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1:17 am 04/May/01


Dreams...

A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction

By

Jeremy Harper


Disclaimer - Ranma 1/2 is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi, and is used
without permission.



In the deep darkness just before dawn the Saotomes slumbered peacefully,
Ranma sprawled out spread-eagle on his futon, snoring softly, while
Genma-panda grumbled and rumbled in his sleep. As they slept their bedroom
door quietly slid open, and an almost impossibly small figure crept
furtively in. It was an old man, no taller than a toddler, dressed in a
black gi, with a matching scarf tied around his balding, wrinkled head. In
one hand he carried an incense burner, in the other a bucket of water. He
set his possessions down then looked down at Ranma, staring at the young man
with large, lamp-like eyes.

"I have you this time, Ranma," the old man muttered as he leered. He started
to cackle, then slapped a hand over his mouth and watched Ranma warily. The
young man just murmured in his sleep and turned his head. The old man sighed
in relief. "You almost forgot yourself there, Happi," he whispered to
himself. "Don't want to wake the boy up and risk him ruining what you've got
planned." He snatched up the incense burner and held it up triumphantly over
his head. "It took me a month to prepare it, but now it's ready. My new and
improved Spring Sleep Incense! One whiff of this and Ranma will be sleeping
'til summer. And his sleep will be so deep he won't even dream. He'll be in
my complete power. That'll teach him to interfere with my pursuits!"
Happosai cackled again, and again covered his mouth. "I gotta stop doing
that," he mumbled peevishly.

Happosai set down the brazier next to Ranma's head and adjusted his scarf so
that it covered his nose and mouth. He then lit the incense, its wick
sputtering stubbornly for a few seconds before its flame caught fully.
Chortling softly, Happosai drew a fan from his gi and began to wave the
sweet, pungent smoke at Ranma. It drew across his face like a veil of
cinnamon lace, tickling at his nose and caressing his cheeks. Ranma muttered
again, running the back of his hand across his face. He turned his head
left, then right, then started to cough softly. The coughing subsided, and
Ranma settled down deep onto his futon, now snoring a little louder.

Happosai let Ranma inhale the incense fumes for a few more minutes before
snuffing it out. He poked at Ranma's neck, hard, his finger leaving slight
bruises. The boy didn't even stir. The old pervert ripped off his scarf, his
wizened face split by a wicked lecherous grin. He grabbed for his bucket...

SPLASH.

"Sweeto!"

"GWAAAAH!!!"

Before he could blink Happosai was slammed to the floor by a terrific punch.
He looked up in shock at the angry redhead looming above him, her face
almost glowing with righteous, murderous fury.

"Ranma, my boy! You're awake!" He exclaimed incredulously.

"Awake?! Of course I'm awake! Are you stupid enough to think that I'm not
gonna wake up when a GODDAMN, WORTHLESS OLD FART OF A PERVERT DUMPS WATER ON
ME AND FEELS ME UP?!" Ranma all but screamed, punctuating each word with
brutal kicks and stomps. "For the last time, get outta this house and LEAVE
ME THE HELL ALONE!" Ranma grabbed the battered remnants of the Greatest Evil
in All Japan by his belt and dropped kicked him out the bedroom's open
window. Ranma slammed the window shut, making the glass panes shiver, and
stalked about the room, a constant stream of invectives rushing out of her.

"Goddamn, goddamn, goddamn it! Damn that old freak, I wish he'd shrivel up
and die. Just once, JUST ONCE, I'd like to get through a week without some
maniac trying to pull something on me. Damn it all to friggin' hell, if he
does something like that on me again I swear I'll put him in a body cast,
master martial artist or not. I'll..." Ranma's tirade was cut short when
something struck him hard in the back of the head. Ranma pivoted around to
face the pair of bleary, beady panda-eyes glaring at him. Genma held up the
sign he used to swat Ranma.

<Will you shut up, boy? I'm trying to get some sleep.> It read.

"Fine, then let me help you back to sleep!" Ranma snatched the sign from her
father and smashed it to splinters over his head. Genma fell back onto his
futon, unconscious, another sign held up in his paw: <Knockout!>

Cursing under her breath Ranma stalked off to the bathroom. It was obvious
she wouldn't be getting any more sleep this morning.


**********


Ranma yawned loudly, opening his mouth wide. He stumbled slightly as he did,
nearly falling off the fence rail he was walking on. He quickly rebalanced,
shaking his head in an effort to clear it of the fog of fatigue. Akane
looked up at him curiously.

"Didn't sleep very well last night, Ranma?" she asked. Ranma scowled and
cursed under his breath.

"The old freak dumped water on me at something like four in the morning," he
grumbled. "I'm surprised I didn't wake the entire house up when I thrashed
the hell outta him."

"I think everyone's gotten used to loud goings-on during the middle of the
night," Akane mused. "I must have slept right through it."

"Lucky." Ranma yawned, then grimaced. "I'm really getting sick of the freak,
always pullin' stunts like this. I wish there was some way to get rid of him
for good."

"So do I. I'm tired of having to buy new panties and bras every few weeks
because of Happosai, but it won't do any good throwing him out. He'll just
return, beat up our dads, and make them take him back in."

"How revolting," Ranma commented sourly. "He can do pretty much anything he
damn well pleases because no one in the house is good enough to slap him
down on a consistent basis. I guess what they say is true: might makes
right. Bah!" Ranma yawned and stumbled again, this time nearly falling off
the fence and into the canal. When he righted himself up his Maoist cap fell
off his head towards the sidewalk. Akane deftly caught it. Ranma jumped off
the fence, landing next to her. She handed the cap back to him, and he
nodded in thanks.

"I think you should lay off the fence walking for today." Akane suggested.
Ranma nodded again as he stifled a yawn. They quietly walked together the
rest of the way to school.


**********


School, tedious under the best of circumstances, was today nothing short of
torture. Ranma nodded and yawned through all his classes, trying his best to
keep from falling asleep. Under ordinary circumstances he would have just
napped through his lessons without guilt, but both Kasumi and Akane had been
pestering him about his grades and his generally indifferent attitude
towards school. To not at least try to do something Kasumi asked of someone
was pretty much close to a sin as far as Ranma was concerned, and despite
complaining about his 'nosy, uncute tomboy' fianc�e there was in truth very
little he could deny Akane, so though he groused a little he promised on his
word that he'd try to improve his grades this term. So he gamely struggled
to stay awake, though it did him little good from an academic standpoint;
his brain was so fogged by weariness he could barely comprehend his
teachers, and making notes in his condition was a lost cause.

After several classes that seemed to make time crawl slowly backwards the
lunch bell finally rang. Ranma gave fervent thanks under his breath,
grabbing his bento and stumbling out of the classroom, making his way
outside, hoping that the cool spring air would help clear his head. He
staggered to the tree he shared with Akane, sitting beneath it, back against
its trunk. He considered his bento wearily, pondering whether it was worth
the effort to eat his meal, finally deciding he needed a nap more than
lunch. He took a sip from his water bottle, put it and the bento to one
side, folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes, resting his head
against the tree. He fell asleep almost instantly.

A minute later Akane, Yuka and Sayuri joined him, sitting near him under the
tree. Yuka and Sayuri looked at Ranma curiously.

"Wow, Ranma's really out of it, Akane," Yuka commented. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's just tired. Happosai woke him up very early this morning by
dumping a bucket of water on him."

"That's terrible!" fumed Sayuri. "That old man is really unbelievable."

"Poor Ranma." Yuka sighed sympathetically. Akane nodded in agreement.

"Let's all be quiet so Ranma can nap in peace. He's been trying to get his
grades up, but he won't be able to do so if he sleeps through all of his
classes." The three friends started to eat lunch, talking and gossiping in
whispers. None of them noticed Ranma shift fitfully in his sleep, nor heard
him murmur softly.

