Shinigami

Ranma Fanfic by Seras4545

A/N: Wow. Such a spirited response. Thank you so much for all the reviews. I'm not sure if I can keep up the kind of quality that I had in my last chapter as it required a special kind of mood for me but I'll try to meet your expectations of me. Oh, and I will give character rundowns as they appear, including types of characters and weapons. They will appear as they do in the story and will be updated as the status changes. Oh, and for those of you wondering, I was planning on having Ranma become a shinigami or an equivalent of one. Sorry this took so long but it is quite long and required extensive material from the Bleach anime. Also, about the Matsumoto thing, I had forgotten that there was a vice captain named Matsumoto, so it was unintentional, but I may use that to my advantage. BTW: I decided to skip the scene of the second day in bleach.

This is a re-edit! Thanks for all of your help everyone!

New Terms/Worlds

Hueco Mundo: The Hollow World.

Reiatsu: Spirit energy, much like ki except it is for spirits.

New Character Types

Shinigami: Regulators of souls who send pure souls to soul society, or heaven, and destroy bad souls, called hollow, wield weapons called zanpakutou. Also wield magic called way of the demon.

Hollow: Souls that are either rotten to the core or have lost their hearts because they have been in the world too long. They seek out and devour powerful souls of living or dead and grow in power as they do so. They are intelligent beings and have an as of yet unknown society and plans. Weaker ones have holes where the heart should be.

Spirits: Souls who have yet to be sent to soul society. They have chains called chains of fate that dissolve over time. When it is finally gone the heart goes with it and they become hollows. Can also be turned into hollows by other hollows.

New weapons

Zanpakutou: Katanas wielded by the shinigami. They have names and have a soul of their own deep within the shinigami's. Their size, power, speed, edge, shape, and abilities depend directly on the power of the shinigami's spirit and the abilities are usually unique to each personality.

New/Updated Characters(Only important characters are displayed.)

Ranma Saotome

Deceased at age 18

Gender: Male (Female with cold water)

Occupation: Abnormal Spirit(for now)

Specialty: Martial Arts and Ki attacks

Ichigo Kurosaki

Age 16

Gender: Male

Occupation: Highschool student and spiritualist.

Specialty: Interacting with spirits and martial arts of sorts

Appearance: orange spiky hair, kinda tall, about 6', mean look.

Rukia Kuchiki

Deceased at unknown age. Appears to be around 16 to 18. Says she is around 150 years old.

Gender: Female

Occupation: Shinigami

Specialty: Way of the demon(Magic) and philosophy.

Weapon: Zanpakutou

Appearance: Glossy black hair, Black robes usually, about 5'4” or so.

Renji Abarai

Deceased at unknown age. Appears to be between 18 and 23.

Occupation: Shinigami

Specialty: Stubborn and doesn't give up easily.

Weapon: Zanpakutou

Appearance: Around the same height as Ichigo, long red hair pulled into a warriors que. Black shinigami robes.

Kagame Fumetsu (Mirror of Eternity)

Unknown Entity.

Chapter 2: Death God

“We have no form, therefore we fear it, and because we are formless we revere it.

Thus, we are slain.”

- The Hollow

Ranma had watched from his spectral viewpoint on the wall surrounding the Tendo compound as the Tendo family and his own and, to his surprise, even Ryoga and several of his rivals and so called fiancées grieved his death. It touched him that so many had cared enough to feel it when he died. In truth he had felt that no one besides the Tendo sisters had actually had any true feelings for him. Now he realized that he had had many friends, even some who hid the friendship under the guise of rivalry. Another thing that is now denied to him.

They had given his body a proper burial in a place of honor in his mother's clan's cemetery and had raised a shrine to him nearby the koi pond and Nabiki had somehow managed to enlist the aid of a sculptor who rendered a magnificent statue of him alongside his female form, standing together as if they were longtime friends. A plaque underneath read

Ranma Saotome.

One who was cursed and had many rivals and trials in his short life.

Despite this however he has always brought cheer and happiness to all who have met him.

A strong and honorable martial artist and a friend to us all.

He will be sorely missed and will reside in our hearts and memories forever.

Ranma had wondered at how much this would have cost Nabiki to have such an elaborate work done but did not look for though he was now not among the living he still had his honor to uphold, even if there was no one to see him break it.

Though it wasn't quite true that there was no one to see, as he had found out when he had gathered enough courage to leave the Tendo household and explore his new world. It was much like when he was alive though there were subtle differences, as if it was somehow skewed a bit or out of focus sometimes. He found that he could see everyone and even could touch them if he wished though he tried to avoid it as most were confused or downright frightened if it happened. He found that he could not walk through walls either, as he had found out when he first awoke after his death. He had been frightened when he had seen his own dead eyes staring back at him and had tried to get away from the scene as quickly as possible and had found that even after death you could feel pain as he ran straight into the wall and bounced off it, landing on his posterior.

