Okay people, here it is. Posting this almost-origanal (I'm using
fanfiction to introduce a character) scares me a lot more than other things
I've posted. The fact of the matter is, the only reason I'm posting it at
all is because I was strongly encouraged to do so.

Disclaimer: Ranma and such not mine, they're Takahashi's, so don't sue
someone who you'll only get a few CDs and a junky old computer from...
And so, without further ado, I present:

    Darksbane
    Chapter I
    The Cursed Man

    "Ha!" Ranma shouted, knocking his pops' feet out from under him. "Is
that all you got, you old fart?"
    The first streaks of daylight were on the horizon, casting a yellow-red
glow over the rooftops of Nerima. The air was fresh and cool, and the smell
of Kasumi's cooking drifted even now from the kitchen below.
    Genma Saotome rolled easily to his feet, diving at Ranma with a two wide
overhand chops. "You should pay more respect to your father!" he roared, his
fists whirling over his son's head. Ranma leapt back onto his hands, doing a
neat scissors-kick to the old man's legs, but the older Master of Anything
Goes snapped feet up just in time. Not enough time to save him from Ranma's
second kick at his face, though.
    "You should pay more respect to your father!" Ranma mimicked as Genma
rolled to his feet, swaying slightly. "Jeez, Pops! How many are you gonna
say that? You'll get some respect when ya earn it-never, in other words."
    "RANMA!" the elder Saotome seethed, suddenly blurring forward. They made
few lightning-fast exchanges, where none of the old man's went home and all
of Ranma's did, and then leapt apart again. Genma staggered slightly, and
Ranma took full advantage, grabbing his father's foot while simultaneously
kicking him in the face and stomach, and then using their combined momentum
to sling him sideways into the air. He made large splash in koi pond below.
    Ranma dusted his hands as the panda rose to the surface, growling. "You
lose again, I guess," he smirked.
    The panda crouched as if to leap upward, but a voice from inside change
his direction toward the dojo instead.
    "Ranma! Mr. Saotome!" Kasumi called, "Breakfast is ready!"
     The Saotomes were inside almost before she finished her sentence.
     Everyone gathered around the table, if some more eagerly than others,
and began to feast. Without thinking, Akane and Ranma immediately sat next
to each other. They both blinked and blushed at the same time when they
realized it, but neither made any move to switch places with anyone.
    That's the way it had been ever since the failed wedding. Akane had
somehow lost of a lot of her temper directed toward Ranma (She ain't lost
all of it, he though sourly, rubbing a knot on his head she'd given him just
yesterday) and now Ranma couldn't look into her eyes for more than three
seconds without being to embarrassed to speak. He called himself a hundred
kinds of coward. He couldn't even manage to ask her if she would go.
    Blushing even more furiously, he quickly brought his rise-bowl to his
face to cover it up. Best not to think about that right now.
    Mr. Tendo was staring out the window, tapping his knee slightly with the
end of his chopsticks. "Has anyone else noticed how. quiet it has been
recently?"
    Pops nodded solemnly, looking wise and careworn-which just showed how
good an actor he was. "I have noticed the same. Even the Master-" both
Masters of Anything Goes shuddered, "-hasn't shown himself for many days."
    Nabiki yawned and nodded. "Yep. They haven't been any cursed martial
artists, fianc�es, ghosts, doppelgangers, princes, or demi-gods for almost
two weeks." She frowned, tapping her lower lip with one finger. "Perhaps
that's why business is in a slump."
    Akane snorted. "Well, I for one am glad of a little peace around here.
Right, Ranma?"
    "Err." he stuttered, "Um, yeah, I guess."
    She frowned just a little. "You guess?"
    "Well, yeah. I mean, I hate all the fiancee and ghost stuff, but I have
to admit. I like the challenge of fightin' a really good martial artist with
bizarre techniques that I can learn."
    She sighed and shook her head. "I should have known."
    "Hmm. makes me wonder, though," Ranma continued. "Since it's been so
long since my last fight. does that mean the next one is gonna be really
tough?"
    Akane punched him lightly on the jaw-so it knocked him over instead of
sending him flying away. "Don't even SAY that!" she snapped. "You never know
what kind of wacko will pop up!"
                                                        ***
    The Guide of the Pools of Sorrow at Jusenkyo leaned back in his chair,
taking a long pull from the stub of what had once been a cigarette. He
stared lazily out his cabin window, his eyes tracing over the hundreds of
bamboo polls that stuck up like the spines of a hedgehog from the cursed
springs, and absently tapped his leg with one dirty finger. He sighed and
dropped the butt onto the floor, stamping it out with one booted foot, and
then got up to pace the room.
     "Two weeks, no customers," he muttered to himself. "Maybe I should not
put out so many signs. Before, I get at least two a week." He stopped pacing
abruptly, and stood glaring out the window. "Why I never have much to do? I
ask too much to get little excitement around here?"
    A bolt of lightning thundered out of the sky, almost drowning out the
sound the a knock on his cabin door. The guide jumped slightly at the sound,
then rubbed his hands together excitedly. Customers! He skipped over to the
door with a lopsided grin, and gave it a hearty tug to make it swing open
suddenly. He grinned up at the figure, but his grin slipped as his eyes
traveled up. He blinked.
    It was a man, almost half a foot taller than the guide, with a hearty
crop of stark-white hair that stuck out in every direction in thick spikes.
His eyes were hidden by a very round pair of bright red sunglasses that
perched on the end of his pointy nose, and he had a large walking stick
propped in the crook of one arm. He was dressed in a solid black karate gi
that was ragged on the edges,  and a sturdy leather rucksack was slung over
one shoulder. The hilt of an old katana rode just above his left hip.
