Disclaimer:  Ranma ½ was created by Rumiko Takahashi.  I had nothing to do with it.  Please do not sue me; all money that I have goes directly to liquor…err, I mean comics and such.

Warning: Dark Scenes ahead!

           

A little over two months ago…

Shampoo had not been prepared for an attack on the village and she cursed herself for that.  A true warrior was always ready for combat no matter what the situation.  However she had been busy in the northern forest doing last minute training for the tournament that was to be held in two days.  The fact was that no one was prepared, but that did nothing to help Shampoo’s guilt.  To the girl’s horror she heard loud explosions coming from the village.  Upon reaching her home the purple haired amazon found many houses on fire and corpses spread throughout the village.  It was a horrible site.  It was like the whole world was burning.

“What force could have done all this,” Shampoo wondered.  It couldn’t have been the Musk; they didn’t have the forces to mount a full scale assault on the amazons.  But if it wasn’t their hated foe then who could it have been?

The sounds of a battle snapped Shampoo from her current train of thought.  The Amazon raced toward the scene where the noise was coming from only to find a single hooded cloaked figure standing over a terrified little girl.  The unknown warrior placed his hand above the girl’s head.

“Death to all amazons,” was all he said as a ki blast erupted from his palm, incinerating the helpless girl right before Shampoo’s eyes.

The Amazon was in shock when she saw her “little sister” die such a tragic and pointless death.  Enraged, Shampoo charged at the murderer, ignoring the fact that she had never seen such incredible power before.  She lashed out with a barrage of kicks and punches, but the mysterious fighter was able to block them all with ease.  Beneath his cloak he smiled.  With one devastating kick, the cloaked fighter sent his opponent painfully to the ground. 

Shampoo had never been hit this hard.  The single blow had given her several internal injuries.  The amazon was coughing up blood. Before she had a chance to retaliate at all she suddenly found the cloaked murderer’s foot on top of her throat.

“I can’t believe that was all you had” the cloaked man spoke in perfect Chinese.  “You damn amazons are not only dishonorable, but pathetically weak as well.”

Normally Shampoo would have become insanely angry when an outsider insulted her people, but the voice of her opponent was so familiar…  She told herself it couldn’t be him, the kind boy she had met a few months earlier.  The voice was far too cold, and his methods far too brutal.

But when the outsider removed his hood there was no denying it: This man was Ranma Saotome.

Ranma smirked evilly and spat at his downed foe.  “I couldn’t find the bitch that killed my mother here today.  I guess you and your sisters will have to do.”

Shampoo was utterly confused.  The Ranma she knew would never attack the Amazon Nation.  In fact he couldn’t; he wasn’t nearly strong enough.  Even if he wanted revenge against the one who killed his mother Shampoo had told him before that the one who had done the deed was a fallen Amazon and was no longer welcomed in the village for other reasons.  Most disturbingly of all: this guy attacked as if he didn’t recognize her.

Just before Ranma made the killing blow Shampoo looked at his eyes and suddenly realized the truth.  Sadly it was far too late.

         

After a few hours later Ranma left the village, having killed all but a few of its inhabitants.  As he slowly walked away he smiled once again.

“Was that okay, Tenma?”

Chapter 6

Memory

         

It was morning at the Tendo household.  It had been two days since Nabiki had been kidnapped by the bounty hunter ninja who called himself “Sin”.   Ranma easily dispatched of the kidnapper but was unprepared by the arrival of his old enemy Emily Tisdale.  The pony tailed boy was almost killed, saved only by the interference of Ryoga as well as another Jusenkyo cursed martial artist who was referred to as “Pantyhose Taro.”

The house had been filled with turmoil over the whole situation.  Questions about Ranma were being brought up, mainly by Soun who up until this point had seemingly not been too worried about the boy’s past. But now things were different as the skeletons in the pony tailed martial artist’s closet had broken out and were now threatening the Tendo family.

Interrogations would have to wait, however, as Ranma needed a few days to recover from the fight.  The Chinese clothes clad youth opted to stay home from school during this time, not to mention having to wait a while before starting his new part time job.  Dr. Tofu didn’t mind of course.  He told the young fighter that he could start whenever he felt he was healthy enough to do so.

Three days past.  Ranma spent much of this time in his room recovering.  By the third day he felt like he was ready to get back into his training.  He spent most of the day in the dojo.  It was only when Kasumi asked him to come to the dining room for tea that he stopped.  Waiting for him there were Mr. Tendo and Genma.  The pony tailed boy quietly sat at the table with them, knowing full well what would happen next.

There would still be a few hours before Nabiki and Akane would return from school while Ryoga hadn’t been seen since the night of the battle.  So until Kasumi returned from the kitchen with the tea it was just Ranma and the old men.

Genma’s face was hard, as was Soun’s. “You’ve got some explaining to do, boy,” his father exclaimed.

Soun nodded.  “Who exactly was that…girl who attacked you?  Why in the world do you have a bounty on your head?”

Ranma sighed.  He had tried to keep as much of his past a mystery as possible since he didn’t think he’d be staying long.  Sadly he had no choice.  “Alright Pop…Mr. Tendo…I’ll tell you about it.  All of it.”

Only Ranma noticed Kasumi poking her head out of the kitchen in order to better hear the explanation.

“I’ll you about that Emily chick first.  It all started about three years ago…”

Nodoka returned to the current apartment that the Saotome’s were renting late that day.  It was well past dinner time which left Genma annoyed.  When she returned she had a worried expression on her face.  A thirteen year old Ranma starred from across the room.  He noticed his mother was Ryoga-less which could only mean that his friend had once again wandered off and gotten lost.  This didn’t happen too often since both the Saotome parents kept a close eye on the young boy.

