Nathan D. Bickford <SeBickford@Worldnet.att.net>

Author’s Notes:

The information that I’m using to write this is a mixture of mostly on the manga, with information from the anime and other fanfics. I need to do this because of holes that are in my collection -- hey, I’m only nineteen and on a VERY small budget. Because of what I want to do, however, I’m going to have this take place after the last issue. This is my first fanfic (my first real attempt at an actual story as well). I hope that you enjoy it. I am assuming that the wedding took place in spring, and that Ranma and Akane were Juniors and Nabiki and Kuno were Seniors. I am also assuming that Japan also has a summer vacation. Happy reading!

Necessary Disclaimer: Ranma and Co. are not my creation. They were made by that Demigoddess known by her followers as Takahashi. If anybody says that I said otherwise, they will be shown some Tae Kwon Leap and be given a "Boot To The Head" Ó . I also do not make any money from them. Suing me will give you little and take even more. You will be losing money for lawyer fees and be given a "Boot To The Head" Ó for your efforts of wasting my own resources.

Lum is not my creation either. The aforementioned disclaimer follows suit.

Ultima is owned by Origin. Anybody who says that I made it up, shall be ‘POR FLAMed’ (Fireballed)

C & C needed. Flames will be AN FLAMed (doused) and cyber-booted.

The Key

"…(quiet/low volume talking)…"

"…LOUD TALKING OR YELLING…"

"…‘a quote, remark, or sarcasm’…"

"<foreign language>"

[written on a sign]

+Thinking thoughts+

*High amount of stress*

_Low or deep stressing_

|Sound effects|

Soul Friends: Chapter One

It was a few months after the bombed wedding and summer vacation had arrived for students everywhere.

Except Ranma.

He barely passed most of his classes, but he flunked in English (He claimed that all the attacks against him made him fall behind on his studies and that he was too exhausted to study when he wasn’t attacked. That and the fact that school bored him stiff). So he was forced to take a summer class. It was just his luck that the person teaching the class he happened to be taking was Miss Hinako; and she was ready for him. She had enough rings up the kazoo that would even make a jeweler envious. If Ranma even raised an eyebrow out of turn, ZAP! Not to mention *HEAVY* erasers (+Foam covered weights is more like it,+ Ranma thought) for thwacking if he was _even thinking_ of yawning in class. How she knew when he *was* thinking it, he’d never know. Miss Hinako never had a student fail as badly as Ranma did and was quite put off by it. This time around, she was going to make sure that he was going to pass her class even if it killed him.

Ranma found out the hard way that Kuno was hired to help Miss Hinako handle ‘delinquents,’ or as Kuno put it, ‘that boorish lot.’ Apparently, the princaple gave him two choices: either become a summertime monitor or get a VERY short haircut.

"The Blue Thunder has decided to stay here and help the fair Hinako and strike down upon those who would do Furinkan High injustice!" Why Principal Kuno gave his son the position, he’d never be sure, but Ranma was certain that the principal was cutting corners in costs.

His mind went back to Akane. He closed his eyes and sighed again. It had been hard on him ever since the wedding. After it bombed in all sense of the term, she tried to return things back to the way they were before Saffron. It was like she was trying to assure herself that nothing had changed. Every time that Ranma would try to be nice, Akane would either go distant or accuse him of one thing or another, to bring them back to the fighting they were so used to, depending on what was happening. He tried so _HARD_, but somehow, some way, Akane or someone else would provoke him and the two would be back to square one. If he *DID* keep himself in check (and the Kami knows he tried), she would distance herself by hiding behind an emotional shell. It just was sooooo frustrating!

Thinking about the wedding, he remembered when Nabiki convinced him to talk to Ukyo and Shampoo about their actions. He later found out that it cost them each a months worth of free food to Nabiki and a friend that she may bring with her. He decided to go see Ukyo first, because (a)she was his best friend and he felt betrayed by the bombs, so he wanted to get things straight; (b)he wasn’t quite ready to put up with Shampoo’s or the old ghoul yet and more likely to emotionally explode at them; and (c)Konatsu half-threatened to do his own version of Genma’s punishment if he DIDN’T talk to Ukyo soon. What he was told was a little shocking then, but hindsight told him that he shouldn’t be surprised at all….

