------------------------- 
|     The TydRipper     |  "Tyd, you need a smaller
|                       |  .sig. :-)"
| Master of the Tides,  |    - Gary Kleppe, FFiRC
| Devourer of noodles,  |  
| Writer of the Fanfic, |
| Baka to the end...    |
-------------------------  

Questions? Comments? Flames? Email Me.

~ The TydRipper

Author of:

Trials of Destiny,
Divinity,
A Life Once Lived,
Converging Fates,
and more!

Check out my page at:
http://www.ryo-oh-ki.net/tydi-oh-ki

ICQ UIN: 41450221

[How many fates turn around in
the overtime?
Ballerinas that have fins that
you'll never find.
You thought that you were the bomb,
yeah well so did I.]
Tori Amos - Spark