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Okay... I went back and corrected a few mistakes in this chapter and manually 
redid the wordwrapping. Enjoy!



-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: reflection1.txt

Disclaimer:

	I don't own Ranma Nibunnoichi. I don't own Sailor Moon. Yet. Once my grand 
scheme for world domination falls into place... Hehe...

-------------------

	Ranma awoke with a start. Something about his body felt... off. Quickly 
doing an internal assessment, he felt several problems. His ki-flows were wildly 
distorted, feeling as if something had taken his life force and stirred it 
around with an eggbeater. His knees showed signs of old injuries, ones that had 
never properly healed. In fact, if he read them right, they had been inflicted 
before his bones had fully hardened after birth. Only a few people he knew of 
had the ability to cause this, and he quickly decided who it must've been.
	"Oh, great. Pops must've really pissed off Happousai this time," he 
thought as he began losing himself in the lengthy process of repairing his life 
force, "Wonder what he did to the Pervert to warrant this."
	As he realized just how long it was going to take, he began to grumble. 
"Thank goodness it's a Sunday," he murmured, untangling a particularly nasty 
knot.

-------------------

	Reflection,

	By

	Aleh,

	Chapter One: Through the Looking Glass

-------------------

	Saotome Nodoka was worried. Even allowing for Ranma's habit of sleeping in 
late and the fact that there wasn't any school today... "He should have been 
down an hour ago, at the latest," she thought, walking over to the back yard 
where Ranko and Genma were sparring.
	"Have either of you seen Ranma?" she asked, and watched in amusement as 
they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs as they turned to respond, 
forgetting that they were currently in the air.
	"No, Mom," Ranko said after she had managed to untangle herself, "Maybe 
he's still asleep?"
	Genma just grunted. "What a worthless excuse for a boy. Not only is he a 
cripple, but sleeping in?"
	Nodoka quietly hit him over the head with a small mallet. "None of that, 
Dearest. You know what I think about you talking like that about our son."
	Genma grunted again, managing to look almost put-upon.
	"I'll check his room, then," Nodoka said, turning around and walking to 
the staircase.
	"You do that!" Ranko yelled as she and Genma started up again.

-------------------

	Nodoka opened her son's door quietly, trying to avoid waking him up if he 
was still asleep.
What she saw shocked her beyond belief. Ranma was sitting on his bed, glowing. 
Nodoka had been around martial artists long enough to recognize a battle aura 
when she saw one, so she *KNEW* what it was, but for her son, who had never 
taken an interest in fighting, to show one... the thought boggled her mind. She 
quickly shut the door, being careful not to disturb him, and practically ran 
downstairs. "Ranko, Genma, come quickly! Something's wrong with Ranma!" she 
yelled, putting quite a bit of urgency into her words.
	"Coming, Mom!" Ranko called back, missing a kick and being slammed to the 
ground in her distraction.
	"Bah," Genma said, "A true martial artist never loses his... or her... 
*grumble* focus!"
	"Stupid Pops," Ranko said, standing up and walking in, "I don't care 
what's wrong with the bakayarou, but Mom would be really upset if anything 
happened to him."
	Genma just grumbled some more.

-------------------

	Ranko just stared. Her brother, the wimp, was literally glowing with ki. 
What's more, she hadn't sensed it until she stepped into the room. The level of 
ki-mastery required for that... she didn't think that even her father had that 
kind of control. As if that wasn't enough, the *AMOUNT* of ki that she *DID* 
sense was... well... impressive, to put it mildly.
	She was shocked out of her ruminations when Ranma lifted his head and 
stared her in the eyes.
	"You can close your mouth now," he said lightly, instantly dropping the 
aura and hiding his reserves.

-------------------

	As Ranma finished repairing his ki, he became aware of another presence in 
the room with him. He opened his eyes to a comical sight. An exact duplicate of 
his old cursed form was standing I the doorway, her jaw agape. Ranma inwardly 
chuckled at the image. Quickly hiding his ki, he spoke up. "You can close your 
mouth now."