*****

"Ranchan, you need to understand, I’m your fiancee, Shampoo is your fiancee, and Akane is your fiancee. If you married one of us, and only one, you would be dishonoring the rest of us. Not to mention making the rest of us very, very unhappy."

She grabbed him by the shirt coller and pulled him to look into his eyes. "Don’t you see, Ranma? We have been following through on our promises only to have you try to pull the rug under us. Your family wants you to marry Akane to the point that if you don’t, they would disown you. Yet, because your father took my father’s yati, you are still bound to me." Ranma winced slightly at that; but if Ucchan saw it, she didn’t say anything. "And can you imagine what Shampoo is going through? I would hate to think of what the Amazon tribe would do to her if she came back without you married or dead." She released her grab on his shirt and lightly placed a hand on Ranma’s shoulder. Their eyes were still locked together and he could tell she was near crying "You have to understand: you can’t just go off with one without having any resolution with the others. Running away isn’t going to help. That’s what your father did and look at what happened since then! Do you want to be like your father?"

*****

And she was right, dammit! He couldn’t just go off and marry one of them. The entire situation was like a wake-up call. It was a sobering expierience. It wasn’t helping with his fiancee problem, though. The problem was that things would probably get worse if he did nothing, and yet, Ranma just couldn’t think of a solution. Ukyo could only suggest that he becone a citizen of a polgamy-leagal country.

Talking to Ucchan calmed down enough to listen to Shampoo’s side of the story. It was basically the same thing as Ucchan said: honor demanded he would marry all of them, but the laws speak only for monogamy. It was a catch-22, all right. (It was something he overheard Nabiki say during one of her better blackmailing days. It fit.)

*****

"Shampoo, please, tell me your situation."

Shampoo only have two choices. Can either kill Ranma as girl or marry as boy."

"And if you don’t?"

Shampoo squeezed her eyes shut and bowed her head, hoping that Ranma couldn’t see her own tears forming. "(There is worse things than death, ailen. Shampoo hope you never hear them.)"

"|Sigh.| Well, I hope you have any ideas how I could marry all of you…?"

"Move to polgamy country?"

*****

With the way Ranma’s life was turning, he didn’t need Ryoga to send him to hell -- Ranma was on an express train going there already. What else could he do? He _had_ to forgive them. Well, the good news was that Akane wasn’t mad.

The bad news was that she was near homicidal.

*****

"They bust into my house, throw bombs everywhere thereby possibly seriously hurting many people, which, if I recall, included your mother and my family, and make a terrible nuisance of themselves and you make up with them like it was nothing?!" You really *are* a pervert, going back to them as soon as you can, aren’t you?"

"Dammit, Akane! They really put me in a bind and I DON’T need you to put me on the spot like this!"

"And just *what* does *that* mean?"

"They were talking about how their and my own honor dictates that I should marry all three of you."

That’s funny… I didn’t know perverts like you had any honor left!"

*****

That last comment hurt. A _lot_. He didn’t know what was worse: the comment, the fact that she got the last word, or that she got the last word *with* that comment. They both stormed off in their own directions afterwards, but Ranma kept an eye on Akane for couple of days, just to make sure that she didn’t attempt to ‘give them a piece of her mind.’ She never did and calmed down after a couple of days, but Ranma could feel her aura from a block away whenever she passed Ucchan’s and the Nekohaten during that time.

No, it wasn’t easy. And with the way his life works, who knows what would happen next? He went for another sigh. A big one. He almost instantly regretted it. That’s right, Akane made breakfast today to try to apologize for some of the recent fighting +escalating it is more like it.+ It was the reason that he was walking on the sidewalk in the first place. Even though he upchucked most of it, he was still queasy, and his balance was still whacked right now. He glanced over to Akane again and she spoke, "What is it now, Ranma?"

----------

Akane was *not* a happy camper. She had to spend her Summer mornings to make sure that the BAKA next to her got to school. Miss Hinako practically commanded her to keep a vigil over Ranma. +Just who does she think I am? A baby-sitter?+ She was not surprised that Ranma failed a class; the surprise was that it was _only_ one class at all. Well, at least it helped him stay relatively out of trouble. She was a little bit surprised about Kuno’s decision, but what could she do about it? Well, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about him for most of the summer

The wedding fiasco was not fun at all. Not only was she being forced to marry, (Even if she was a bit willing to go through with it, heaven knows why!) but she was attacked for that marriage as well! If it wasn’t for Ranma, she and others would have been seriously hurt. But then, the reason they were there in the first place *was* because of Ranma.

