Disclaimer:  Ranma ½ was created by Rumiko Takahashi.  I had nothing to do with it.  Please do not sue me; I go to college and therefore am broke.

The Nerima District of Tokyo had often been regarded as a weird place, somewhat dangerous place.  It had just become worse.

Across the street from the Tendo Dojo a bounty hunter was contemplating his next move.  He had tracked down the target to this house.  However if the crime was indeed what the buyer claimed then attacking head one would be suicide.  Despite the danger the ninja who had long forgotten his own name truly wished that Ranma Saotome was as strong as they say.

 It had been far too long since he had been able to unleash all of his abilities.

Chapter 4

Prelude

Ranma was dreaming again.  It was the same dream as always.  His mother questioning his manhood while Tenma demanding to know why he killed him.  It had been the same every night for over a year.   However for the last few weeks it had seemed like the dreams had gotten more intense.  

Thankfully (Sort of) the pony tailed fighter found himself suddenly doused by cold water forcing him awake.  The now red headed Ranma shot up from her futon, only to be face to face with a giggling Ryoga. 

“Heh, I wandered around the house for six hours looking for your room but it was worth it.”  The bandana clad martial artist was by now laughing uncontrollably. 

Ranma growled at her old friend’s evil wake up call.  Looking out the window she saw that it was pre-sunrise and it being Sunday there was no point of being up this early.  She had wanted to sleep in, hoping to recover from the fight the day before. 

It was then Ryoga noticed that there was the empty futon next to his old training partner.  “Where’s the old man?”
Ranma shrugged.  “After you beat the crap out of him the third time last night Pop decided it'd be smart to sleep in a secret place that you wouldn’t be able to find which happens to be the roof.”  She smiled innocently.

The lost boy shook his head.  “I guess I’ll beat on him later.  I have some stuff to show you.”  With that the lost boy took off the pack he had been wearing on his back and gently placed it on the floor.  He opened it raveling several strange objects.  “Let’s see, magic coffee mug, possessed toy dog, anti perverted ghost charms…”

Ranma raised an eyebrow.  “Where the hell did you get all this stuff?”

Ryoga smiled, raveling his fangs.  “Oh, you know, here and there.”  He turned his attention back onto the contents in his bag.  “Ah here is,” he said as he pulled a scroll from his pack.

The pony tailed girl questioned the object in her friend’s hand.  “What’s that?  Some kind of technique?”

The eternal lost boy nodded.  “I came across it during my travels.  It’s an insanely strong chi attack when perfected.  The man I got it from was a master of chi attacks and preferred this technique over all the others in his arsenal.  He demonstrated it to me.  The attack left a huge crater, maybe the size of a small town.”

 Looking over the scroll, Ranma rolled his eyes.  “Let’s see here. ‘Shi Shi Hokodan.’  You didn’t use this during our fight.  You weren’t holding back, were ya?”

Ryoga lowered his head.  “I haven’t perfected it yet.” 

The younger Saotome began laughing at this.  “You dummy.  Give me the scroll and I’ll master it in two days tops.”

“It’s not that simple,” Ryoga spat out.  He was not amused by his old friend’s attitude.  “This technique channels its power from a certain emotion:  Depression.  I haven’t been able to master it because I haven’t been able to get sad enough.  Even with Auntie Nodoka’s death in account all I’ve managed to do is the unperfected version which isn’t as strong as the Daijishin Bakuhatsu anyway.”

Ranma nodded.  Ryoga’s reasoning aside, an attack where you had to be sad in order to use it sounded pretty dumb. 

“Also,” her friend continued.  “It’s dangerous to the user.  Every person who has mastered this technique killed themselves, and the man who gave me this scroll wasn’t far behind either.  It seems that if you use this attack too much the sadness becomes unbearable...”

Ranma finished Ryoga’s sentence.  “And the only way to escape the sadness is through death.  Something like that sounds too risky for my taste.”  Despite saying this Ranma was seriously considering trying to learn this technique.  It wouldn’t be for everyday use, obviously, but if she were to ever fight in a losing battle with high stakes…

The “girl” shrugged the thought off.  “I’m gonna go get some hot water.  After I’ve changed we might as well spar a bit since you woke me up.”  The sun was rising anyway. There was rally no excuse not to.