After his initial shock of finding himself dead yet still in a world that mimicked life, Ranma had feared to leave the Tendo household, as if leaving would break whatever kept him here and he would be lost, unable to find his way back here to the ones he cared about most. He had eventually gathered that courage however and had ventured out, exploring the limits of what he could and could not do. Every once in a while he would come across someone who was dead like himself. He tried to talk to them but found that they either ignored him or yelled at him to leave them alone or burst into tears. Ranma figured that they each were trying to ignore the fact that they had died but could find no reprieve when they existed in the world of the living with constant reminders of their death all around them. So he started to avoid them as well. He really couldn't blame them, if he hadn't been through some of the crazy stuff in his life he might be freaking out more as well.

Then there were those among the living who could sense him, see him, and sometimes even hear him. He found that most of these people were more open and friendly, as if talking with spirits was nothing strange. Most of them told Ranma that in order to truly rest in peace he would need to find what was binding him to this world and finish his business here. Ranma had no idea however what was keeping him from 'resting' as they called it and noticed several things that separated him from the other spirits. He saw that while they had chains that flowed up and into their chests, he had none. He also noticed that they seemed able to fly through solid objects easily, while he was bound to the ground by gravity and still obeyed the laws of physics, at least those he hasn't broken before. He also found that while they never seemed to eat, he did feel hunger and thirst and fatigue as well.

Why am I different? What is it that makes me stand out all the time? Why? Ranma thought as he rested on top of the wall, keeping an eye on the house and it's surroundings. He had taken it upon himself to keep the Tendo family safe, even when most only came to his shrine once a week. Though there was still one person who still visited daily.

Even as his thoughts turned to her she stepped out of the house and approached his shrine.

It was Nabiki. She was dressed in her usual shirt and short shorts and she had grown out her hair a bit, just down to where it barely touched her shoulders. She knelt down in front of the shrine and stared at the statue and the inscription, that's it, just stared. There were no prayers, no spoken thoughts or regrets. She just stared at it, sometimes even for an hour or more before returning into the house. Ranma never followed her within as he felt he no longer had a right to walk into that sanctuary any longer. He never saw the tears she shed while ensconced in her room.

This time was no different, she just stared and for some reason that blank stare disturbed Ranma, so, as he does whenever something disturbs him, Ranma left to take a walk.

He walked down to the area around Furinkan High and it was then that he saw his first Hollow, though he had no idea what to call it then. It was a monstrously huge creature, standing at well over eight feet tall, with a mask of pearly white bone and teeth and claws that looked dangerously sharp.

It was chasing a little girl and he saw that the little girl had a chain like that of the other dead people. Somehow Ranma knew that dying wasn't the worst thing that could happen to you and knew that if pain existed here then true death must also.

When the girl tripped and he heard the monster roar in triumph he sprung into action without a thought for his own life and safety, typical Ranma fashion. He leapt forward and delivered a brutal kick to the monster's head. Instead of feeling the head give under the force of his kick, however, Ranma felt as if he had just kicked an eight foot thick titanium wall. Pain shot up his leg and Ranma fell to the ground, stunned and completely off guard.

If the roar was any indication he had definitely gotten the thing's attention however, and Ranma knew that this was a really, really bad thing. Completely ignoring the girl now the monster picked Ranma up in it's tight iron grip and bit into his shoulder. The pain that the wound caused was incomparable, making the disease that had killed him feel like a common cold. Then revulsion flooded his being as he felt the monster lick the wound, causing the pain that had just dulled to flare up again.

Then it spoke. It's voice was grating and sounded as if it had a bad cold, a twisted parody of a human's voice.

“Well, what do we have here? A shinigami? No, he is too weak. Even the weakest of the shinigami I have devoured was stronger than he. But his spirit is undeniably irresistible, almost as tasty as a shinigami. Well, no matter, he shall feed me well, much better than that pitiful little brat.”

Ranma struggled to escape the monster's grip to no avail, it was far stronger than he was at the moment. Ranma began to panic as the jaws distended and the mouth of the monster filled his view, it apparently intended to swallow him whole. Ranma struggled with renewed vigor as the monster brought him slowly toward it's mouth. He began to despair as even his best efforts seemed to have no effect, the monster was probably enjoying his futile efforts to escape it's grasp almost as much as it anticipated enjoying eating him.