-------------------

	"Wha... how... where..."
	Ranko was standing, stuttering somewhat, as she tried to reconcile what 
she had just seen with her mental image of her brother. Ranma just raised an 
eyebrow, inwardly laughing at the sight. The years had mellowed him 
considerably, and the 'Ancient Wise One' act was almost second nature to him.
	"Please," he said, gesturing to the chair next to his desk, "Take a seat. 
I have a story to tell you."
	Ranko quietly sat down and looked towards her brother. Ranma sighed. "I'm 
just glad that you're the only one who saw that," he commented idly.
	"I'm not," she remarked, beginning to get over her shock, "Mom called me 
over when she did."
	Ranma sighed and buried his face in his hands. "Damn. At least it wasn't 
Oyaji."
	The shock evaporated off of Ranko's face as she began to grin. "Yeah. He's 
not exactly trustworthy, is he?"
	"Bingo," Ranma said, chuckling, "He'd do anything for food."
	Ranko laughed a little more before she remembered why she was here. "So, 
what's the story?" she asked, not quite as serious as before.
	"Well... First, I need you to promise that you won't tell any of this to 
anyone. Not a word of it leaves this room unless I decide otherwise."
	Ranko paused for a moment, considering. "Deal," she said reluctantly, "So 
what's going on?"
	"Once, a long time ago, there was a martial artist. He was the best of his 
generation; some would say the best who ever lived."
	Ranko nodded in understanding. "So what does this have to do with you?" 
she asked.
	"You'll see," Ranma replied.
	Ranko just motioned for Ranma to continue.
	"Well, he was pursued by a number of women, each of who claimed to be in 
love with him. He, however, didn't return their affections. He went through a 
number of adventures, eventually growing close to a girl. One day, he left on a 
training trip, planning to return to challenge the grandmaster of his school for 
his title."
	Ranko nodded slowly.
	"One of his suitors, an Amazon named Xian Pu, saw something in his bag. An 
engagement ring. She guessed, correctly, that he was planning on asking the girl 
that he loved to marry him upon his victory."
	Ranko was now listening intently. "So what happened?"
	"The man returned to find the woman he loved dead, murdered by Xian Pu. 
His family, as well as his beloved's, helped him recover. He avenged her death, 
but was left hollow inside afterwards. He threw himself into his Art, reaching 
levels that he had never dreamed of before, but then something else happened."
	"What?" she asked.
	"Xian Pu's village attempted to 'avenge' her loss," Ranma said, almost 
spitting out the words, "They sent a hunting party after him. They couldn't harm 
him... but one day, they attacked and murdered his mother."
	Ranko's eyes widened.
	"Their people ceased to exist shortly after that."
	Ranko's jaw dropped somewhat.
	"The man returned to his home, feeling even more hollow than before. He 
walked to the graveyard where the woman he loved and his mother were buried, 
curled up on the ground, and cried. It was almost two days before he left."
	"What does this have to do with you?" she asked again, still not 
understanding.
	"Let me finish," Ranma replied, "The story doesn't end there."
	Ranko again nodded and sat back in her chair.
	"Two months later, he found that he wasn't aging."
	"What? Why?"
	"According to the man who was grandmaster of his school, it's possible to 
slow or even stop aging by using ki. Most masters of the Art are at least 
seventy before they even begin to reach that level; he was doing it 
subconsciously at eighteen."
	Ranko's eyes widened again. "Wow. He was good, wasn't he?"
	Ranma smiled at her unintentional compliment. "Yes," he said with a smirk, 
"He is."
	"Is?"
	"He's still alive."
	"Oh."
	"Anyway, he finally got around to challenging the grandmaster. After he 
won, he left home, hoping to leave the memories behind. He traveled the world, 
becoming known as 'Tenmou no Heijin', the Blade of Heaven's Vengeance, as he 
killed demon after demon, youma after youma. He had a number of adventures, none 
of which are terribly relevant, before settling down once again, hoping to train 
an heir in the Art."
	"Is that you?" Ranko commented in amazement.
	Ranma chuckled. "No," he said, "He never found one. He wanted someone who 
understood the Art as he did, who could live it. If you haven't noticed, such 
people are rare."
	Ranko nodded. She had noticed that, too.
	Ranma sighed. "After many years, he left, taking up the mantle of the 
Tenmou no Heijin once again. The cycle repeated until the three hundredth 
anniversary of his love's death."
	"What happened?"
	Ranma smiled. "A kami made him an offer."
	"Oh?"
	"Budou-no-kami, actually. He told the man that he had been asked to save 
another world, one parallel to the one that the man was from. Because of the 
rules that the kami operate under, Budou-no-kami couldn't do it himself, so he 
chose a champion."
	"The man, right?"
	Ranma nodded. "The man's counterpart on that world was destined to die 
within a few days. Budou-no-kami offered to take the man's mind and soul and 
place them within that his counterpart's body. The other world, you see, was, 
and is, much like the world of the man's youth, only differing slightly. His 
counterpart wasn't a martial artist, despite being in a family of such, and... 
well... was rather pathetic, according to Budou-no-kami. Actually, upon 
arriving, the man found that his counterpart had been subjected to several 
shiatsu and other ki-manipulation techniques which would pretty much rob him of 
any potential to learn the basics of his Art."
	By now, Ranko had figured out what was going on. Her eyes widened 
considerably as understanding dawned.
	"So, the man set about removing those influences and straightening out his 
aura. Unfortunately, he lost track of time, and his counterpart's mother, his 
mother's counterpart, or his mother, depending on how you look at it, came in to 
check on him and found him showing his aura as he worked."
	Ranma casually gestured towards Ranko. "And you know the rest," he 
finished, looking into his sister's eyes. "His mother panicked and called his 
sister, who saw the same thing. He remembered Budou-no-kami's advice, that she 
was worthy of his trust, and took her into his confidence, telling her his 
story. And so, here we are, talking about my life."
	Ranko's jaw dropped.
	"Ranma, Ranko," Nodoka said, opening the door and sticking her head in, 
"Are you alright?"
	Ranko briefly shook her head, fighting off the effects of shock. "We're 
fine, Mom," Ranma replied, "We were just talking for a bit."
	"Okay, dear," Nodoka commented, leaving, "Lunch is ready by the way."
	Ranma just nodded and turned to Ranko. "We'll finish this later. For now, 
lunch is waiting."