Genma wasn’t happy once he realized what had happen.  “Damn that brat!  He’s always getting lost somewhere and I’m always the one who has to go find him!  Well I’ve had it!  He can go fall of a cliff for all I care.  I’ve wasted valuable training time on him that could have been used for Ranma!”

The pony tailed boy in question gasped at his father’s statement.  As those words passed through the old man’s lips Ranma began losing what little respect he had for him.

Nodoka was outraged.  “How can you say that?  I know Ryoga is a handful but he’s as much a member of this family as any of us.  If you won’t go looking for him then I shall!”

To this the fat, glasses wearing martial artist frowned.  “I’m not going to let you go out alone.  You know how much ground that kid can cover when he’s lost!”

The two argued for a good long while.  Finally, after becoming fed up with the two their young son yelled out “I’ll go find him!”

Both his parents looked at him like he had lost mind.  To which Ranma replied “Look, Pop doesn’t want to do it, right?  So why not me?”

Genma shook his head.  “That’s crazy talk, boy.”  But then he thought about it.  Ranma going looking for him meant he didn’t have to do it.  Also it would be good tracking training for the boy.  Plus while he was gone he could get a well deserved break from their training.  The fat fighter turned to his wife.  “Nodoka, I insist that Ranma go out looking for Ryoga.  It’ll be good training.”

This resulted in another argument, but in the end Nodoka agreed.  Ranma was allowed to go looking for Ryoga alone. The pony tailed boy left as soon as he could pack what few belongings he had.

         

The search for Ryoga was, in Ranma’s opinion, the single most trying experience in his life.  He thought that he would just be searching around the Osaka area (Which was where they currently lived) but instead Ryoga led Ranma on a fantastic world tour!  For six months the pony tailed boy tracked his friend.  He saw and visited several countries along the way and had many adventures. 

Finally Ranma was able to catch up to the elusive Ryoga in England of all places.

The Saotome Heir picked up Ryoga’s trail in a very small village.  There was nothing interesting about it at all except that there had been a string of murders the past few months.  Several young men, all who possessed some sort of fighting ability, were found brutally murdered in the streets.  To add to the already questionable circumstances all the killings happen to take place on full moons.

Ranma didn’t believe in werewolves at all and figured that some crazy person was going around slicing people up with some sort of weird horror movie fetish.  The pony tailed boy was a bit cautious though, as fighters were being targeted.  There was a chance, albeit a small one, that Ryoga had been a victim after roaming through the town.  Then there’s also the possibility that the Saotome Heir was next.

After asking around the village he learned that a young Asian boy, around thirteen or fourteen, had come around about two days ago asking where Osaka was.  All signs pointed to Ryoga.  Unfortunately no one had seen him since then, which meant he may have wandered off.  The morgue had told the Ranma that no one by that description (or anyone else lately for that matter) had been found dead in the matter the serial murders had been taking place.

After a full day of detective work the pony tailed youth decided that it was time to turn in for the night.  He opted to camp just outside of town and hopefully he would resume his search in the morning.

The sound of nearby foot steps forced Ranma awake.  Someone was wandering around the outside of his tent.  Carefully Ranma poked his head outside.  All he saw was some old middle aged guy leaning against a nearby tree smoking a cigarette.  “Hello, nice night, isn’t it,” he said to the pony tailed boy in English.

“Umm, yeah, I guess so,” Ranma replied.  His English was pretty good, as his mother had forced him, as well as Ryoga, to study the basics of many languages.  Being a quick learner he had been able to learn to speak decent English, Chinese and German during this little six month trip.  “Hey, mind telling me what you’re doing hanging around my tent?”

The old guy just smiled.  “You’re a fighter, right?  Of course you are; I already know that you are.  I can tell by the way you carried yourself around town today.  I’d say you pretty bloody good.”

The wheels in Ranma’s head began turning quickly.  “You’re the guy who’s been slicing up fighters!”

The man tossed his cigarette away, giving the Saotome Heir a wink.  “I must say, a brilliant use of deduction considering we’ve only talked a short while.  But yes, you are correct.  I’m guilty as charged.”

Hearing that Ranma came out of his tent completely, not caring that he was only clad in his boxers.  “I guess you want to fight me too, huh?” 

The man simply nodded.  “Most of those other fellows weren’t true warriors, so I ended their lives.  Let’s see if you’re any better.”

The pony tailed martial artist, showing any signs of fear, went into a defensive stance.  Without moving the man continued.  “The moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?” It wasn’t until then Ranma noticed the full moon high in the sky behind this mysterious challenger.  “I’ve yet to look at it this night.  Would you mind if I took a peek?”

With that the man turned around and took a nice long look at the bountiful sphere.  Then the transformation took place.  He grew only slightly larger, thus he remained in the suit he wore, but he still became covered in brown fur and his had took the shape of a vicious looking wolf.  Ranma could barley believe what he saw; it was true, the killer really was werewolf!

The creature launched himself at the young fighter, but surprisingly it wasn’t nearly as fast as he was expecting.  Ranma was easily able to dodge the attacks of the vicious looking werewolf. 

This went on for a while until the wolf-man finally began to grow weary.  Sensing the opening Ranma punched the monster with all his might in the stomach.  This caused his to fall to his knees, clenching his gut.

“Alright, alright, I surrender,” The wolf said to his former opponent.  “Damn, I can’t believe you are as strong as that other kid.”

This caused Ranma to suddenly become emotional.  “Other kid?”

The wolf nodded.  “Yes, the bloke you were asking about in town today. I know him.  I fought him about two days ago.  He beat me just as quickly as you did.  Your styles are similar, I believe.”

