Damn I hate Hotmail....

    Matrix Dragon Presents....

    A NERV Production (This fic causes mental instability in the writer 
:)....

    Ocarina's Love
    Part Two: Dark Omens

    Who reads this copyright stuff anyway? Send me anything you feel like 
sending. Spam will be ignored, flames fed to my pet dodongo.

    Thanks to Demented Otaku and allyn yonge for their advice on a few 
mistakes in Part One. Also thanks to Brendan Lawson for Pre-reading Part 
Two.

***

    Link simply watched as Ranma inhaled his breakfast. In all his travels, 
he had never seen anything like it. He hadn't even thought that it was
possible.

    "So, ready for school?" Nabiki asked him. Link nodded. "Just a word of 
advice, if you're willing to pay."

    Link pulled out 1000 yen. "I'll pay twice that after you tell me.... if 
it's useful."

    Nabiki was surprised. Not many people in Nerima used their brains like 
that. "Kuno's gunning for you now. He seems to think that Akane and
Ranma's love for him-" Akane and Ranma gagged at that, "-is breaking the 
spell on them. He thinks that the evil sorcerer has summoned you to
help him."

    Link nodded. "I get it. He thinks that by taking me out, he'll free his 
'loves'. What an idiot!" He handed her the money.

    "Don't worry," Akane said. "Kuno's easy to beat. Just hit him with that 
hammer you've got hidden somewhere."

    "Speaking of my hammer, how the heck did I do that yesterday?"

    Ranma stopped eating. Yes, I'm serious. Ranma. Stopped. Eating. "I don't 
know," he admitted. "We've all been able to do that. Guess you just
picked up the skill."

    Link shook his head. "Ranma, people don't just pick up skills just like 
that. It takes time and practice. I sent Kuno so far up you couldn't even
see him. How is that possible?"

    "LEO."

    "Huh?"

    "Low-Earth-Orbit. My guess is that it's part of this universe." Ranma 
then resumed eating. As far as he was concerned, the mystery had been
answered.

***

    Ukyou watched as Ranma ran through the school gates, followed by Akane 
and Mallet-sama. Everything was getting back to normal, she
told herself. Soon Ranchan would forget all about that wedding incident and 
she could get back to trying to convince him that she was that
right one to marry.

    She noticed another figure run to catch up with the pair. It was that 
boy from yesterday. And considering how he was talking to Akane and
Ranma, they were friends too.

    A plan briefly passed through the girls mind. Ryouga was so shy that 
he'd never get anywhere with Akane, but maybe this boy could. She'd
have to learn a bit about him.

    Link sensed someone watching him. It seemed harmless, but threats often 
were like that until they attack. "Navi, who's watching me?" he
whispered.

    "Some girl a short distance away. I don't sense anything evil about her. 
She's got a giant spatula on her back."

    Link looked around and saw a boy standing near the school. "Must be 
Ukyou, one of the group engaged to Ranma. Because of that honor
vow, she has to pretend to be a boy. Speaking of that, how'd you know she 
was a girl?"

    "I know all sorts of things."

    "If you know so much, why didn't you tell me 'Sheik' was really Zelda?"

    "She hid herself fairly well."

    "So, the foul sorcerer brings his dark minions with him! I shall not 
allow it! I, Tatewaki Kuno shall defeat thee and free my loves from your
dark wrath!" While Kuno rambled on, Link fished around in his pockets, 
looking for something. A few seconds later he found it. It was a small
brown nut.

    "Cover your eyes," he warned Akane and Ranma. As they closed their eyes, 
Link threw the nut at the ground in front of Kuno. As it landed,
it exploded in a flash of white light. As it faded, it was revealed that 
Kuno had been paralyzed. The three of them walked past him and into the
school.

    Kuno was too surprised to be angry. He didn't even react when birds 
landed on him.

    But when the birds started treating him like they do a normal statue, 
then he got mad. <The Dark Elf shall pay for this...>

***

    "Class, this is Link Hylia, a new student here." Link looked at Ms 
Hinako. A little kid as a teacher? Why hadn't anyone told him about this?
Then he looked at the class. Somehow he'd gotten stuck with Ranma, Akane and 
Ukyou. He didn't know why, but his stomach had dropped
through the floor.