-------------------

	Lunch was a relatively quiet affair. Ranko was preoccupied with her 
thoughts, to the point that Genma managed to steal a good portion of her food. 
Ranma was busy assuring Nodoka that yes, he really was alright, and that no, she 
didn't need to worry about him. Genma, well, he wouldn't notice if Ranma 
suddenly grew wings and started calling himself 'Saffron'.
	Meanwhile, Ranma thought about what to do about the morning mob. He 
couldn't stand to see Akane go through that hell one day longer than he had to, 
but the only permanent solution, challenging Kunou, would have to wait until he 
had gotten somewhat into shape. Throwing a ki-blast, or some such, at Kunou 
before he attacked Akane would be too obvious and would attract attention of a 
sort that he couldn't deal with until he could recover his ki-reserves at a 
decent rate. He was certain that he could beat any challenger who might come as 
a result, but the resulting ki-depletion would leave him weak for days, or weeks 
in the case of Herb or someone like him, and would leave him unable to fight in 
an emergency. Magic was also out, as he both didn't want to lend credence to 
Kunou's inevitable claims of him being a 'foul sorcerer' and didn't have the 
materials for most of his tricks available. It was then that he remembered one 
of his adventures shortly after challenging Happousai, when he learned more than 
he wanted to know about the source of the Kunou family's... eccentricity. With 
that, he inwardly smiled as he thought of the perfect solution.
	Ranko, on the other hand, was simply digesting what she had heard from 
Ranma. It was obvious that he could help her in the Art; she boggled at the 
thought of the level that he'd have to be at after even half of what she had 
heard him mention, and she *KNEW* that there was a lot that he had left out. At 
that thought, though, she paused. Ranma, the one she knew, was a notoriously 
poor liar. Was this new Ranma just as bad? She realized that she had assumed too 
much when talking with him, and would have to be more suspicious from now on. As 
for her 'old' brother, she considered what had happened. According to Ranma, her 
'old' brother was destined to die anyway. She thought about blaming Ranma for 
his, in a sense, death, but she realized that she couldn't really. After all, he 
*HAD* said that he came here to save the world. Besides, he was a worthless, 
pathetic excuse for a human being anyway, and this way, her mother was spared 
the grief that would inevitably follow otherwise. Now... well, she didn't love 
this new Ranma (AS A BROTHER, you hentai!), at least not yet, but she could see 
herself coming to... assuming he was telling the truth, anyway.
	Nodoka was worried about Ranma, as shown by her tendency to ask him every 
few seconds if he *REALLY* was feeling alright. Of course, she had some basis 
for it; Ranma had been a weak and sickly child ever since that... incident... 
when he was almost a month old.
	Genma was just eating, only noting that Ranko wasn't defending her plate 
as well as she usually did. "The girl's getting soft," he thought, clueless as 
always.