“So you know Ryoga?  Where the hell is he?”

The werewolf suddenly turned back into his human form.  “I’ll take you to him and explain on the way,” he responded in perfect Japanese.

After dressing himself, Ranma followed the stranger in the hopes he could finally find his lost friend

It turned out that this man was the head of a family of werewolves which he descried as the most powerful, wealthy and important clan in England.  It seemed that it was getting close to the time his daughter, the heir the family fortune and next leader of the clan, was to go through the marriage ritual.  Accordance to the old customs though she would have to marry a human who was strong enough to defeat the current leader (The groom would be changed into one of them by the bride on the honeymoon).  This would ensure that the bloodline would always be kept strong.  Thus Theodore Tisdale, as the stranger would introduce himself as to Ranma, had for the past few months attacked anyone with fighting ability that happened to pass through this little town.  If he was defeated then that young man would be taken back to their mansion and engaged to his beloved daughter.

When Ranma asked if Ryoga had consented to this rather bizarre ritual all Theodore could say was that “He just had some pre-marital gitters.  I expect he’ll change his tune once he’s lived with Emily a bit.  She’s quite beautiful, after all.  Well mannered and kind.  A little, err, eccentric, but otherwise a real catch.”

“Here’s what I don’t get,” Ranma said as the two neared a huge mansion upon a rather large hill.  “Why the hell are you still attacking fighters if you already found a guy for your kid to marry?”

Theodore looked a little embarrassed when Ranma asked that.  “Well, ahem, when one engages in activities for a long while he gains a certain fancy for it…”

The pony tailed young just shook his head.  He knew what the old man was implying: He had become addicted to killing fighters foolish enough to stroll through the sleepy town.  Ranma knew for a fact that there was no way Ryoga would want to marry into such a family on his own accord.  Above all else the lost boy hated people picking on the weak and it seemed this was what this clan was all about.

Upon reaching the front doors Ranma noticed two young men standing on each side of the front door.  Theodore explained that Ranma was a friend of the “groom” and should be treated with respect while he stayed there.

“Well, can I see Ryoga now or what?”  Ranma demanded, passing up the opportunity to take the grand tour of the house.

The old wolf sighed sadly, as hoped to show his new friend just how rich and powerful he really was.  “Alright, I’ll take you to him.  A pity really, I so wanted to show you the library.  Oh well, I’d say there’ll be plenty of time for that later.  Follow me, my boy.”

And thus the head of this odd family lead Ranma to the back of the mansion.  There was a door that, like the front, was guarded; this time by a mountain of a man.  He had no hair on his head and seemed to enjoy not wearing a shirt so he could show off his muscles.

“Out the way, Cyrus,” Theodore demanded when the large man did not initially clear the doorway.  “I’m taking this boy to see Ryoga.”

The Cyrus person seemed a bit torn.  “Well, the thing is Master Tisdale is, well, your daughter Emily gave strict instructions not to let anyone pass.”

This made Theodore raise an eyebrow.  “What?  I say, that does sound like something Emily would do.  Perhaps giving your friend a bit of a preview of what married life will be for them, eh Ranma?” He nudged the pony tailed boy as he said this.

Ranma said nothing, as he decided to pretend he couldn’t understand English at this point.

The head of the Tisdale household looked directly in Cyrus’ eyes.  “Look here Cyrus, I’m afraid that Emily doesn’t have higher authority than myself, so I must insist that you move.  Otherwise I’ll have to rip of you head, drain your skull, and use it as a wine bottle.”

Cyrus moved out of way.

What was behind the door was a stair case that led into what was nothing more than a dungeon.  Ranma asked why Ryoga was staying in here of all places.

“Dungeon?  Don’t be silly, my dear boy.  This is Emily’s room.”

This was Ranma’s first clue of the mental state of this “Emily” person.  Despite the claims that this was a room it certainly looked like a dungeon.  Actually it was more of a torture chamber as several questionable devises could be found in there.  Dank, dark, rats running around, no light except for the torches on the wall, Ryoga chained to said wall…wait, what?

Indeed, Ryoga Hibiki was chained against one of the walls of the so-called room.  He was sporting a black eye and his clothes were a bit torn, but he was otherwise fine as far as Ranma could tell.  The lost boy seemed to be asleep.

Ranma, shocked at this, raced toward his friend.  “Ryoga!  Wake up!  C’mon man, wake up.”  After slapping him around a few times the lost boy came around. 

When he realized who it was standing in front of him, Ryoga began crying tears of joy.  “Oh, thank God it’s you Ranma!  I thought I was doomed!”

Ranma turned toward Theodore.   “What the hell is this, huh?  I’d say he’s not jumping for joy at the thought of marrying your daughter!”

The old man was a bit puzzled as well.  “Hmm, yes, this is a bit strange.  She told me he was quite comfortable in here.  I truthfully haven’t seen him since I first brought him to the manor.  I thought what they needed was some time alone.”

This caused Ryoga to explode.  “You idiot!  Because of you I’ve seen hell!  That psycho you call a daughter thought it be fun to beat the resistance out of me so I could become a nice docile husband.  She even said that if by tonight I still wasn’t gung ho about getting married she’d dominate me in fun and interesting ways!  I don’t know what she meant by that but it sounded painful!”

Theodore looked down at the floor as it had seemed suddenly interesting.  “Well, ahem, don’t look at me.  Got that from her mother, I expect.”

The pony tailed boy had had it.  “Listen up, old man: I don’t care what you thought was going happen but it’s obvious that your kid is a nutcase and Ryoga doesn’t wanna marry her.  So we can do this one of two ways: You can let us walk out of here nice and easy or we can pretend that that I’m a vet and it’s time for all bad doggies to get neutered!”