Kasumi had just finished putting out the plates for breakfast when her family (Plus one bald guest) made their way to the dinning room.

“Good morning, everyone,” Kasumi said in her usual cheerful tone. 

“Good morning Kasumi,” they all replied. 

Akane, who had skipped her usual morning jog so she could sleep in for a change, looked onto the backyard.  Her fiancé and Ryoga were currently engaged in a sparring match that was no less intense then the usual fights between Ranma and his father.  “Wow, they’re really going at it.”

Kasumi just shook her head.  “They’ve been doing this for hours now.  I think it’s abut time I call them in.”

Genma smiled at what the girl said.  “They’ve been fighting for hours, eh?  No need to trouble yourself, Kasumi.  I’ll be happy to bring them in.” He cracked his knuckle for emphasis.  Though he would never admit it out loud, both boys had managed to surpass him.  But a worn out Ryoga would still be easy pickings.  He’d just remind the lost boy who was the master and who was the student.

None of the Tendos bothered to look in the direction of the lawn.

“Boy’s it’s time for breakfast,” they heard the old man say.

“GENMA…DIE!!!  DAIJISHIN BAKUHATSU!!!” Was the reply they heard in Ryoga’s voice.  What followed was the sound of a one sided beating that didn’t seem to be in the favor Ranma’s father.

By this time Ranma had sat down at the table and began digging into the food that was in front of him. 

“Ranma,” Akane said uneasily. “Why does Ryoga hate your father so much?”

Not looking away from his plate, Ranma replied “It’s because of all the stupid training Pop did to him.  Pop had this old martial arts technique book that he kept trying to use with me, but Mom thought they were too dangerous.  But Pop’s a really stubborn griffin.

“Whenever Ryoga wandered off somewhere Pop would volunteer to look for ‘em.  After he found him he’d make him undergo a random technique from the guide.  Unfortunately Pop was too stupid to read the whole book.”

At that moment Genma was flung back into the house smacking right into a wall.  Ryoga raced after him. Seeing that the old man wasn’t conscious anymore he simply reached into cursed martial artist’s gi and removed a book that he had been keep there. He tossed it to Ranma.

The title of the book was “Martial Arts Techniques That You Shouldn’t Use” and it was written by some guy named Dave Barry.

Ranma opened the book and read “These techniques are jokes and only insane idiots would even consider trying to learn or teach them.”  The pony tailed martial tossed the book aside.

“I’m sure that the training wasn’t all that bad,” Soun commented.  Genma was his friend and he knew that he wouldn’t do anything that would harm one of his students.

Ryoga responded by picking up the book and reciting from it.  “#34, the Art of the Lion Cub’s Fist.  Toss subject off side of mountain.  If subject manages to climb backup up toss him/her off again.  Repeat until subject has learned the Lion Club Fist or dies.  Whichever comes first.” He paused while he flipped through some more pages.  “#57 The Cat Fist.  Wrap subject with fish sausage.  Then place subject in a pit of starving cats. Repeat process until subject has mastered Cat-Fu.”    The lost boy then sat down at his own place at the table and began eating, angrily mumbling at Genma’s stupidity.

“He did those techniques and more all before the lost boy over there turned 11,” Ranma added for good measured.

The Tendo family looked to where Genma lay.  If he had really forced Ryoga to do such things as a child then perhaps he deserved the constant beatings he received.

Ranma gave a cheerful smile and happily declared “That was delicious, Kasumi.  Can I have seconds?”

A bit later the pony tailed martial artist had taken off, saying he had things to do.  Nabiki had also left, saying she had planned to do some shopping.  Kasumi was busy with house work, while Soun and Genma had gone off somewhere to make plans for Ranma and Akane’s marriage (i.e. they went to find alcohol).  Ryoga and Akane had pretty much been left alone in house.

The lost boy wouldn’t admit it, but he was worried that he would wander off somewhere.  So he had Ranma take him to the dojo before he left.   Currently the fanged martial artist was practicing some katas.  Like Ranma, katas helped Ryoga think.