Ranma view was soon filled by the gullet of the monster and he could feel the sickening vibrations of it's laughter as it prepared to drop him to his doom.

When the monster loosed it's grip and Ranma began to fall he briefly saw a flash of light reflected from metal, then his vision was engulfed in darkness. Then suddenly daylight returned as the body of the monster dissolved into glowing blue particles. He could clearly see where the monster had been bisected before the entire corpse disappeared.

Ranma slowly got up, favoring his right side where the monster had bitten into his shoulder and arm. He saw a girl, looking barely older than seventeen at most, carrying a katana and wearing black robes kept closed with a white sash. Her hair was raven black and fell just past her shoulders in thick locks, one hanging slightly over her forehead and right eye.

Despite her appearance Ranma could tell that she was much older and wiser than she looked and she carried great skill in her bearing and posture. He had no doubt who would be the winner in a contest between him and the mysterious woman.

She walked toward him with a serious and stern look on her face, sheathing her katana as she did, much to the relief of Ranma, who relaxed muscles he had not realized he had tensed.

“What the hell did you think you were doing!? You could have gotten yourself killed! If I hadn't been around you would have been killed! You are a complete fool...”

Her words trailed off as she noticed something strange.

“Where is your chain of fate? What are you exactly? Are you...”

She trailed off again as something began to beep and Ranma was surprised when she pulled out what looked like a mix between one of those hand held computers and a cell phone.

“Dammit, another Hollow? Stay here. I'll be back shortly. I have a few more questions to ask you.” With that she ran off at a speed that impressed even Ranma. She was soon gone from sight and Ranma shook his head.

“What was up with her? She didn't even stay long enough for me to thank her.” He said as he contemplated what he had learned. He wasn't about to stay in this area, not with those things, those 'hollows' as the woman called them, around. He briefly noted that his wound had already healed and the blood had disappeared, though he felt that that wasn't really important at the time. He looked around for a more defensible area to wait for her when he saw the girl. She was staring at him as if he was some strange creature in a lab to be studied.

“What? Do I have something or my face?”

The girl jumped a bit, then looked slightly ashamed. “Sorry, it's just that what that woman said was true. You don't have a chain attached to you. You're different somehow.”

Ranma sighed, not wanting to be reminded that even in death he wasn't normal. Thankfully he hadn't been hit with water yet, so he hasn't been forced to find out whether or not his curse had followed him.

“It's alright. I'm not exactly a normal person, even in life. Look, were do you live err... stay or whatever you want to call it?” Ranma said, embarrassed by stumbling over his words so much. He hadn't gotten used to talking with the dead, nor with the idea that he himself was dead. “I'll walk you over there.”

The girl brightened at this prospect. “Thank you. I don't want to meet one of those things again. I was actually going to meet a friend there.”

Ranma was glad to be able to help someone, even in death. It filled him with a pride that hadn't faded with his demise.

“It's no problem. You're going to meet a friend you said? Is your friend um... dead?” He felt ashamed to ask this question, but he needed to talk to someone with some knowledge of what was going on, hopefully someone living as it seemed that the dead wanted to help none but themselves, with the exception here and there like the girl and himself. The girl didn't seem to be offended by this question at all however.

“No, he's alive. He's one of the few who can interact with the dead. He has two sisters who can as well, but not to the extent that he can. His family seems to have a talent for it. He sometimes gives advice to us spirits but he gets annoyed easily.”

“Umm... Do you think you could introduce me to him?” Ranma asked, then remembered that he hadn't introduced himself yet. “Oh, oops. Sorry, my name's Ranma Saotome.” He bowed to her.

The girl returned the bow with a smile. “Nice to meet you Ranma, it's alright if I call you Ranma isn't it?” When he nodded her smile grew wider. “My name's Kiko Mokana and I would be glad to introduce you to him. Come on, it's not too far away.”

She began to walk off toward a wall when Ranma called out to her. “Hey, wait. Could we walk the normal way? I kinda, umm, can't walk through the walls.” He said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

She turned and frowned a bit. “Umm... Sure, it will take a little longer though. Follow me.”

She took to the streets. Ranma was glad that it was late afternoon as the streets were now almost completely deserted, so he was able to keep up with the girl without bumping into someone.

Eventually she led him down an alley behind some houses and they came upon a vase of flowers. He suddenly realized that this is probably where Kiko had died and he was saddened that she didn't take to living in her home as a spirit.

Suddenly his danger sense kicked in and he dodged as four skateboarder punks flew down the alley, knocking over the vase of flowers as they passed. Ranma was about to get them for that, ghost or no ghost, when a guy with orange hair stepped out of another side alley and kicked the lead skateboarder in the face. Ranma cringed as the punk slammed into the ground, hard, and didn't get up, obviously unconscious.