Theodore, by all means, was not an idiot and could tell when he was outmatched.  “I see.  Then you feel the same way, Ryoga?’

“DAMN STRAIGHT I DO!!” was the lost boy’s response. 

The old man sighed.  “Oh well. I don’t see the point in trying to force things.  You’re free to go, boys.  Let help you down, Ryoga.”

A few minutes they all found themselves outside Emily’s room, standing next to the guard Cyrus who had a troubled look on his face.

“Well, lads,” Theodore said cheerfully, as though none of what had happened that night was any sort of big deal.  “Parting is such sweet sorrow. If either of you happen to find yourselves in England again feel free to drop by.  We can have a cup of tea in my own private personal library.”  He looked particularly pleased about the fact that he did indeed own his own library.

“Umm, sure,” Ranma lied as both he and Ryoga never to set eyes on another member of this family for as long as they lived.

There was a pause of awkward silence.  After a while Theodore cleared his throat as if indicating he wanted the boys to say something.  When they shrugged their shoulders the werewolf leader rolled his eyes at their ungentlemanly behavior.  “Weren’t you raised were proper manners?  When I invite you to come back for a visit you should do the same for me.  I’m not sure why I’d ever be so bold as to visit Japan, but if I were I’d like to think I’d be able to stay with my new oriental friends, don’t you think?”

Ranma again rolled his eyes.  “Sure, whatever.” 

They said there goodbyes and the two martial artists were just about to walk away when Theodore again grabbed their attention.  “Oh, I forgot to mention that my dear daughter Emily hates to loose.  I doubt she’ll give up on you as easily as I have, Ryoga.  If I were you I’d get as far from England as possible and be extremely aware of the lunar cycle.”

Ranma gave him a cocky smirk.  He had beaten Theodore with little effort and he was supposed to be the head of the clan.  The pony tailed youth certainly didn’t fear some little girl werewolf.

The two friends quickly made their way out of the mansion, however they sadly did not get very far until the sound of someone running filled the night air.  They turned around to find, much to Ranma’s annoyance (and Ryoga’s fear), a girl standing behind them.  With long blonde hair, beautiful looks and an expensive dress this girl could only be the elusive Emily.

She was breathing heavily as she was forced to run in order to catch up to them.  Once she caught her breath she asked “Ryoga, dear, why have you strayed from our home?  And who is this ruff looking Asian whom is accompanying you?  A new servant”

This comment got to Ranma.  “Hey, watch your mouth!”

The blond didn’t to hear him.  Her attention was solely on the lost boy.  “Ryoga, come we should really head back home.  There’s still so much for us to do as a young engaged couple.”

The bandana clad youngster lost his temper at this.  “Listen Emily, for the last time I’m not going to marry you!  Can’t you get that through your demented head?”

“Yeah,” Ranma added.  “I mean, you can’t force someone to love you, so why bother?”

Emily’s cold eyes were not starring directly at the Saotome heir.  It sent chills down his spine for some reason.  “So,” Emily said, her voice like ice.  “You are the one who has poisoned my lover’s mind with thoughts of betrayal and desertion.”

Ranma gulped, not knowing what to say.

“Fine,” she continued.  “It seems before I can embrace love’s sweet kiss I must deal with you first.  Very well, I shall!  Be thankful that I have allowed you die with such a beautiful moon in the sky!”

And with that, Emily Tisdale eyed above their heads and looked straight into the large moon in the sky.  The same transformation as with Theodore took place.  However this time the werewolf standing before them was much, much larger and looked far more vicious and bloodthirsty.

All Ranma could say to this was “Oh shit.”

Ranma stopped at this point, leaving Soun, Genma and Kasumi shocked and in disbelief.

“What happened after that, Ranma?” Kasumi asked.  During Ranma’s tale she had become too involved and had actually come to sit with them at the table.

Ranma shrugged.  “She was too strong for us to fight her one on one so we doubled teamed her.  We barley got away.  For the next few months she chased all over Europe.  We finally lost her by the time we got back o Japan.  We decided the whole experience was too bizarre for anyone to believe us so we kept it to ourselves.”

Soun was crying by this point.  “Such a horrible ordeal!  And yet the path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril!  I’m so proud of you son!”

Genma wasn’t so quick to agree.  “Hold on a minute, Tendo.  This whole story sounds fishy.  I mean, c’mon, werewolves?  I don’t really believe in such fairy tales.”

No sooner did he say those words Genma found himself flying through the air, compliments of Ranma, and landing painfully in the koi pond outside.  “And I didn’t used to believe in magic curses and griffins either,” the pony tailed youth yelled at his now mythical monster father.  “Besides, old man, Akane and Nabiki both said they saw Emily turn into one, right?”

Kasumi again spoke up.  “So Ranma, basically what you’re trying to say is that Emily is Ryoga’s fiancée.”

Ranma gave a reluctant nod.  “I guess you could put it that way.”

It wasn’t until then the eldest Tendo daughter realized she hadn’t made the tea yet.  She quickly apologized and darted off to the kitchen.

Soun, who had regained a bit of control, faced Ranma again.  “But what about the other person there?  That man Akane said you called ‘Pantyhose’?”

Ranma let out a little laugh.  “I suppose that one is kinda my fault.  It all started about a year and a half ago.  This was during the trip to China.  Mom had decided that me and Ryoga were at a high enough level where we couldn’t really learn anything else from her or Pop.  Pop agreed, more or less, after Mom gave him a good talking to with her katana.  So anyway we were traveling around China on our own when we ran into this village…”

It was a very rural village.  Considering that they were in the Bayankala mountain range it wasn’t that surprising.  There were a lot of things like that there.  None the less this didn’t steer Ranma and Ryoga from it.  They were low on supplies and had no choice.  Sadly they were low on cash too (at least of the Chinese kind).  They had hoped they could make a deal but…

“Sorry, no handouts,” a vendor said to them in mandarin.