     The guide leaned back, wishing he still had his cigarette. "What spring
you fall in to?" he asked, baffled. "Spring of Drowned Traveling
Punker-Samurai?"
     The man blinked and stared at him, tipping his sunglasses down slightly
to reveal dark blue eyes. "What?" he asked in confusion. "What are you
talking about? Springs?"
     The guide shook his head. "Never mind. What you want?"
     The man laughed suddenly, scratching his head in embarrassment. "Well.
you see, I'm kinda' lost. Could you tell me where I am, and direct me to the
nearest town?"
     The guide sighed, and then spoke very slowly, just in case this man was
an idiot. It had happened a lot of times before. "Alright, you in China, in
mountain range called-"
     "Wait a second!" the man interrupted. "If I'm in China, why are we
speaking English?"
     "What?!" the guide snapped. "We speaking Japanese!"
     "We are?" the man replied. "Are you sure?"
     "Yes, I sure!"
     "Okay, if you're sure. Wait! If we're in China, then why are we
speaking Japanese?"
     "Because." the guide thought for a moment, but it made his head hurt,
so he growled out a very old Chinese curse instead.
     "That's not very polite," the white-haired man noted in very good
Mandarin.
     "You speak Chinese?" the guide asked. "Wonderful! Most of my customers
speak anything but it."
     "Was I speaking Chinese?" he asked in Japanese again, looking confused.
     "Yes!" the guide replied, switching over with him. "Will you make up
mind?"
     "Well, I don't speak either one, normally," the man sighed in a mix of
both languages so garbled, it took the guide a few seconds to interpret it
all.
     The guide stared at him a moment, then threw his hands up in the air.
"You want directions or not?!"
     The man waved at him defensively. "Alright, alright! Jeez, you don't
have to be grouch. I just want to get my bearings."
     The guide huffed a few seconds, and then snapped "Alright, which way
you come from?"
     Punk-head pointed vaguely to the west with one finger, right over the
top of the cursed springs.
     "You come over cursed springs?" he gasped surprized and a little
dissapointed. "And you not even fall in?"
     The man frowned. "You keep going on about springs. What springs? When I
walked over there, it was just a bunch of rolling hills and cliffs. Of
course, it was a little hard to see in the fog." He trailed off, and he went
a little pail. "Oh, hells! That must have been the dimensional shift! Um.
where did you say we were again?"
     "You not let me say it! We at Jusenkyo, where Pools of Sorrow spring,
and if any fall in spring, they take body of whoever drown in last."
     The man's mouth fell open, his face going slowly gray, then red, then a
faintly greenish cast. He let out a little squeak and leapt suddenly into
the air, clinging to the rafters with a white-knuckle grip. "No, no, no,
nonono!" he chanted feverishly, shaking.         "No more curses! Especially
not one like that! Never one like that!"
     He vaulted down suddenly, taking the guide's hand in a brisk handshake.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Guide, but I suddenly remember an
appointment with my, uh, psychologist that I must get to at once." With
that, he bashed the door down in his hurry to get away, casting a "See ya!"
over his shoulder as he ran. In a few seconds, only a trail of dust marked
his passage, heading into the cliffs over looking the Cursed Springs of
Jusenkyo.
     The guide shook his head and rubbed his chin. He had an strange feeling
that he would be seeing that one again very soon...
                                                             ***
     The white-haired man panted slightly at the top of a dominating cliff,
a slight sheen of sweat gleaming in his forehead, but he felt relieved
anyway.
     "Sai Darksbane," he muttered to himself, "You have got to have worst
luck in the world."
    It was the cursed springs that changed people into stuff when you fell
in. It had to be. He had seen too many things out of storybooks turn out to
be real to discount anime coming to life, too. He didn't know why he had
ended up in China, or what perverse joke someone was trying to play on him,
but it wasn't going to work. He had run very far away, and he was not going
to turn into anything when splashed with cold water. He grinned.
    "Ha!" he shouted, raising his arms in the air. "Didn't work, did it?
Your little plan failed, and I 'm not going to get another curse! So there!"
Sai's last words echoed well into the distance, reverberating from cliff to
cliff. He was glad at his change in fortune, and wanted the whole world to
know it. Nah, he was safe now. There was no way he was going to fall in one
of those springs from here.
    It's too bad that Fate still had a bone to pick.
    Sai's voice's echo returned after a couple moments, only a hundred times
louder. Suddenly, there was an ear-wrenching crack, and the rocks beneath
Sai shifted. Then, a large gap appeared in the massive stone, and there was
a slow rumbling sound as the rock began to move.
    "Uh, oh."
    The entire side of the cliff went sliding off-and he went with it.
Desperately, he tried to leap back to the remaining part off the precipice,
but he was thrown off-balance and ended up jumping farther away instead of
closer. And then, he began to fall. He looked down, and then his face
contorted in horror. It wasn't the falling itself that scared him (though
that would hurt, he could survive it); it was the fact that he could see the
cursed springs directly beneath him that sent his panic button into
overdrive.
    As he plunged closer, he knew he had to do something, or something very
unpleasant was going to happen-again. Of course, that same Something told
him that, whatever he did, he was going to end up in a spring anyway.
    He ignored it.
    "I don't think so!" he roared, and his hands started to glow. He swiftly
brought them together, the springs spiraling ever nearer.
    "TAKE THIS!"  His eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched, he pushed all
the ki that he could through his hands. The golden beam of light struck the
ground with terrific force, and sent him shooting upward again, away from
the springs. Sai laughed at his triumph, and he sailed high into the air.
    Sai looked around tiredly, exhausted from his effort. His eyes widened
when he realized what was happening. He was going high. Very high. Too high.
