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*******Author's notes*******

Hello again everyone.  It has been a very long time since I've written
anything.  My deepest apologies.  I've just been extremely busy with
schoolwork and with other aspects of life in general.

Now, about the story.  This is the prologue of Knight, previously known as
First Knight.  I have been debating about rewriting this story for sometime
and decided that it was best to go ahead.  Don't worry; I'm not changing the
story, just how it's told.  Hopefully, you'll like the new version better.

*******End of notes********



KNIGHT

Prologue



A gentle breeze swept across the room, causing the occupant of the warm bed
to curl into a fettle position.  Just as suddenly as the air traverse over
the sleeper, it stopped abruptly.  Slowly, the dreamer uncurled and
straddled across the comfortable bed, as the warmth replaced the now
forgotten intruder.  Her lips moved unconsciously, but nothing could be
heard.



Not far away from her, another figure was also sleeping peacefully.  Unlike
her, this figure was completely different.  This one was large, very large,
and was comfortably snoring.



Downstairs, a figure who represents the epic of Japanese's tradition softly
hummed as she ballet graciously through the kitchen.  A sudden movement
caught her attention, causing her to pause in her routine.  She blinked and
scanned around the kitchen for the disturbance and found none.  It wasn't
until she returned to her tasks did she noticed a simple white envelope
waiting for her on the counter.



"Oh my," was the only other sound that came from the kitchen until rest of
the house began their routine.



As usual, Soun sat at the head of the table with his head buried into the
newspaper.  Occasionally, he would comment about various events occurring
throughout their fair country.  But one constant always came from him each
morning was a soft sobbing as he muttered something about a 'master' and
'the school'.



It wasn't long until the other members of the house joined him at the table.
Nabiki sat her usual spot, dressed and ready for business.  Genma sat down
looking somewhat confused, but it quickly passed as he savoir over the
delicacy before him.  Chopsticks carefully positioned and posed for attack.
Akane soon came down the stairs, looking refreshed and ready to start the
day.  For some reason, she couldn't understand why yet, but she had such a
well rest night sleep.  Well, whatever the reason, it would come to her soon
enough.  That is, if her fiancé wouldn't do or say anything to ruin her
wonderful morning.



There was a moment pause before Akane looked at the spot next to her and
blinked twice.  She scanned the room and her target still eluded her sight.
She looked back at the spot next to her and then at the man that could be
her father-in-law, *shudder*, and blinked.



Then something clicked.



There wasn't anyone sparring or shouting outside her window.



Another clicked.



No one insulted her yet or said anything stupid.



Clicked again.



Her 'baka' fiancé didn't run into her as he rushed downstairs for breakfast.



Suddenly, her thought to be a good morning turned into an "I shouldn't have
gotten out of bed" morning.  Of course, she needed to confirm her theory
first and hoped it would be proven false beyond any doubt.



"Where's Ranma," she asked simply.



And from behind the door in the kitchen, Kasumi miraculously heard it and
poked her head through and said simply, "Ranma disappear."



"Oh," came the simple respond.



In Nerima, nothing was simple, especially when it involved Ranma.  And so,
the so far peaceful morning ended with a common cried of outrage.



"WHAT? RANMA DISAPPEARED?"



And just outside the walls of the Tendo Dojo, a few pedestrian casually
walked by.  So, when something that sounded like an explosion was simply
ignored.  They shrugged their shoulders and knew without a doubt it had
something to do with Ranma.  That was until something registered in their
brain and caused all those who were within hearing range to face-fault.  And
faster than any Internet or massed listserv email could ever possibly
achieve, the rumors brigade was in full swing.



***********



Today, Ukyou left her restaurant with a very determined look on her face.
Today was the day.  It had been a few weeks since that miserable wedding
where her Ran-chan was forced to do the unthinkable, 'Marry someone else but
her.'  Well, today she was going to make sure it doesn't happen again.



She didn't really have a choice really.  She had been very patient and very
supportive.  And to think that she was going to have all her hard earned
efforts go to waist wasn't something she was going to let slide, not matter
who it was.



Today, she made a decision.  She could not wait any longer.  After being
here for almost two years, she found that she haven't made any progressed.



Nothing had changed.



She was still the 'cute' fiancée and the friend.  Oh, there were good
moments and bad one as well.  But lately, there seem to be more of the
latter and she can't afford to wait for lady luck to run her course.  No;
not this time.



Today, was the day she was going to change everything.  Through all the
craziness, she had forgotten why she was here.  Honor.  Her honor was at
stake and so were that of her family.  And with determined steps, she made
her way to her destination, hoping to fulfilled her honor and dream in one
swell swooped.



Unfortunately, Lady Luck definitely wasn't with her today.



************



She zoomed through the street with such ease and graced that anyone but the
local martial artists would believed to be impossible.  But no matter how
fast she was moving, it felt like she was riding through water; and being on
a bicycle is even harder.



So far her day had only been one disappoint after another.  For over two
weeks, her great grandmother had kept her busy at the restaurant.  Whether
it was with delivery or training or even with meditation, she was there with
her from dawn till dusk.  And even while she was on delivery, she had yet
seen head or tail of her 'Airen'.  Even worst, he had yet to even stop by
the restaurant.  That in itself was very unusual.  He always stopped by to
order some ramen or something every once in a while especially if 'Violent
pervert kitchen destroyer' was cooking.



Quite unusual.



Almost as if her great-grandmother was doing it to keep her away from Airen.
She almost lost her balance at that thought.  It was as plausible as Airen
waiting to marry 'pervert girl'.  The thought brought a smile and she almost
laughed out loud, but stopped herself.  After all, it wasn't very warrior
like to laugh like a maniac no matter how ridiculous a thought was.



It was very unusual indeed.



Still, Airen should have come by to see her.  It was his duty as her husband
and the ways of the Amazon.  This means the next time that she saw him, she
would have to 'remind' him of his duty especially those in regards to his
wife.



Images of her and her Airen flirted through her eyes as she [ahem] and then
[more ahem] and definitely [many many more ahem].



[author's note: sorry, but this author refuses to add such visual images
into mind of the reader since he feels that they are doing a much better job
of creating those images without the help of this author.]



Now if she could just get some time away from that slave driver, er, her
great-grandmother, she can find her Airen and everything would be perfect.



She hasn't put one-and-one together yet.



*******The end***********



Well, what do you think?  It's just the prologue so it's much shorter than
my regular chapter.  I originally wanted to write a side story that covers
Ranma's training, but never got around to it.  Lord Overon wrote one for me
and I really liked it.  Unfortunately, I lost the file and even so, there
were other elements of the training I wanted to add.  Anyway, as I was
writing chapter 4, I came upon a few scenes that troubled me.  After
thinking about for a long time, I decided to rewrite a few things.  Also, I
didn't quite like how I dealt with Ranma leaving in the original version and
it was causing me problem with chapter 4.  So, I went back and looked over
the outline and made a very big 'X'.  Let me know what you think.



X-ile

xile@crosswinds.net



*******Next chapter********

Where is Ranma? How his fiancées react to his disappearance?  Will they find
him?  Will Kuno become even more delusional then before? Will Ryouga seize
this chance of a lifetime?



If you already know, please tell me so I can write it up. J

************


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