    He sat down, and then looked at the timetable. Then he knew why he felt 
so bad. History first then Maths, English and so on. At least maths
didn't change too often. History he hated. And he'd never heard of English 
before.

    Sure enough History was a nightmare. The teacher wanted to see what he 
knew, and was disgusted. Link was simply embarrassed. And Navi
was laughing her butt off.

    Math's was better. He'd done all this stuff before, and was doing as 
well as he usually did. Halfway through it, Akane and Ranma started
trading insults again. Just as Ranma finished calling her a flat-chested 
tomboy, the door exploded inwards.

    "SAOTOME!!" a voice yelled. "How dare you treat Akane like that!" As the 
dust settled Link got a good look at the source of the voice. It
was a young boy, around the same age as him. He had a large backpack, a 
bandanna on his forehead, and a bamboo umbrella was held in an
angry grip. Link searched through his mind for who this could be. He then 
gave up as he had no idea at all.

    "Hi, P-chan," Ranma said.

    "DON'T CALL ME P-CHAN!!" the boy bellowed. He then charged Ranma and 
sent both of them flying out the window. You all know what
happens then. Ki blasts, insults, Kuno standing between a Mouko Takabisha 
and a Shishi Hokodan, stuff like that. Since you've all seen that
before (It doesn't matter how many times you see Kuno get fried, it's still 
good!) we'll go back to the classroom.

    "Akane," Link calmly said, "would you like to tell me who the hell that 
was?"

    "That was Ryouga, one of Ranma's old friends."

    "Friends. Sure." Link was skeptical of that comment. Who wouldn't be?

    "The boy sure was mad with him," Navi said. "Wonder why?"

    "That jerk insulted him again! Why is he always picking on Ryouga?"

    Link, Navi and Ukyou looked at her strangely. Ukyou wouldn't say it, as 
Akane mad at Ranma was good for her. And Navi beat Link to it.
"Akane, Ryouga attacked first."

    Akane blinked. Now that she thought about it, Ryouga did attack first. 
In fact, every time she saw a fight start, it was Ryouga that threw the
first punch. Why hadn't she noticed it before?

    Link stuck his head out the window, then pulled it back in as a stray ki 
blast shot by. "I don't believe this.." he muttered. "Hey Akane?
What'd he mean when he called Ryouga P-chan?"

    Akane shrugged. "He always calls Ryouga that all the time. It's the name 
of my pet piglet."

    "Ah." Link stuck his head out the widow again. He noticed that Ryouga 
was staying away from any water, like he was afraid of it or
something. "Is Ryouga cursed?"

    "No-one told me," Navi said.

    "I don't think so," Ukyo said, thinking back to all the times she'd seen 
Ryouga. She'd never seen him get splashed, as far as she could
remember.

    "No, considering how cursed people attract cold water, we'd all know 
about it by now," Akane finished. But at the back of her mind,
something was screaming it's mental lungs out at her to pay attention for 
half a second and she'd know the answer. As usual, she ignored it.

    Link looked out into the yard. He wasn't convinced.

***

    A very messed up panda sat down in front of the game board. Soun looked 
at it. "What happened to you?" he asked.

    <Nodoka wanted to talk to me about the wedding incident,> Genma-panda 
signed. <She was rather.... unhappy.>

    "I'm not surprised. That was a disaster. At this rate our families will 
never be joined! WAAAGGHH!" Soun was crying again. Big surprise.

    <Have faith Tendo! Despite his faults Ranma is an honorable man! I 
raised him well and he does love Akane. With our aid they shall marry
and lead the dojo on to new greats! One of our plans shall work! And then 
the future of our clans will.....> he then ran out of space on the sign.

***

    Link entered Ucchans, his mouth watering at the sights and smells of the 
wonderful food found within. Ukyo was already at work, cooking,
and Ranma was already hard at work, eating as many as he could. He sat down 
on one of the barstools and read the menu. "Hmm... Thursday:
Okonomiyaki, okonomiyaki, okonomiyaki, deluxe okonomiyaki, okonomiyaki, 
okonomiyaki, french fries, okonomiyaki, okonomiyaki. Uh, I'll have
the okonomiyaki."

    "Good choice Link." The chef began to make his order, and Link passed 
the short time by watching Ranma eat. He was still trying to figure
out how he did it.