He passed over the rocky hills, over the top of the cliff, and still kept
going. Things were beginning to look not quite as good as he had thought.
    As gravity slowly caught up with him, he began to slow down. Then, he
once more began to fall. He wasn't sure whether he was going to live or not,
but at least he wasn't going to get cursed anymore. He smiled and closed his
eyes, living in his last thrill as the air rushed past him in his rapid
descent to the ground below. He opened his eyes to catch the view. And
stared right down at the cursed springs of Jusenkyo.
    Sai groaned. All he had succeeded in doing was shoot himself straight
into the air. He tried to do another attack, but he had put far too much
into the last one in his moment of desperation.
    He made a mental note, in case he survived: Never overreact.
    "I hate my life," he moaned, and then he knew no more.
                                                            ***
     The guide looked up suddenly from his book, and grinned slightly at the
familiar splash. It was time to go to work.
     He paused for a moment, making a bet with himself on which spring it
was this time, as he reached into his pocket to feel for his signs. He had
to use the Chinese Hidden Weapons technique to keep them all in there (along
with other certain useful items,) but it was worth it. Much easier than
coming all the way back for one.
    He hurried out of the little cabin and down the stairs, and was soon
searching around to see which spring they had landed in. After a moment,
someone floated to the surface, and he immediately whipped out the
appropriate sign.
    "Ah, you fall in Nyanichuan, Spring of Drowned Girl!" he began
cheerfully. "It have too too tragic story of young girl that drown." he
trailed off as he realized that whoever-it-was was floating face-down. He
grabbed a catch-pole out of his pocket (this was a very handy technique) and
hooked the girl in black with it, making sure not to lose the leather
rucksack on her shoulder.
    He set her upright, and made sure she was breathing. He blinked at her
hair. It was odder than most, with spiky white locks sticking out among more
docile red ones, and was wildly everywhere even when wet. She had a pair of
crimson sunglasses on the tip of her nose.
    The guide smiled. "I had feeling I see you again, Mr. Customer."
                                                            ***
    Sai slowly came awake, feeling like he had been beaten with several
steel baseball bats, stomped on by an ornery elephant, and then picked up
and thrown down on concrete a few times-just for good measure. Slowly, some
of the memory of what just happened trickled back into his brain. A
statistic came unbidden to his thoughts, something about hitting water from
a fall of 200 feet or more is just the same as falling on concrete from that
distance. That didn't make him feel much better.
    Then, the rest of what had happened filtered back into his conscious
mind. His eyes shot open. He brought his hand around and smoothed away the
hair that was in his face, but froze mid-movement. Since when did he ever
have hair in his face? It stuck up too much (even when soaking wet) for it
to do that. And it was red, too. What.? Then, movement attracted his
attention, and an Asian-looking man stepped up to him. He had an odd-looking
tan uniform, plain except for a single gold pin on the hat, and he was
grinning merrily down at Sai. It was the guide.
    "Nice see you again, Miss Customer! You OK?" he said to Sai in what
sounded like broken English, but he could never tell anymore.
    "Yeah, I'm fine, I think." His voice sounded odd to him; far too
high-pitched and light.     "I've had worse, that's for sure, so don't
worry-"
    Wait a second.  Miss?
    He sat up quickly, and noticed a strange weight on his chest.
Hesitantly, he looked down at himself. And saw something that was definitely
not part of the male anatomy.
His (or rather, her) first impulse was to faint dead away, but her training
to take unexpected shocks kicked in, and she overcame that quickly. Her
second reaction, however, was somewhat less. quiet.
    "You fall in Nynichuan, Spring of Drow-"
    Sai's hand shot out at the guide, stopping a bare inch in front of his
face, with her fingers spread. "Sayosogenkiha!" she roared.
    The only ki attack Sai had ever created himself erupted from her hand.
It was invisible except for a slight wavering in the air, like heat waves
from a bonfire, but was a wave of force as solid and as fast as a runaway
freight train. The hapless guide went flying backward, crashing through
several large trees before smashing into a nearby cliff face, and causing
little cracks to spider-web outward on the brown-gray stone.
    "I.Itae."
    But Sai wasn't going to stop there. A brilliant crimson aura sprang up
around her, reflecting in little arcs of light on her sunglasses.  She
searched the area for offensive objects on which to vent her rage.
    "Sayosogenkiha!" A large boulder exploded into pebbles.
    "Ha!" The warning sign for the springs shattered into a hurricane of
splinters.
    "Ha!" She smashed the guide, who had just begun to recover, back into
the wall.
    "Ha! Ha! HA!"
    Sai's breath came in and out raggedly, and her arms hung limp at her
sides. There was destruction everywhere after her temper tantrum. In fact,
it seemed the old cabin had been the only thing within a 200-foot radius to
escape unharmed. She tried to take deeper, calming breaths, and to
concentrate away from her anger. Honestly, she didn't know what made her
that angry; she had never blown up like that when she got her other horrible
curses. She guessed it must be something about being female.
    Wait a second! Sai thought, Didn't that witch tell me about another
curse? A seventh curse? One that she thought was a "doozy"?
    She shook her head. Cursed seven times. She wondered if there were some
sort of significance to that number.
    Sai shivered. He was beginning to even think of himself as a she.
She-he, blast it!- needed some hot water, and needed it now.
    She rummaged around in her duffel bag for the fire-starting kit, but
discovered that that, all of her spare gis except one, and her first-aid kit
were missing. She guessed they must have fallen into the cursed spring.
Well, she wasn't going to risk going back there again, so she decided to
"borrow" the guides cabin. He was sure to have a fireplace and a pot there.