"Hey Ran-chan!" The girls looked up from their conversation. Ukyo was
strolling over to the tree, two bentos in her hands. "I got a fresh
okonomiyaki with your name on it sugar!" She drew up short when Akane, Yuka
and Sayuri hushed at her.

"Not so loud!" Sayuri scolded softly.

"Ranma had a bad night's rest. Let him sleep, Ukyo." Akane explained. Ukyo
frowned at Akane for a moment, before suddenly brightening up.

"Oh, he can sleep anytime, and I'm sure my okonomiyaki will give him some
pep back."

"I really think you should let him be, Ukyo. He just barely got through
classes today without falling asleep."

"He won't mind, I'm sure. Ran-chan ALWAYS makes time to eat MY cooking."
Ukyo replied to Akane with a rather toothy grin. Akane couldn't help
scowling at the jab, huffing and looking pointedly away from the other girl.
Yuka and Sayuri frowned darkly, giving Ukyo dirty looks, but she paid those
two no heed. She opened her bento, letting the aroma of her cooking escape
and waft out to Ranma. "Doesn't it smell good, Ran-chan?" Ukyo asked
unctuously. Ranma stirred a little, his head turning slightly in the
direction of the wonderful smell and Ukyo's voice, but he did not waken.
Ukyo leaned over, reaching out to shake Ranma's shoulder. "Come on and wake
up before it gets cold."

Akane pecked angrily at her lunch, trying to ignore Ukyo and her cajoling,
when suddenly she heard Ukyo let out a surprised shriek, followed by the
sound of a soft thump. Akane looked back around to see Ukyo lying on her
back some ten feet away from Ranma, looking dazed and surprised. Ranma still
sat against the tree, sleeping, while her friends looked back and forth
between the two in bewilderment.

"What happened?"

"Ranma THREW Ukyo!" exclaimed Sayuri.

"What?"

"Yeah. Ukyo shook him by the shoulder, and he reached out and sort of tapped
her on the arm and she just flew away from him!" Akane gaped at her fianc�e.
He hadn't done anything like that to Ukyo since he found out she was a girl.
She stood up and approached him hesitantly.

"Ranma?" Ranma did not reply. He appeared to still be sleeping, head bowed,
chin resting against his chest, arms crossed and legs tucked in
Indian-style. Akane could even fancy that she could hear him snoring softly.

Ukyo sat up with a loud groan, hand pressed to the small of her back. She
glared angrily over her shoulder at Ranma. "What the Hell did you do that
for?" she demanded.

Ranma said nothing.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, jackass!" Ukyo shouted as she got to her feet,
still holding her back. "Why did you throw me like that, Ranma?"

Ranma said nothing.

"Don't you dare ignore me, answer my question!"

Ranma said nothing. Ukyo let out a scream of inarticulate rage and
frustration, drawing out her great battle-spatula. "I'll teach you to act
like a jerk!" Akane jumped back as Ukyo charged, swinging it at Ranma with
the intent of embedding him painfully into the tree. Ranma raised his arms
and effortlessly checked the swing, his palms slapping sharply against the
flat of the spatula and stopping it cold. Before Ukyo could react he grabbed
her weapon by its haft and pulled, sending her vaulting through the air and
landing hard on her back ten feet in the other direction. He bent the
spatula into a hoop and tossed it aside. He did all this without opening his
eyes, or even raising his head.

"He's... sleepfighting," Akane whispered, awed. "But, why is he doing it?"

"I think I can explain that, Akane dear." Akane started at the unexpected
voice, then jumped with a shriek when she felt a small hand goose her on the
butt. Eyes screwed tight in rage she let instinct take over and spun quickly
around, slamming her fist down onto the offending pervert. Her strike felt
satisfyingly solid to her fist, and it drove her target right down into the
ground. She opened her eyes to survey the results.

"Happosai..." she breathed.

"That hurt, you know," the diminutive lech groaned into the grass. A great
purple knot crowned his bald head.

Akane snorted indelicately. "Like I care. Do that to me again and you'll get
worse." She crossed her arms and glared at the old man as he hopped to his
feet and brushed off his gi.

"That's a cruel thing to say to your old grampa Happosai. I can't believe
you'd begrudge a poor old man his harmless pursuit of leisure."

Akane rolled her eyes. "Oh please, spare me." She then looked seriously at
Happosai, her face troubled. "You said you could explain what's wrong with
Ranma."

Happosai nodded. "He's under the influence of my new and improved Spring
Sleep Incense."

By this time the activity beneath the tree had attracted, like lemmings to a
cliff, a crowd of students. Upon hearing Happosai's explanation a collective
groan rose from them. "Oh no, not again," someone declared.

Akane paled. She knew from personal experience and the recollections of her
friends how strange and dangerous the effects of the Spring Sleep could be.
She glanced worriedly at Ranma. "Is he going to be all right?"

"Oh perfectly fine, but I'm a little disappointed with my new formula. He
should be in a sleep so deep and dreamless that he shouldn't be reacting to
his surroundings. I obviously failed to take into account his superior
constitution." He assumed a pose of pondering. "Maybe if I use more eel roe
and a bit less bat guano... Oh well, I'll figure it out later. For now, one
must make the best of what life offers." He pulled from nowhere a bucket of
water. "Ranma my boy, its time to show you some indiscriminate grappling!"
Akane tried to kick the bucket away from Happosai, but he jumped over her
attack with ease, landing lithely behind her and throwing the water. But all
it splashed was the tree trunk; Ranma was gone.

"What!" the old man cried out in disappointment. "Where'd he go?" His
question was answered when Ranma landed on him, driving the old lech
face-first into the dirt for the second time today. Ranma sat back down,
pinning Happosai to the ground, who struggled futilely to get away.

"Ah! Ranma, you wretched boy! How dare you treat your master in such a
disgraceful fashion! Let me up this minute, d'you hear me? Let me up! Let
me..." In one smooth, liquid motion Ranma stood up, pivoted, bending down to
grab Happosai by the belt, straightened up while still pivoting and
dropped-kicked the old man into the sky before sitting back down. The old
man arched gracefully, apexing just over the school and descending behind
it, disappearing from sight. The crowd of students murmured appreciatively;
a few girls applauded.

"Wow, Ranma's an even better fighter when he's asleep!" One student
commented. His girlfriend nodded in agreement. Akane and her friends just
stared at Ranma, Yuka and Sayuri warily and with some disbelief, Akane with
concern and worry. Ukyo walked up to them, grumbling under her breath and
holding her back, eyes locked on the slumbering boy, her expression one of
cross apprehension.

"So that's what's wrong with Ran-chan," Ukyo commented, stretching her back.
It popped audibly under her ministrations. She glanced over at Akane. "So
what are we going to do with him? He's dangerous like this." Ukyo grimaced,
rubbing her back for emphasis. Akane shook her head.

"I don't have a clue. There's no way we can restrain him. What did you guys
do when I was like this?"

"Nabiki sold Ranma some incense that she claimed would break the spell,"
answered Sayuri. "It made you think it was summertime, and you woke up."

"Yeah, that's right!" chimed in Ukyo. "It sorta smelled like mosquito
repellant." She blinked. "In fact, it was mosquito repellant. I found the
wrapper in the wastepaper basket when I was taking out the trash after
school."

"It figures," Akane groaned, shaking her head. "My own sister..."

"I think there's some in the janitor's supply closet. I'll go check." Yuka
offered.

"But will it work though? The old pervert said that it was a new and
improved version." Sayuri questioned.