    "What're you so happy 'bout?" the pig-tailed youth asked between 
mouthfulls.

    "Just the fact that English is simply Britannian without all the thees 
and thous."

    "Britannian?"

    "It's the world I've spent the past four years on. No technology like 
Earth, more... old-fashioned. Quite a nice place really. There was this 
great
restaurant in Minoc that made the most wonderful roast pork... I'll tell you 
more about it sometime." He then began to eat his meal. Ranma had
never stopped. Soon the pig-tailed youth finished, and looked at his old 
friend.

    "Ucchan, I need to talk to you. In private." Anyone with half a brain 
left, knowing that in Nerima, the next thing to happen was usually a fight.
Link dropped some money on the counter and turned to leave. He stopped, 
reached under the seat and grabbed Navi. Then he left. Ranma
looked at a pot plant. "You too." The pot plant was then sent flying from 
the restaurant, thanks to a large battle spatula.

    Link watched as the pot plant sprouted legs and ran off. He then walked 
in the direction of the dojo, trying to figure out what was going on.

    Inside, Ranma glared at Ukyo. "What were you thinking?"

    "What's wrong Ranchan?"

    "I'll tell you what's wrong. Last week you attacked my wedding! I 
expected something like that from Shampoo and Kodachi, but not you! You
could have killed someone, did that ever occur to you?" Ukyou flinched at 
the venom in Ranma's voice. She had never seen him this angry
before. Now she knew why he had hardly said anything to her in the past 
week. He had been trying to contain his anger. And now he was
letting it out.

    "But Ranchan, I couldn't let you marry someone you don't love!"

    "How do you know what I feel?" he growled. "Do you know what goes on in 
my head, do you know what I think of people? Do you think
that I wanted you to do that?"

    Ukyo felt despair as she heard Ranma's words. "Does this mean that you-"

    "-Love Akane? Yes, it does. I love Akane. I've said it. Maybe now you'll 
realize how pointless this is."

    "Pointless? In case you forgot, you're engaged to me!"

    "Says who? I never had any say in it. As far as I'm concerned, Pops 
stole your stupid yati!" Ranma was getting madder by the minute, and
Ukyo was starting to catch up.

    "It's a matter of honor!"

    "Honor!? In case you forgot, I don't have any honor! How many times did 
Pop sell me for food? How long did I hide from my mother because
of that promise?" He took a deep breath, and calmed down a bit. "I always 
considered you the smartest and most normal fiancee. It seems I was
wrong." He left the restaurant, leaving Ukyo standing there, realizing what 
had happened.

    She had lost. The only man she had ever loved didn't love her. And 
perhaps, because of her actions, he no longer considered her his friend
either. It was over.

***

    It was not going to be a quiet night at the Tendo Dojo. It started 
simply enough, with Genma deciding to attack Ranma to make up for not
doing it in the morning. But since Ranma was fighting with Ukyo, the panda 
goofed up and sent Link into the pond.

    The elf climbed out of the pond, glaring daggers at Genma-panda. "Okay 
fuzzball, now you're gonna get it!" He moved into the attack. Genma
took a few simple swipes at the boy. Link replied by stepping around them 
and slamming his fist into Genmas stomach. The panda fell back,
giving Link time to move in and unleash a volley of blows at his foes face. 
As Genma attempted to block, Link knocked his feet out from under
him. He finished with an elbow to the head on the way down. He then walked 
inside to dry off.

    Ranma arrived home a few minutes later, upset over Ukyo. It was not the 
best time for Genma to try again.

    Then the real problem arrived. A certain lost boy wandered in, wondering 
since when the Dojo has been in London. Akane invited him to tea.
Things were destined to go downhill from there

    Ranma glared at Ryouga. Ryouga glared at Ranma. Akane glared at Ranma, 
wondering why Ranma was always so mean to Ryouga. The
thought that it was because Ryouga always attacked him was hunted down and 
shot before she had a chance to notice it. But something else
got through. A question she was asked at school. One that no-one had ever 
asked.

    She picked up a glass of water, and walked up behind Ryouga. Then, 
without warning, she dumped it on his head. She watched as Ryouga
changed, his body shifting to his cursed form in less then a second. Link 
grinned. "I KNEW he was cursed!" Ranma just smirked.

