Ya! Sure! Ranma 1/2 belongs to me!

*Nabiki appears with a calculator*
"That'll cost you three hundred thousand yen."

Ok! This is an entirely revised version. I'd taken out most of the extra stuff inside and tried to get straight on the plot. (Ouch! It still hurts so much to press the delete key on all those words...)

And I've added a few more other things into the story.


* Indicates dialogues spoken in Mandarin Chinese.
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                         'Guo Qu Zhi Suo'
                         (Key to the Past)
                        ===================
              (Revised) Chapter 1: A birthday to remember?
                  ==================================


   The wind suddenly rose, sending a cold chill towards the old woman standing by the second-stories window of Nakoten. Narrowing her eyes sharply, Cologne stared into the street, deep in thoughts.

   Even from where she was standing, she could catch Soun's booming voice, bellowing out through the loudspeakers he had placed all over his entire front yard.

   "Could you believe it?!!! Today's Akane and Ranma's birthday!!! My youngest daughter, Akane, and her fianc�e, Ranma have the same birth date!!! Ohhh!! This is fate! Sob! I'm -so- very happy!!!" Soun's joyful voice broke into happy sobs.

   "Hmph!" Cologne turned and walked away from the window. "Birthdays, what's so great about them?" She could not even remember when she had last celebrated her birthday. It seemed... so long ago... How did it felt like, she had forgotten...

   Nekoten was extremely quiet. Shampoo and Mousse had left early to the Tendo's birthday party. Usually, Cologne like the still silence, but this time it seemed to be telling her something...

   Something was going to happen. Something bad...

   She could feel it in her old aging bones. Yet, she could not place her finger on it.

   Subconsciously, she walked towards a huge brown chest by her bed and pushed open it's heavy lid. It was a chest for all her unwanted or broken stuffs she had brought from China.

   "Some things can't stay forever," she whispered as she glanced down into the chest. The amount of useless things had increased in their amount as the years went by. It was easy to hide an important item away from the others among these junks -- no one would ever look for it here...

   Then, something in her mind clicked. Cologne's eyes widen in shock as the thought hit her.

   She -had- hid something there! It had been so long that she had totally forgot about it!

   "No... The stone!" She began to search the chest frantically, throwing out all the items inside. Some of them smashed on to the floor and broke into unfixable pieces. But Cologne continued throwing out all her items like crazy, until there were none of them left.

   "It's gone!!" She yelled in panic, slamming down the chest's lid. "Oh no! Shampoo!!"

        *          *          *          *          *


   Most of the guest, except Mousse and Shampoo, had not arrived yet, but Akane could not wait any longer. Her hands were itching to open her present specially the mysterious one Shampoo had given her.

   The match size present was not warped up, but its own unique design around it had done the job. She pushed open its lid gently, and carefully took out a round, big marble type stone. As light shone on the stone, it was refracted into brilliant rainbow colors that seemed to be swirling slowly inside the pale clear white stone. She examined the mysterious beautiful stone in awe.

   "It's beautiful! Thanks Shampoo! This is really nice of you!" she exclaimed.

   "Ai ya! Grandmother said not nice only give present to Ranma but no give present to birthday girl, so call Shampoo take anything in her rubbish box to give pervert girl. Shampoo simply take, hope that maybe got demon inside that can swallow up pervert girl."

   "Oh! Is that so?" said Akane half-heartedly, not at all minding Shampoo's words. The stone was, after all, very beautiful although it came from a rubbish box. "So where's Ranma's present?"

   "Shampoo going to give Ranma birthday kiss."

   "Gulp! Shampoo, you don't really have to do that! Really!" protested the pigtail martial artist glancing nervously at Mousse and Akane, who both had their battle aura flared up instantly at Shampoo's statement.

   "Ranma no need be shy," said Shampoo grabbing the escaping Ranma and moved her face closer to his...

   "Shampoo!!!!" yelled Mousse in desperation, but alas, he was too blind even to reach the right person...

   Just as she was about to plant her lips on his, something flew and stuck between their face, and she kissed whatever that thing was. It was a small red fiber pouch with something inside.

   "Your present, Ranma," said Akane gritting through her teeth, a small cross of irritation appeared on her forehead.

   "Thanks!" Ranma jumped to his feet away from Shampoo and pocketed the pouch. He was not going to open it now, not here, maybe later when he was alone. Maybe he was afraid of what he was going to say if he open the present in front of her, or maybe he was afraid of what she gave him, or maybe... ah! He didn't know.

   There's one thing he knew by looking at Akane's expecting smile. He was in trouble. Deep trouble.

   He still had not got Akane's present.

   He had been cracking his mind ever since he knew about her birthday, wondering for the best present to give her, yet, he could not come up with anything. Of all the years of travelling and training, his father had never -ever- celebrated his birthday, so this was all new to him. To him, Akane's birthday gift was the hardest task of all. What could she possibly want that he could give? And he so wanted to give her the best birthday present she had ever gotten...

   Akane's smile faded. This was not going as planned. Not only he didn't open her -fake- birthday gift, Ranma did not made any move to give her -her- birthday present.

   {Oh well, I bet his father never even tell him that a person would get presents from her friends on her birthday... It's not his fault. It's not his fault. It's not his fault...} Akane squeezed her eyes to hide her disappointment, trying not to lose her temper to the birthday boy.

   {It's his father's fault!} She suddenly gave the lazily lying panda a deadly glare that petrified him instantly.

   Sighing, Akane took a glance over her shoulders towards the corridor. Then she smiled secretly. Her present, the real present, was just perfect. {Ranma's going to be surprise when he got back to his room.}

   "Shampoo!!! I don't mind if you give me a birthday kiss even though it's not my birthday!" said Mousse half pleadingly. "You didn't even give me anything on mine!"