“But how can you let two innocent boys like us starve to death!” Ryoga demanded.  He, like Ranma, spoke pretty good Chinese due to Nodoka’s near obsession with them both knowing the way of the warrior as well as the scholar.  It was the manly thing to do, after all.

“Listen kid, this town’s got enough trouble.  We don’t need any beggars walking around.  Get lost!”

And so Ranma and Ryoga found themselves up the creek without a paddle.  The pony tailed boy looked at his old friend.  “I guess we’re pretty screwed then, huh?  Geez, I wonder what their problem is?”

Ryoga exploded at this.  “I’ll tell you what their problem is: They’re evil, mean and stingy!”

“No, dummy,” Ranma replied. “That guy said ‘this town’s got enough problems.’  What do you think he meant?”

“I’ll gladly tell you, boys”

Both martial artists turned around to see a kindly old man looking at them.  His face was tired, and his hair was as white as it could possibly get.  “This town, you see, has been under attack for the last six months.”

Ryoga looked at the old guy in shock.  “Th-that’s impossible!”  The old man merely nodded but before he could reply the lost boy cut him off.  “You mean to tell me you speak perfect Japanese?!”

Disgusted by Ryoga’s ability to get “off track” on the subject at, Ranma and the old man nearly fell face first to the ground.  “That’s not the point, you young fool!  I’m trying to help you.  As I was saying, this village has been under the attack by a monster.  Some sort of demon cow, I’d wager.”

Ranma gave the old man an odd look.  “Demon cow?  That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Dumb or not, high on the mountain on the outskirts of this town you can hear its tortured mooing.  Every few weeks the creature flies down and steals our food!  The weapon’s shop arranged a reward for the man who can take that creature down, but alas, every warrior who has dared ventured up there has retuned defeated.  If you two could somehow succeed where others have failed then you would certainly win that prize and earn enough funds to purchase supplies.”

The two boys looked at each other, then back at the old man.  It was Ranma who spoke first.  “Why exactly are you telling us this, old timer?”

The old man just laughed.  “Don’t you worry about that, Ranma.  Just do as you’re told.”  With that he walked away from the two young martial artists without so much as a “goodbye” or a “good luck.”

Ranma scratched his head.  “Well that was strange,” he commented.  And of course he couldn’t help but wonder how the old man knew his name.

Despite the weirdness of the encounter, Ranma and Ryoga decided that some “Demon Cow” was no match for them.  So they ventured toward the small mountain right outside the town boarders.  It was an uneventful trip for the most part (Ryoga kept having flashbacks of the Lion Cub’s Fist training that Genma had put him through when he was younger).  They eventually made it to the top only to find what appeared to be someone’s campsite.  There was a rather large tent and a place that could have been used to make a fire.  There was no one around however, thus making the two boys suspicious of the old man’s story.  If there was a monster here why would someone set up camp?

“Maybe the monster got him already,” Ryoga suggested.  That would have been very sad, but also a strong possibility of being true. 

The two examined the place for clues, but it wasn’t until Ranma checked the tent that they found something.  The pony tailed fighter discovered a wallet and several packages of pantyhose.  At first they thought “Okay, maybe there was a girl here.”  However after expecting the wallet they found a driver license that proved other wise. 

“A picture of a guy with the name ‘Pantyhose Taro.’  What kind of a name is that?” Ranma asked.  His friend just shrugged.  It didn’t make a lot of sense, of course.

“Maybe the guy has a fetish,” Ryoga suggested, pointing to the packages of pantyhose they found.

Their questions would soon be answered when they were suddenly joined by another young man.  They hadn’t noticed him until he announced his presence by yelling “Who the hell are you?”  He seemed more annoyed then angry.

Both Ranma and Ryoga jumped.  It was the same guy in the picture.

It was the bandana clad fighter who spoke first.  “Pantyh-”

“Don’t say it!” the new arrival growled, cutting Ryoga off.  It was then he noticed Ranma had his wallet.  He quickly snatched it from him.  After making sure nothing was missing he turned back to the intruders.  “You guys are the worse thieves I’ve ever met.  Now get lost before I rip you each a new asshole.”

Neither Ranma nor Ryoga cared for this guy’s attitude.  They could tell he was a martial artist; the way he carried himself gave it away.  He seemed like he was so confident (Dare they say “cocky”) in his own abilities that he didn’t see ether of them as a threat.

“Look here, pal,” Ryoga barked.  “We’re only here so we can beat up the Demon Cow or whatever the hell it is.”

Before Ryoga could continue the Chinese fighter let a laugh.  “Demon Cow?  Is that what those idiot villagers are saying?  That’s hilarious.”

Both Japanese martial artist looked attach other before looking at the boy they believed was named “Pantyhose Taro.”    “You’ve seen the thing around here?” Ranma asked.

“None of you business,” was the reply.  “I thought I told you assholes to beat it.”

Ryoga was really starting to lose his temper at this guy’s rude attitude.  “Hey you jerk, don’t take it out on us just because you got a pantyhose fetish!”

This caused the rude fighter’s eye to twitch.  This did not go unnoticed by Ranma, who was equally upset over the guy’s attitude.  It was obvious that the pantyhose he kept was a soft spot for this guy.  “Relax Ryoga.  Let’s just leave ‘Pantyhose Taro’ here to play whatever perverted game he’s got going on.”