-------------------

	After they finished eating, Ranma excused himself from the table and went 
upstairs to his room. Ranko followed shortly, planning on continuing their 
earlier conversation. Nodoka left to clean up, and Genma went off to go get 
drunk.
	Ranko found Ranma searching through his desk, eventually withdrawing a 
quantity of paper and ink. She sat on his bed, watching him continue as he took 
out a calligraphy brush.
	"Ahehem," she said, clearing her throat to get his attention.
	"Just a moment, Ranko," he replied, "I'm getting ready for tomorrow."
	"Oh," she added, waiting until he sat down and faced her.
	"So," Ranma started, "Where were we?"
	"Well, I thought about what we talked about..."
	Ranma nodded. "I don't doubt that you have a lot of questions."
	"Yeah," Ranko agreed, "I do."
	Ranma just gestured for her to continue.
	"Well... first off, what happened to 'my' Ranma?" she asked, putting some 
emphasis on the 'my'.
	Ranma chuckled. "You don't know much about dimensional counterparts, do 
you?" he asked, smirking slightly.
	"Huh?" Ranko asked, thoroughly confused.
	Ranma held out his hand, summoning a ball of light. "I suppose that you've 
heard of the theory that all things are fragments of the same being," he 
started, waiting for Ranko's nod, "Well, imagine that this ball is that 'first' 
soul."
	Ranko nodded again, understanding.
	"Now," he said as the ball split into pieces, "Each of these is a 
universe."
	"Right," she said, "An infinite number of worlds. I've read enough science 
fiction to get the idea."
	Ranma just nodded in confirmation as each ball became a hollow sphere 
filled with smaller motes of light. "Now, imagine that each of these smaller 
lights is a person's soul."
	"Okay..." Ranko replied, following but not understanding what this had to 
do with the question.
	"Now, then, universes periodically hit junctions where they branch off 
from eachother, becoming two or more 'new' universes."
	"Huh?" Ranko grunted, becoming lost.
	"How to explain..." Ranma mused. "Okay," he started after a moment, 
"Occasionally, an event can go two or more ways; two or more things can happen. 
If the event is important enough, it causes a split. In one universe, the first 
possibility happens; in the second, the second occurs, and so on."
	"Okay..."
	The miniature lights within some of the spheres began to split, eventually 
gathering on either side of each their respective globes, which then split as 
well. "Now, then, you have two versions of each person, one in each universe."
	Ranko nodded yet again, still not understanding why he was saying this.
	"Now comes the tricky part. Each 'version' of the person is essentially a 
piece of the same soul. It's a heck of a lot more complex than that, actually, 
and there are exceptions, but it's a useful concept."
	Ranko started to see where Ranma was going as she nodded her head again.
	"Now, my soul was taken from my universe," Ranma continued as one of the 
smaller lights left its sphere, "And placed in this one." The light entered 
another 'universe'.
	"I see," Ranko said.
	"Once it entered," Ranma went on, "it was placed in this body, where it 
encountered its twin, another of its fragments."
	Ranko now understood. "So the two pieces..."
	Ranma nodded in agreement as the voyaging light settled next to and fused 
with its counterpart in its new home. "Fit together like pieces in a puzzle," he 
acknowledged as the elaborate ki-manifestation faded. "Of course, it's a lot 
more complex than that," he continued, "but it's the best way to explain it."
	"So why don't you have his memories? His personality?"
	Ranma smirked. "As I said earlier, it was an oversimplification."
	"Oh," Ranko said, somewhat confused.
	"Just don't ask me to give that demonstration again; generating ki-
illusions like that is quite draining."
	Ranko boggled. "You were doing that with ki?!?" she gasped, "I didn't 
sense anything!"
	Ranma smiled. "I cloaked my aura," he replied, "And I'm afraid that I 
can't do anything with much more detail than that. There are limits to even my 
control of my aura."
	"Oh," Ranko said, inwardly goggling at the insane levels of ki-control 
that Ranma had just shown.
	"Anything else?" Ranma asked amusedly, reaching over and starting to work 
on one of the pieces of paper with his aura.
	"What *ARE* you doing?"
	Ranma chuckled. "Making wards," he answered, "You're really supposed to 
use special materials for this, but normal ink and paper will do in a pinch."
	"Huh?"
	Ranma just chuckled some more as the paper picked up a golden glow from 
the energy he was forcing through it. "I've been hunting and killing demons for 