So, she peeled him off the side of the cliff, dumped him unceremoniously
over her shoulder ("Itae!",) and carried him to his little abode.
    Luckily for her, he already had a pot of boiling water going, and she
took it off for a while to let it cool down. She tapped and fidgeted for
several minute, trying very hard to concentrate on nothing, and generally
doing badly at it. Then, she quickly dumped it on herself, and after a
heartfelt sigh of relief, he carefully put it back.
    The guide was still not really able to move, and now, after the fact,
Sai felt a little sorry for him. After all, he was only doing his job. In
fact, now that he was a guy again (and it felt good) he couldn't understand
why he had overreacted so much. After all, it can't be too much worse than
the Challenge Curse, could it?
    He sighed, and sat down on an old stool. He was very tired from today's
ordeal, both physically and mentally, and he needed some rest. Well, he
would spend the night, steal some food from the guide (okay, maybe he didn't
feel that guilty) and would keep going east tomorrow. He didn't really know
why he chose east, but he supposed it was as good a direction as any. After
all, he really didn't have a purpose to go anywhere yet.
    Outside, a rumble of thunder announced the arrival of a storm, and then
rain began to pelt the roof of the cabin. The sweet smell of tropical rain
filled the little house, and a cool breeze settled through the open window.
Sai scowled. He hoped it didn't continue on into the next day, but with his
luck, it would continue into the next week.
    He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, trying to remember what
it was like a little over two years ago, back when he was your average
American high-school-going teenager. How he and his sisters had read books,
went on trips, and watched anime. He had even thought Ranma Saotome turning
into a girl was funny! Now, it was far from funny. It was a stabbing
reminder of the new form he had acquired, and all his other curses.
    He sighed despondently, rolling his eyes skyward. "Old man, why did you
pick me? Why did I have to be the one? Isn't there anyone else with better
qualifications?"
    Only thunder answered him. Sai shook his head, telling himself not to
get depressed. He had done that long enough. Things were just beginning for
him, after all. He had adventure ahead, new people to meet, things to learn,
and the Road to travel. It was what he had always wanted. And yet.
    Sai wished his master were still around to guide him. The old man would
know what to do. He always had, right until the very end. But he was alone,
now. Alone against an army of darkness that wanted nothing better than to
kill him, and his family.
    "Gee, I'm great at not getting depressed," he muttered with a grin. He
struck a dramatic pose, clutching his chest with one hand and reaching up
toward heaven with the other. "Ack! Can't. hold on! Gotta. do something
cheerful!" He chuckled and settled back, thinking of his home.
    He fell asleep listening to the thunder, and the soft patter of the rain
on the rooftop. A small tear streaked across his cheek as he slept, dreaming
of a day not so long ago, when he had trained and battled and shouted with
his master, from the early streaks of sunrise to the last beams of sunset.
                                                               ***
    "Oh, no!" Sai groaned, "Not AGAIN!"
    He quickly tried to hide behind a large overhanging rock, using his
rucksack as a shield, but it was too late. The sudden rainstorm had already
soaked him through.
It had been almost two weeks since he had left the guide's cabin, and he
felt every moment of it. He had lost count of the number of sudden
rainfalls, gizer bursts, and squirts of water from nowhere that changed his
form. He was really sick of being a girl so much of the time.
    There were several things that she really hated about his cursed form.
The first was, she was almost a foot shorter. It's quite a shock to the ego
of someone who was tallest in his family to suddenly become the shortest
with just a spray of cold water. Second, was the size of her hips. The
female hips are much larger than male ones, and not only get in the way of
practicing fighting, but you kind of have to assume a twisting, rolling walk
that's a lot different from what guys do. She wondered how her sister Elaine
managed to swim so well.
    She shuddered at the thought of swimming, remembering the miles and
miles of ocean she had crossed. It still made her insides knot up.
    Sai had never been one that was very good at sea. He generally got sick
just looking at boats in a harbor, and trying with all her might to conquer
the roaring and lapping waves, the swirling eddies, and the occasional
whirlpool for almost two days on end was enough for her to be violently sick
the entire journey.
    Her stomach convulsed, and she quickly changed her line of thought. She
knew one thing for sure from this whole business. He never wanted to be on
the ocean again.
    She sighed, and got to her feet, grimly deturmined to keep going. It had
been days since she had a decent meal, and she was dead set on eating well
tonight. Her eyes lit up with the sudden visions of sirloin steak, thick,
honeyed bread, and mountains of mashed potatoes covered in butter, salt and
pepper. Then, there would be ice cream, and cake, and pie, and.
    While she had been going over all this in her head, she hadn't noticed
that that her feet had kept walking. They led her down the side of a
highway, along a paved sidewalk, through narrow, curving streets and
twisting side-streets, and into a general housing area. She was so caught up
in attempting to conjure up a  lunch, that she failed to acknowledge the
large "Welcome to Nerima" sign, or the large okonomiaki shop, and the Ramen
noodle place with broad red letters proclaiming it the Nekohanten. What did
make him sit up and take notice, though, was the sudden downpour of old
dishwater that came from above.
    "Hey, honey, don't you think you should look outside before you dump
that out?'
    "No, dear, that's not really necessary. I've never had anyone complain
yet, so I don't think I've hit anybody."
    Sai fumed in silence,  and stocked off down the street with a faint red
glow surrounding her. Wherever she was, she was already beginning to dislike
the place.
    She turned around a street corner, shaking the loose water out of her
shoulder-length hair, and searching for the leather strip she had made a
week ago to tie it back. She had discovered that, in the past two years or
so, her hair (or rather, her hair when she was a he) had grown considerably,
but he hadn't noticed because of how much it stuck up. She hated it getting
in her face, so it seemed only practical to tie it back in a pony tail. Is
still looked a little funny, what with the white parts bristling out
furiously, but it worked well enough. Oddly, the idea of cutting it had not
yet occurred to her.