This did not sit were with the green clothes clad fighter.  “You bastard…!  You must got one hell of a death wish, you son of a bitch!”

Ranma, whose own ego and macho pride was swelling at this point, gave his trademark cocky grin.  “I ain’t all that worried, ‘Pantyhose.’  I mean how tough can a guy who actually calls himself that be?”

Taro looked as if he was being consumed with rage.  His eyes were practically on fire.  “That’s it, you pony tailed piece of shit!  I’m gonna kill you!”  With that he launched himself at the Saotome Heir.

The fight was pretty even.  Taro was very good, but of course so was Ranma.   The Chinese boy was almost as strong as Ryoga and a bit faster.  This caused Ranma to have to work extremely hard to keep from getting seriously hurt, but once the pig tailed fighter got used to the boy’s patter he started gaining the upper hand.

After a while it seemed as if Ranma was going to win.  Suddenly, though, Taro backed off.  “I guess you’re a little better then I thought.”

Ranma just smirked.  “Of course.  Don’t you know that Ranma Saotome never loses?”

The Chinese fighter gave is own grin.  “We’ll see about that.  A lot of people have said that about me too.  In fact I’ll take both you assholes on at once.”

Ryoga laughed at that remark.  “Yeah right.  You can’t even get the upper hand on Ranma. How are you gonna take both of us on?”

By this time Taro had grabbed a flask from his tent.  Once again facing the two fighters from Japan he coldly smiled and smile that would make grown men shudder.  “Like this.”

With that he poured the liquid on himself.

“Turns out he was the monster,” Ranma continued.  “Some wired mix of animals.  I later realized he had to be from Jusenkyo and he was cursed just like Pop and me.  According the guide there’s only one spring that he could have fallen into to get that curse: Spring of Drowned Yeti Riding a Bull while carrying an eel and crane.  Mixed all together you get a super strong flying creature.”

As Kasumi returned from the kitchen with the tea, her father gave a questioning glance at the pony tailed boy.  “So, did you defeat this ‘Pantyhose Taro’ person?”

Ranma smirked.  “Your damn right we beat that jerk. It wasn’t easy but Ryoga and I were able to bring him down.”

Genma-Griffin simply nodded as he poured his cup of tea over himself, returning him to human.  “I see.  So this Pantyhose fellow is just a prideful fighter who wants to regain his honor by beating you.”

The pony tailed fighter looked a bit sheepish at this.  “Umm, well kinda.  I mean, we may have done something else to him but he’s really just being a big baby about it…”

To this, his father’s eyes narrowed.  “What did you do, boy?”

“Well, we may have, sort of, kind of dragged his unconscious body back to town, tied him against a rock that we painted ‘Hi, my name is Pantyhose Taro and I’m stupid’ on it and place it in the middle of town for everyone to see.”

To this all three listeners starred at the Saotome Heir with a blank expression.  It was Kasumi who spoke first.  “That wasn’t very nice, Ranma.”

“Hey, the guy was the biggest jerk we’d ever seen,” Ranma defended.  “He had it coming.  It was justified.”

Genma just shook his head.  How could Ranma have had all these experiences without him knowing about them?

“So that’s that,” The pony tailed boy announced as he stood up from the table.  “I’ll be in the dojo.  Let me know when dinner’s ready.”

Soun was annoyed at this.  “Wait just a minute, son.  You haven’t explained about the bounty on your head.”

Ranma shrugged.  “I have no idea why there’s a bounty on my head. Emily Tisdale is rich, maybe she put it on.”  With that he calmly walked out of the room toward the dojo, not bothering to look at the obviously unsatisfied expressions on the two older men.

Kasumi simply starred at the boy, as if she knew he was still hiding something.

Ranma’s absence from school had not gone unnoticed, and it rather annoyed both Tendo sisters.  The newly established “Ranma Saotome Fan Club” (made up of the many girls at the school who had developed crushes on the pony tailed fighter) would practically mug Akane and Nabiki for information every chance they got.

Even though Nabiki was making decent earnings selling information as well as photographs she was incredibly annoyed with these girls.  The funny thing was she wasn’t sure why.  Sure, she could admit she was attracted to Ranma, but the fact was that he was more trouble then he was worth.  He had only been here a short time but he already had gotten her involved with his questionable and dangerous past.  It just wasn’t right.

But the so-called “Ice Queen” of Furikan High couldn’t help herself.  Ranma had shown genuine romantic interest in her, something most boys at school wouldn’t do because of her reputation.  Having a normal boyfriend would be nice change.

For the past three days she avoided Ranma, which wasn’t too difficult since he was mostly in his room.  She wanted to sort out her feelings for the boy; weighing the pros and cons of getting involved with the pony tailed boy.  Today was no exception.  During her lunch period she was preoccupied with the internal conflict, thus she had her lackeys do the normal “routine” of blackmail, extorting and other business deals.  Nabiki found herself eating her bento alone at the tree where she had initially found Ranma earlier.  It was a nice spot, just as it had been before.  Unfortunately she would not be able to enjoy the quiet for much longer.

“Greetings, Nabiki Tendo,” the familiar voice of Tatewaki Kuno bellowed.  Kuno had been absent for a while now.  In fact the only time Nabiki had seen him was at the junkyard three days ago when he failed to defeat Emily Tisdale.

“Kuno, what a pleasant surprise,” she lied.  “What brings you here today?”

The self titled “Blue Thunder” showed no signs of emotions.  “I require the status of Ranma Saotome.  Is he well?  I had heard the rumors that he laid broken in a hospital bed.”

Nabiki rolled her eyes.  Ranma was too stubborn to go to a hospital, claiming his injured would heal on there own given time.  “He’s as well as can be expected.  But lemme ask you something, Kuno-baby: What’s with this weird crush you’ve had on Ranma lately anyway?”