It seemed that Genma wasn’t happy of destroying the bandana clad fighter’s life, but now with his wife out of the picture, the fat martial artist had begun on his own son.  The old man had taken advantage of Ranma’s honorable nature and forced him into, what was no doubt, a drunken promise made years ago. Ranma would indeed go along with this marriage if he was unable to get out it honorably.  That was his greatest flaw in the lost boy’s opinion: He was too damn honorable.  It was the same with that Tenma incident…

Ryoga’s thoughts were interrupted when Akane suddenly entered the dojo.  She gave him a smile.  “Hey Ryoga.” 

He regarded the long haired for moment.  This may be a good way to find an “out” for his old friend.  Never mind the fact that what Ryoga failed to realize was that this marriage was unwanted by Akane as well.

“Hey Akane,” Ryoga greeted. 

The long haired girl was dressed in her dogi, so it was doubtful she had just come to talk.  “I was thinking maybe we could spar.  You know, to see how I measure up.” 

Ryoga snorted at this.  “Feh, I don’t fight girls.”

Akane looked at him with a questioning glance.  “Why the hell not?”

“I’ll tell you straight; girls are weak.  They’re frail and dainty.  They should just stick with what they’re good at, like cooking and cleaning.” 

Ironically Ryoga would, in a few days, regret suggesting Akane to cook.  For now though he had just mad the mistake of making the youngest Tendo sister.

She grabbed his collar angrily.  “You sexist jerk!  Ranma’s a jerk too but it least he sparred with me.”

“Ranma spent most of his time being trained by a woman, so it’s understandable that he thinks that way.”

“While we’re on the subject, what about Ranma’s Mom?!  Wasn’t she a strong martial artist?!”

“Well, I guess.  I never saw Auntie Nodoka fight all that much.  She never really taught me too much about sword fighting so I rarely saw her skill as a fighter.”

Akane’s anger suddenly was replaced by curiosity.  She let go of the boy’s shirt.  “Is that why you two fight so differently?”

Ryoga raised an eyebrow. 

“I mean,” the girl went on.  “I mean Ranma is faster than you and can fight with a sword.  But you’re much stronger than he is and don’t seem you use any weapons.  You both trained in the same style, I could tell by the stance you were using yesterday, but you fight differently.”

The lost boy nodded.  “Well, I’m told I have natural strength and stamina.  My mother once told me it’s a family trait.  I guess it makes up for the sense of direction.”  He said the last bit with a slightly embarrassed tone.  He blushed a bit before going on.  “I guess the old man noticed this and gave me training that was more geared for my special talents: strength and stamina.  Ranma’s faster than me and is better at fighting mid-air, though.  It sorta balances out in a fight.”

Akane nodded, understanding the difference.  “Well then,” she said as she went into an offensive stance.  “Shall we spar?”

Ryoga rolled his eyes.  “Fine, but don’t expect me to hit you.”

Like his training partner, the boy had not bothered to take up a stance.

“See ya later, doc.”

Dr. Tofu waved goodbye to his pony tailed visitor.  Ranma had come to visit much to the doctor’s pleasant surprise. 

         

A little earlier.

“Yo,” Tofu had heard from the waiting room.

“Hello, Ranma,” he said to the young martial artist.  “Is there anything wrong?  Any injuries?”

“Nope,” was the cheerful response.  “It’s a social visit.  Well, sort of.”

The kindly doctor gave an equally cheerful smile. “Well, why don’t I make us some tea and we can chat for a bit.”  He wasn’t that busy, business was a bit slow today, and he did enjoy the boy’s company.

A bit later the two were enjoying some tea in the doctor’s office.

Tofu was the first to talk.  “So Ranma, what can I do for you?”

“Well, initially I came to say hello. But I did have a favor to ask.”

Tofu narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. 

Ranma either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “I’m looking for a job.”

The young doctor relaxed.  “Oh I see.  I was in fact looking for an assistant to help around the office.  I wouldn’t be able to pay you much I’m afraid.”

Ranma shrugged.  “Don’t worry about that, Doc.  I’ll do it for free.”