“outta the way. Get out of here.” The newcomer said to the street punks. This seemed to infuriate them further, however.

“The hell's wrong wit' you? You suddenly kick yama-chan down and tell US 'out of the way'!” The punk in a white shirt said.

The orange haired stranger seemed quite annoyed with them and also looked slightly bored.

“Say somethin', you little...” White shirt began yelling as he pulled back to throw a punch

He never had the chance to finish his sentence nor hit orange hair as a foot was planted in his face. White shirt fell to the ground and orange hair lowered his leg and proceeded to stomp the crap out of the punk. Ranma had been impressed with the speed that the orange haired guy moved, he seemed to be a fair martial artist.

The three remaining punks watched on in fear as the orange hair continued to dish out punishment to white shirt.

“Whoa, Toshirin's gettin'...” One said.

“This is bad! This is so messed up!” Another said.

Orange hair seemed finished with his warm-up and stomped on white shirt's head hard enough to crack the asphalt. Ranma cringed as the guy's head sunk deeper and deeper into the pavement. Ouch, that guy's gonna have one hell of a headache when he wakes up. Geez, I'd hate to see what that orange haired guy would do if he was really mad.

“Quit yakkin'!” Orange hair yelled as he pounded on white shirt's head one last time.

“All of you bastards, LOOK AT THAT!” He yelled and pointed at the spilled flowers and broken bottle. Ranma finally got his first good look at the guy and had to admit that he looked like he had one hell of a mean streak.

“Question one: What the hell is that? Yes, you in the middle!”

The unfortunate punk looked at his two friends and then pointed at himself as if confused by the situation. He was wearing a long sleeved purple shirt and had a black overcoat on along with a beanie and a rather dumb look on his face.

“Um, ah, a tribute for the kid who died here recently...”

“ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!” Beanie was suddenly cut off by orange hair's yell and the direct kick to the underside of his chin. Beanie flew back and the two remaining looked as if they feared for their lives.

“Mit-chan...” One exclaimed as the body hit the ground.

Ranma was again impressed with orange hair's speed. He doubted they even saw it coming. Though Ranma noticed that he seemed rather fond of using his legs and feet. He hadn't once used his arms, though that might be because he has a much longer reach with such large legs.

Orange hair turned his gaze on the last two punks. “Okay then, why would that bottle have fallen over?” He asked calmly.

Ranma could see the remaining two shaking as the fuzzy haired one replied while the one with a ponytail stood paralyzed.

“Well, we were skateboarding and knocked it over...”

“You bastards!” Orange hair's leg blurred as he delivered a spinkick that connected with both of them, such was it's force, though Ranma knew that it wasn't strong enough to knock them both out.

“I dare you to do that again!” He said as an ominous aura filled with darkness and flame surrounded his body. “I'll make it so people have to lay flowers for you too!” Ranma was yet again impressed by this stranger. It took a lot of energy to create an aura in the visible spectrum and even more to alter it to fool your opponent.

The two were rather convinced and as soon as they gathered their friends they high tailed it out of the alley shouting “We're so very sorry!” at the top of their lungs.

Orange hair sighed, seemingly satisfied. “If I scared them that badly, they probably won't come back here. He looked back and straight at where Ranma and Kiko stood.

“I'll bring some new flowers for you tomorrow.” He said.

Kiko smiled at him shyly. “Thank you for chasing them away, Ichigo. Now I can rest peacefully, o-nii-chan.”

Ichigo bent down and picked up the bottle and the flowers and placed them upright then straightened again. “You're welcome.” He looked at Ranma and then looked him over. His eyes widened when he saw that Ranma had no chain. “Interesting. Who's this?” He asked, facing Kiko again.

“His name's Ranma. He helped me a little before. He seemed different from the rest of us, so I brought him to you.”

Ichigo turned back to Ranma again, looking at him with a little more kindness. “I see. Well, come on then, Ranma.” He said as he began walking down the alley.

“Huh?” Ranma said as he tried to recover from what had happened. He looked to kiko who indicated that he should follow Ichigo. “Thanks, kiko.” He said as he rushed to catch up to Ichigo.

“Hey! Wait! Why are we leaving?” Ranma asked as he caught up.

“Because, I need to get home, so we can talk on the way. Though if you want you can stay at my place for a while. I've never seen a spirit without a chain before. On one condition though. Chase away all the other ghosts.”

Ranma was about to laugh, thinking he was joking but noticed that Ichigo was quite serious.