Ranma. She knew he was trying to get his act together with her, but, not that she would admit it (possibly even to herself.), she was scared. Scared for her and for everyone around her and Ranma together. It just seemed that every time they got closer, something of the proportionate size would try to separate them. Civility, an argument. A date, intrusions and nuisances. A wedding, total and utter chaos with bombs thrown in to complete things. That was why she was acting they way she did. She wanted the relative normalcy that she used to have with Ranma before the fiasco. Maybe she was paranoid; but just because you are, doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you.

She thought for a while that just maybe things WOULD get better between them, but she found out from Nabiki that he was visiting his other two fiancees and she just boiled over. It only cost 1000 yen and twenty now-destroyed cinder blocks. When she confronted Ranma with it, he didn’t even try to deny it! At least he wasn’t rubbing it in her face, but Akane’s temp still rose a couple of degrees. She admitted, she was more than a little upset for the reason that he was down there at all. How could he just forgive them just like that? As if it was like accidentally stepping on someone’s toes? It was like she was the victimized (which she was) and he just ran off to the perpetrators (which it appeared as). So she did what she always did in a high emotional situation with Ranma: She yelled the first things that came to mind.

*****

"They bust into my house, throw bombs everywhere thereby possibly seriously hurting many people, which, if I recall, included your mother and my family, and make a terrible nuisance of themselves and you make up with them like it was nothing?!" You really *are* a pervert, going back to them as soon as you can, aren’t you?"

"Dammit, Akane! They really put me in a bind and I DON’T need you to put me on the spot like this!"

"And just *what* does *that* mean?"

"They were talking about how their and my own honor dictates that I should marry all three of you."

That’s funny… I didn’t know perverts like you had any honor left!"

*****

She never meant to say that last bit, but once it was out, she couldn’t take it back. Not with her pride. Not with the hardened look on his face after that statement. She couldn’t show any weakness to Ranma. Maybe in the near future afterwards, she could apologize. In hindsight, maybe she should have apologized right then and there. The arguing went back to near normal levels afterwards, but Ranma’s heart just wasn’t in it, not putting up much of a fight. It was as if he was weary of all the bickering.

Truth to tell, she was tired of it as well. So what does the youngest Tendo daughter do when she wants to make up with her beau? She cooks, of course! Okay, so the brown rice was gray, but she put enough soy sauce in to cover that! And perhaps she put too much vinegar in the water when boiling the noodles, but it would give it such a unique taste! When she found Ranma kneeling over the toilet, of course she would think that he was insulting her! She golf-whacked him in the side with her mallet. Maybe it was a little much, but he should know better than to make fun of her.

And so here she was, walking Ranma to school. She felt his gaze on her as he sighed. She didn’t know if he wanted to say something and wanted her to start the talking or what; but if Ranma wanted to talk, he may as well start it. If she started, it would probably be in that exasperated tone that would lead to another fight. So she just kept her mouth shut. She heard him sigh again. Okay, now she was getting a little nervous. He hadn’t said anything yet. By now they were usually either talking, yelling, or pointedly ignoring each other. But Ranma wasn’t doing any of the aforementioned things: HE wasn’t making any noise other than his soft steps and those starting-to-be-annoying sighs. He wasn’t even really ignoring her, either. Just appeared to be in a contemplative mood. She had to smirk at that. +Ranma actually thinking? That’s funny, I don’t see P-chan in the air anywhere.+ She then frowned. That was a little too much, even for her. Ranma was about to sigh again, but broke into a fit of coughs. +That’s it,+ she thought, exasperated. +If he wants my attention that bad, he’s got it.+

"What is it now, Ranma?"

"Nothin’ much. Just fightn’ off the effects of breakfast, still."

"Oh, come on! It couldn’t be *THAT* bad, now could it?"

"You’re the only person that I know that could turn brown rice to black without it being charcoal! (When I think about it, I think there MAY have been some burnt marks on it, but how could it have turned gray?)" +Duh, this is Akane’s cooking I’m talking about. She could cook turpentine and call it white wine!+

"Would you care to repeat that?