Tofu lifted an eyebrow.  “For free?  Ranma, I couldn’t let you…”

The pony tailed boy cut him off.  “I guess it wouldn’t be free, exactly.  In return I thought you could teach me some shiatsu techniques.  I’m already pretty much the best, but I’m kinda lacking in that area.”

 Tofu smiled.  “I think we can arrange something.”

The doctor headed back into his office.  Ranma Saotome really was an interesting subject.  He knew the boy had a great destiny of head him.  The doctor just wondered if he would be able to get a glimpse of it before he had to leave Nerima forever.  It wouldn’t be for a while, he predicted. However in the meantime he could use this opportunity to point the pony tailed youth in the right direction. 

Things were going Dr. Tofu’s way.  Now if only he could talk to Kasumi without acting like a maniac. 

Not far from the clinic Ranma, who wasn’t going anywhere in particular, suddenly stopped.  “Come out already.  It’s not like you could hide from me, ya know.”

From an alley Nabiki slowly walked out onto the side walk.  “I guess it’s useless to try to hide from a guy who claims he can sense people’s auras.”

“Actually I saw you following me a few blocks after I left the house,” Ranma bragged.  “You need to be more discreet if you wanna to sneak by a martial artist of my caliber.”

Nabiki rolled her eyes. Ranma was as cocky as ever.

The pony tailed youth smiled at his fiancée’s sister.  “Hey, since we’re both out why don’t I treat ya to lunch.  Maybe you’ll be able to trick me into telling you all my secrets.  I mean I’m juts a dumb jock, right?”

It was Nabiki’s turn to smile.  She admitted that she had underestimated Ranma a few days ago, but strangely she found herself not all that upset about being wrong.

Ryoga looked over at an exhausted Akane who was lying on the floor.  He had dodge and blocked all of her attacks for roughly an hour. She had tired herself out, but the lost boy was just bored.  Though he noticed that Akane was much stronger than he predicted she’d be.  Of course she was no near his league in terms of strength, or even Ranma for that matter, but still much stronger than a girl should be.. 

Ryoga decided to pay her the compliment.  “You may be slow, but you’re pretty strong.  Kind of like a gorilla.”  Perhaps Ryoga should work on his complimentary skills.

Akane’s energy suddenly returned as she punched the boy right in the face with peed and power she had not shown earlier.  “YOU JERK!” She cried as she sent Ryoga into the wall. 

The bandana clad fighter slowly picked himself up.  “You tomboy, why’d you have to hit a guy like that?”

Akane’s eye was twitching. “Do they just train you guys to be jerks or what?  Is there some technique that you and Ranma learned that made you tactless?”

Ryoga didn’t answer as the dojo door suddenly flung open.  Time itself froze.  A cloaked figured slowly walked in.  Even Akane could feel the anger and sadness that seemed to surround this person. 

The cloaked figure smiled, not that Ryoga or Akane could tell.  “That broad in at the front door said you were here, but I guess deep down I just couldn’t really believe it.  It’s been a long time, Ryoga Hibiki.”

The lost boy raised an eyebrow.  “Do I know you, mysterious cloaked man with a wish for vengeance?”

This set the new arrival off.  “You bastard, I’ve spent years preparing to send you to hell!  The least you could do is remember my name!”

For some reason Ryoga felt like her had heard this speech before, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where.  He shrugged it off for the moment.  “Umm, maybe I’d know who you were if you removed the black cloak.”

The figure froze.  He had forgotten he had the thing on!  He slowly removed it revealing a brown spiky haired, handsome boy wear a sleeve less tattered school vest and jeans.  He seemed to be a street punk of some sort.  “How about now?”

Ryoga didn’t move.  He thought about it for a while. 

“Well,” Akane said impatiently.

Ryoga was at this point thinking extremely hard.  He looked like his head was going to explode.

“Don’t strain you brain, Ryoga,” the girl joked.

The angry spiky headed boy was shocked.  “Y-you don’t remember?”  If Ryoga had forgotten him would that mean that he had wasted the past four years of his life?

Ryoga gave an apologetic smile.  “Sorry,” was all he could think to say.

Akane looked at her fiancé’s friend.  She inwardly made a comment about his lack of intelligence.