    Akane watched as Ryouga pulled himself free of the clothing. His cursed 
form was that of a small piglet. In fact, he looked quite familiar, like
she had seen him before....

    Then she realized. Ryouga was P-chan. All this time he had been spying 
on her, watching her undress, lying in bed with her. That... that
PERVERT!!

    "You're P-chan," she growled. P-chan quivered with fear as Akane's face 
contorted with anger. He had seen her mad with Ranma, but this...
this was like nothing he had ever seen before. Screaming with rage, she 
kicked the piglet into the kitchen. She turned to Ranma. "You knew,
didn't you?"

    He nodded.

    "Why didn't you tell me?"

    Ranma sighed. "I tried. Time and time again, but all I ever got was 
'Stop picking on P-chan.'"

    Akane knew Ranma was right. Time and time again he'd been trying to help 
her, tried to let her know the truth, and she'd hated him for it. Well
now it was time to direct that anger on the person who deserved it. She 
stormed into the kitchen, and saw that Ryouga had found some hot
water. He staggered back, trying to find something to cover his privates 
with. Akane didn't give him a chance to. Before he knew what was
happening, Mallet-sama slammed into the side of his head. As he tried to get 
up it slammed into his back. "I HATE YOU!!" she screamed as she
kicked him in the balls. Ryouga fell to the floor again, his face contorting 
with pain.

    Akane grabbed him by the hair, and threw him out of the house. "If I 
ever see you again I'll have you put down!" Ryouga flinched at the
thought of that. And then he ran, as fast as he could, as far away as 
possible. Unseen by him, Akane ran to her room, tear streaming down her
face.

    Link turned to Ranma. "Okay, I expected Ryouga to be cursed, but why'd 
Akane do that?"

    "Ryouga was P-chan, her pet pig. Whenever he was around in pig form, he 
was always with her. He was in her bedroom when she got
changed, was under the bedcovers when she was asleep, that sort of thing."

    Link turned green. "That sick son of a bitch! Why didn't you just yell 
out 'Ryouga's cursed and he turns into P-chan?'"

    "I couldn't! Before I knew what he was up to, I promised Ryouga I 
wouldn't tell anyone. I had no choice." He looked in the direction the lost
boy had run. "At least he got what he deserved."

***

    Kasumi woke up early as usual. She walked downstairs and began her usual 
tasks. As she walked towards the kitchen, she saw a piece of
paper on the table. She read what was written on it. "Oh my."

    Link was woken up by a panda knocking him into the pond. He climbed out 
and glared at the furball. "What was that for?"

    <Sorry, wrong boy,> the panda signed. <Excuse me, I'll just go wake up 
my son now.> He turned to whack Ranma on the head, but was
interrupted by a chain wrapping around one of his paws. The next thing he 
knew the chain tightened and he was thrown into the pond. <Rude
little br-> he got no further as Link's sword sliced through the sign. Then 
the pair started pounding each other.

    Ranma came down a few minutes later, and watched the pair fight. 
Although he wouldn't admit it, Link was pretty good. He fought with a
combination of an armed and unarmed style. The fact he pulled all of his 
weapons out of nowhere was similar to Mousse, and very effective.
"Say, where's Akane?" Kasumi handed him the note.

    "To everyone,
                             I'll be on a trip for the next week or so. 
There's just a few things I need to figure out. Don't worry about me, I'll 
be fine.
    -Akane"

    "Oh man," Ranma muttered. "If Mr Tendo wants me to go find her she'll 
mallet the hell out of me." Then Kasumi placed food in front of him,
and he dug in, everything else forgotten for now.

***

    School that day was quiet. Link knew that Akane was off thinking about 
things, but what had happened to Ukyo? The chef hadn't shown up
at school either. He'd only known her for a day, but she seemed like a nice 
person. And to finish it off, Kuno had vanished as well. Well, until
lunchtime, where Ms Hinako drained him before he had a chance to do any 
damage. He'd checked with Nabiki, but she had no idea either.

    "Something stinks," he muttered to himself.

    "What is it?"

    "I was expecting Kuno to attack me this morning. He didn't, which is 
good, but no one had seen him until lunch. Akane I don't blame - if I
found out my pet was really someone I considered a friend perving on me I'd 
be upset too. Ryouga better not show up again for his own safety.
But what about Ukyo? Even Nabiki doesn't know where she is."