    And of course, the moment she slowed down to find the thing was
precisely the wrong moment to not be paying attention.
                                                                ***
    "Ranma!" Akane roared, in hot pursuit of her shape-changing fianc�, and
a massive mallet cocked and ready. "Come back here!"
    "Are you nuts?!" the female Ranma shouted over her shoulder, dodging a
passing businessman. "I don't wanna get pounded!"
    True, this didn't happen as often as it used to, but sometime Akane just
really had to vent. Besides, she could admit now that this was kind of.
well, fun.
    The red-head leapt into the air and cut sharply around a corner, but
Akane would not be shaken off so easily. She skidded around the corner, and
it took her only a moment to spot Ranma again. She had somehow managed to
change into a black gi with red sunglasses, and changed her hair a bit, but
Akane wasn't fooled for an instant. With that hair coupled with that body,
she could follow Ranma anywhere.
    Ranma apparently thought her disguise was working, because she wasn't
running anywhere. Well, Akane would make sure that she didn't run anywhere
for a long while. She charged at the red-head, grinning madly with her
mallet raised high.
    "Take this, you pervert!"
    "Huh? Hey! Who are you calling a-"
    *WHAM!*
    Akane smiled in smug satisfaction, and dusted her hands off on a job
well done. She had even knocked Ranma out this time, which it seemed he was
becoming immune to lately. She turned away with a toss of her head, not even
bothering to look closely at who she'd clobbered. Then she head a very
familiar voice.
    "Akane! Look what ya've done! Ya knocked some innocent girl out cold!"
    Akane whirled around, and to her horror, she saw Ranma standing over
what she thought had been Ranma, apparently checking for a pulse. With a
squeal, she rushed back to her victim's side.
    "Oh, no! I thought she was you!"
    "Let's get her back to the dojo." Ranma sighed. "Kasumi 'll fix her
right up."
    Carefully carrying the burden between them, they made their way back to
the Tendo Dojo. During the whole time going back, Akane kept looking at the
girl, and then Ranma, the girl, and Ranma. They could have used each other
for shaving mirrors, except for the bits of white hair-that is, if girls
shaved their faces. She told Ranma so, and she grunted in agreement.
    "Kinda makes me wonder," she muttered. "There could be lots a' guys that
could of fallen in Nyuanichuan, I guess."
    Akane only shrugged, and looked nervously at the unconscious form
between them. She hoped that whoever it was would be nice about all this.
After all, she had meant to beat her senseless. Really!
                                                                ***
    Sai groaned and shifted, and swore to him/herself that she would never
let someone knock her out like that again. In her fairly extensive
experience with it, she always woke up with a headache that made moving
around a particularly painful experience. But, she ignored that, and tried
to focus on the memory of the girl that had mallet-ed her. Whoever she was,
she certainly wasn't your normal, run-of-the-mill teenage girl. She could
have leveled a building with the blow she dealt her.
    Then, as the rest of Sai's senses returned, she sat up quickly. She
could feel chi nearby, and though she hadn't really developed any real sense
of it besides predicting punches, even she could tell they were huge. She
got up slowly, noting with some relief that her duffel bag was still nearby
and un-searched, and her sword was lying beside it. She wondered who had
taken her in after the girl had, ah. incapacitated her.
    Sai growled slightly, rubbing her throbbing head. Whoever that was, she
was going to pay. She squinted, trying to remember what the girl had look
like. Then, it all seemed to fall into place, like a demented jigsaw puzzle.
    Brunette.
    Called her a pervert.
    Mallet.
    A China with Jusenkyo springs.
    She had been walloped by none other than Akane Tendo.
    Sai paced the room, wondering what exactly was going to happen now. She
felt very odd. Not only was she in another universe (she'd been in three
besides her own now, true, but it was still weird,) but she was in one that
some woman from Japan had made up and turned into a manga. Would the real
people be different? How was she supposed to act around them?
    It would be nice to have a hot meal and a bath (very, very nice) but
oddly, at the same time, she didn't want to be imposing. She agonized on it
for a bit, but in the end, her will to no longer be a she won out. She
walked over to the side of the tatami room and started to open the door, but
stopped when she heard voices outside. She hesitated a moment, then pressed
her ear to the crack to listen.
    ".she alright?" asked a soft, girl's voice.
    "Yeah, I think so," another replied. "But, she'll probably be out for a
little while. I mean, Akane, did you have ta' nail 'er so hard?"
    "It was a mistake! I thought she was you! Come on, you look exactly
alike."
    "Not really, Akane," said a slightly lower female voice, "Didn't you see
that girl's hair? It was way different from Ranma-chan's. But that doesn't
mean you had to hit Ranma so hard, either."
    There was a snort. "Oh, he can take it."
    "Yeah, but just cuz' I can take it doesn't mean I should have to." There
was a brief pause. "Hmm. Looks like whoever-it-is is awake. Must have a
thick skull."
    Sai blinked, wondering if it was a complement or an insult. She didn't
have much time to dwell on it though, because there was suddenly the sound
of footsteps coming her way. She leapt back from the door, and it slid open
to reveal people Sai had always thought were just stories.
    Ranma, of course, currently stood at only a few inches shorted, but had
the exact same build, and would have the exact color hair that Sai did if it
weren't for all the white locks. She also, as usual, wore a red Chinese
style shirt with little gold tabs called "turtles", and a pair of black
slacks that looked too long for her.
    Akane currently was taller than Ranma by a couple inches, about a bare
inch shorter than Sai, and had straight black hair cut to just below the
chin. She wore a simple white blouse and navy skirt, and the sandal-like
slippers Japanese wore inside flopped slightly when she moved. Glancing at
Sai, she had a decidedly guilty expression.
    She bowed low, her hands clutched tightly together in front of her.
"Gomennasai!" she begged, not looking up. "I thought you were hi-her. I
really didn't mean to hit you! Honest!"
    Sai had a moment where she struggled with herself. As guy, he would have
forgiven her instantly (it was a mistake, after all-and he didn't want to
get on Ranma's bad side by hitting her) but as a girl, it was a little
harder for her to get her emotions under control. She was pretty sure it was
because she was just not used to the type of hormones running through her
system. She sighed.
    "It's alright. I know you didn't mean to-at least not to me-" she took a
surreptitious glance at the other redhead "-and besides, there's not really
any permanent damage done. Consider it forgotten."
    Akane gaped at Sai. What did I do now? Sai thought.
    "Well, hey, forgot to introduce myself," Ranma said. "The names Ranma
Saotome, and this is Akane Tendo, my. fianc�e." She made a short bow. Odd or
not, these people were Japanese to their fingertips.
    "Er, uh, Saidam Darksbane," Sai replied, bowing clumsily in return, "But
please, call me Sai."
    "Nice ta meet cha'." Akane murmured something similar.
    They stood in awkward silence for a moment.
    "Uh." Sai said hesitantly. "You wouldn't happen to have some hot water
nearby, would you?"
    Ranma nodded with satisfaction. "Somehow, I knew you were gonna say
that. Come on, I'll show ya."
    So, the redhead led the other two down the hallway and into the kitchen,
where there was a kettle on the stove. Kasumi was not in at the time;
probably waiting in the living room for Sai to be introduced. Ranma snatched
the copper boiler off the stove and promptly poured it out onto herself.
Then, when the blurring cleared, the male Ranma Saotome appeared, almost a
foot taller than his female version. His coal black hair still hung in a
pigtail, and his eyes turned to a slightly darker blue.
    He handed the kettle to Sai. "I take it ya know the drill," he told her.
Sai nodded briskly, and then poured the hot water over her head.
                                                            ***
     What emerged was one of the strangest-looking people that Ranma had
ever seen. And Ranma had seen his fair share of oddballs.
    He had a sort of similar build to Ranma, but that's where the
similarities ended. His stark-white, incredibly spiky hair gave him another
three inches besides his already imposing height, and Ranma, just for a
moment, thought he saw a glint of silver eyes through those red sunglasses.
But, all of those things alone weren't exactly spectacular.     It was his
demeanor as a whole, and his chi signal, that made Saidam Darksbane look
very striking and unusual.
    "Well, I guess you fell in Nyanichuan too, huh?" he asked suddenly.
    "Sure did," Sai told him sourly. "And believe me, as one who has been
cursed many times, it's the worst one I've gotten yet."
    Cursed many times? Ranma thought. What does that mean? Cursed with what?
His eyes narrowed. Something ain't right here. He didn't even blink when I
said she was my fiancee.
    "What's that supposed to mean?" Akane was demanding.
    "How would you like it if you turned into a guy when you were splashed
with cold water?"
    "Um. well, I-" she faltered, shivering.
    "My point exactly."
    "Anyways," Ranma told Akane, "Don't you think we should introduce him ta
everyone else?"
    She gave a start. "Oh, right! Follow me, Sai." He nodded silently, and
then followed Ranma and Akane down the hall again, and into the main room.
Conversation came to a sudden halt when they appeared, and everyone stared
up at the newcomer to the Tendo Dojo.
    "Hey, everyone," Akane told them. "This is Sai Darksbane, the guy I.
uh."
    "Mallet-ed," Ranma supplied, and Akane glared at him. The punk-haired
kid gave a bow to everyone as they were introduced, though he looked very
nervous for some reason. It almost seemed like what he might do if he was
meeting someone famous, or something.
    Kasumi smiled graciously (of course) but Ranma noticed Nabiki do a
double-take when they first brought Sai into the room. She dropped her
notepad, and it lay unnoticed on the floor. Ranma had to try really hard to
keep from laughing when she smoothly made Sai's acquaintance while her
cheeks were rapidly becoming red. Sai didn't seemed to even notice. He was
too busy looked awkward and unsure.
    Soun Tendo was properly studious and polite, but he kept a sharp eye on
Nabiki, ever on the lookout for proper husband material. Pop was kinda wary,
and gruff as usual, but he wasn't a total jerk and an idiot all of the time.
Just about 95% of it.
    "So, " Mr. Tendo began softly, "What brings you to Nerima, Sai
Darksbane?"
    "Well..." he said hesitantly. "To tell you the truth, not much, and yet,
a whole lot."
    There was a short silence.
    "What?" Ranma asked.
    He sighed. "Well, to make a long and painful story short, you could say
I'm just some guy from America who decided to become a traveling martial
artist, bent on becoming stronger. In my travels, though they are short so
far, fate pulled enough strings to get me dumped in Nyanichuan."
    The Tendos and Saotomes nodded. That was something they understood.
    "So, you are a martial artist then?" Akane asked him "Would you like to
spar?"
    "Well, I, uh."
    "Great! I'll go up to my room to change. Ranma, would you show Sai the
dojo?" Without waiting for an answer, she bounded up the stairs. It could
have been Ranma's imagination, but he could swear there was a sweat drop
running down the punk-haired kid's neck.
    "Uh. sorry 'bout that." Ranma told him. "She'll spar with anybody who
mutters the words 'martial artist' given half a chance."
    "It's okay, I guess. Enthusiasm's better than the alternative."
    "Yeah, most of the time. Alright, guess I better show you where it is."
    Ranma led Sai (he seemed to be doing a lot of leading that day) to the
dojo, and they waited there for only a couple minutes, looking at each other
warily. There was something that nagged Ranma about this guy. Something that
felt. really strange. Sai also seemed have a measuring look in his eyes as
Ranma stared him down. Ranma suddenly didn't feel that this spar was a good
idea.
    Ranma felt Akane's chi getting closer, and turned to see her jogging
this way. He gave Sai a careful look. Though it seemed weird for some reason
he couldn't put his finger on, Ranma could tell that this guy's chi seemed
to be a lot smaller than Akane's. He decided that he better warn him. Now,
how was he was going to word this?
    "Uh. Maybe we should do this some other time?"
    Sai blinked. "Why? I won't do anything bad, if that's you're worried
about."
    "Hey! I'm not worried, just. Be careful, okay? Akane's a lot stronger
than she looks."
"    I kinda noticed that," Sai replied, rubbing his forehead.
    Ranma shrugged. "I'm just warnin' ya. Don't try to outdo her in sheer
strength, or you're gonna get mangled."
    "Thanks for the tip. I just love it when people tell me the obvious."
    He smirked at Ranma. Ranma hadn't quite decided whether it was just a
joke or not when Akane walked in.
    "Ready?" she asked excitedly, and Sai nodded hesitantly, scratching his
head almost the exact same way Ranma always did.
    They crossed the floor to stand in the center, and Ranma leaned against
the wall to watch. Now he would see how good this Saidam Darksbane really
was.
    They bowed to each other, and stepped back. "I'll tell you this right
now, Akane," he told her uneasily, "I have no qualms about hitting girls. If
I did, I would never have survived childhood in my family."
    "That's just fine." Akane grinned. "Ranma refuses to hit me, even when
he's a girl. This'll be nice for a change."
    Akane shifted into a fairly neutral karate stance, and Sai moved into a
the stance of a style that Ranma didn't recognize. And then, they went at
it.
                                                                ***
    Sai rolled easily away from Akane's probing punches, thinking furiously.
He was sure that the chi usage that he had been allowed in his fights with
the old man would be overkill in just a friendly spar, so he had to rely on
his somewhat limited strength and speed. Now, she was obviously much
stronger than Aarel Hightower had been, but he didn't think she had his
swiftness of movement. Only problem was, with the no chi restriction he had
just placed on himself, he would be hard-pressed to keep up anyway. He
considered his alternatives as he launched a light offensive, and decided
that he would only use that level of energy only if she used it first.
    Akane led in with two swift kicks, and Sai smoothly dodged the first and
redirected the other, and shot back with an in-air spinning roundhouse.
Akane simply took it with one forearm, and landed a solid punch to his
mid-section. He rolled backward with the shot and landed nimbly on his feet,
but apparently Akane had decided the warm-up was over.
    She rushed at him at a much greater pace, and her punches came at least
twice as hard a before. He was able to see every move coming, but was
helpless to stop it from doing damage. He was beginning to get hit more and
more often, and he knew that, at this rate, he would have to give up soon.
He was almost reconciled to the idea, when something in him, something that
he hadn't even realized was there, changed his mind.
    He realized, he didn't like to lose.
                                                            ***
    Ranma shook his head. He could tell that Sai was more than one level up
on Akane in skill, precision and strategy, but it didn't counterbalance
enough against her far superior strength and at least equal speed. He was
getting less and less out of every movement, and Akane was gradually
pressing forward. It wouldn't be much longer before he would have to give
up.
    Then, something happened. Akane swung a tight blow right at Sai's face
that Ranma was sure would put him out cold again, but somehow, he caught it.
Suddenly, a brilliant white aura appeared around him, and in that instant,
his chi must have at least tripled. His other hand shot forward, and Akane
was knocked backward, but she didn't look too hurt. Then, things definitely
made a turn for the worse for her. The glowing Sai seemed to be not only
nearly Akane's strength (which was more than considerable) but his speed was
super-increased at well, if not quite up to Ranma's level.
    The fight continued that way from there. Sai seemed to know every move
Akane was going to pull before she did. He could deflect away her
anger-powered lunges every time, and returned them with stinging force.
Then, he kicked it into full gear, getting in two rapid snap-kicks to either
side of Akane's face, and then hammering her away with a fierce uppercut to
the stomach. Ranma twitched slightly as the sound. She rolled quickly
backward, but he was on her already. She was still on the ground when he
leapt forward to get right in front of her. His right hand shot forward,
inches from her face, and a golden ball of light formed in his palm. Ranma
tensed, ready to jump in.
    Then, the ball of chi and the white aura disappeared, and Sai stepped
back. Akane was stunned. There was a moment's pause while both of them
puffed and gasped a little, and then the white-haired man smiled and
extended a hand.
    "Looks like you lose," he told her softly. "But you put up a terrific
fight."
Hesitantly, she allowed him to help her up, but her stunned expression
became an insulted one.
    "You mean you were just playing with me at first?" she demanded.
    Sai shook his head. "No, I respect you too much for that. I just didn't
want to have this fight with an unfair advantage. I wasn't sure how much
control you had of your chi, so I waited until the last instant to see what
you would do."
    Akane just stared at him, uncertain what to say.
    "Well," Ranma said. "I ain't sayin' that it's the most spectacular fight
I've ever seen-or been in-but I think both of you did pretty good."
    Akane smiled hesitantly. "Thank you, Ranma."
    "Now, don't get any ideas," he told Sai. "I ain't always this nice."
    "Oh, I think I'd have to disagree with you there, Ranma," Sai replied.
"And besides, I know I'm not on par with you."
    "And how would ya know that?" Ranma demanded. It was beginning to get
kinda scary. Nothing phased this guy; nothing surprised him.
    Sai suddenly looked as if he had said too much. "Ah. because I can feel
your chi, and it's much stronger than mine, and-"
    "So's Akane's. But that changed, didn't it?"
    "Uh."
    "So, are you saying that he's heard of you or something, Ranma?" Akane
sked. "From America? Jeez, I didn't think even you were that cocky."
    "No, that ain't what I meant! It's just that he hasn't reacted with
surprise ta anything he's seen. I mean, when I turned back into a guy, he
looked like it was the most natural thing in the world."
    "He does have that curse too, Ranma. Did you ever think of that?"
    "Yeah, I know, but I also know it's gotta be more than that. Come on,
he-"
    "I think," Akane interrupted. "That you're just afraid of him. Admit
it!"
    "I ain't afraid a anything, Akane!"
    "Oh, really? What about cats. How about that, Ranma?"
    He flinched at the word, and then glared harder at Akane. "You are so
un-cute."
    "Ranmaaa."
    Sai cleared his throat loudly, and both turned their glares on him. He
didn't seem to notice. "Pardon me," he said dryly. "Should I leave you two
alone?"
    "NO!" Ranma and Akane shouted in unison, blushing with renewed fever.
They looked at each other in surprise. After a huffy glance about, Akane
stomped out of the room. Ranma heard Sai heave an audible sigh of relief.
    "You know, Ranma," he told him. "You would get in scrapes with Akane a
lot less often if you just paused a moment before switching feet to put in
your mouth."
    Ranma whirled around to face him. "See, and there's another thing ya
know about us! Now, don't get me wrong. So far of what I seen of you, you
seem like a pretty good guy. But, with you keeping all these secrets, and
then all the stuff ya seem to know or are not surprised at. it makes me
suspicious. I don't trust ya. And I won't trust ya until you explain
yourself." He stared at Sai, waiting for an answer.
    He sighed. "Alright, Ranma. On my honor, I promise to explain myself-"
he paused, and his stomach gave an audible rumble, "-right after dinner."
Ranma began to sweat.     "We can talk on the rooftop, where it's nice and
private."
    Ranma considered it a moment, and then nodded. "Agreed, then." Sai told
him, extending his right hand. Ranma took it.
    "Agreed."
                                                            ***
    After they carefully asked in conversation to see if he had anywhere to
go, they invited Sai to stay at the dojo for as long as he liked, so he
could train. Provided, by the traditional house guest laws of Nabiki Tendo,
that he did chores and errands around the dojo. He heartily agreed without
even thinking, anxious to get to dinner.
    They were having sukiyaki that night, and to the woman known to be a
ruthless money-pincher, it was accompanied by the absolutely horrible
realization that they had another Saotome-like appetite in the house. Aside
from Nabiki, who was working furiously on her notepad with expected costs
and necessary chores to counterbalance them, everyone was having a pretty
good time.
    The dinner conversation got a little odd at times, though. There were
some definite culture clashes between these Japanese families and the
born-and-bred American Saidam Darksbane. But, since these families were also
extremely unusual, they adapted well to different views of things. Most of
the time.
    "So, is your mother a very good cook?" Kasumi asked innocently.
    "Actually," he told her "My mom couldn't boil water if you stood over
her shoulder, giving her instructions through the entire procedure."
    There was a bit of a silence, where everyone most definitely did not
look at Akane.
    "Then," Soun Tendo said, sounding confused, "Who did the cooking before
she had any daughters-and I'm assuming that you do have sisters?"
    Sai nodded. "Yeah, I do have sisters, but most of them don't really like
to cook. It's really always been my dad that did all the cooking."
    There was a shocked silence, and everyone stared at him. Even Ranma
paused, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth.
    "That's just weird!" he exclaimed.
    Sai shook his head. "Well, actually, if you think about it, most of the
world's greatest chefs are men. I know that might seem a bit strange to you,
but it's true. And besides, I like to cook. And I think I'm pretty good at
it, too."
    Then, the conversation went sort of back to normal. Kasumi questioned
Sai about different cooking techniques, and he gave his prompt and frank
opinion. It went on like that a little while, until Akane thought of another
trigger question.
    "So, Sai. You said you have sisters? How many?"
    Sai stared at her a moment, and then grimaced. "Well. seven."
    The silence was practically deafening.
    "Seven?!" she gasped.
    This time, everyone began talking at once. Nabiki started to flip
rapidly through her notepad, muttering to herself about calculating the cost
of such a family. Mr. Tendo exclaimed how hard it was at times with three
daughters, much less seven and a son. Mr. Saotome just shook his head and
went back to eating, and Kasumi was saying how simply wonderful it would be



to have so much family around the house.
    The conversation was a little restrained for a while, but it mellowed
out again, and soon, dinner was over. Sai helped out with the dishes
(careful to stay away from the cold water) and soon, the evening was drawing
to a close. Sai went outside to look at the night sky, and was only there a
few minutes when Ranma walked up behind him.
    "I think it's time we had that little talk," he told him, and Sai nodded
silently. Ranma leapt easily onto the top of the dojo, and Sai followed suit
with slightly more difficulty. He turned around and faced Sai, his whole
demeanor announcing 'I'm waiting'.
    "Alright," Sai said firmly, sitting down. "Let's start at the beginning.
This is going to take a while."



Alright, it's done. The first chapter. Should I continue this? Is it worth
posting? I'm honestly not sure. SWD's (what I call stories with this
character) are mostly to help me with writers block. I guess I'll just have
to see.

Reguads,
AJ Andreason





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