hundreds of years, Ranko," Ranma commented, "Don't you think that I'd manage to 
pick up a few tricks?"
	"Oh," Ranko said, "Why are you doing that with your ki?"
	"What?" Ranma asked, "Channeling it into the paper?"
	"Yeah," Ranko replied, "And what're they for?"
	"Well, one question at a time," Ranma answered, "Most spirit wards use 
specific kinds of paper, with ki-patterns locked in through the ink and a minor 
investment of ki from the person who makes them."
	"Okay."
	"We use the kind of paper we do because we've found that it's easier to 
charge, and the ink we do because it alters the ki-related properties of the 
paper in the best way. Different kinds of ink and paper combinations have 
different effects on ki, so I can't really be more specific.
	"Now, you can theoretically lock any pattern you want into any object, but 
it's extremely difficult to do so. Right now, I'm priming the paper, forcing it 
to accept a pattern very close to the one I want it to pick up eventually."
	"Why aren't I sensing anything?"
	"Three reasons, really. First off, despite the glow this stack of paper's 
picked up, it only uses a minute amount of personal ki. The vast majority of it 
is environmental ki filling the paper as I'm forcing it to accept it."
	"Go on," said Ranko.
	"Secondly, I'm still cloaking my aura. I don't want Oyaji noticing 
anything until I'm ready to deal with him."
	"I see."
	"And, thirdly, I'm reabsorbing what personal ki I'm using almost as 
quickly as I'm using it. It's slower going, but it's far less tiring, and I'm 
going to need to save as much ki as I can in case of an emergency. The re-
absorption process interferes with most beginners' ki-senses."
	"Hey!" Ranko yelled, "I'm NOT a beginner!"
	Ranma chuckled. "I can tell by your aura that you're pretty talented, yes, 
but it's equally obvious that you haven't been seriously trained. You only know 
a few, very basic, methods for detecting and manipulating ki."
	Ranko looked half-mollified, half-angry.
	"Frankly," Ranma continued, "I'm surprised that Oyaji's even taught you as 
much as he has."
	Ranko looked ready to explode. "You mean he hasn't been taking me 
seriously?" she asked, her voice a dead calm.
	"Nope," Ranma replied, "Ask him about the Yama-sen-ken and Umi-sen-ken 
sometime. Not to mention that he's only taught you the basics of how to use ki 
to boost your strength, speed and stamina. Actually, he's only taught you about 
as much as you can learn in just about any kenpo dojo."
	Ranko was now quietly steaming. "He's dead," she said flatly.
	Ranma sighed as he finished with the paper, casually cutting it into 
strips of the proper size with his ki.
	Ranko's eyes bugged out. "How'd you do that?!" she exclaimed, looking at 
where he had cut the proto-wards.
	"When I was ten, Oyaji got a manual for a supposedly invincible martial 
arts technique, the Neko-ken."
	Ranko gestured for him to continue.
	"Of course, he made me learn it, even though he hadn't finished reading 
the instructions."
	Ranko shook her head. "Stupid pops," she grumbled.
	"Yep," Ranma replied, "The manual went on to say that it was a technique 
that only an idiot would teach, but he taught it without reading that part."
	"That's Oyaji, all right," Ranko commented.
	"Well, the training involved wrapping me up in fish sausage and throwing 
me into a pit of starving cats."
	Ranko gasped.
	"Obviously, I became ailurophobic."
	Ranko chuckled.
	"Anyway, when my fear of cats reached its peak, my mind would retreat, and 
I'd actually think I was a cat. When I was like that, I pretty much acted like 
one, including manifesting ki-claws."
	Ranko nodded in understanding.
	"Anyway, Happousai, Oyaji's old master, helped me get control of it. I'm 
not afraid of them anymore, and I can call on the Neko-ken's power as needed. I 
just used the ki-claws to slice the paper."
	"Wow," she said, "They don't use much ki, do they?"
	Ranma shook his head. "Not for small things, no. The larger I make them or 
the harder the stuff I cut through, the more ki they use. I'd just use scissors, 
but these wards," he said, gesturing at them and grabbing the ink, "need to be 
cut precisely."
	"Oh," Ranko replied.
	"So," Ranma added, grabbing the brush and dipping it into the ink, 
"Anything else?"
	"Well...," Ranko asked, "The girl you fell in love with..."
	Ranma looked up from where he was carefully caligraphing a kanji. "Yes?"
	"Do I know her?"
	Ranma chuckled. "Not really," he said after a moment, "But you do know 
*OF* her. Budou-no-kami told me that you'd never gotten to have much of a 
conversation with her."
	"What's her name?" Ranko asked curiously.
	"Tendou Akane."