"He also said that Ranma should be sleeping so deeply that he wouldn't be
acting like this, and that obviously isn't so," Akane pointed out. "Plus
what do we have to lose? Yuka, would you please go get the repellant? We'll
stay here and try to keep Ranma under control." Yuka nodded and ran off to
the school building. Akane turned back to Ranma, looking curiously at his
sleeping, seemingly peaceful face. "I wonder what he's dreaming about..."
she mused softly.


**********


"Would you hurry up, boy? Don't keep her waiting. Go out there and impress
her!"

'Impress her?' Ranma thought, looking at his father incredulously. Ranma
shook his head then stared down at his clothes, looking at his threadbare
shirt, his patched and dusty pants, his worn shoes stained with mud and
worse. He looked at his hands, noting how calloused and coarse they were,
their knuckles raw and red. Ranma lifted his head and looked to his left,
into the mirror suspended on the hallway wall, seeing the scar tissue around
his eyes and the thrice-broken nose caused by ten years of constant training
and fighting. He looked to his right, at his father, recalling the
well-earned notoriety of gluttony and petty theft Genma possessed, and the
repercussions it had on his own personal honor and reputation. Ranma shut
his eyes and considered himself; how he labored under a curse that made him
half a man and a total freak under any measure of normality.

'Impress her?' he thought scornfully. 'Like someone as great as her would be
impressed by the likes of me.' His shoulders slumped; his face sagged under
the weight of hopeless sorrow. 'As if someone as wondrous and beautiful as
her would ever want someone like me.'

A flourish of trumpets sounded, and the great wooden doors at the end of the
hall were thrown open. Genma pushed Ranma forward. "Go on boy, don't dawdle.
Remember that the fortunes of our family ride on this." Ranma shook his
father's hands off irritably and strode forward, mustering all his pride,
his face settling into a fa�ade of stoic resolution. And that was all it
was: a fa�ade. For from the moment he stepped into the throne room he felt
small and out-of-place, its opulence painfully reminding him of the poverty
and meanness he had lived with all his life. The floor was paved with the
finest marble, polished and flawless. Torchlight reflecting on tiles of
mother-of-pearl made the walls shimmering panes of golden witch light. Twin
rows of bone white fluted columns supported the lofty ceiling, on which
bright masterful murals had been painted, each one depicting a particular
triumph or victory of the Princess's clan. Standing arrayed before either
row of columns were the lords and ladies of the court, dressed in scarlet
livery or crimson gowns, on which a white cloud mon stood out in stark
contrast. Ranma could palpably feel their disdain and hostility directed at
him, but he did not look at them, commanding his focus on the great dais at
the throne room's end, made up of sixteen golden steps. On the steps stood
the inner, favored members of the Princess's court; arrogant Kuno, scowling
Ryoga, dreaming Shinnosuke, sly Nabiki, quiet Kasumi. Each one clad in
finery worth more money than Ranma had seen in the ten years he'd traveled
with his father; Each one looking at him as if he were some insect that had
crawled onto the dinner table.

And at the dais' top- alone - the Princess Akane sat in a cushioned throne
carved from a single block of amber. At the sight of her Ranma nearly
stumbled. The breath caught in his throat and his heart began to race,
thrumming hard against his ribcage, making his chest practically vibrate.
She wore a sleeveless dress of yellow silk that clung tightly to her form;
showing off her sleek, trim body. A scarlet cloud mon emblazoned across the
dress's chest accentuated the swell of her firm bosom. The skirt stopped
just below the knees, but had been slit at either side up to the hip,
exposing her long, wonderfully toned legs. Jeweled sandals adorned her
dainty feet, silver circlets her arms, a delicate gold tiara her brow. Her
skin was as pale and as fine as moonlight. Short midnight blue hair framed
her face, highlighting a pert, slightly upturned nose, full, beautiful lips,
and most of all her eyes. Brown and warm, filled with an innate gentleness,
but in no way weak or indecisive, Princess Akane's eyes were the only ones
that did not look at Ranma with disdain, but instead held an honest- if
neutral- curiosity. Seeing her enthroned, regal, wondrous, beautiful beyond
compare awed Ranma, making him ache to his bones with a clean golden flame
of desire and love. It took every ounce of his will to keep from falling to
his knees and crying out praise to the gods that had made her.

Ranma stopped ten paces away from the dais. Bowing his head he genuflected,
dropping to his left knee while covering his heart with his right fist and
planting his left fist against the cold marble of the floor. "Your
Highness," he began, a little hoarsely. "I am Ranma Saotome, and I have come
to offer to you and your family my eternal loyalty and devotion."

"HA!" barked out Kuno, drawing and brandishing his intricately etched
ceremonial bokken. "As if the heavenly Princess Akane Tendo would debase
herself and her court by accepting the services of a lowly dog's head like
yourself. Get you gone from her sight, before I thrash your lowly hide."

"For once I agree with Kuno," spoke out Ryoga. "You don't want such a person
in your employ, your Highness. He looks like an honorless bastard who
couldn't keep his word if his life depended on it."

"He looks cruel as well. I think he'd say many hard and shameful things to
you if you kept him around." Shinnosuke murmured

"Yes, we don't need a vagabond without a yen to his name among your vassals,
little sister," supplied Nabiki. "Plus I've heard of his father, Genma
Saotome. He's a well-known thief and glutton. I've found in my experience
that the apple rarely falls far from the tree."

"He's so dirty and ragged. And look at the hunger of his eyes. He'll make a
mess of our estate and empty our pantries without qualm if we accepted him."
Kasumi commented placidly. "Send him away, Akane dear. It is for our own
good."

Ranma trembled with suppressed rage, his face flushed with an ugly red hue,
but he did not attempt to refute their accusations. For being in the
presence of this woman- smart and beautiful, wealthy and well loved - also
stirred and awoke within him a dark, grim part of his soul. The part that
harbored and contained his doubts, and that secretly agreed with the
advisors and friends of the Princess Akane. Why on earth would she want a
ragged pauper of dubious family, reputation and behavior? To even be seen
with such a freak would be an untold embarrassment. Ranma shut his eyes and
waited for the inevitable dismissal that would crush his racing heart.

"I don't know," murmured Princess Akane, her voice gentle and pleasing to
Ranma's ears, like soothing dulcet notes chimed from a silver bell. "I value
and trust all of your advice, but I think you are being a trifle hard on
this man. He doesn't look so bad to me. True, he does look a bit ragged, and
some instinct tells me he may be a bit of a pervert, but I don't think he's
so much of a scoundrel that he doesn't deserve a chance." She thought for a
moment then leaned forward, looking intently at Ranma. "Saotome." Ranma
looked up, his gaze locking with hers. He swallowed, trying to summon the
nerve to speak directly to her.

"Y-yes, your Highness?"

"What are you good at, Saotome? Do you have any talents that I would find
useful or entertaining?" Ranma bit his lower lip, lowering his eyes as he
tried to cudgel out of his brain an appropriate response. He looked back up.

"I can fight," he answered. "I'm the greatest fighter there is." Kuno
snorted derisively, while Ryoga scowled angrily and Shinnosuke simply
frowned. Nabiki smirked, seemingly amused by the audaciousness of Ranma's
declaration. Kasumi simply blinked.

But Akane smiled, her eyes lighting up with admiration. She leaned back in
her throne. "Well then, Ranma Saotome, let us see you fight."


**********


"He must be having a weird dream." Ukyo commented. Akane nodded in
agreement, watching Ranma kneel on the ground, head bowed. She could hear
him murmur: "Yes my lady. No my lady. I'll do it my lady." He then stood up
suddenly. "Now what is he doing?" Ukyo murmured. Akane looked closely at
him, then started.