This caused Kuno irritation.  Nabiki of course was referring to the interest the kendoist had had with Ranma even since the pony tailed boy had mopped the floor with him in a sword fight.  “Crush?  You dare accuse the mighty Blue Thunder of such a thing?  I say thee nay!  I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in...”

Nabiki cut him off.  “If you’re going to go on speaking nonsense I’m going to have to charge you by the minute for taking up my precious time.”

Kuno was offended at this, but he nodded.  He handed her an envelope.  “Very well, vile Nabiki.  I shall be brief:  Please pass this letter on to Saotome.”

Before he could walk away in a dramatic fashion Nabiki stopped him.  “That’ll be a 5,000 yen delivery fee, Kuno-baby.”

The dark haired boy just starred at the middle Tendo daughter.  “You do realize I hate you.”

“My heart bleeds.  Cash please.”

Later that day at the dojo Ranma was training; just as he had been doing all day.  He had decided that it may be too dangerous to stick around in Nerima, so he’d need to do something about the engagement and do it fast.   Luckily he had that plan he bought from Nabiki; train Akane in the Saotome style and thus unite the schools.  He just needed an opportunity to do so without looking suspicious.  Genma would never agree to this arrangement and if Soun was anything like the old man he wouldn’t either. 

But there was something else that troubled him.

“I know you better then you think, Ranma the Demon of Joketsuzoku!”  That was what that idiot Sin had said to him.  What did he mean?  Why did he call him that?  What did this person have to do with the amazons who resided there?  Did this have to do with the bounty on his head?  There were so many questions that he didn’t have answers and for no they couldn’t be answered without information.  Of course it was only a matter of time before someone would come to fill in the holes.  He’d have to be patient.

He was left with no time to ponder the problem more as his thoughts were interrupted by the detection of Kasumi who had at that moment come into the dojo.  As Ranma turned to meet her he saw that her face was covered in various emotions making it hard to read her.  The heir to the Saotome School had noticed something very interesting about the girl: she was either very dimwitted or insanely talented in masking and detecting emotions.  He had begun to believe the latter due to the fact she had picked up on his inner angst hat he had been able to hide from his own father.

Though she seemed sort of oblivious and uncaring at first Ranma realized was ready to admit that Kasumi could be at least as intelligent as her sister Nabiki and even better at masking her feelings with her cheerful demeanor.

“What’s up, Kasumi?” he asked with a warm smile.  Of course he had an idea what this was about.

The older girl, whose face was mixed with emotions and all of them negative, took a deep breath before saying “I’d like to ask you about Tenma.”

Ranma closed his eyes.  He had hoped he wouldn’t have to tell anyone about this; that he wouldn’t be there long enough for it to matter.  He intended to tell the girl it was none of her business again, but this time was different.  As he starred at the girl he saw the worry in her eyes.  For whatever reason the boy felt like he could trust Kasumi with this secret (or anything for that matter).

After what seemed like forever Ranma looked directly into the oldest Tendo sister’s eyes.  “Aright.  I’ll tell you everything.”

The boy sat down on the floor and motioned for Kasumi to join him.  She complied and found a spot right next to him.  “It started…right after we buried mom.  Ryoga and I left to continue our training.  But truthfully I was an emotional wreck.  I was in a constant state of either anger or depression.  I kept talking ‘bout suicide.  But most of all I wanted the amazon who killed my mother dead!”

Kasumi gasp at that.  Ranma cursed under his breath; he had forgotten that he had told Nabiki about that part, not her sister.  So he related to the death of Nodoka Saotome and the controversy surrounding it.  Now understanding, the older girl urged him to continue.

“Anyway I guess Ryoga couldn’t stand seeing me like that. So at some point he came across this weird statue.  He said he got it form some old man.  It was a magical item, he said, that would rid someone of strong negative emotions.”

Kasumi wasn’t exactly sure where he was going with this but she nodded politely none the less.

“I didn’t believe it, of course.  It sounded pretty stupid, even though I’d seen my fair share of magic by then.  But low and behold it started glowing as soon as I touched it.  Technically though you could say it didn’t work…

“There was a flash of light, so strong that it nearly blinded me.  When the light stopped there was a guy, who looked about fifteen or sixteen, lying on the ground.  And he had my face.  He looked exactly like me.  Well, I guess his eyes were grey instead of blue but besides that yeah.”

The listener’s eyes opened wide.  “You mean there was another you?”  Ranma nodded.  However Kasumi looked as if she didn’t believe him.  “How is that possible?”

“Magic, I guess.”  Looking on at Kasumi’s expression the boy gave a light smile. “Don’t tell me it’s any less believable than a guy who changes genders when hit by water or his father who turns into a mythical monster.”

Feeling a bit silly for her momentary disbelief she let him continue.

“So there was the guy who looked exactly like me laying there on the ground unconscious.  He was like some kind of perfect copy.  We brought him back to where we were camped and waited for him to come to.  When he did he looked directly at me and ‘I see, so I’m not the real Ranma.’  I’ll never forget that; he seemed really sad when he said it.  It turned out he had all of my memories up to when I touched the statue.  He explained that even though he had my memories there was a strong feeling in his soul that told him he wasn’t the ‘real Ranma Saotome.’  He said he didn’t know how to put it in words.  All he could say was that he was more certain that he was a fake than anything else.”

Kasumi eyes again widen in surprise.  What was it Ryoga had said when he and Ranma had that brief argument the night Nabiki was kidnapped?  “He was a shadow, not a human.”  He was referring to…

“That ‘copy’ was…Tenma?”

