I've been a little busy and lazy lately, so School Days-pt2 won't be out for 
awhile. (YAY!- the readers of the ffml) Anyway, here's a teaser for 
something else.

Teaser: The Time Piece

The witching hour approached. Genma stood waiting at the edge of a cliff, 
the cliff. The one where heroes were said to be born. Wearing the mist 
around him for a cloak. It had been years since Ranma went off to face the 
trials that would mark him as a hero. One destined to be a savior of a dark 
and decaying world.

He sighed, as he did every night he did not hear Ranma's grunting as he 
finally made his way up the cliff to greet his father. Turning back to more 
productive matters, Genma went off to sit on his usual spot and took out his 
wife's katana. Admiring it and testing its edge, he sighed once again and 
then� and then he heard it.

The cliff-face seemed determined to reject him as bits and pieces of it fell 
off at his very touch. Still, it was only delaying the inevitable. He had 
been struggling for far too long to be stopped now. Compare to some of what 
he'd been through, this mountain was as insignificant as an anthill.

Genma smiled as he saw his son's grin rising over the cliff's edge. He stood 
looking into the eyes of his blood, his flesh� his heart. When Ranma finally 
pulled himself up, he grinned even wider as he at last was able to look down 
on his father. "The boy has grown tall and proud." Genma thought.

"One last step boy!" he called to his son. The grin never leaving his face, 
Ranma spread his arms, palms facing outward. Taking up the blade he had been 
examining, Genma put the tip to Ranma's chest. Solemnly, Genma began, "The 
path of a hero is, has and never will be an easy one. Those who would walk 
it condemn themselves to damnation even as they attain salvation. Do you 
Saotome Ranma, accept the mantle of hero?"

"With all my heart and all my soul, I answer thee. Yes. I Saotome Ranma has 
earned, and now take the mantle of hero." Once again, Genma smiled. It had 
been a good night for him. Twice he smiled tonight. Twice more than he had 
for the past ten years.

Without another word, he ran the blade through his son's chest as the boy 
gasp in pain and disbelief. Moving to Ranma's face, Genma spoke softly� 
comfortingly into his son's ear, "The world needs heroes like you son." 
before running the blade all the way through. Ranma stared at his father 
with wide eyes even as the life left him. It was the first time Genma had 
called him 'son'. Putting his feet against the boy's gut, Saotome Genma, 
kicked Ranma off the family katana to lay dead on his back with a forever 
expression of shock. A single tear on either side of his face. "And that is 
why you must die." he said to the corpse on the ground as he turned away 
into the mist.

"Damn you!" Happosai spat from his hiding place in the shadows. "Damn you to 
hell!"

Fini.

Hmm, what do you think? I spent the last few minutes thinking it up and 
writing it down. It's not gonna be a darkfic though. That is if I actually 
go through with eventually writing it. If anyone out there is interested in 
taking it up for me, mail me and I'll give you the full details of my plot 
thus far.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com