Here guys, this is my first fanfic posted to this, and would like to here
C&C, as this is my second draft.






Ch. 2

Here�s the second excerpt of my fanfic, in which I do not own or blah blah
blah, etc.  I guess I�ll add on the authors note at the end this time.
***********************************************************8

A lone figure trudged along the mountainous side of the volcano.  By the
trail of toppled trees, and shattered boulders, it was quite evident that
this was no ordinary man.  And by the many twist, turns, and loops in the
trail of this single traveler, one could easily tell that either this young
man was either suffering from a major concussion and was wandering without a
clue, or was the king of the lost, one Ryouga Hibiki.

Although one might wonder just how he could get so lost without trying
(usually until one�s head ached), it had been witnessed that Ryouga�s sense
of direction was so bad that it actually affected things around him that
usually had very good senses of direction. For instance, upon passing a
flock of homing pigeons that where headed for Kyoto, his curse caused them
to end up in Brazil.  GPS systems where known to blow whenever he passed
within 30 feet of them.  Some scientist even considered that he might be the
opposite force to balance all the things with good senses of direction.

Although these interesting questions are something to ponder, the main
thing, is that this figure is Ryouga, and he is lost.  But although this
normally usual, the reason he is wandering around, deep in thought, isn�t.
Instead of the usual �its all Ranma�s fault/ how much do I love Akane�
thoughts running through his mind, something else was there instead.
Something, which anyone who knew Ryouga well would be shocked to hear.

Ak-akane doesn�t love me.  She loves Ranma.  Why else would she marry him?
And I can�t blame even Ranma for this.  He beat me in a something that his
martial skills couldn�t do anything to.  Hell, I don�t know how they fell in
love, with her constantly beating him, and Ranma always abusing her
feelings.  But at least I have Akari. *Sighs* But does she love me, or does
she love P-chan.  With how pig-obsessed she is, it�s almost impossible to
tell, and do I really want to know if which she actually loves.  I don�t
know if I could stand being loved only for my curse?

But wasn�t that what was happening with Akane?  She loves p-chan, but as a
pet.  And she sees me as a friend.  But is she ever found out, she would
understand!  No she wouldn�t forgive me that easily, if ever.  She would
hate me.  What do I do?  What should I do?

Ryouga�s mind went back into the loop, with the same problem running
through while he wandered aimlessly.  He blindly kept going, not seeing
anything because of his internal struggles.

Ryouga�s trek gradually headed him into the volcanic crater, which just
happened to have a pool of lava covering the floor of the crater.  Ryouga
was as lost in thought as he was lost when trying to navigate, so he never
even saw the lava, or the smoke, or even the volcano.  In fact, for him, it
was getting colder as he got more depressed.  It was a cold and dark place,
although the dark might have been accounted for because of the smoke, not
that he noticed.

He stumbled down the slope, not caring what was in front of him, his feet
on autopilot.  He got near the lava, and to anyone�s surprise, if any where
watching, headed across it.  For some reason, the lava a few feet in front
of Ryouga solidified and chilled so quickly, that by the time he got there,
the rock was quite cool.  He kept wandering around for some time, until he
came back to reality on the upslope.  Looking around, he was surprised by
the hellish scene around him.

Kuso, I really did get lost enough to wander into hell.  Although it�s a
lot less crowded than I thought.  Must be a vacation day going on or
something, like how school�s supposed to be.  With that thought, he turned
around, and noticed his path through the lava.  Pondering a while at the
strange path that seemed to glisten icily the closer it got to him.  Looking
down, he discovered the path ended at his feet, and realized that this was
his path through the place.  A thought struck him, making him wonder where
the ice came from.

After shrugging it off as another weird phenomenon that he happened to
witness in his life, he turned around and found himself in an old forest,
with big furry humanoids running away from him, screaming in extreme terror.
Damn sasquatches, beat up one of em for attacking ya, and they won�t even
stick around to give a guy directions.

Thinking back to the times he found himself in weird spacecraft�s, with
obnoxious aliens, and even the time he found himself on a planet full of
ape-like men, this new oddity was nothing.  Feeling for his ki, he felt
another odd energy that hadn�t been there earlier.  Feeling it out, he
looked down at himself to discover he had a fine coat of ice on himself.