Ranma nodded.  “That was the name he eventually started calling himself.  He said it wouldn’t be right to call himself ‘Ranma’ since we all knew he wasn’t.  So he asked to be called Tenma Saotome so he could be considered a different person.  That was real important to him, being known as a different person than me”

The eldest Tendo daughter wasn’t sure what to think. It was like a twist in a bad soap opera; Ranma and Tenma, long lost twin brothers.  “So this Tenma person was another you?”

Ranma shook his head.  He wore a slight smile, as if he was recalling fond yet old memories.  “At first we thought that too.  He was even as strong as me.  I mean we were seriously dead even.  After I gave him some clothes Ryoga and I said he could tag along on our trip if he wanted to.  After a while we figured out Tenma was actually a lot different from me; he was a lot more likely to pick fights with people, he acted kinda cold to pretty much everyone, and he hardly ever talked. He was always sitting or standing somewhere thinking about who knows what.  He was the one who figured it out: the statue didn’t take someone’s negative emotions away, it ‘physically manifested them into a new body,’ is how he put it.”

Kasumi was trying to keep up but it was actually pretty confusing.  “So all the sadness and anger you felt about your mother was taken from you and was turned into Tenma?”

The pony tailed martial artist shrugged.  “I guess. But I didn’t feel any happier after it happened so I don’t know.  But basically Tenma was like a more…mean version of me.  But he was a real good guy.  In fact most of the fights he got into were because he was saving some guy from getting beat on or sticking up for some kid or old person.  He hated seeing people picking on guys weaker than them, just like I do.  He was really into the whole ‘martial artists should protect the weak’ thing.  He was just…overly violent about it.”

“Oh my, what do you mean?” the listener asked with immense interest.

Ranma scratched his head.  “Let’s just say he doesn’t hold back in a fight.  I guess he was kinda of a hypocrite.  But anyway he and I got along really well, I thought.  I mean we had the same memories but we were different enough that we weren’t exactly the same.  I only knew him a month but I consider Tenma one of m closet friends.  Hell, he was pretty much my brother, I guess.

“But…Tenma had issues.  He never talked about it, but he was really upset over mom getting killed and extremely pissed at the amazon who did it.  In fact he hated amazons in general.  I knew he wanted payback, I did too, but he was really general about it. He once said to me that it wasn’t just the one amazon’s fault, it was her society and its laws.”

Ranma paused a short while.  Kasumi could tell he was trying to contain himself emotionally.  It was obvious he was about to relate to the subject of Tenma’s demise and his part in it.  It was, as it had been as long as she had known him, an extremely sensitive subject after all.

“So,” Ranma said after a while.  “After about a month of training we went to this one training spot on top of a particularly high mountain.  Tenma comes up to me with this map he had bought a while ago. It showed exactly where the amazon village was.  I was pretty close to where we were.  He wanted to go there and do something to them.  Maybe poison their water supply or maybe set a bunch of fires.  It was crazy and I told him so. But he just got upset.  He wanted them to pay.  He said he wanted that they needed to pay for their crimes.  I was afraid he’d get a lot of people who didn’t have anything to do with it hurt.  Maybe killed.  So I tried to stop him.  Then he hit me.  I don’t know what got into me but I hit him back and before you knew it we were at each other’s throats.  Even Ryoga couldn’t pull us apart.  It got really intense at one point and we…we were too close to the edge…”

Again Ranma paused.  After a short while he continued.  “I knocked him off the edge.  I feel back…I was able to grab his arm but…he just looked at me and said ‘It’s better this way’ and just let go…”

The memory of the even was so intense he didn’t notice his own tears.  “I…I killed him.  He died because of the argument.  I don’t care what Ryoga says, he was a living breathing human.  He didn’t deserve to die like that.  I shouldn’t have fought him; I should have been quicker to pull him back up…”

Before he could continue with his speech he found himself being embraced.  Kasumi had wrapped her arms around the pony tailed boy in hi vulnerable state.  She pulled him lose and spoke softly into his ears.  “It wasn’t your fault, Ranma.  It was a horrible situation.  You aren’t a murderer…”  She said nothing after tat and continued to hold him.

Ranma was shocked.  He had fully expected her to think he was a monster, a reckless little boy who made the ultimate mistake.  However she was being so kind and so understanding.  This was the first time Ranma had ever opened up to anyone.  Closing his eyes he and hugged back on instinct.

He was so wrapped up in his emotions that he failed to notice the girl standing in the doorway.

Nabiki walked away from the dojo, not certain as to what just happened.  She had just gotten home and s ready to give Ranma his letter from Kuno, but when she got there she found Ranma crying in Kasumi’s arms.  Usually she would have taken a picture to use in some sort of blackmail scheme…but for some reason she felt sick and needed to get away from there.  The next day she’d come to her senses and try to figure out logically why Ranma and her sister were in that embrace…but tonight she really needed to be alone.

To be continued…

Author’s note:  Well I guess it’s been a long while, huh?  Does anyone even remember this story?  Oh well.  To make up for the long absence you get this slightly larger than normal chapter and revisions for chapters 1-5.  You’ll notice that I’ve taken a few things out, added a few things.  I’m sure it’s by no means perfect yet, but we’ll get there.

Anywho today’s chapter finally explains who Tenma is.  However even more questions are brought up.  Questions that won’t be answered for a few chapters.   While it’s obvious that Tenma is connected to the opening scene we don’t know for certain how.  You may think you do, but you don’t.   Stay tuned.

Next Chapter:  Ranma is all healed up and everything gets back to normal.  Except that there’s this girl with a black rose causing problems.  Also Mousse and Sin continue plotting and the amazons make their move.