    Ranma coughed. "Well, y'know when I talked to her last night?"

    "What happened?"

    "I got into an argument with her, and said some really stupid things."

    "What was the fight about?"

    "What do you know about the wedding last week?"

    Link thought for a moment. "All I know is that your fathers tried to 
pull a scam to get you and Akane married, and the girls intervened."

    Ranma nodded. "I thought Ucchan would never do anything like that, but 
she proved me wrong. And like an idiot, I lost my temper at her."
He shook his head sadly. "I just don't have much luck with girls, do I?"

***

    Akane sat on a large rock near her campsite, thinking things over. Ranma 
always seemed to insult her, but then all the times it seemed like he
was being mean to P-chan, he was simply trying to protect her from Ryouga. 
"So, maybe he does care," she whispered. Lost in her thoughts,
she took a bite out of her sandwich. "YUK!" She spat out the 'food' in 
disgust. "Maybe.... maybe Ranma has a point insulting my cooking."

***

    At that very moment, in the infernal realm known as hell, Satan watched 
the snow fall. "Okay, what was the impossible thing that happened
this time?" He looked at the information on the mortal realm. "Akane 
admitted her cooking is bad and that Ranma has a point insulting it?!" He
walked out of the room and returned in shorts, thongs and floppy hat.

    A lower demon looked at him. "What are fuck are you doing boss?"

    "I've decided I'm working too hard. I'm going to Australia for a 
holiday. If Armageddon occurs, give me a call. You can munch on Judas for a
while."

***

    The next morning, Genma woke up both of the boys and got pounded. Once 
he was out of the way, Link and Ranma finally had the chance to
spar. Of course with these two things were gonna get messy.

    Ranma made the first move, with a quick kick to Links face. Link 
sidestepped, and punched Ranma in the gut. The pig-tailed martial artist was
sent flying over the pond. Link then pulled out the longshot and fired it 
into the fence. As Ranma got to his feet he was greeted by a foot to the
face. He rolled with the blow and knocked Link off his feet as he landed. 
Link leapt to his feet and pulled a quarter staff out of nowhere. "You're
good," the elf admitted.

    "Don't I know it," Ranma smirked.

    "And overconfident!" Link swung his staff at Ranma's face. He deflected 
it, but was taken by suprise when the other end slammed into his
gut. Ranma fell back as Link lashed out with blow after blow. Many of them 
were stopped, dodged or deflected, but some still got through.

    Finally Ranma grabbed the staff, and flipped Link into the pond. "I 
win!" he yelled. The pond didn't reply. "Hey Link, you okay? Link? Oh
shit, something must have happened to him!" Ranma dived into the pond.

    She floated around, trying to find the young elf. Suddenly a pair of 
hands grasped around her mouth, holding her underwater. She tried to
fight back, but the water slowed her movements. Then she was thrown out of 
the pond and skidded across the ground. She glared at Link as he
walked out of the pond, the iron boots on his feet. "What'd you do that 
for?"

    "Couldn't resist," Link laughed. "I got you good!"

    "Breakfast is ready," Kasumi called out. Link and Ranma ran inside, 
trampling Genma-panda on the way past. The pair of them ate their food,
Ranma-chan only taking a bit from Link's plate, Link still trying to get the 
hang of chopsticks. Genma sat at the table and tried to steal from Links
plate. Link replied by pulling the Megaton Hammer out of nowhere and sending 
him into the pond again.

    "Y'know, Akane was right," he commented.

    "Oh? What do you mean Link?" Soun asked.

    "A hammer is a good thing to have." he replied.

    "WAAAGGH! MY LITTLE GIRL'S TELLING PEOPLE HOW TO POUND MY BEST FRIEND!" 
Soun wailed.

    "But you have to admit he deserved it," Ranma-chan said.

    "Huh?"

    She began counting down the list. "The Neko-ken, the multiple 
engagements, Jusenkyo, that seppuku promise.."

    "All right, I get the point already," Soun muttered.

    "What's the Neko-ken?" Link asked.

    "I'd rather not talk about that that," Ranma-chan said. "Damn! We're 
gonna be late again!" The pair ran out the door. Link ran just behind his
friend, thinking things through.

    <He doesn't want to talk about this Neko-ken? He told me about the 
curse, and he hates that a lot. What could be worse?> Needless to say,
the images in Links head were not pleasant.