Uh, oh. That sounded _too_ cool of a voice. +Did I think that out loud? I don’t think so; probably talking about my mumbling+ "I just said that I thought I saw it gray AND burnt."

Akane frowned at that. There he went, mocking her food again. Well then… "And how would you know about cooking, pervert? Thought it was too ‘feminine,’" she went to a deep voice; "for such a ‘manly man such as you!’"

"That’s low, Akane."

"Well, one needs to level the playing field when messing with perverts."

That was it, Ranma had had enough. He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her against the fence. "Listen, you uncute tomboy; I’ve had enough of your insults! I don’t need you to be bad-mouthing me like I’m some monster. You got it?!" He released her and started walking again, grumbling. Maybe *that* would stop her for a bit. Maybe not.

"Why don’t you keep your hands to yourself, you pervert?!!" |KLONG!!| Sigh, when she thought about it, Akane just had to stop getting so mad at Ranma. It was messing up her aim. +Messing… up… my… aim? Uh, oh. Well, may as well tell Miss Hinako Ranma’s going to be a bit late, that baka!+ She ran to the school as fast as she could.

+I REALLY do NOT need THIS today!+ Akane really sent Ranma off in the wrong direction this time. +Let’s see, considering rate of rising and my velocity, I should hit about a half kilometer to the East of the school, if the wind hold steady.+ He had to smirk at this. His classmates always wondered how he did so well in that part of math. Even some of the physicist students came to him for help. He charged very low prices for the tutoring. Compared to Nabiki’s rates, everybody thought his was a steal. It was nice to have a source of money to pay off Nabiki’s ‘blackmails.’ Heh, if people really understood how he did so well, they sky might be full of other flying bodies.

Maybe they already were… He saw a vending machine pass by him. "RANMA! STAY away from my (Ukyoooooooo…)"

"See ya, Tsubasa!" Looks like Ucchan knocked him out of her store again. Well, he had persistence, Ranma gave him that. It WAS getting a bit more crowded up in the sky today, as he saw a woman with green hair and small horns (with a YOW! tiger-stripped bikini) fly next to him.

"Excuse me, but have you seen darling?"

"Was he in a vending machine?"

"No, trash can."

"Sorry; can’t help you then."

"Thank you any way. Bye-bye." She flew off.

"Ja ne." |Gulp.| Maybe he should have asked her if she could have helped him down. He WAS still pretty high up. +Looks like I’ll be a bit lucky. I’m headed for that one house’s backyard.+ It was a nice change to hit dirt compared to concrete. |Wham/Splat!!| Especially soft mud. It appeared that the person living here was making a swamp here. Well, it was either solid enough, or warm enough that it didn’t affect his curse. Of course, he still needed to clean up, but it would be easier to enter and leave as the same gender. As he tried to stand up though, it felt like something was searing his lungs and traveled to his blood, burning his entire body. He thought he heard somebody say something before he was hit by a beam of purple light. It was the last thing that he saw in his peripheral vision before falling unconscious.

A young man walked up to the still body and picked him up. "<You’re lucky I didn’t leave yet. Let’s clean you up, remove the poisons, and let you rest. I’d like to find out how one can fall from such a height and not be killed from the fall alone.>"

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

commercial break

have you done the proper amount of Blinks Per Minute (BPM)?

Only YOU can prevent lazy eye.

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

Ranma found himself in the middle of a dry-grassy place with sparse trees. +A savanna? At least, that’s what I _think_ that’s what it’s called. How in the world did I get here? My body doesn’t feel like it was teleported. I would think that teleportation would be have a buzzy feeling to it. It doesn’t even feel like I woke up!+ "It’s… like my mind just drifted away on a thought and snapped back to attention." Okay, he has his voice still. No reason to panic quite yet. +Heh, being in an unknown place without knowing how I got here…+ "I must be turning to Ryoga!" +That’s right, make jokes, keep yourself slightly crazy so that you don’t go insane.+

Ranma took a deep breath, helping his composure. +Okay, I don’t know how, but this seems familiar, like I saw it in a dream. Weird, this in itself feels like a dream, and yet it seems even *more* real than one. You know, I don’t remember ever being this philosophical before. Must just be this entire situation here.+ Let’s see, where to go now. Ranma looked around in a circle, yet nothing looked really unique. There was no life other than the yellowish grass and the occasional tree. "Well, may as well pick a direction. Works for Ryoga." +I must be even more desperate than I thought -- using a Ryoga method!+

Shrugging his shoulders, he closed his eyes, extended his arms straight out, clasped his hands together, and slowly spun in a circle. He stopped and took three steps in the other direction. Ranma then put his arms down. For some reason, this felt like the right direction to go. Nodding his head, he went on his way, at an almost half jogging pace.