   *Ai ya! Mousse! Zou kai! (Go away!)* shouted Shampoo in Chinese and hammered him on the head. *Wo de yan li zhi you Ranma. (I only have eyes for Ranma)*

   "But Shampoo!!!!" Mousse made a grab for her hands weakly. "What does that stupid Ranma have that I didn't have?!"

   "A lot of things! And that's my hand you're holding, you dammit!" yelled Ranma and he smashed Mousse onto the floor.

   "Ah! Ranma save Shampoo! Shampoo so happy!" The Amazon gave her savior a loving hug. "Now, Shampoo give loving kiss."

   "What?! Let go of him! Shampoo!" Akane, awakened from her thoughts, yelled as she spun around quickly to face the -hugging- pair. Suddenly, at that moment, she felt something within her grip. Something that felt like it was growing warmer... and warmer...

   She let out a scream of surprised, and glanced down at the object in her fist immediately. The pale stone, the stone that Shampoo had given her, was glowing... Emitting bright white lights, getting brighter and brighter every second!

   "What the-"

   "Akane! Be careful!" As a reflex, Ranma snatched the glowing stone away from her. It was now glowing so dazzlingly bright that Ranma had to shield his eyes from it. Though it had yet to react, the stone seemed glow in a desperate... waiting way. "Shampoo! What's happening?" He rushed towards the eye-widened girl for her explanation.

   But Shampoo just shook her head in surprised confusion. "Shampoo not know."

   At that exact moment, Cologne hopped in urgently on her staff through the window shouting. "Shampoo! That stone you got! It's not rubbish! My parents gave that precious stone to me when I was twelve! Shampoo, give it back!"

   Then, seeing the stone's glow, Cologne's eye widened and her mouth opened just in time to utter an 'uh oh' before the stone decided that it was time to react.

   Its white glowing light suddenly shot out like beams, blinding everyone in the dojo. And at that moment, Ranma's fearful yell rang above the others as he suddenly felt a sucking force pulling him. "Ahhh!!! The stone! It's sucking me in!!!"

   Indeed it was. By the time they squinted through the white at him, his entire head was somehow already inside the small round glowing stone. His hands were not holding the stone anymore -- they were lashing and swinging desperately for something to save himself. But the stone did not fall to the ground. Instead, it was hovering in midair, swallowing Ranma's head.

   Shampoo acted fast. She grabbed his waist and started to pull. But it was no use. Half of Ranma was now inside the stone.

   "Wow, it's really eating Ranma!" Nabiki said as she raised her hands to shield her eyes calmly.

   "Ranma!!!" Akane screamed.

   Everything happened so fast, -- too fast for anyone to react-- and seconds later, the stone shot out its entire beam, pulling Ranma together with Shampoo into the stone.

   Then, the glow disappeared as quickly as it had come. The stone fell from the midair onto the floor, bouncing slightly, and there it lay, in quiet peacefulness, acting like any ordinary, innocent, beautiful stone, ignoring the wide shocked stares it had gotten from everyone in the dojo...

        *          *          *          *          *


   "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

   Ranma felt himself spinning... and falling into deep darkness... falling in an endless hole, where, he might never touch the ground again. And feeling Shampoo's tight grip still at his waist, he could have sworn he heard her murmuring something that sounds like...

   "Ah! Lovely two person world!"

        *          *          *          *          *


   At that exact moment, somewhere in the deep parts of China...


   *Boss!*

   A little old man (about the size of Hipposai) hurried into the room with a round crystal ball, tripped over his long white beard, and fall to his short feeble knees in front of a blue-haired boy about the age of fifteen sitting on a throne-like golden chair. *Boss!* he cried again in Mandarin Chinese.

   And a foot implanted into his face. *Su Kiong! How many times do I have to tell you not ever to call me 'boss'! Call me 'the Great Master Sing!'* yelled the boy swinging his hands furiously.

   *Shi. Sorry, boss!*

   At this Sing's face turned really huge and loomed over the Su Kiong's panicked stricken face in an extremely deep purple colour.

                                 ---

  *So! What is it that you wanted to tell me?* demanded Sing eyeing in amusement at the bruises and lumps that had 'somehow' swelled all over Su Kiong's face.

  *It's this crystal ball, ... um, Great Master Sing! Finally, after all theses years, it glowed just a while ago!!* The old man raised the ball forward.

   Sing jolted up and took the crystal ball swiftly. *It glowed?! What colour?*

   *White! Pure white, Master Sing!*

   *White... then it must be the Key Stone! Ah haha... Somehow, someone must have used it. Such foolishness!* smirked Sing. *Now they have revealed its location, we are going after it, right, Su Kiong?*

   *Yes, previous master would be very pleased if he were still alive.* The old man nodded excitedly. *Master Sing, the crystal ball had shown that the Key Stone was in Nerima, Japan. I suggest we get there as soon as possible.*

   *Yes! Nerima, Japan, here we come! Ah hahaha... Wait... Hold the fire!*

   *Yes, Master Sing?*

   *There's this -tiny weenie- problem...* said Sing closing his eyes in thoughtful concentration. "Where the hell is Nerima, Japan?!!!!"

   Shaking his head, Su Kiong fell into a thinking position like Sing's. *Now, that's a tough one.*


To be continue...

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Written by Yucca <YRutee@hotmail.com>

No. Don't tell me that Ranma and Akane having their birthday together isn't possible or hard to find. Because in my class, where there are only 37 people, there are three pairs (boy and girl together) having their birthday together and two other boys having the same birth date. So there!

Ah! Come, come now, C&C again, all of you!!!

Note: 'Guo Qu Zhi Suo' is a Chinese phrase.

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