“My name is Kenji Arashii,” spiky head yelled.  “And four years ago you ruined my life!”

Four years ago

Ryoga had gotten lost on his way to lunch.  Ranma had forgotten to come by his class room to guide him to the cafeteria so he had to find it on hi sown.  The lost boy had been wandering for hours and still no sign of the cafeteria.  In fact he believed he was outside.  “Wait a second…this isn’t my campus.”

Indeed it seemed that he had mistakenly wandered onto another campus.  Thankfully it wasn’t too far from where he and the Saotomes were staying so hopefully he could find his way home within a week.

Just as he turned to leave he noticed some spiky haired kid beating on some other, weaker looking children.  Ryoga became angry, because if there was one thing he hated it was someone picking on the weak.

“Hey, you spiky haired shit head!”  Ryoga yelled at the bully.  “If you wanna fight someone, fight me!”

Kenji smirked as he saw this cocky punk challenging him.  He was the top fighter in town and it was laughable that anyone would try to mess with him.  “Heh, you think you can take me on?  Dumbass, I’ll kick the shit the outta ya!” 

The fight had lasted about five seconds.  Ryoga won.

This scene repeated itself for a few weeks as Ryoga asked Ranma if they could swing by there every day on the way to and from school.  And everyday Ryoga would kick the crap out of him for bullying some poor kid. 

“Everyday that punk would stick his nose in my business!  No one would take me serious after that!  They kept calling me ‘The guy who gets his ass kicked by that kid with no sense of direction.’  It got so bad I had to challenge that jerk to a real fight.  But he never showed.”

Akane looked at Ryoga with a questioning glance.  “Umm, I got lost.”

Kenji spat.  “Shut up!  Now that I’ve finally found you I’m gonna kick you ass!” 

He dashed at his opponent only to find himself connected to Ryoga’s fist to his face.  He fell backwards unconscious. 

The lost boy sadly sighed.  “He was just street punk.  That was way too easy.”

Akane eyed the defeated Kenji.  After all that talk he went down with one punch.  “It’s just like Ranma with Kuno,” she thought.

Ryoga was about to pick up the boy when again the dojo door opened up.  Standing in the doorway was a short, shy looking boy.  He was holding a gigantic sword that seemed way too big for him.

“Excuse me,” he said to the fanged martial artist.  “Are you Ryoga Hibiki?”

The lost boy wasn’t sure how to answer that.  “Umm…yeah.”

“I see,” the boy looked a bit sad.  His expression didn’t change as he suddenly pointed his large sword in Ryoga’s direction.  “I’m sorry, but now I must kill you.”

Ryoga pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Right. Of course you do.”

Meanwhile, at a restaurant in downtown Nerima, Ranma was currently treating his finance’s sister to what would be considered a date.  And of course that would be considered cheating.

They had engaged in small talk for while.  After they were half way done with their meal Nabiki finally brought up the subject of Tenma.

“Wow, it only took you about a half hour before you could bring that up,” Ranma had said cheerfully.  He gave her a thumbs up.  “Nice control.”

Nabiki rolled her eyes.  “Saotome, you have been avoiding this topic ever since Kasumi first brought it up.  Can’t you at least give me some clues?’

Ranma became serious.  He closed his eyes and crossed his arms “Tenma is my business.  Just forget about him.” 

This was a rare sight, to see Ranma drop his front.  She felt something inside the pony tailed boy.  It was a deep sadness.  She didn’t understand how she could know that, but she definitely decided she liked the happy Ranma opposed to the sad Ranma.

The Ice Queen thought that a subject change was in order.

“So Ranma,” she began.  “Do you really have any intention of marrying my sister?”

The boy quickly put came back to himself.  “Not if I can help it. But honor demands that I marry Akane.  If I could find someway to honorably escape it I’d jump at the chance.”

Nabiki gave him a cold smile.  “Well Ranma, I happened to have an idea that could get you out of the engagement and still retain your honor.”

Ranma perked up.  “Tell me.”

The mercenary girl held out her palm.  “20,000 yen.”

The pony tailed boy fell from his chair.  He should have seen that coming.  Picking himself up, he reached into his pocket and removed the roll of cash he carried around.  Without blinking or showing signs of remorse the boy handed over the money. 