With some curiosity, and a lot of concentration, he focused on manipulating
the energy.  Suddenly, he found himself frozen in a massive block of ice
that had frozen suddenly around him.  Heaving mightily, he broke free, and
began to grin wildly.
________________________________________________________________________

For Ranma, the room came blurringly back into focus in fits and starts.
After the room had quit trembling and spinning for about a minute, he slowly
levered himself up, and began to rub his face with his hands.

I wish that tomboy didn�t mallet me so much.  And she didn�t hafta hit me
so hard.  Damn, that was a freaky dream.  Akane actin� so nice, and all that
other strange stuff.  Akane might not be a uncute tomboy all the time, but
she hardly acts nice towards me, much less listens to me.  Akane must have
really hit me hard over the head.

Looking around, Ranma noticed Akane was kneeling nearby, as if she had been
waiting for him to come to.  She stayed silent where she was sitting, and
just watched him with a slightly worried look on her face.  Ranma looked
down for a second, and after shaking his head to clear some of the cobwebs
out, he asked Akane the time worn question, �What happened?�  He looked at
the back of his hands quizzically for a second, then looked back up at
Akane.  �The last I remember was us talking, then ya malleting me.  Did I
say something dumb again, like insultin� ya or something?  Ya must really
have pounded me for it, since I had a pretty freaky dream.�

Now one must understand, that while Akane wasn�t a psycopathic girl, much
less a sadistic one, Ranma was very used to waking up after a malleting due
to the old �foot-in-mouth� disease.  And since he lived at the Tendo-ke, and
hanged out around Akane, she received a rather large share of dumb comments,
and was used to trying to help cure Ranma of his little condition by ye olde
mallet.  So it wasn�t too much of a surprise to wake up in the position that
he had.

Akane fidgeted a bit but, she stayed where she was.  Then she stilled, and
quietly asked, �What happened in your dream?�

Ranma gave her a odd look, then paused in thought, gathering the fragments
of memory to make sense out of it.  �Well, at the beginning, I was
practicing here in the dojo, tryin� out some new moves.  Just after
destroying a training dummy, kinda like how that was destroyed,� he gestured
at the pile of scrap metal swept into the corner, with something tugging at
the corner of his mind, �ya came in and we began to talk.  We seemed to talk
for a little while, actually listening to one another, then I said something
that set ya off, and ya hammered me.  Then there were pink elephants dancing
around, then there came a guy with spiky gold hair fightin a pink blob of a
creature, with both flyin around.  The realest was the one with an odd
dragon in it.  It wasn�t a Chinese dragon, it had four legs and big wings,
but not like bat wings, cause it had a blue energy glowing between the wing
parts.  And its color seemed to shift with the light.  And it told me in a
normal human like voice that I had to gather my kind together, cause we had
to protect, and guide the world, and there was a great darkness coming we
had to help the people through with.  Then he roared �awake� at me, and
that�s when I came through.  Weird huh?�

Akane gave Ranma a very odd look, then blushed, and then looked down, a
little embarrassed.  �The first part wasn�t a dream, Ranma.  Although the
elephants, and everything else after was, the first part wasn�t.  We
actually had a real talk and I guess I understand you a little more for it,
but that wasn�t all that happened.�

�Really?  What else happened then?  Ya didn�t do anything to me while I was
out, did ya?� he said with a teasing tone in his voice.

Akane blushed badly, �Baka! That�s not what I meant!�  Calming down after
realizing he was only teasing her, she continued.  �Sorry, .... anyways, you
did something I�ve never seen you do before.  It happened just before I
connected with my mallet,�

�What, block?  It�s not like the damn mallet doesn�t give me a headache or
anything, ya know?  My head�s taken enough damage, thank ya.�

Akane fired back a glare.  �Actually, that wasn�t it, although you did try
to block, it was something even more strange.  You somehow made some metal
blades shoot....... right out of the back of you hands, and they sliced
through my mallet like it wasn�t even there.  They disappeared right after
you where knocked unconscious from the mallet fragments, although you�ve
only been out for a few minutes.�

Ranma looked at Akane oddly.  �You�re joking, right?  After all, that
couldn�t possibly have happened.  What would the chances be for something so
strange would happen to me..... oh wait, of course this could happen.
Everything else seems to happen to me anyways, so why would this be
different.�

Akane gave a slightly strained grin, �Well they did pop out of your hands,
and they weren�t your Nekoken claws, since they appeared to be metal.  Why
do you think that you have metal blades?�  Akane paused for a second in
thought.  �I wonder if the blades are a side effect of your curse.�

�I hope not.  And I sorta doubt it.  After all, Herb has the same curse as
me, and he don�t have blades, or anything.  Plus, if this happened before,
wouldn�t the spring be called �spring of drowned girl with blades coming out
of her hands�?  But still, what caused this...... oh wait, I wonder if the
old man, or mom knows anything about this.�

�Well, you could always ask.  One of them might be able to help.  And if
not, there is always Dr. Tofu.�

�And what happens when Nabiki finds out?  I�d  be thought of as a bigger
freak than they think of me now.�

�Baka!  Nabiki wouldn�t do such a thing!  And how would she find out
anyways?�

�Well she has the house wired!  And look at what she did to me in the past!
She�s sold pictures of both of us, as well as sold me out numerous times.
I have to wonder if she cares at all or just enjoys tormenting us, ya dumb
tomboy.�

Akane�s face darkened.  �Well all I was doing was suggesting how you could
find out about your problem.  My sister does so care, and she would probably
help you look for clues, without charging you.  But the great Ranma is just
a insensitive jerk!�

�I�d rather no-one knew.  And I trust Nabiki about as much as I trust
Oyiji, which is I trust her to do what�s best for her, ya uncute girl!�

Akane looked pained, and turned around so he couldn�t see the hurt on her
face.  �Fine, see if I care.  Next time, you can go to hell for all I care.�
Then she started to rise to leave.

Ranma, looking ashamed as he realized what he did, reached out and stopped
her.  �Akane, I�m sorry, I shouldn�t have said that.  I�m just frustrated
about everything, and now worried about these blades in my hands.  I�ll
think about going to Nabiki for help, how�s that?  But right now, though,
I�m goin� ta try to make these blades appear again.  Would ya mind stayin
with me for a little while.  And maybe after I get the hangs of the things,
we can spar for a little bit.  Ok?�

Akane slowly turned back around.  �Ok Ranma, but make sure you go ask
Nabiki.  She really does feel bad about what she did, and I think she�s
willing to make up for it, perhaps even for free.  Especially if you offer
her some of my �training� if she refuses.

Ranma nodded, then began to study his hands.  Thinking back to the last
time they appeared he pushed a flow of ki into his hands.  Besides glowing
hands, no blades emerged.  Changing the temperature only seemed to result in
a blazing aura around his hands, then a cold one, with ice gathering
together on his skin.  Although the combinations gave him some ideas, still
no blades sprang out.

�Ranma, I don�t think there was any kind of aura around your hands when
they appeared.  They just appeared to pop right out from your knuckles.�

He took this into consideration, then tried bunching and relaxing different
muscle groups on his hands and arms.  Finally using the right ones, he felt
a spasm, then saw six gleaming claws slide out of the back of his hands with
a sibilant *SNIKT*.  Turning his hand at different angles, he studied the
claws on his hands.  Each one was around 9 inches long, ended curving down
to points, and where made of a shiny metal.  They all came out over the
spaces between the knuckles, giving the fingers some leeway of movement
without being cut by them.

Akane looked in wonder at her fianc� with his silver claws and felt amazed
that he shared another astonishing talent that the rest of the male
population couldn�t do.  She suddenly felt bad about all the times she
pushed him away, and called him a pervert in the past, especially in the
light of her new discovery (a.k.a. someone finally shoved the truth into her
head about Ryouga).  *If that Ryouga-buta shows up again, grrrrrr...  I�m
going to mallet him for a while, pause, then mallet him some more.  I�ll
show him why not to use a pet to get between Ranma and me.  He�ll think the
boulders hitting him during Cologne�s training were love taps.  When I�m
done, we just might have bacon for breakfast.  No, I can make breakfast for
him while he�s in his pig from, and shove it down his throat.  And repeat
for ALL the meals.  Heh, I can even send P-chan to the vet to get him
spaded. Then lets see what he does.  Grrr...*

Ranma stared with worry as Akane began emitting a fearsome battle aura,
glowing a bright blue mixed a little with an angry red.  Occasionally, a
heavy, steel hammer would appear in her twitching hands.  As she began to
chuckle in a way that was so evil sounding as to put anything produced by
Kodachi to shame, he backed away a little and noticed she was starting off
into space.