"Oh no, look at the way he's standing... EVERYONE GET AWAY FROM HIM!" As
soon as she shouted Ranma began to weave and bob in a familiar way, as if
dodging the blows of an invisible foe. Then he started to retaliate...


**********

Ranma woke up. "What a strange dream," he muttered to himself as he
stretched and yawned. He opened his eyes, and that's when he noticed several
unusual things in rapid, split-second succession.

1. He had evidently fallen asleep while fully clothed and standing up.
2. Kuno was charging him, bokken raised high with intent to smash him flat.
3. He was in a large fighting ring.
4. Said fighting ring was in the center of an arena so large that it made
the Tokyo Egg Dome seem like a high school gymnasium, and it was packed to
the rafters with screaming, cheering spectators.

"What the hell... Woah!" Ranma ducked, just barely dodging Kuno's attempt to
strike his head off his shoulders and into the cheap seats.

"Stand still so I can smite thee, you cretin!" Kuno roared in protest,
slashing at Ranma's legs. Ranma jumped the blow then dropped to the mat to
avoid a thrust to the midsection. Planting himself on one hand Ranma lashed
out with a flurry of blurring kicks. Kuno's eyes bulged, his breath rushing
out from his lungs under the assault. He staggered backwards somehow
managing not to fall over, stumbling to the far side of the ring until he
hit the ring ropes, leaning back against them for support. "Thuh- that
didn't huh-hurt," he gasped out painfully.

Ranma kipped up gracefully to his feet, settling into his relaxed stance.
"Whatever, Kuno. What's going on here?" Kuno did not answer; instead he
lurched off the ropes and charged Ranma with a cry. He struck at Ranma with
a blistering barrage of swings and thrusts, each blow thrown with enough
force to shatter concrete. Ranma evaded them all, effortlessly, swaying and
leaping through each attack with casual grace. Finally Kuno pulled back his
bokken and let lose a mighty thrust. Ranma dodged it, leaping into the air
and landing nimbly, impossibly on Kuno's outstretched sword. He boggled in
disbelief, and paid for his hesitation when Ranma kicked him in the side of
the jaw. Both men tumbled to the mat, Kuno falling painfully on his arm,
Ranma smoothly on his feet. Undaunted, Kuno struggled back up, using his
bokken for leverage. He raised it high above his head, preparing to unleash
one last, desperate attack, but Ranma moved in, lightning quick, jumping up
and shooting a snap kick to Kuno's chin, launching him out of the ring and
into the sea of spectators.

"What is going on here?" Ranma asked again, this time to himself,
rhetorically, scratching the back of his head as the horde seated around him
cheered and applauded. Ranma blinked when he realized that the arrayed
audience had started to chant his name. His face lit up with a huge grin,
and he waved back at them, acknowledging their ovation.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He could just hear over the roar
of the crowd the rushing of something thrown at his back. Ranma leapt,
jumping onto the far post of the ring as a spear trailing a chain embedded
itself into the mat where he'd been standing. Crouching balanced on the top
ring rope was Mousse, angry determination emblazoned on his face. The young
Amazon pulled back with his right arm, reeling his weapon back into the
voluminous sleeve of his robe as he hopped down onto the canvas.

"Whatcha do that for?" Ranma demanded. Mousse sneered contemptuously.

"You have the audacity to ask that, Saotome? You know perfectly well why I
want your blood. Your continued existence keeps Shampoo from being mine!"

"I ain't doing any such thing!" Ranma protested angrily. "You can have
Shampoo for all I care. It's not my fault that she doesn't want anything to
do with you. Maybe if you didn't act like such a dope you could make time
with her."

"Silence!" thundered Mousse. "I'm sick of your lies and insults. Tonight I
free Shampoo from her loathsome bondage to you!"

"Jeeze, you sound just like Ku- yipe!" Ranma jumped off the post just before
a volley of spears struck, clashing loudly against it and tearing the
turnbuckles apart, scattering stuffing and nylon everywhere. He landed in
the ring and quickly hopped to the side to avoid being crushed by a spiked
flail. He bobbed and dodged desperately, weaving in and out of the maelstrom
of chains and weapons hurtling from the sleeves of Mousse's fighting robe.
He attempted to cut the distance between them several times, but was
continually forced back by a concentrated barrage of metal. 'Damn, when did
Mousse get so good?' he thought, jerking forward to dodge a spear shot at
his head, then jumping back as a sword whipped down, barely keeping from
being bisected as it cut the front of his shirt in half. Ranma snarled.
"That's it, I'm outta here!" He jumped out of the ring, dropping flat on the
safety mats covering the floor and out of Mousse's sight, rolling under the
apron. Safely under the ring he quickly crawled to the other side, hoping
that Mousse was still there.

"Running away won't save you!" Mousse cried out triumphantly, pointing his
arms slightly upwards and launching a stream of chains out of the ring at
the area where Ranma disappeared, just as his target crawled out behind him.
Ranma grabbed Mousse by the ankles and pulled, sending the Amazon crashing
down onto his face, breaking his glasses. Ranma yanked him under the ropes,
down to the floor, and preceded to pummel him into submission before kicking
him out in the general direction he had sent Kuno. Ranma leaned against the
ringside, breathing heavily, as the vast arena audience screamed and howled
in delight. Ranma wearily waved back at them, and the volume of their cheers
increased in response. Ranma wiped the sweat from his brow and climbed back
into the ring, rolling under the bottom rope. He rose to one knee...

And a hush fell over the arena, for Ryoga was waiting for him. The lost boy
stood on the ring's opposite side, shirtless, with his arms crossed over his
chest, his brown eyes narrowed into smoldering slits. "Ranma," he growled.

"Not you too, Ryoga," Ranma groaned, wearily standing up. "What the hell is
this, Try To Kill Ranma Day?"

"Every day is a good day to try to kill you, Saotome," answered Ryoga.

"Yeah, well, I thought at least you were over your vendetta against me,"
Ranma snapped in retort. "So what's your gripe now? Did I snatch a pastry
from the local convenience store you had your eye on?"  Ryoga grinned
nastily, cracking his knuckles.

"Nothing so trivial. I'm here to deal with you because the thought of
leaving Akane at your mercy makes me sick to my stomach. Once I kill you,
she'll be mine." Ranma blinked, incredulous, then growled in feral,
quickening anger.

"Why you greedy pig, what about Akari? I thought you were through chasing
after Akane because you fell in love with Unryuu."

"Hey, if you can go around taking advantage of four girls I figure there's
no good reason on this earth that I can't love and cherish two. They'll both
be mine."

Ranma angrily tore off his ruined shirt and tossed it out of the ring. A
very loud, high-pitched cheer rose up in the arena as the women in
attendance expressed their admiration. "You know, I think we had this
conversation before, back when you butted in on that damn Martial Arts Ice
Skating competition. I told you then, and I'm gonna tell you now, Akane
doesn't belong to you, and she doesn't belong to me either. She doesn't even
belong to her family, if she doesn't wanna be. The only person Akane belongs
to is herself."

"Huh. I've seen how you get jealous when you think someone is hitting on
her. You expect me to believe that if she told you she wanted to be with
someone else you'd just let her go, just like that?" Ryoga asked scornfully.

Ranma did not answer immediately. He bowed his head for a moment then looked
up, staring Ryoga in the eyes with a directness and intensity that made the
Lost Boy falter.
"Yeah, I would," he answered simply and sincerely. "If she ever honestly
told me that I'd leave her alone and wish for her all the happiness in the
world, with all my heart."

"Liar!"

"Oh to HELL with this!" Ranma growled, "I'm through trying to justify myself
to an idiot like you." With that he threw himself at Ryoga, catching him
square and solid in the chest with a thrusting jump kick. Ryoga reeled back
into the ropes, gasping, then with a roar of outrage leaped at Ranma with
grasping, crushing hands.

For what seemed to be an eternity to Ranma he and Ryoga battled from one
side of the ring to the other, neither martial artist asking for or giving
quarter. They attacked each other brutally and unmercifully, punching and
kicking, gouging and grappling, both of them using every dirty trick they
knew in an effort to get a comeuppance over the other. Finally they stood
facing each other in the ring's center, bruised and bloody from head to toe,
breath coming in ragged gasps. Ranma sported a broken nose while Ryoga's
left eye had swelled completely shut.

"You give up yet?" Ranma demanded hoarsely. Ryoga shook his head.

"Never!" He threw a punch. Ranma sidestepped, slapping the blow aside then
dropped to one knee and retaliated with an Amaguriken punch to the pit of
Ryoga's stomach, just above his groin. Ryoga gasped, spitting out
blood-flecked froth as he stumbled back a step, clutching at his belly. With
a groan he fell to his knees, hacking and dry-heaving. Ranma lurched up
drunkenly and kicked Ryoga in the temple. The Lost Boy fell sideways, on his
stomach. He struggled for a moment to get up before slumping flat on the
mat, unconscious and defeated.

"I... win..." Ranma muttered, a little crazily. The audience went wild,
screaming and hollering, showering him with adulation. The walls seemed to
quake and the roof seemed to shiver from the intensity. Ranma reeled around
in a circle, startled; he had been so intent on beating Ryoga he had
somehow, amazingly, forgotten about the vast horde of people watching him
fight. He looked from one end of the arena to the other, an even bigger grin
than before spreading across his face as they started to chant his name once
again. He straightened up, invigorated by their cheers. He waved to them
all. Streamers of brightly colored ribbon fell from the rafters. A P.A.
system crackled and whined to life

"Your winner, Ranma Saotome!" The audience redoubled their applause. Ranma
felt like he was almost drowning in a sea of sound and praise. He threw up
his arms and threw back his head and let out a great shout of victory.

That's when he saw the cascade of water falling straight for him.


**********


Akane picked herself off the ground, scowling and glaring envenomed daggers
at Ranma. That roundhouse kick he just threw had almost clipped her on the
nose. A few other students hadn't been so lucky. They laid scattered here
and there about the schoolyard, dazed and groaning. Two girls were carrying
away the poor senior Ranma had used as a perch to the infirmary. She
forcefully brushed the dirt off her skirt as she watched Ukyo try to
restrain Ranma, throwing mini-spatulas with nylon cords tied to their
handles in an effort to entangle him. Ranma avoided them all, hopping and we
aving between them, then jumped straight at Ukyo. She shrieked and ran,
sensibly wanting no part of the damage Ranma was dishing out.

"Ranma you jerk!" Akane screamed at the insensible martial artist. "Stop
dreaming and wake up before you hurt someone!" Ranma didn't react. He
bounced backwards, lashing out with a thrusting back kick, followed by a
spin and a flurry of punches that made the air crack and whine in their
wake. Akane made a face, hoping Yuka would find that mosquito repellant
soon. She didn't how much more of Ranma acting out his dreams the school
could take, let alone her own nerves.

Ranma bounded in Akane's general direction. She backed up, and felt her foot
hit something. She looked down and saw Ranma's almost full water bottle. It
must have rolled away from his bento when he jumped. She scooped it up,
opening it as she strode towards Ranma, her expression determined. Ranma had
stopped jumping around. He threw back his head and threw up his arms and let
out a loud shout.

"Ranma you moron! Wake UP!" Akane demanded, dashing the water in his face.


**********


A thoroughly soaked and bedraggled Ranma-chan pulled herself out of the
Tendo's koi pond, muttering disgustedly to herself. "That was a dirty trick,
old man!" she yelled at her father. Genma just grinned nastily, shaking his
head. He crossed his arms across his chest, going into lecture mode.

"Don't blame me for your own ineptitude, boy. Haven't I told you time and
time again that a true martial artist is always alert, forever watching for
deception on the part of his foe?" Genma paused in his pontification to push
his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "That's your biggest problem Ranma,
you let yourself get complacent, and when you do that you get sloppy." Genma
shook his head sorrowfully. "What have I done to be burdened by such a lazy
son?"

"Lazy? Lazy!? Why you... you hypocrite! I'll show you who's the lazy one
around here!" Ranma jumped on her father, grabbing him by the front of his
gi top. She planted her feet solidly into Genma's stomach, forcing the wind
out of him, and rolled backwards, kicking him up through the air and into
the pond. She gracefully somersaulted out of the way of the splash, kipping
up to her feet and turning to face the pond. "So who's sloppy now, Pop?"
Ranma chided mockingly. Genma-panda arose from the pond, growling, and
hurled himself at his child. Ranma jumped over him and kicked down with both
feet, slamming Genma into the turf. Landing next to him she then kicked him
back into the pond. Ranma slapped her hands together. "Suck on that, old
man!" A little less angry she walked over to the porch. Kasumi stopped her
there, handing her a towel.

"Please dry off in the yard, Ranma. I just polished the floor and I don't
want you trailing water all over it."

"No problem." Ranma took the towel and rubbed herself down vigorously.
Kasumi nodded approvingly.

"When you're all dry there's a kettle on the stove for you, and I put some
of your clothes in the bathroom. I'm going shopping with Akane now. We'll be
back in a little while."

"Okay. Thanks, Kasumi." Kasumi walked off. Ranma heard her talking to Akane
in the foyer, followed by the front door opening and shutting. Ranma
finished drying off, folding her towel neatly and placing it on the porch.
She headed for the kitchen, whistling tunelessly. There she shut off the
stove and grabbed the steeping kettle. She walked over to the sink, leaned
over it and poured the water over her head."

"Ouch! That's too hot. I shoulda let it cool a bit." Ranma blinked. His
voice didn't sound right. He looked down and saw that he evidently was still
a she. "Oh no..." She poured some more water over her, not bothering to keep
from splashing on the kitchen floor. Nothing happened. Ranma slowly closed
her eyes, took a deep breath, and screamed out on the top of her lungs.


**********


"I'm stuck again! AHHHHHH!"

Akane backed away from Ranma, dropping the water bottle in her shock. She
hadn't expected Ranma to react like that.

"What did you do to him?" Ukyo demanded angrily. Akane shook her head,
waving her hands in a warding gesture.

"I didn't do anything!" she protested. "I just threw water on him to get him
to calm down."

"Fat lotta good that did. Why didn't you throw a cat on him too for good
measure?"

Akane winced at the harsh remark, her face crumpling. She looked as if she
were about to cry. "I didn't mean... I didn't think he'd... " Ranma was
running around in circles, screaming in panic. Akane shook her head,
composing herself. "We got to change him back. It's obvious he's dreaming
about being locked in his girl form." Ukyo glowered at Akane for a moment
before nodding in agreement. She whipped out her portable grill and quickly
heated a cup of water. She wrapped it in a hand towel to keep from burning
herself and ran up to Ranma, who had fallen to her knees.

"I'm stuck! I'm stuck! Why won't I change back? AHHHHH!"

"Calm down, Ran-chan! Ukyo's here to help you, honey." She quickly dumped
the cup over his head. He transformed, hair darkening, body expanding, soft
skin becoming rough and hard. Ranma visibly relaxed, sighing in relief and
slumping slightly. Then, inexplicably, he suddenly stiffened, all the color
draining out of his face, his countenance twisting in ineffable fright. Ukyo
gasped, and the gathered students whispered wonderingly at her reaction.

"What happened?" Akane asked quietly, walking up behind the chef. "What's
wrong with Ranma now?"

"I... I don't know. I have no clue."

"Mother!" Ranma gasped out harshly, voice dry and cracking. He started to
tremble. "Mother!"


**********


Ranma sighed in relief, wiping mingled sweat and warm water from his brow.
The transformation had finally kicked in; he was male again. Though it
worried him greatly that changing back into a guy had been inexplicably
delayed he took comfort that he hadn't been locked in his female form. Going
through that twice this year already had been more than enough. He doubted
that he could bear to go through the experience again a third time. Ranma
looked down at the puddle on the kitchen floor. 'I better clean this up
before Kasumi gets back.' He reached for the dishtowels Kasumi kept on a
little rack by the sink.

"Ranma."

Ranma froze stock still, the blood in his veins chilling into ice water. A
cold shroud of dread enveloped him, raising gooseflesh all over his body.

"Look at me, Ranma." Reluctantly, Ranma obeyed, turning around slowly and
fearfully.

"Mother!" he gasped out. "Mother."

Ranma no longer was in the Tendo house. He found himself in the middle of a
grassy field. A cold, hard wind was blowing, sweeping down the long grass
and tearing at his clothes. The sky above was iron gray, threatening and
cheerless. His mother, Nodoka, was before him, standing taller than
remembered her, towering over him, fierce and proud, her teeth bared in an
expression of disgust. Her blue eyes, the eyes he inherited from her, bore
into him, stern and pitiless. She wore a dark, somber kimono and held her
katana in a white-knuckled grasp. An angry, crimson aura flowed about her, a
corona of burning blood.

"I can not even begin to express how disappointed I am with you, Ranma," she
said, voice brimming with revulsion.

"Mother, I-"

"BE SILENT!" Nodoka screamed, half drawing her katana and ramming it hard
back down into its scabbard. Ranma flinched, biting down on his lower lip.
He felt a thin trickle of blood run down his chin. Tears welled up in his
eyes as his mother began to rant. "This is the manly son Genma promised me?
A lying coward, who shamelessly tricks and deceives his own mother at every
step; Am I expected to consider that manly?"

"Ma..."

"Yet I could have forgiven such actions if it hadn't been for the method of
your deceptions. You pretended to be a girl! Bad enough that you seem to...
to shapeshift between sexes, but to actually dress and act the way you did.
It's intolerable! You're supposed to be a man among men, Ranma, not a man
among cross-dressers!"

Ranma fell to his knees. Tears poured down his cheeks unchecked. "Ma..."

"To think that I conceived you, that I carried you in my body and arms! That
fact that my blood runs in your veins makes me sick to my stomach. What gods
did I offend to merit the punishment of bearing a creature like you? You are
lowly and base, Ranma, a worm to be trodden underfoot. A sick, twisted
hermaphroditic freak, unworthy of a mother's love."

Ranma fell on his face, thrusting it in the turf. He kowtowed before Nodoka,
his body racked with sobs and gasps. "No mama... please mama... I'm
sorry..."

"You're not even worth the act of seppuku. I wouldn't defile a butcher's
knife with your blood. There's only one proper punishment for a... thing
like you. The Pit." The ground gave way under Ranma, and he fell into the
earth, screaming for his mother to forgive him, to love him. Down through
fathomless, inchoate darkness he plummeted, crying and groaning as his soul
seared and withered under the trauma of his mother's rejection and
condemnation. After eons of free fall, after an eternity of pain beyond
pain, Ranma struck bottom, crushed against a floor of unyielding stone. And
though he spent all his tears he still sobbed and choked, tortured beyond
almost all sanity by this penultimate rejection.

'I want to die. Please let me die...' he silently pleaded to anything that
would listen. But nothing answered, nor did he expect an answer. In his
heart he knew he was not worthy of the smallest of mercies.

Ranma forced himself to sit up. He coughed then moaned. A raw throat made
every breath he took a knife-stab of pain. He wiped his face and nose with
his shirtsleeve, and stared owlishly into the darkness that surrounded him.

Something in the darkness stared back.

Sinister twin orbs hovered low in the darkness near him, glowing with a
dull, angry, smoky red light. Ranma shivered in their malevolent gleam. The
first pair was joined by a second, then by a third, then by dozens more,
until they surrounded Ranma on all sides. They floated and bobbed about him,
embers snatched from the floor of Hell, smoldering in a sea of illimitable
pitch. Off in some unguessable distance there came a high, warbling yowl.
Ranma gasped. Ranma choked. The scream would not come.

The first pair of orbs bobbed forward, their owner revealing itself to
Ranma's sight. It was a cat, a cat larger than a bobcat tom. A cat knitted
from the flesh of nightmares. Steel barbed claws scrabbled across the cold
pit floor. Venom dribbled from inch long fangs; drops splattering noisily on
the stone, smoke trailing in its wake. Tuffs of wicked razor wire sprouted
from piebald, squamous flesh, slick with a greasy sheen. A bladed tail
arched scorpion-wise over its back.

"No..." Ranma squirmed away from it, holding out a hand to ward off this
monstrosity. "No... stay back."  The cat hissed and spat, then screamed like
a baby being tortured. Ranma threw himself on his face, and as one the cats
descended upon his back.


**********


Tears streamed down Akane's face as she watched Ranma sob and plead;
kowtowing on the ground before the mother only he could see, begging for
clemency. The gathered students looked on, dumbfounded. Never in their
wildest dreams did they ever believe they would have seen him cry and debase
himself like this. Akane wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, and
felt Ukyo tug at her blouse's sleeve. Her expression was sick and
uncomprehending.

"Wha- what's wrong with him now? Do you have any idea?" she whispered.

"He's having a nightmare about his mother rejecting him. That's the only
other thing I think he's afraid of, besides cats."

"Why would his mother do such a thing?"

"It's a long story, Ukyo." Akane suddenly scowled. "It's all his father's
fault, like almost everything else in Ranma's life." Ukyo snorted in
disgust.

"Figures. As soon as I get my spatula fixed I'm going to go smash that
worthless panda flat."

"I'll help you." Akane huffed and wiped at her eyes again. "Where is Yuka?
How long can it take to find some damn mosquito repellant? I feel so
helpless. I can't bear to see Ranma like this."

"Well, at least he can't get much worse than this." Ranma threw himself onto
his back. He lay there for a minute, panting for air. He suddenly stiffened,
his face taking on an almost albino hue.

"Cuh-cuh-cuh... CATS!!" he screamed, and began to writhe.

"You were saying?" Akane commented dryly. Ukyo's responding curse was lost
under another of Ranma's screams. He rolled about the ground as if he were
on fire, crying and yelling as if he were being racked.

"CATS! GETTEM OFF ME GETTEM OFF ME GETTEM OFF ME PAPA LET ME OUT LET ME OUT
SOMEONE HELP ME MAMA HELP ME HAVE MERCY PLEASE!!" Ranma screamed again,
hunching up on his knees, practically burying his face in the dirt. He
lashed out with an arm. Fear fueled ki coruscated about it like vines of
purple-black thorns. A wave of energy pulsed from his strike. The crowd of
students shrieked and scattered away from the blast, which gouged the ground
in its passing and struck a wall of the school, scorching the brick and
mortar black.

Ranma screamed. "CATS!! OH GOD PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME SOMEONE SAVE ME
SOMEONE KILL ME PLEASE!!!" To her horror Akane saw that Ranma was clawing at
himself, rending his shirt, scratching his skin open, making himself bleed.
She threw herself on top of him, wrapping her arms around him and trying to
pin him down in an effort to make him stop.

"Ranma, stop it!" she pleaded. "Stop it, you're hurting yourself. It's only
a dream, Ranma. It's not real. It's only a dream. Please listen to me I'm
begging you. It's only a dream." She repeated this to him over and over, all
the while thinking 'I'll kill them. Happosai and Uncle Saotome. I'll kill
them both for this.'

Ranma finally stopped, wilting bonelessly beneath Akane...


**********


All his strength had been spent. He could not fight, he could not flee, he
could not even scream. All he could do was weep as the hellcats tore the
shirt from his back, the skin from his flesh, the flesh from his bones. They
clawed and bit at him in sadistic, frenzied ecstasy, their lust for his fear
and agony insatiable. Ranma hoped that the end would come soon, but knew
from experience it would not, for cats always played with their prey before
killing it.

Then over the yowling of the hellcats he heard a rush, like the roar of a
gale, and all at once the cats on his back were thrown off, yowling in
protest and fright. Dazed, Ranma looked up, unsure of what happened. The
stone oubliette he had been cast into was now lit, its filthy darkness
banished by clean, white light. The pack of hellcats were scattered about
against the walls. Some had their backs arched and claws ready, hissing and
spitting with false bravado, while others cowered against the stone and
mewled in terror. Hovering in the air before Ranma, beautiful and awesome in
her righteous wrath, was Akane. Dressed in a short yellow fuku with a
scarlet jewel on her breast, white angel wings spreading out from her
shoulders, and a golden halo surrounded her form. In her hands she wielded a
silver wrought hammer.

"How dare you hurt him!" she cried out. "Return back to the nightmares that
spawned you!" She attacked, using her hammer to great effect, hurtling the
hellcats out of the pit shrieking, or smashing them down into the ground,
sending them back to the depths of Hell. Once she had destroyed them all she
turned to Ranma, dropping her hammer. It vanished before it struck the
floor. She walked to him, holding out her arms. "Are you alright, Ranma?"
Her halo touched him, and he inhaled sharply at the contact. Wounds on his
body sealed and disappeared painlessly. His clothing miraculously stitched
itself back together. The pain in his soul seeped out and faded. Ranma gazed
into her warm, brown eyes, eyes he could lose himself in forever, if he'd
let himself.

"Akane..." he whispered. She touched him, holding his face between her
hands, which Ranma covered with his. He shut his eyes, savoring her cool
soft touch. He caught her up in a fierce embrace, swearing to himself he'd
never let her go...


**********


Akane watched Ranma cautiously as he slowly picked himself up and turned to
face her, having finally calmed down. She exhaled softly in relief. "Are you
alright now?" She asked, not expecting an answer. Ranma smiled joyfully, and
hugged Akane, picking her up off her feet.

"Akane!" he cried, pressing her hard against his body. Akane's eyes bugged
out. She blushed a deep, rose-red, and started to tremble. Anger tried to
manifest in her, but was checked by what she had just seen Ranma suffer, and
by the fact that her brain was quickly short-circuiting from the wondrous,
part scary part fascinating sensations that were being invoked by being
pressed against Ranma's lean, strong body. Her arms suddenly had a strange,
tingly ache in their marrow. An ache she somehow knew instinctively that
could be relieved by hugging Ranma back. They started to rise from their own
volition, but she quickly forced them down. She could hear her fellow
students whisper and gossip gleefully, and feel Ukyo's angry, jealous glare
burn into her back. For a moment she could almost fancy that she could smell
smoke coming from Ukyo's general direction.

"Ranma must really like Akane a lot to hug her like that," someone
commented. Akane shook her head violently in protest.

"No, no! You got it all wrong. He... he's only dreaming. It doesn't mean a
thing!" she exclaimed frantically. She glared at her comatose fianc�. "Ranma
you jerk, you're embarrassing me. Let me go this instant!" He tightened the
hug for an instant then gently set her on her feet. Akane started to sigh,
relieved that Ranma had stopped glomping her like an Amazon, when she
noticed he still had a hand on her, gently touching the small of her back.
Then with his other hand he softly caressed her cheek, and brushed lightly
through her hair. Incredibly, her bright blush deepened, her throat
constricting and heart thumping wildly from the feeling of this intimate,
loving contact. Smiling, Ranma started to lower his face to hers, and Akane
realized hysterically that he was going to kiss her in front of everyone in
the school and that she should really do something to stop him like punch
him or hit him or mallet him, but for some reason she didn't want to because
it felt so good for him to touch her like this even if he was only doing it
because he was dreaming and his lips were so close now and...

"RANMA YOU JACKASS!" A bento caromed off of Ranma's head, knocking him away
from Akane and laying him out on the grass.  Akane blinked several times,
shaking her head to clear it from the spell Ranma's touch had woven over
her. Ukyo stalked over to her, her expression furious, practically exhaling
fire and brimstone. She got straight in Akane's face and jabbed her in the
chest with a finger. "You opportunistic little hussy!" she snarled.

"Wha- what did you say?" Akane stammered, disbelieving.

"You heard me. How dare you try to take advantage of MY Ran-chan when he's
helpless like this!" Akane's eyes bugged out then narrowed angrily. She
flushed again, this time in fury.

"Why, you- you- spatula slinging psycho! I wasn't taking advantage of
anyone. If anything HE was trying to take advantage of me!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't see you do much to stop him, tramp!" Ukyo snapped.
Akane opened her mouth to retort, then stopped. A wicked thought crossed her
mind. Akane drew herself up, looking at Ukyo through lidded eyes as she
flashed an evilly mischievous smile.

"Why Ukyo, I think you're jealous!" Akane declared. Ukyo sputtered.

"Wha-wha- What? Yeah, right, me jealous of an uncute shapeless tomboy like
you? Get real." Akane sniffed disdainfully.

"Perhaps I am uncute, but I didn't see Ranma glomping YOU, let alone try to
kiss you. Maybe it's because he doesn't really think I'm uncute." Akane's
smile widened. "And MAYBE it's also because you're nowhere near as cute as
you think."

Ukyo gasped, turning stark white. She choked and stuttered incoherently, her
hands clenching.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU TENDO!" she finally screamed.

"BRING IT ON KUONJI!" Akane answered, matching her for volume and venom.

"Ummm... guys?" Sayuri ventured hesitantly. Akane and Ukyo turned as one.

"WHAT!?" they snapped.

"I think maybe you should look at Ranma." Sayuri answered. Akane and Ukyo
glared at each other and then looked at Ranma.

He was glowing. The grass around him was starting to smoke, and a low, feral
growl could be heard from him.


**********


Ranma's danger sense screamed in the back of his mind, but he had no time to
react, for an instant later Akane was snatched from his arms and something
struck him hard in the side of the head, knocking him to the ground. He lay
senseless for a few moments, before struggling into a sitting position,
hissing in pain. He shook his head to clear it, and winced as it aggravated
the ache. Forcing his eyes open in spite of that he took stock of his
surroundings.

He was out of the pit, sitting at the foot of a small, barren hill. Arrayed
on the rocky, eroded slope was a menagerie of foes he had fought in the
past. Kuno, Mousse and Ryoga, his most constant opponents, were there, but
they were horribly changed. Demon horns sprouted from their brows. Kuno's
sword and hands blazed with a black fire, while viscous green poison dripped
from the clawed gloves Mousse wore, and Ranma noted nauseously that the
Amazon now had no eyes, or even eyesockets, but only smooth skin beneath his
forehead. Ryoga was immense, a veritable wall of gross muscle. Great,
tarter-stained tusks jutted from his lower jaw, and his body glowed with the
lead-gray power of the Shi Shi Hokoden. Along with them were enemies Ranma
had fought rarely, or but once. Panty Taro towered above all in his cursed
form, a monstrous, mutant minotaur spawned from Grecian nightmares. The
writhing squid tentacles that grew from his back were now barbed as Ranma
had once had feared, and stinking fire and spittle spumed from his nose and
mouth as he snorted and rasped. Herb hovered nearby, superficially
unchanged, but made unearthly by the aura of unnatural energy pulsing around
him, the heritage of his inhuman lineage. Ryu Kumon glared down at Ranma
from the heights with mad, vengeful eyes, his army khakis torn and
bloodstained, his strong hands smoldering from the powers of the forbidden,
murderous Yamasenken they contained.

On the top of the hill Shampoo, Kodachi and Ukyo watched laughing, all
dressed in the scantiest of silks, vampire fangs flashing in their mouths,
succumbi wings spanning from their backs. And with them, on her knees, was
Akane, bound and gagged with cruel iron bands, the other girls' feet on her
back. Tears of pain poured down her cheeks as she pleaded to him silently
with frightened eyes.

Ranma growled; a deep, threatening rumble, like that of a tiger roused to
anger. Thunder flashed in his blue eyes as anger of an intensity he had
never known ignited in his chest. Suddenly aflame with ki, he roared in
defiance to the demonic mockeries that jeered and taunted him from the hill.

"LET. HER. GO!!"


**********


"LET. HER. GO!!" As one the entire student body of Furinkin High fled, their
collective sense of self-preservation finally kicking in at the sight of a
furious, screaming Ranma lit up like a Roman candle by flames of
incandescent ki. Ranma crouched, and then charged, leaving a burning trail
behind him. Akane, Ukyo and Sayuri all yelped and scattered, throwing
themselves to the ground to avoid being run over. Ranma attacked the air
with a volley of punches and kicks, assaulting unseen enemies with murderous
intent. He reared back, cupping his hands and filling them with power. "I
won't let you take her from me! Give her back!" he ranted, and unleashed the
ki blast. It screamed through the air, striking the athletic field's fence
and reducing the section it hit into a melting slag of metal and plastic.
Akane jumped to her feet just as Ranma screamed again. "GIVE ME BACK MY
AKANE!!"

Akane gasped, but quickly shook herself out of her surprise. She didn't have
time to indulge in such a thing, not with Ranma going off like a nuclear
bomb. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sayrui running for her life and
Ukyo lying on the ground with hands covering her head. Akane was the only
one left near Ranma, and perhaps the only one with a chance of stopping him.
She had to stop him, before he inadvertently splattered someone across
Nerima. She recalled that somehow he seemed to be able to sense her presence
while dreaming, so maybe she could talk him down off of his rampage. If
worse came to worse, perhaps a good swat to the head would bring him out of
it, though the thought of trying to hit a frenzying Ranma made her want to
wet herself. Inhaling deeply and praying that it wouldn't be her last
breath, Akane charged.

Ranma slashed and struck at the air, screaming out imprecations and demands
at the demons in his dreams, when he felt soft, strong hands grasp him by
the shoulders. A familiar voice, worried and frightened, pierced the haze of
his dream-induced anger, stopping him swiftly short.

"Ranma stop it, I'm alright. I'm right here. Please stop this Ranma, you're
going to hurt someone." Akane entreated desperately, practically babbling.
Ranma sighed, relieved, his shoulders slumping, dropping to his knees as
anger left him and his ki drained away. He reached up and covered Akane's
hands with his own.

"Akane..." he murmured.

"I'm right here, Ranma. It's alright." Akane murmured soothingly.

"Akane... don't leave me," he whispered, holding her hands tight. "I need
you. Never leave me again, please."

"I... I won't, Ranma," Akane whispered back after a moment, voice quavering,
nearly breaking. "I'll never leave you. I promise." Ranma sighed, letting go
of her hands and bowing his head. Soon he was snoring softly, sleeping in
peaceful dreamlessness. Akane did not let him go.

"I found it!" Yuka cried out, waving a packet above her head as she dashed
towards Akane and Ranma.

"Thank God!" Akane exclaimed fervently. "Quick, light it up Yuka. Let's get
Ranma awake before he starts dreaming again." Yuka placed the incense in
front of Ranma and set a match to it. It pungent aroma quickly rose, the
smoke tickling at Ranma's nose. He snorted then shook his head, as if
something was buzzing about it. He reached out quickly with a hand, grabbing
at something in the air. With the third grab his eyes snapped open. He
blinked, and looked around, a little dazed.

"What the-?" he muttered. "Whoa..." He staggered up to his feet. "I feel
weird. Musta dozed off. Man, did I have some weird dreams." Akane stared at
Ranma wide eyed, then started to giggle hysterically. He looked at his
fianc�e curiously. "What's so funny?" he asked, a little petulantly. He
looked around again. "And where did everyone go? Did the bell ring already?"

"Oh Ran-chan, you're awake!" Ukyo cried gleefully, glomping onto Ranma.
Akane immediately stopped laughing and glared at the two. It intensified
tenfold as Ukyo started to rub herself against Ranma.

"Hey U-chan, lay off." Ranma protested, trying to squirm out from Ukyo's
hug, but she refused to let go.

"But I'm just so glad to see that you're alright, Ranma-honey. I was so
worried about you."

"Why were you worried? Just what's going on around here?"

"Oh, it's not important. Ranma, you are fully awake now, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! How would I be talking to you otherwise?"

"And you still think I'm your cute fianc�e, right?"

"Well... umm... you ARE cute, Ukyo," Ranma answered honestly. "But-" Ukyo
put a finger to Ranma's lips to silence him.

"That's all I wanted to hear, sugar. And now, I want to give you a few
things." Ukyo closed her eyes, inhaled deeply...

And socked Ranma right across the jaw.

"OW!"
.
"That's for throwing me across the yard like I was Kuno!" She punched him
again. "That's for throwing me a second time!" She nailed him in the
stomach, doubling him over. "That's for ruining my best fighting spatula,"
she booted him in the face, sending him flying. "And THAT'S for glomping
onto Akane and trying to kiss her instead of me, you jack-ass! Next time
don't you forget who your cute fianc�e is, or else!" Ukyo smacked her hands
clean. "Don't bother coming over for free meals until you apologize." With
that Ukyo turned on her heel and stalked off.

"What the hell did I do?" Ranma groaned before passing out. Akane just
walked up to him, shaking her head.

"I'll try to explain it to you later, Ranma." She took hold of his pigtail
and dragged him off to the school infirmary.


**********


At the end of the school day Ranma and Akane walked home together, Akane
skipping and whistling happily, while Ranma grumbled and sulked on the
fence, nursing his bruises, muttering curses at stupid okonomiyaki chefs and
perverted old freaks and the general unfairness of the world and why he was
always having bad days one way or the other. Suddenly irked by her demeanor,
he glared down at Akane.

"Hey, what are you so happy about?" he demanded. Akane just looked up at him
and smiled brilliantly.  In spite of his foul mood Ranma's scowl softened.
He felt his heart skip a beat the way it always did when she favored him
with a smile, and all of a sudden the day didn't feel all that bad.

"Oh, nothing much," Akane answered lightly. "Just thinking about some
pleasant dreams."


//////////


Author's Notes and Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Lord Archive, MissTanith and Mad Hamlet for their
pre-reading and interest.

My good friend Joe Mcglone, the Fallenmage, is being kind enough to host my
work. If you feel so inclined please go check out his site at
www.geocities.com/fallenmage1/ . To read my stories you'll need Adobe
Acrobat. Also while you're there please tell Joe what you think of his web
page.

As always, I'm interested in constructive comments and criticism. Please
send any C&C you care to share to DorianVal@aol.com. Don't bother with
flames, please. If you find yourself incapable of writing politely then
don't write to me at all.

Thank you for your time and tolerance,

Jeremy Harper

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