Nabiki was a bit surprised that Ranma could part with 20,000 yen so easily.  It led to believe he had even more money somewhere which only made him more interesting.  “Well Saotome, it’s really simple.  It seems the agreement that my daddy and your daddy signed doesn’t imply marriage.”

Ranma lifted an eyebrow.  “Really?”

The girl nodded.  “It seems that the deal was only to unite the schools.  A marriage between you and Akane that produces an heir would be one way of doing this.  However there is another way that you can unite the schools.”

The Chinese clothed boy had begun to catch on.  “One of us could learn the other school’s style!”

Nabiki winked at her current client.  “See, simple.  But since Daddy hasn’t been stable enough to be a sensei in years and Akane doesn’t have the patients to teach someone I guess you’ll have to teach my dear little sister the way of the Saotome School.”

Ranma was ecstatic.  “That is brilliant!  Normally girls shouldn’t undergo the training, but your sister becomes freakishly strong when she’s angry.  I’m sure she can survive it.”  The boy then began laughing uncontrollably.

The brown haired girl began to wonder if telling him was such a great idea.

A giant of a man who was dressed as a sumo was now facing Ryoga in the dojo.  The building itself was a mess.  Not surprising as several martial artist with a reason for beating up Ryoga had shown up throughout the day.  This man before him claimed his life went to hell because Ryoga beat him in an arm wrestling contest six years ago.

“Ryoga Hibiki, prepare to die,” the sumo yelled as he came at the lost bow with a barrage of open palm fist strikes.  Ryoga was able to dodge them all, though not with the same grace that Ranma would have used.  Eventually the lost boy grew tired of this game.  He leapt up, delivering a snap kick to the giant sumo which knocked him on his back causing the ground to shake furiously. 

The bandana clad fighter dusted off his hands before going back to picking up his opponent and dragging him outside. “How many is that?”  He asked Akane who had been watching from the sideline.

“That was number seven,” she sighed.  “Just how many people out there want to kill you?”

Ryoga smiled.  “More than seven.”  The lost boy had beaten them all without half trying.  “This sort of thing happens to me all the time.”

As Ryoga tossed the sumo over the fence that surrounded the yard Kasumi appeared from within the house.

Her cheerful smile had not left her face even when some of the guest she brought to the dojo told her they were here to kill Ryoga.  “Have you two seen Mr. Saotome?”

Both teens shook their heads.

“That’s too bad, since it seems that our latest guest is looking for him,” the older girl sighed.

A large bearded man, with long flowing hair and wearing strange armor walked out of the house behind the oldest Tendo Sister.  He had a fairly large sword strapped to his back.  “Bwahahahaha!  My name is Kabato, a wandering warrior.  However my enemies call me Kabato the Blade!  I come from a small village that, within the last two days, was attacked and raided by a monster known as a griffin.”

Ryoga lowered his head.  Genma seemed to only get worse.

Kabato the Blade continued.  “The devil made the mistake of attacking while I, Kabato the Bade, was visiting my mother.  I gave the creature a beating with my immense strength and now I’ve tracked the it here.  I, Kabato the Blade, will finish the job.  Bwahahahaha!”

All three listeners felt the need to walk always from this man.  Ryoga however decided to add a little gas to the fire.

“You know,” the lost boy began.  “That griffin monster can take the form of a bald, fat martial artist who wears glasses.  He’s not here right now, but I bet if you came back later you’ll find him.”

Kabato the Blade eyes widen.  “Is that true?  Does the beast take on human form?  Bwahahahaha, the creature has been hiding from me. But fear not! I, Kabato the Blade, shall destroy it before it attacks again. With that I am off!”

And so he was.  He leapt over the fence from where he was standing and took off looking to defeat the dreaded griffin.  

Akane gave Ryoga a dirty look.  “Do you think it was right to tell that man about Mr. Saotome’s curse?”

Ryoga shrugged.  “Genma can take care of himself.  The worse that can happened is that Kabato guy kills him.  Wait, that’s the best case scenario.  Bwahahahaha!”