Sensing movement, Akane came back to realize to see that Ranma was staring
at her worriedly, and that there was a small amount of smoke drifting up
from the floor she was sitting on.  �What?�

�Umm, ya started glowing for a little bit, and was chuckling evilly as
well.  Are ya all right?  Your not mad about this are ya?�  Ranma said,
gesturing at his claws.  �Ya must really think I�m more of a freak than
before.  Ya must be really angry to find out that you�re engaged to such a
freak like me.�

She smiled a small smile at that.  �No, Ranma, that wasn�t it.  I just
found out something disturbing and was just thinking on how to fix it.  I
wasn�t mad at you, only at another pervert.  Don�t worry about it.�  Akane
said, with the small smile slowly growing into an evil grin.

�Oh, then I would hate to be the one you�re mad at.  Ya looked like you�re
going to make em sorry for whatever they did.  Anyways, how in hell did this
happen to me?  I don�t think I remember anything that would cause me to have
blades popping out of my hands, much less metal ones.�

�Don�t you think you would remember something like that happening, or
blades just coming out before.  That�s just too strange not to remember.�

�Ummmm, actually, there are blank spots in my memory.  Some are what�s
caused from the Neko-ken, just a little while, up to a few days, while a few
are longer, and I know I can�t remember anything for a few months after when
I turned 12.�

�Oh.  How did that happen? Did you have an accident or something>�?

�I don�t know what happened.  All that I can remember from it was my father
looking relieved outside a strange building, then waking up in a room we had
been staying in before.  I can�t remember much from the few weeks after, but
I can�t remember anything at all from the 2 or 3 weeks before that.
Although, now that I think about it, before I broke bones occasionally while
training, and what not, but afterwards, I never did, no matter what I did.
Even when saving ya from all those things, the most I�ve done was pull some
muscles.�

�It might be that the metal covers your bones.  That would explain what
you�ve said.  Hmmm, we should go to Dr. Tofu.  He could probably help us,
and since we�ve known him for years, he probably won�t freak out.�

Ranma looked startled.  "No, Akane!  I don't want anyone knowing about
this!  They think I'm a big enough freak as it is!"

Akane lightly bopped Ranma with her mallet.  "Baka!  Dr. Tofu's our family
doctor and friend.  I don't think he would tell anyone, even his friends, if
we asked him not too."

"I don't know�"

"C'mon, what's knowing more about this is going to hurt?  What, afraid to
know more about what's been done to you?"

Ranma looked down.  "Alright Akane, ya win.  We can go see Dr. Tofu
tomorrow."  Funny, and one would think that mysteries could be solved by an
educated person, with a calm and rational (at least most of the time) mind.
Hmmm, funny also how the ignorant can solve some mysteries better than the
old, wise, or educated can.

Ranma and Akane continued to learn, not knowing what is in store for their
future.  While outside, things where beginning to feel the change, which had
only begun during the battle with Saffron.  Moreover, a being smiled at the
play, and awaited the entrance of the fool.
*************************************************************************************
Speaking of which, Ryouga wasn't too far away, relatively speaking, not for
him.  And what was he doing, you may ask?  Why the same thing we do everyni�
err, I mean the same thing he does every day, which is training.  He was
training in the hopes of defeating that supposedly evil Ranma.  (Just for a
side thought, I wonder if he got most of his info about Ranma from Kuno.
That would explain many things.)

The sounds of cracks, snaps, and pops filled the air of the big clearing,
as Ryouga used the convenient  pond for practice.  Spectators stood at the
edges of the trees, watching as this strange fellow somehow caused the water
to freeze, and in strange formations at that.  Why is there spectators?
Because there are bound to be pedestrians in New York's Central Park.

Ryouga turned around with a smile on his face, and a frozen, victorious
tear in his eye.  and found himself outside a small town in Georgia.  Of
course, he didn't know, nor care, as his simple mind stayed focused on one
thought.  And that thought, as he so eloquently put it was, "Soon, Ranma,
you will know hell!"  Although, for some odd reason, he didn't say it with
nearly as much feeling as when he said it many times in the past.  And thus,
he set out to find Ranma.  Which meant he might not show up for a great
while.
**************************************************************************************
A beautiful day is often a good thing to wake up to.  It often brightens
ones mood, and gives one self the sense that it will be a GOOD day.  On the
other hand, waking up, and finding that it is a wet, dreary day often has
the opposite effect.  Then, the waker usually develops a bad, grouchy mood,
and there is often a since of doom floating in the air.

Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case maybe, the Tendo-ke woke up to
the to the latter type of day.  Fortunately, because this place was the
residence of one Kasumi Tendo, and it's well known that such bad feelings
flee from her like women from Happosai's touch.  Unfortunately, because
rainy days are usually considered hellish for Jusenkyo cursed individuals,
her attempts didn't meet with much success
today�  Ranma slowly crawled out of the pond, growling all the while at the
energetic panda.  Said Panda-butt obviously had had a good night, most
likely from making up with his wife half the night.

Grabbing the nearest boulder, Ranma picked it up, and then played 'whack
the panda' with it.  He ended the game with an overhead smash knocking the
panda into the wall.  Dropping the cracked boulder, Ranma turned away, and
quickly turned back around when Genma bounced back to his feet.

Ranma attacked again, and although Genma went down, he never stayed down.
"Damn it Oyiji, just stay down will ya!"  And with that, the red haired girl
slipped briefly up to Amiguriken-speed, and ducked in with a massive
uppercut that ended with a panda flying high into the air, and then
splashing down for a landing in the koi pond to float face up.

As Ranma storms off to go get a bath, and change, in more in one sense,
Nodoko sighs at the actions of her manly son, and husband.  Sipping her tea,
she turns around from her position at the table, to watch Kasumi bring in
dishes, getting ready for the upcoming breakfast. In the kitchen, sounds
could be heard as Akane went about boiling water for tea, and making sure
that the rice cooker would be dealt with when it finished (it goes to prove,
that with Kasumi's help, even Akane can eventually learn to be competent in
the kitchen).  With a slight frown, Nodoko shivered at the thought of what
concoctions Akane had turned out in the past.

With another sigh, she got up, and went to retrieve  Genma out of the koi
pond by way of talking Soun into doing it.  Meanwhile, the great Ice Queen
formerly known as� err, Nabiki stumbled down the stairs, half dead to the
world.  Sitting down at the table, she poured herself a cup of tea, and took
a nap, waiting for breakfast to be served.  All in all, a mostly normal
morning for the Tendo residence, although the energetic panda, and the
satisfied women where both slightly unusual for this household.

Ranma and Akane rushed through breakfast, and took of in a cloud of dust
running for school, in the hopes of not only being in school before the late
bell, but also being early to school, in the hopes of not being held up by
Kuno, since they should be arriving at the school before he would expect
them to.  With Ranma doing his normal running of the fence, and Akane with
her sprinting, both took very little time to reach the school, although with
no distractions from either Shampoo or Ukyou, they had no real obstacles to
go through.

As they reached the gate, a figure in a dusty, yellow tunic, and wearing
yellow with black spot headbands came wandering out from behind the wall.
Ranma stopped short of running into the person, and the person, sensing
people nearby, looked up while asking, "Do you know the way to get to
Furinkan High School?"  Reorganization washed over the travel worn face, as
Ryouga immediately realized whom he was facing.

�Ranma, prepare for a beating like you�ve never received before!  I�m going
to pound you so hard, you�ll be feeling it for years to come.  Ranma, I
challenge you to one final duel!�  With that, Ryouga began cackling evilly,
as if he had something new that would let him defeat Ranma once and for all.
He suddenly stopped as he noticed the odd looks he was receiving from the
pair (he had ignored the first weird looks, but this time, they where even
more intense).

�A final duel huh?  So that means ya want challenge me again even if ya
lose.  That would be great!  We might even be able to be friends after this.
But why don�t ya wait to after school for the fight, since me an Akane
don�t wanna be late for class.  If ya wait right here besides the wall, we
can come get ya after class.�

Ryouga scowled, but with a  �Would you mind?� from Akane, he gave in, and
sat down beside wall, watching the pair run off to class.  Getting ready for
a long wait, he watched other students file in, and even saw an idiot
kendoist become late waiting for two people who had already went to class.

to be contiuned...

Many thanks to HPackrat for helping with the intial pre-reading.





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