    Ranma was simply wondering how Akane was doing.

***

    And so the next week passed. Link and Ranma began to train each other, 
Ranma showing Link the Mouko Takabisha, Link teaching Ranma
the Din's Fire, and toasting Genma when he got too close. He also began to 
teach Ranma to play the Ocarina, which he took to rather well. Kuno
was out for holy victory against the 'Dark Elf Link' for spiriting his love 
away. And when he saw Ranma-chan playing the Ocarina, he was
certain it was a tune for his heart (Hands up if you knew that was gonna 
happen. Wow, that's a lot of people.) He was also using a katana now,
believing that the holy blade would destroy evil. He used several katanas 
really, one for each day.

    Saturday: Link stole it off him. He sold it to Nabiki, who sold it back 
to Kuno.
    Sunday: Ranma kicked it out of Kuno's grip, and it stabbed Mr Turtle in 
the head.
    Monday: Link shattered it with the Megaton Hammer
    Tuesday: Link melted it with a fire arrow.
    Wednesday: Link tried out his first real Mouko Takabisha on it. While 
not very good, it was strong enough to send Kuno through a wall.
    Thursday: Kuno was frozen by a ice arrow. Link took the katana, thinking 
that he needed one other then Biggerons Sword, but it was of poor
quality, so he sold it to Nabiki again, and she made a large profit from it 
selling it back to Kuno again.
    Friday: Ranma-chan slammed him into the pavement, and stepped on the 
katana.

    But while this is all well and good, there are more important things 
happening not too far from Nerima.....

***

    Ryouga stared at Akane in terror. 
"I'mreallysorryAkaneIdidn'tmeantorunintoyoulikethatandpleasedon'tkillmeI'mreallysorryaboutbeing-"

    "Ryouga, shut up and calm down. I think we need to talk." Akane sat on 
the rock and motioned for him to sit a short distance away. "I just
need to ask you a few questions."

    "Okay." Ryouga noted all escape routes, although his sense of direction 
made them useless.

    "How did you get cursed?"

    "When I was following Ranma after he chickened out of that fight, I 
ended up at Jusenkyo. Anyway, the next thing I know, this panda comes
running down the track, being chased by a red-headed girl."

    "Genma and Ranma."

    "Yeah, although I didn't learn that until later. Genma knocked me off 
balance, and then Ranma knocked me into the spring. So it's all his fault!"

    Akane thought about it for a second. Since she had learned the truth 
about Ryouga, she had started to think about things more clearly.
"Ryouga, you were late to the fight weren't you?"

    "Yes, but I don't see what that-"

    "-And you were the one who decided to chase Ranma across China, right."

    "Yes."

    "And a martial artist should be able to keep his balance, shouldn't he?"

    "Yes. So?"

    Akane refrained from hitting him. Barely. "Just think about that for a 
minute."

    Ryouga's brain ticked over. As Robert Haynie once said, 'Ryoga Hibiki 
had, at times, a somewhat unusual logic system.' This sense of logic
caused him to blame Ranma for everything, from his curse, to his bad sense 
of direction, to the weather. However, this time, something sane got
through. And Ryouga began to see sense. A little bit.

    He was to blame for being cursed. Ranma had gotten to the fight on time, 
while Ryouga had been four days late. And then he had followed
him across China, over a few bits of bread.

    <But, it has to be Ranmas fault! It always is!> the dark part of his 
soul screamed. <It's his fault for everything that's happened to you over 
the
years.>

    <Go to hell!> Ryouga shot back. <I'm not listening to you anymore!>

    "I've been a fool," he said out loud. "I blamed Ranma for all my 
problems, and lied to everyone. And I called Ranma dishonorable."

    "Ryouga, relax. Maybe it's time you changed your ways."

    "Yeah, I guess." Ryouga stood up and bowed to Akane. "I am deeply sorry 
for all that I have done to you, Akane Tendo."

    "Don't worry about it. But if I catch you trying it again, we'll be 
having bacon, understand?" At the end, the threat in her voice was easily
detectable. Ryouga gulped.

    "Of course I won't. But if you see a small black piglet, give him some 
hot water."

***

    In hell, everyone was enjoying the snow when it suddenly became a 
blizzard.

***

End Part A


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