After laughing like that both Tendo sisters quickly left the boy alone in the yard.  A rain cloud seemed to appear over the head the youth and drowse him.  “Lonely,” was all he could say.

Tatewaki Kuno had been MIA for about a day or so.  Some people believed he had been killed by Ranma (Though the same people didn’t seem to care enough to call the police).  However the kendoist had gone in to hiding to reflect on his latest battle with the pony tailed boy.  Today he had decided to face him after much thought.  As he made his way to the Tendo dojo he saw a large bearded man run in a random street yelling something about griffins, waving his sword around, and laughing uncontrollably. 

Kuno gave the man a weird look.  “Delusional fool.”

With that he made his way toward the Tendo Dojo.  Upon reaching his destination he didn’t bother knocking on the door.  He was Tatewaki Kuno after all.  Instead he leapt over the fence landed gracefully on the yard (Thunder could be heard in the distance).  He looked around seeing only Ryoga who was still sad about being left alone.

“You there,” Kuno yelled.  “I know not why you have seen it fit to stand in the yard of the fair Akane Tendo, but since I have come on business I shall let you live for now.  Thank the gods that Blue Thunder had spared you this day.”

The lost boy stared blankly at the new arrival.

Kuno went on.  “I am Tatewaki Kuno, age 17.  No doubt you have heard of me.  I have come searching for Ranma Saotome.  Where is he?”

Ryoga felt a bit relieved.  This nut was here for Ranma and not him.  He had had enough people coming over to kill him for one day.  “Ummm, he went out a while ago.  I don’t know when he’ll be back.”

Kuno made not expression when he heard this.  “I see.  I suppose he’ll be at school tomorrow.  I shall see him then.”  With that the kendoist turned to leave.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice.  “Upperclassman?  What are you doing here?”

Kuno turned back to see Akane standing at the entrance to the Tendo home.  His expression lifted slightly.  “My love…”  He quickly turned his back on the girl, for he could not say this to her face.  “Dear Akane Tendo…it pains me to say this, but I am no longer worthy of you.”  Before the youngest Tendo could respond the self proclaimed “Blue Thunder” dashed away, too ashamed to be in her presence any longer.

Ryoga looked at his friend’s fiancé.  “Who was that?”

Akane shrugged.  “He’s a guy from school who Ranma beats up everyday.  He claims to be in love with me and he views Ranma as a threat.”

“So this guy wanted to pick a fight?”

The dark haired girl thought about for a second.  “I don’t think so.  Kuno is a kendoist and doesn’t use hand to hand martial arts.  But juts now he wasn’t carrying a bokken.”

Finally, after hanging out the whole day downtown, Nabiki and Ranma had returned to the dojo.  It was about time for dinner.  The two seemingly got along very well.

As the approached the back door Ranma summoned up all his courage in order to say the following.  “Hey Nabiki, today was fun.  You think that, you know, since this engagement thing may be taken care of pretty soon that maybe we can go out on a real date sometime.”  It wasn’t as if the pony tailed martial artist hadn’t asked a girl out before, but truthfully they had been few and far between. 

Nabiki smiled.  “Saotome, you couldn’t afford a real date with me.”

Ranma was about to come up with a snappy come back when all his senses suddenly became focused on a loud explosion from a block or so away.  The pony tailed martial artist turned toward where the blast had taken place.  He instantly realized that was a mistake as he suddenly, yet briefly felt someone pass him from behind.  Turning back to where Nabiki had been standing he found his fiancée’s sister gone. 

“So we meet at last, Ranma Saotome.”

Ranma lifted his head to see Nabiki being held captive by a man dressed as a ninja (With a mask covering up his face).  He held a long knife across the girl’s neck.  The Chinese clothed fighter wouldn’t be able to reach the newcomer fast enough to save his friend.  It became clear that the explosion was some sort of distraction.

Ranma eyes narrowed. “Who the hell are you?  Some rival who couldn’t take a loss?” 

The ninja shook his head.  “This is our first meeting.  You don’t look like much.  Not worth the price that’s on your head.”

The pony tailed martial artist would have gasped if he wasn’t so angry.  “Bounty hunter?”

The ninja nodded.  “I have no name, but I’m a world class bounty hunter.  Some people have called me ‘Sin’.  You may call me this if you wish.”