“Wah? Why? I am a ghost you know, right?” Ranma asked, confused as to why Ichigo would want him to drive off the other ghosts.

“You're different from them. Besides, it's hard to get some peace and quiet when they hang around and bother me all the time.”

“Oh.” Ranma got it, at least he thought he did. It would be hard to get some rest if there was a lot of ghosts hanging around. He still remembered the incident with his female half's spirit and the cat spirit. He couldn't remember the latter without a shudder however. He still hadn't gotten over his fear of cats.

They traveled in silence until they got to a house that looked slightly larger and different from the others. It had a sign above the door proclaiming it to be the Kurosaki Clinic.

“So, your family runs a clinic?” Ranma asked, looking it over. It wasn't as big as Tofu's clinic but it was still fairly large.

“Yeah. My father's a doctor. My sisters help out too, though I'm not really much help except for lifting and such.” He said, sounding depressed about something, probably about the fact that he didn't feel that he was of much help.

“I kinda know what you mean.” Ranma really did too. Other than his fighting skills, he didn't have much to contribute to the Tendo household in the way of useful help. The best he could do was allow Nabiki to make as much money as she could to help out.

“We save and don't save lives. I don't really know if that's why, but ever since I can remember, it's been normal for me to see ghosts.” He continued as he lead Ranma around to a gate at the side that led to the home it's self.

Ichigo opened the door and walked in. “I'm home.” he said in a bored and tired face.

Almost as soon as they entered Ranma had to duck out of the way when a foot entered his view. Said foot continued on to connect with Ichigo's face.

“YOU'RE LATE!” The owner of the foot said. He appeared to be a man in his mid thirties or so, with a close cut beard, short and slightly spiky jet black hair, wearing a white doctor's apron over his normal attire of a yellow shirt with red oak leaves and branches and black pants. Ranma guessed this to be Ichigo's father.

“You punk of a son!” He continued as Ichigo lay, trying to recover, confirming Ranma's suspicion that this was Ichigo's father. Ranma was slightly reminded of his own father in a way, at least with the surprise attack.

“You know our dinner time is seven o'clock every night!” His father continued to berate Ichigo. Ranma wondered why he hadn't noticed him when he remembered Kiko saying something about only Ichigo and his two sisters being able to sense ghosts.

Ichigo flipped himself upright and face to face with his father, looking to be within inches of blows.

“Damn you! Is this how you greet your son who has gone out of his way to help ghosts on the way home?!” Ichigo's father seemed to get angrier and angrier as Ichigo continued.

“I don't wanna hear it! Only punishment awaits those who disrupt out family time! No matter what the reason is!”

They began trading blows at a speed that was on par with Ranma's, continuing to talk as they did. Why couldn't I have met this family before I died? Ichigo would have made a great sparring partner.

“Or what, are you bragging that you're the only one who can talk to and touch ghosts?!” The father continued as they jumped apart and then leapt at each other, continuing to trade blows in the air, gaining more and more air time and height.

“Shut up! I didn't ask for this power!” Ichigo yelled back.

Ranma noticed the two girls eating dinner at the table, one with black hair and blue and black clothes, the other with dirty blond hair and still wearing an apron from when she had cooked the meal.

“Stop it you two. The food is getting cold.” The blond haired one said, a look of worry and sadness on her face.

“Let them be, Yuzu. More please!” The black haired girl said as she held her bowl out to Yuzu, sounding tired, though Ranma may be mistaken and it is just her usual tone of voice.

“But Karin-Chan...” Yuzu began to respond when a mighty crash from a blow landing signaled the end of the fight.

Ichigo stood triumphant, though he had a highly annoyed look on his face and pointed angrily at his father.

“First of all, making a healthy male high school student come home at seven every night is unimagin...”

Suddenly a blue flame looking apparition appeared near Ichigo.

“Ichi, you have another guest.” Karin stated as the flame resolved itself into a middle aged looking man wearing office attire and thick glasses. Ichigo looked at it with surprise and annoyance.

“What the, when did you...” He began to swipe at the ghost, trying to catch it.

“I keep exorcising and exorcising yet they keep coming!” He yelled in frustration.

When the ghost dodged near Ranma, Ranma caught it. Ichigo smiled his thanks to Ranma as he dragged the ghost out of the house.

“Please, let me stay!” The ghost pleaded in a pitiful voice. Ranma truly felt sorry for the aimless spirit but he had a deal with Ichigo.

“Sorry friend, but it's the orders of the spiritualist. No strange ghosts in the house.” Ranma gathered his energy and hurled the ghost as far as he could, knowing that it wouldn't truly harm the spirit. Satisfied that the ghost wouldn't be coming back for a long while, