After a huge writers block I finally finished the first chapter. If you're wondering about my other fics, I'm still working on them. I really haven't been inspired to write a lot. I'll try and get another chapter out soon.

Other stories by me are at:

http://numair.freeservers.com/

Important note: I need C&C badly, I'll take whatever I can get. Even if it's just to say hi.

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own em' someone else does.

Now on with the fic!!!



-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: ANL1.txt
-- Desc: ANL1.txt

A New Life



	Fear



	Fear is an emotion that all humans feel 

at one time. It makes us cautious, careful. 

Many humans run when they are affected by fear. 

Fear can be a barrier, a challenge, an 

obstacle.

	Ranma Saotome learned the power of fear 

the first time he was thrown into the neko-ken 

training pit. He tried to escape, but to no 

avail. Ranma would learn, after many attempts, 

how to master that fear. He would escape into a 

cat persona, a danger to all around him.

	But for this Ranma, on this world, he 

would be saved from fear. He would escape the 

path normally led. His life would change by the 

aid of a single man. One powerful man that 

forever affect Ranma's chaotic life. This 

single person will allow Ranma to start over, 

and allow Ranma a new life.



An Anime Junkey Confederation Production:

A New Life Chapter 1

By: Dev Hunt

"And so our story begins"



	It was a peaceful day in the small 

Japanese town. People went about their daily 

business. Work, school, home life, whatever 

they did on a daily basis. In this average 

town, an important event was occurring that 

would forever change the life of one of the 

greatest martial artists ever.

	"Papa," a young boy wined, "don't put me 

in the pit again, please." This child, looking 

about the age of 6, was covered with half 

healed scratches and a few bandages.

	"Ranma, it is for your own good. Once you 

learn the Neko-ken, you'll be unbeatable." 

Wrapping another fish sausage around Ranma, was 

a fat man in a white gi. This man was none 

other than Genma Saotome. A poor excuse for a 

father that was about to throw Ranma into a pit 

of starving cats.

	The young, battered boy started crying 

when he realized his father wouldn't change his 

mind. "I don't wanna' go, It's to scary."

	"Scary?!" Genma yelled, "A real man would 

face the fear and sacrifice his life for the 

art. Stop being such a girl Ranma and stop 

crying. Crying is for girls." He put the last 

of the sausages on the now struggling child and 

dragged him over to the pit.

	Ranma started kicking and screaming. 

"NOOOOO!!! PLEASE DADDY!! DON'T PUT ME BACK!! 

PLEASE!!" He tried to break free, but Genma 

kept his grip strong and kept Ranma from 

running.

	Genma reached the pit and lifted the 

cover. Inside, a hundred eyes looked upward. 

All feline, all common cats that were stolen by 

Genma. They licked their lips in anticipation, 

waiting for the food to drop. Cat's everywhere 

tensed their muscles, and prepared to pounce.

	Ranma saw the cats, screamed louder and 

tried to get away. Genma picked Ranma up with 

one hand and tossed him into the pit. "This is 

for your own good." He yelled to Ranma as he 

fell. Genma then slammed the door and waited 

for the screaming to stop.



Nearby



	"Kaia!! Kaia!! Now where did that cat get 

to?" Readjusting his backpack, Ryuu Kakugari 

continued his search for his pet cat. Everyone 

assumes that the brown and black cat is his 

pet. It wouldn't be good if everyone know that 

Kaia was not you're usual cat. She was a master 

of magic, having trained under some of the 

greatest mages in the world.

	During a recent fight, Ryuu and Kaia were 

separated. Ryuu wouldn't normally be worried 

but Kaia hasn't eaten in a while and may be low 

on energy. When hungry, Kaia is as strong as 

any other cat. She's vulnerable then and could 

easily be beaten by anyone.

	Ryuu had looked all over town to no 

avail, he just couldn't find her anywhere. 

Calling out a few more times, Ryuu hoped he'd 

run into Kaia, somewhere. In the town, multiple 

house cats have gone missing. There are rumors 

that it was done by some madman. City Police 

have yet to catch the man.

	Continuing to wonder, Ryuu passed some 

vacant lots by the outskirts of town. He had 

felt some weird energy's being released here. 

He was trying to find the source when heard a 

scream. It sounded like some kid was being 

thrown to his death. Then, as abruptly as it 

started, the screams stopped.

	Ryuu had long ago promised to protect 

those who couldn't protect themselves. Someone 

seemed to be in trouble and Ryuu decided to see 

what was going on. He took off running toward 

the screams.

	Moving quietly and watching for danger, 

Ryuu went forward carefully. He's been led into 

to enough traps in his lifetime to figure out 

to be careful. Some of his enemy's would try 

something just like this. A realistic call for 

help to try lure him into an ambush. Ryuu was 

careful not stupid.

	Ryuu soon came across a small camp. There 

was a single person there, standing by a piece 

of wood that looks like a poorly constructed 

hatch. Probably a pit or something. Ryuu 

silently crept up on the man. It looked 

suspicious, but it was too open to be a good 

trap.

	When Ryuu was close he cleared his 

through. "Excuse me, sir?" As the words left 

his mouth the fat balding man quickly turned 

around.

	"Uhh.. What do you want??"

	"Let me introduce myself, I am Ryuu 

Kakugari, master of the rising dragon school of 

martial arts." Ryuu said bowing politely, "I 

have been wandering in search of knowledge and 

have seem to misplaced my traveling companion. 

I was wondering if you have seen her."

	"I don't think I can help." The man 

moved, trying to hide the pit behind him. "I 

haven't seen any women around here."

	Ryuu chuckled a little, "You seem to 

misunderstand Mr. Uhh, what was name? I don't 

think I heard it."

	The man looked strangely at him before 

quickly saying, "Genma."

	"Well, I'm looking for a cat." Genma's 

eyes darted back towards the pit. "She 

disappeared a few days ago. I'm worried the 

cat-napper got her." The more Ryuu said, the 

more nervous Genma looked.

	"I have no idea where your cat may..." 

But before Genma could finish, a feral roar was 

heard, coming from the pit.

	They both turned and watched as the hatch 

exploded upwards. A red and black blur flew 

into the air. In it's wake the missing cats 

flew upwards, and as gravity came back into 

play, they fell back to the earth.

	Ryuu looked up and instantly recognized a 

falling cat. It was a light brown with a white 

belly, and a black circle around the right eye. 

"Kaia!!" Ryuu leapt over Genma and ran to catch 

the falling cat.

	As soon as he caught Kaia, he established 

a telepathic link with the cat. With practiced 

ease he asked "Kaia? What's going on?"

	A female voice echoed in his mind, "Not 

now Ryuu, you have to stop that kid before he 

hurts someone." A feral roar caught Ryuu's 

attention, and he turned just in time to see 

Genma be mauled by the same red and black blur 

that exploded from the pit a few seconds ago. 

"Before you ask that is Ranma Saotome. He's 

dangerous right now, you need to knock him out 

before he hurts an innocent."

	Slipping Kaia into a special pouch on his 

backpack, he started running after Ranma, who 

was bounding away at amazing speeds.  "What 

happened Kaia? Why is that boy acting like a 

cat?"

	"It was the training he just finished, 

the dreaded Neko-Ken."

	"I think I've heard of it somewhere. Is 

that the one where you thrown the young child 

into the pit of starving cats?" Ryuu asked, 

following the retreating boy.

	"That's the one."

	"Great." Ryuu started gaining distance on 

Ranma. "So he's basically a psycho cat right 

now?"

	"Yep."

	"Well I'll just have to get his attention 

then." Ryuu started focusing his energy. His 

arm started glowing and he punched forward. 

"Energy spike!" When Ryuu called out, a ball of 

energy shot out towards the young boy in front 

of him.

	Neko-Ranma sensed the danger and leapt 

into the air, dodging the attack. He spun in 

mid-air and landed a few feet from Ryuu. Ryuu 

halted and the two watched each other intently. 

Neko-Ranma then sprung into action. He charged 

forward, claws glowing, and yelling a feral 

battle cry.

	Ryuu wasted no time. He dropped his 

backpack and settled into a conformable, 

defensive stance. His aura was tightly focused 

around his arms and were sounded in a golden 

fire. "Bring it on cat-boy."

	As soon as Neko-Ranma came into range, he 

started attacking like a beserker. His arms 

blurred as he reached speeds faster than most 

people can track. Ryuu kept up with the 

ferocious attack and was able to dodge or block 

the beserker attacks. His entire body started 

to blur as he twisted around slash after slash.

	Ryuu stayed on the defensive until Ranma 

extended too far and opened up his torso. With 

4 quick strikes to key pressure points, the 

battle was over. Ranma's muscles started 

locking up and he fell over, face first. He 

tried to struggle, but couldn't move at all.

	The pressure points would only last about 

a minute, but that was all Kaia needed to speed 

by and latch onto Ranma's back. She was 

surrounded by a ball of white energy and when 

she touched Ranma, the energy ball expanded to 

cover Ranma's small body as well. The battle 

then moved to inside Ranma's mind.



	Kaia appeared in the great nothingness 

that was the subconscious mind. Here, anything 

could be made, anything could happen, and 

everything was real. This void was where 

everything a person had experienced was kept. 

All of their dreams, fears, goals, and 

memories.

	In the mind, a person could take any 

form. Kaia chose a hybrid between human and 

cat. Her fur was the same and she was covered 

in a skimpy two piece for modesties sake. After 

focusing for a moment, Kaia sent out a call to 

bring out Ranma. She was patient because time 

had no meaning here, only results.

	She could wait forever, but it wasn't 

nessasary. Neko-Ranma materialized before her, 

one hundred percent cat and madder than hell. 

There was a danger in the most important of 

places and the intruder must die. It didn't 

give a warning it just attacked.

	Kaia waited for the last possible moment 

to twist around the attack. Behind her, she 

left a green ball of energy that Neko-Ranma 

plowed into. As soon as Neko-Ranma touched the 

ball, his body froze and the ball expanded to 

surround him. Neko-Ranma looked frozen in time.

	"Well that was easy." Kaia said to 

herself as she started weaving another spell. 

One that would prevent Neko-Ranma from escaping 

the prison she just created. I took some doing 

but a net of yellow energy soon covered the 

ball. Finally, Kaia stored Neko-Ranma in the 

dark recesses of Ranma's mind so Ranma wouldn't 

be able to normally reach it. Kaia then broke 

the connection with Ranma's mind.



	Back in the real world, The energy 

surrounding the two faded. The whole mental 

battle took about 5 seconds but it didn't 

bother Ryuu. He had seen a mental battle before 

and this was about what it was like. So when, 

the energy dissipated he removed Kaia from 

Ranma's back and went to get his backpack. 

Slipping Kaia into her pouch, he then gathered 

up the small boy. He knew that Kaia would tell 

her everything once she woke up in a few hours 

and that he'd better have dinner ready and the 

boy nearby.

	The life of an immortal is filled with 

waiting. It was annoying but it was a fact of 

life. Ryuu could deal with it, he had before.





	There is a place between sleep and 

consciousness that all people pass through 

before they wake up. It's like your mind is 

slowly turning on. Your senses are active but 

you don't recognize what is going on.  Ranma 

was in such a place trying to get a few more 

seconds of sleep before his father would always 

wake him up. His mind was on standby and his 

body was relaxed, but ready to move at any 

moment. Usually he would wake up being thrown 

from his bed. In the air his body and mind woke 

up the rest of the way and the day started for 

Ranma.

	This time, there was no morning flight 

out of bed.  Instead there was the smell of 

delicious food. This woke Ranma up in a hurry. 

A martial artist eats when he can, especially 

when there's good food around.

	He got of the sleeping roll and went 

outside to see why his father hadn't woken him 

up yet. Outside the tent, he couldn't recognize 

where he was. A firepit was a few feet away and 

on it there was a pot of what looked like soup 

simmering. Looking around Ranma couldn't see 

the pit of cats, there were no practice polls 

and there was grass here. Ranma realized this 

wasn't his camp. Something weird was going on.

	Rubbing his stomach, Ranma walked over to 

the the soup. There was a low wooden table by 

the fire that had a bowl and a pair of 

chopsticks on it. Ranma looked around to see if 

anyone was around. The camp was empty and Ranma 

rationalized that he should eat while he can. 

If someone got mad at him, he could just run 

away. It smelled good and he was hungry anyway.	Serving himself some soup, Ranma kept 

watching for someone to show up.

	The soup was unfamiliar. It wasn't your 

normal miso soup is was something foreign. It 

had carrots, potatoes, green beans, and beef 

squares. It was incredibly good and Ranma 

enjoyed eating it. He was so interested in this 

new soup he didn't hear the cat that snuck up 

behind him until it rubbed against his leg. 

Surprised, Ranma looked down.

	"Hey, where did you come from little 

kitty. Are you hungry?" The cat sat down and 

meowed. Ranma knelt down and held out a piece 

of meat, "Here, have this." A smile spread 

across his face when the cat took the meat and 

started tearing it apart. Giving the cat a 

friendly pet, he went back to eating.

	Suddenly, the cat looked up from it's 

food. It then hopped up and ran past Ranma. 

"Kitty? Where ya goin'?" Ranma turned to follow 

the cat. It ran into the waiting hands of a 

strange man.

	"Hello Ranma, how are you feeling 

today?" The strange man walked over to the soup 

to serve himself some. "No pain, dizziness, or 

anything like that?"

	"Where's my papa?" Ranma asked. Wondering 

how this man knew his name.

	"He's in the hospital."

	"Why's he there? I don't remember papa 

being sick."

	"It was a training accident. Tell me 

Ranma, before today, what do you last 

remember?"

	Ranma thought for a moment, "Yesterday."

	"Anything special about that day."

	"Yep." Ranma said nodding his head. "Papa 

said he was going to train me in some new 

technique."

	"Did that technique have a name?"

	"He called it the neko-ken. He said I'd 

be training with all the kitties he's been 

getting. I can't wait."

	There was a moment of silence as Ryuu 

tried to think of the best way to say what he 

was thinking. "Ranma, you've already been 

trained in the Neko-ken." Ranma was silent. 

"You were driven insane by the constant abuse. 

Your father is now in the hospital, the doctors 

say he probably won't survive."

	Ranma didn't understand about half of 

what Ryuu just said but he did realize that 

Genma was hurt. "Papa's hurt? Is that why he 

isn't here?"

	"Yes, you could put it that way."

	"Then we just have to wait till he gets 

better. He's never been sick very long."

	"I don't think you understand, your 

father may not get better. He's been hurt too 

bad. The doctors believe it'll take years for 

him to completely recover. Even if he does 

leave the hospital it will be in a wheelchair."

	A feeling of dread and loose filled Ranma 

as Ryuu's words sunk into him. For some reason 

his eyes started watering and Ranma had to 

fight from starting to cry. His father always 

told him men don't cry. A true martial artist 

must be brave when facing all challenges.

	"What's going to happen to me?" Ranma 

asked.

	"It's for you to decide Ranma. You could 

go to your father's bedside and wait to see if 

he recovers, you could set out on your own, or 

you could come with me."

	"What? Why would you want me to go with 

you."

	"Because you're special Ranma." This 

female voice came from Ranma's feet.

	Ranma looked down and there was Kaia, 

looking back. "Did you just talk kitty?"

	"Yep. My name is Kaia and I'm the reason 

you don't remember the Neko-ken training."

	Picking up Kaia Ranma asked, "Why would 

you do something like that?"

	"You started acting like a cat and 

attacked everyone." Kaia paused for effect, 

"Even your own father."

	Ranma's eyes grew big with realization, 

"You mean I hurt papa?"

	"Yes Ranma, you almost killed him. You're 

lucky we were there, you might have hurt 

someone else."

	"I didn't mean to." Ranma cried, "It was 

just training!" His eyes were watering, "No 

one's supposed to get hurt.

	Ryuu put his hand on Ranma's shoulder and 

crouched to look at him face to face. "Don't 

worry Ranma, Kaia can train you to control the 

Neko-ken so you won't hurt anyone."

	Ranma stopped crying and looked up. 

"Really?"

	"Yes, Really. It will take some time but 

if you came with us, it'd work."

	"You really wanna take me with you?"

	Kaia rubbed her head against Ranma's 

face, "Yes," she said, "you're a very special 

person. It would be a pleasure to have you with 

us."

	Ranma looked back to Ryuu. "Hey, if Kaia 

want's you along, I'm okay with it." Ryuu 

assured.

	Looking between the two, Ranma smiled and 

said, "Sure, that would be great."

	"Excellent." Ryuu said standing up. 

"We'll start tomorrow." Ryuu extended his hand 

to Ranma, and Ranma took it. "Welcome to your 

new life Ranma."



End of Chapter 1
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