“What a stupid name,” Ranma thought. 

By this time Ryoga, Soun and Akane come out to investigate the loud noise they had just heard.  What they found was Nabiki’s life on the line.  The girl was desperately trying not to scream, fearing that this crazy person may get excite and slit her throat.

Soun just lost it when he saw his daughter in danger.  “What’s the meaning of this?!”

“What are you doing with sister?!” Akane added, just as upset as her father.

Ranma was angry as well, but he was trying to keep a cool head.  “If you’re after me why hold Nabiki?”

Sin smiled, though through his mask it was hard to see it.  “You see Ranma; I was told that you were an amazing enemy.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had a half way decent fight.”  He drew Nabiki closer to his body.  “I’ve seen you with this one.  I know she’s your woman.  If you want to save her then you’ll need to beat me.  Hopefully if you’re angry you’ll give me a work out.   I’ll take that head of yours, Saotome.  Count on it”

Ranma became deathly silent.  He wasn’t even breathing.

“Midnight, at the junkyard,” the ninja continued.  “One minute later and I’ll kill her.  Come alone.” 

With that Sin took off leaving Ranma, Ryoga, and the Tendos stunned.

Soun, enraged, grabbed the collar of the pony tailed martial artist.  “Ranma, what have you’ve gotten my little girl into?!”

The young martial artist gave the older man a sorrowful look.  “I’m not sure myself, Mr. Tendo.”  Ranma forced himself free from Soun’s grasp.  His aura became visible.  It was like he was burning with a terrible anger.

He didn’t know who this “Sin” person was, but he wouldn’t forgive him for pulling innocents into a fight they had nothing to do with.

In another part of Tokyo, inside in expensive pent house in one of the fanciest hotels in Japan, a blonde gaijin woman was silently sipping a cup of tea.  She smiled as she thought about her love.  Oh how happy he would be when he learned he she had come all the way to Japan for him.  She would take him back with her to England, they would be married, and live happily ever after.  Of course for this to happen Ranma Saotome would have to die.

The moon would be full tonight.  A moon lit night; that was indeed the proper time to die.  Ranma should be thankful.

High in the air, not terribly far from Tokyo, a creature was also plotting the downfall of a certain pony tailed martial artist.

“When I find those two bastards,” it thought.  “I’m gonna beat the living shit of them, laugh, beat on them again, laugh some more, then toss their bodies off the side of a cliff.  That’ll teach them to mess with Pantyh…er, I mean me.”

On the outskirts of Tokyo yet another person with a grudge against Ranma stood over an unsuspecting city.  The young, long haired martial artist had been preparing for months for the inevitable meeting between himself and the devil who had caused him such pain.  Because of that monster he had truly seen hell.  That is if he could see.

         

To be continued…

Author’s Note:  Okay, I know I said that Chapter 2 sucked and reviewers told me they thought it was good.  However I am certain that this chapter was as crappy as crap can be.  It’s basically nothing more then a set up for the next chapter so that’s my excuse.  Anyway, this chapter hopefully answered some of the points brought up in the reviews.  On the subject of Akane; of course Ranma is stronger than her.  However Ranma’s reaction was the product of two things:  He got cocky and sloppy.  Had he had taken it seriously his arm wouldn’t have gotten hurt.  Also In the manga and the anime when Akane gets really pissed Ranma tends to get hurt regardless of how much stronger and faster than he is.  I decided to play around with that, though I’m not sure where I’m going with it yet.

What’s up with Kuno?  And Dr. Tofu?  Don’t think about too much since I’m not going to explain it for a while. 

Don’t expect to see those random fighters that showed up for Ryoga’s hide again.  Though Kabato the Blade may show up from time to time. 

Finally, I must say I’m very happy to have gotten such great reviews for this story.  Thank you for your support!

Revision Note: Cleaned it up a bit and cut out the subplot regarding Akane’s hidden strength.  As of now that aspect of the story no longer exist

Next Chapter:  The shit hits the fan.  Nabiki has been kidnapped.   Ranma races off to find her, however two (Serious) rivals arrive just in time to mess up the rescue plan.