Ranma stopped after a short while. It seemed like an half hour passed by, but nothing changed. The grass was still tall and dry. There still were sparse trees around. He still had his breath. +That’s funny; I would think that there would be the tinniest bit winded.+ Well, there was nothing new in this direction. But it felt so right! He sat down lotus-style and tried to think. Nothing came but of the little bit more than the simplest thoughts. +You would think that I would at least have *some* thirst and hunger; maybe even a little sweat, especially with the Sun… beating… down?+ Okay, now it was starting to get weird. Considering where he was, he should at least be sweating from the heat. He checked his brow. Nope. No sweat. In fact, the temp felt quite mild, as if there was no temperature at all. He was thinking of when he was jogging and came up with something. He didn’t feel any wind pressing against him at all. On a passing thought, he sliced his arm through the air with his hand fighting against instead of cutting through it. Bingo. No air resistance at all. Ranma went for a deep breath. Well, his lungs expanded, but it didn’t feel like that they were being filled. +Okay, now I’m _sure_ that I’m dreaming. What now, though?+

Ranma looked in the direction that he was running, not really expecting an answer. He got one anyway. Almost directly on line was a tree. What was unique about this tree was that there was a swing hanging from it. Not only that, but somebody appeared to be sitting on the swing. Ranma couldn’t tell if the person was a he or a she, but that person appeared to be facing the away from him. Well, at least there was *somebody* else out here. Ranma walked at a leisurely pace. For some reason, the grass wasn’t rustling much. Oh well.

He walked up until he was about fifteen feet away. Okay, she was a she. This she also had wavy green hair, with the end of each lock curling upward. Ranma couldn’t tell with her sitting down, but she appeared to be only a little shorter than his male, but taller than his female side. Yes, she was facing away from Ranma, and appeared to be looking at the ground. She was holding the rope gently and slowly swinging. Her body gave of a feeling of either boredom or sadness. Which one, Ranma couldn’t tell, but considering where they were, it probably was a good helping of both.

He was about to call to her and ask her who she was, but he suddenly stopped. Looking at her, a name (+Albeit a strange one.+) popped into mind. "(Sing Sing?)" He shook his head, trying to clear it. He called out a little louder. "Sing Sing?" The girl jumped about a foot in the air from the shock. It didn’t last as she landed, facing Ranma in a fighting position. Ranma was about to step into a defensive one himself, but he saw hers relax and shock appeared on her face, as if in recognition. "(Ran Ma? Can it be you?)" She took a tentative step towards him. "Ran Ma? Is that really you?"

Ranma relaxed his guard. Now that he saw her face, he was sure that this was Sing Sing. +But that’s impossible! I don’t KNOW any Sing Sings, do I?+ "Sing Sing?" Her eyes went wide. "RAN MA! IT *IS* YOU!" He must have blinked, because the next thing he knew, he was on the ground from a tackling hug, being showered with kisses. +Do ALL Amazons act like this, or just the ones that are on an intimate level with me.+ Wait a second here…. How did he know that she was an Amazon? And why did he want to do more than just kiss with this young lady? Sing Sing stopped in her ministrations and locked eyes with him. Ranma saw tears forming in her eyes. Uh, oh. Did he do something wrong? Softly, he asked, "Sing Sing, are you okay?"

"Yes. No. Both. Neither. It’s been a long time, Ran Ma. A very lonely time." She looked towards the sky and gave a sad smile. "Your time here isn’t that much longer. But let me leave you something to remember me by ‘till next time." With that said, she slowly placed her lips on his. She lifted Ranma’s head and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. Ranma responded in kind by wrapping his arms around her back and head, and opened his own mouth, tongues teasing each other. The kiss seemed to last forever. To Ranma, it wasn’t nearly long enough. When they broke off, Sing Sing placed her head on his chest and gave a sad sigh. "(I love you, Ran Ma. I only wish that you weren’t trying to kill me.)"

"Wha!" He would have said some thing more (But probably just as coherent.) when everything just faded away. Just above a whisper, Ranma thought he herd her say again, "(I love you!)"

Ranma opened his eyes and groaned. That was one hell of a dream! "I don’t think that I’ll forget *that* one anytime soon, even if I wanted to." He placed his arm on his forehead and groaned. He had _three_ fiancées and he was thinking of *another* woman. "Perhaps Akane was right after all this time: one major pervert." He had to smile though. "But I’M not the one who started it."

Smirking, he went to sit up. He had to fight a small dizzy spell, but nothing major. He noticed that he was on a couch.. Well I guess the owner saw me then. Turning his head, he saw a teapot, a glass, and some biscuits on a plate. Next to the plate, there was a note. Figuring that this was for him, he read the note, just side-noting it was, if rough, Romanji

Well, that explained who pulled him out of there. Now that he thought about it, he _was_ hungry. He tried a tentative bite on the biscuit. When one was victimized by Akane’s food in the past, one has to be careful of unknown foods. He bit into it. +Hmm… Buttermilk. With a hint of honey.+ Nope, not an Akane cook here! He poured the tea into the glass and drank it. It was a little bitter, but all right. Ranma glanced at the clock on the VCR. +ELEVEN O’ CLOCK?!?! Hinako’s going to suck me dry!!+ He made a frantic search for a pen, finding one right on the table. +Probably realized that I may have needed to leave, no doubt.+ He wrote a quick note saying that dinner should be okay, being there around six, went outside and made a mental note of address, and left at speeds of Moch two.

The mind of the martial artist is a complicated thing. It needs to be in order to take advantage of anything in a fight, and to have the discipline of when NOT to fight. To learn complicated movements and gainig piece through meditation. For example, what was running though Ranma Saotome’s mind at that very second was +Shesgonnadrainmeshesgonnadrainmeshesgonnadrainmeshesgonnadrainme…+

…

…

Okay, maybe it’s not as complicated as we thought.

But then again, one does *not* want to be late to Miss Hinako’s class. After all, she is quick to the fire to drain people. And when dealing with a certain person known as Ranma Saotome, she always keeps her ‘trigger finger’ ready. It is not a pleasant feeling of having your ki drained. Ranma can attest to that. So when he slid into class, part of his sweating brow was from running hard and fast. The rest of it was from the sense of impending doom.

He was hoping that Hinako would cut him a break. The frown on the diminutive face spoke otherwise. "Saotome, you DO realize it is eleven-ten, don’t you?"

He nodded. The teacher continued. "Akane said that you WOULD be running late, but never gave a reason. Would you please explain yourself?"

+pleaseletherlistenpleaseletherlistenpleaseletherlistenpleaseletherlisten+ "Well, Akane made breakfast and…"

"Did you eat it?"

"Yes, ma’am"

She frowned. "You realize I don’t like it when my students try to commit suicide, don’t you?"

Uh, oh. Ranma could tell where this was leading. +Think fast, Saotome!+ He gave a small bow. "I’m sorry, ma’am. Akane always seems to find a way to force it down my throat." Hinako stood there, thinking for a moment. +Yes! I may get out of this yet!+ "Saotome, I realize the dangers of Miss Tendo’s cooking," Ranma started to bigsweat +Oh boy. There’s a ‘but’ coming up, soon.+ "and if you are forced to consume it, I can understand your pain," +Yup, there’s definitely a ‘but.’+ "but," +Bingo.+ "You should still try come to class on time, if at all." She pulled out a ring. This was not good.

----------

+Another day, another class,+ sighed Ranma as he walked home. Well, Miss Hinako was controlling her draining a lot better these days. Not only in accuracy, but also in amount. She absorbed enough from him to age only eight years. She figured that having to have eaten Akane’s cooking would count for the rest. Of course, how she looked made the boys go gaga to the point that she showed how pin-point in accuracy she could be in order to control them.

Afterwards, Kuno came up to Ranma and called him ‘a coward and weakling’ for trying to avoid him in the morning and that he had no right to hold ‘the lovely Akane and the fair pig-tailed girl.’ Ranma had enough to worry about at this point without adding _Kuno_ to that list, so he just told Kuno to shove it and walked away. After that insult, and a moment in sputtering, Kuno charged. Ranma didn’t even bother look as he give Kuno a reverse punt kick into the sky. Well, the days activities kept him busy; but now that they were over, Ranma’s mind went back to that morning. He figured that the best way to sort everything was to go to the park. Maybe communing with nature would help him sort everything out.

----------

As Ranma sat under a tree, he mulled over what happened that morning. +Okay, I land in this ‘Nathan’s’ backyard. I start feeling nauseous. Then I’m hit by a purple light. I pass out. I have a strange dream. I’ll worry about that later. I woke up. I find a note and some food. He admits he knocked me out, but in order to heal me. He left some food for me, claiming to help speed the ‘healing process.’ He then invites me to dinner. I left a message I would be there at six and rush off to school.

+Now for the questions: What *WAS* that in the backyard? I didn’t get a good look at it, but it seemed sort of swamp-like. But why would somebody have a swamp? Well I can ask him about that. The nauseousness? Most likely caused by the ‘swamp’. He said something about poisons, and I had ‘food poisoning as well.’+ Ranma smiled. +He called Akane’s cooking ‘food?’ That, I *WILL* have to ask him about.+ He sobered a bit. +Now, I figure that the purple light was the K.O.er, but how and why? I’ve never seen light do that. ki, yes; but never…. Waaaaiiiit a minute here. Could this guy be able to manipulate his ki?+ Ranma just shook his head. There always seemed to be more and more people who can do that these days. What ever happened to individualism? +Okay, back to the matter on hand. This guy must be some cook if he knows recipes for healing as well. But then, how did he know I had food poisoning? How did he remove it?+ There were just too many unanswered questions. It looks like he’ll have to wait until six to have them answered.

----------

Meanwhile, the man in question entered his home. He closed the door and exhaustedly leaned back on it. He wiped some sooty sweat from his brow. He closed his eyes and murmured, "<(I’ll get you next time, you monster! I’m improving with every battle and your crimes will not go unpunished!)>" He gave a sigh. He looked up into the living room. He looked kind of nervous that he didn’t see the young man that he helped earlier in there. He looked at the table and saw the message the kid wrote. +Yeah, like *I* should be calling anybody kid. Hmmm…. Kanji. One of these days, I’ve GOT to take the time to try and study it.+

He entered another room, this one having a computer. A computer with almost fifty harddrives -- and plenty of room to expand. After starting a program, he used a light pen to copy the message onto the screen. It translated it for him. He released a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding. With the fall and food poisoning, (In his opinion, it was more like biochemical warfare.) he was afraid that the stranger was suicidal. But when reports of that… that…. He couldn’t even come up with a word that could describe him! Reports of that THING(!) came up again of his rampage, he faced a real morale dilemma: Take care of this one boy, or stop this ape-oh-sigh creature. It was not an easy choice. The only reason he even left was that, while his energy spoke of unrest, it didn’t say anything about him being suicidal. Despite this, he was agonizing over his choice all day. He did what he could, casting AN POR where he could spare the energy to keep sharp objects away, but he couldn’t keep the door locked as well. The stranger was a guest, not a prisoner. He was just hoping he wasn’t making a mistake. Especially since this ape-oh-sigh got away. Well, the ‘kid’ seemed all right, and the creature would be licking his own wounds as well. +Brother! I need a shower right now! But first….+ He pulled some objects from a pouch on his combination bandolier-belt. "IN YLEM."

----------

During all this, Ranma shifted his attention to his dream. Actually, he STILL couldn’t figure what the proper term would be for it. It had that surreal feel to it. It also happened while he was asleep. But he never had a dream that felt so real. +Those kisses sure felt real,+ he grinned, touching his lips. No dream ever burned in his memory like this one did either.

Ranma’s grin grew to a smile. It was wonderful being kissed without having to resist them. His smile turned to a slight frown. Why DIDN’T he even attempt to resist. And how did he know so much about her? Her name? Her heritage? Her favorite food? That she liked to be tickled on the inside of her…? Ranma vigorously shook his head. +Do NOT go there, Saotome.+

Ranma tried to straiten the facts out in his mind, But no matter how hard he thought about the ‘dream,’ it STILL made no sense. He put his head in his hands. +Urrg. This just is no good. |sigh| Well, better get to the dojo and tell them where I’ll be headed for dinner.+

2B continued…

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

Final notes:

Well, there’s number 1 of number who-knows-how-many. I started using spells in the story. The ones that are used I will note at the bottom of my notes. Yes, Yes, I know the guy has the same first name as me, but I just want to point out: THIS IS NOT ME!!! I just chose that name for the following reasons:

So, to all you Nathan’s out there, you’re gifts from God!! Wohoo!