-------------------

	Old A.N.:
	So... another chapter done. Heh. Apparently, Tannim's e-mail link for this 
story has been sending comments to Fred Herriot. Just to clear up the confusion, 
my e-mail address is CheezeA@clemson.edu or Aleh@aol.com. I generally prefer the 
clemson.edu address; I just use the AOL one for FFML-related stuff and a few 
other things.
	Sorry this is as short as it is, but my writing style just seems to work 
best with short chapters; go figure.
	Anyway, I hope that I answered a few of the questions that I mentioned in 
the first prologue, and hinted at the answers to a few others. As for new 
questions... oh, there were quite a few holes in Ranma's story, weren't there? I 
didn't mention the fates of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, except Akane, Ranma, and 
the Amazons, so that's still up in the air. Why did Budou-no-kami say that 
Ranma's counterpart was pathetic? What happened between Genma and Happy after 
Ranma's birth?
	Expect some answers next time... just not too many. :-). I know and you 
don't! Biiii-da!
	Hehe. I'm in a good mood, aren't I?

	Current A.N.: 
	I started writing Chapter Two, then realized that it didn't really deserve 
its own chapter. Hehe. Oops. Anyway, I folded it into Ch. One, so to speak. Oh, 
well. At least those of you who complained about Chapter One being too short get 
a new, longer version.
	Anyway, on reflection (pardon the pun), I realized that a good portion of 
the backstory for this was probably influenced by a rather lengthy e-mail 
discussion I had with Arun, the author of Destiny. Sorry for not giving you 
credit earlier. :-).
	(For the record, the conversation was on just what it would take for Ranma 
to kill the Amazons, for his upcoming new version of his fic 'Heaven and Earth', 
which bears little to no resemblance to the original version.)
	Additional kudos to Mike Rever, for making me think about Ranko's reaction 
in more detail, and to Cory D. Rose, for being the first other good fanfiction 
writer to give me positive feedback on this work.
	(Others have done so for my other writings, but Cory was the first for 
this one. :-).)
	Oh, and as to why Ranko didn't press her question about what the wards 
were for... she forgot. With everything else that Ranma told her, she kinda got 
distracted. :-).


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