So, what do you think? Do I have a future? What about the ‘fic? Tell me! Would you like to know what happens next? Well, I know what I want to do; it’s just how many twists, turns and what scenic routes I want to take along the way. If you read the prologue, you probably know, too. E-mail me!

Some people may be wondering about the path that I’m taking. Well, It came to mind that I saw so many fanfics out there that had Ranma and Akane get closer afterwards. I just thought, +Hey! If somebody’s wedding got ‘bombed,’ they’d probably be an emotional mess!+ Considering who was getting married as well, I would think that they would naturally release their stress at their normal targets: namely, each other. If you read my prologue, you probably know what the second point is.

----------

As I said at the start, spells are used. I will put them in my end notes here. These are spells from Ultima VI. I’ll be using that spell book and making up some of my own spells as well. Personally, it just doesn’t feel right to be putting them in the story itself when the spell is cast. Too much diviation in my opinion. This is the way that spells will be listed:

Syllables - Circle Level - Rough Translation - Literal Translation

Just as Ranma and Ryoga yell out the names of their special techs, spells have syllables to focus their power. If I get enough E-Mails, I’ll list them all at once.

Difficulty level. The higher the circle, the stronger the spell and greater the difficulty to cast. It build linear as opposed to exponential. So, in terms of difficulty, The first circle would be one spell point, the fourth would be four points. There are eight spell circles.

Rough Translation

In layman’s terms, it is the layman’s terms. If you saw a ball of fire coming at you, you would (after cursing and screaming) call it a fireball.

This is what the syllables actually translate into, if translated into English.

Notes

Just what this spell is all about.

----------

Now, the spells

POR FLAM - 3rd - Fireball - Move Flame

It’s a ball of fire! How else can you describe it?! It does a good amount of damage.

AN FLAM - 1st - Douse - Negate Flame

Puts out fires. Usually about the size of one in a household fireplace or a brazier is it’s max.

AN POR - 3rd - Magic lock - Negate Movement

Despite the translation, don’t confuse this with paralyze. This doesn’t have the complexity to stop a living being’s movement. However, the lock can NOT be picked at, no matter the skills or equipment.

IN YLEM - 2nd - Reappear - Create Matter

The best way to describe this would be to think of pulling something out of hammerspace. To pull it out, however, it needs to be put into it by the reverse spell, AN YLEM (Vanish).

----------

The spells also need the use of reagents. I just don’t feel like putting them with the spells. By then, we hit tediousness. But here they are. I’ll let you figure out which goes to which specific spell.

Black Pearl

A kinetic propellant -- used mainly for projectiles, and force fields (to keep the forementioned fields from bursting underneath you).

Blood Moss

Enhances movement. Whereas the pearl would be a throw, the moss (Actually, it’s a type of fungus) is more like a push, of sorts. Could physically move things, or move things in and out of sight.

Garlic

Used primarily for dispelling -- removing poisons, scare undead away, basically just pushing things away, chemically and metaphysically.

Ginseng

Used almost always by curing ailments (with Garlic) and healing wounds (with Spider’s Silk).

Mandrake Root

Power, plain and simple. gives the extra ‘oomph’ to spells that would otherwise be weaker (For example: add Mandrake [and moss] to the fireball spell, you get the explosion spell).

Nightshade

Creates illusions and poisons. These illusions could also help the caster by allowing him to see things he may not be able to see otherwise. An example of illusion would be to gain infravision. As a poison (of sorts), it would be in paralyze.

Spider’s Silk

Creates binding power. It binds the healing or the ailment to the target. It also binds items and creatures summoned by the caster into this dimension and/or spot.

Sulfurous Ash

Burst of energy. While Mandrake is like eating a proper meal and gaining the nutrients, Ash is like giving a five-year-old a bag of sugar. Used where energy is needed -- projectile spells, often; fire creation and light; detecting things (with Nightshade); like I said, whenever energy is needed (In other words, most spells).

As far as I know that’s everything. Remember to send c&c E-mails!

Long live the Avatar!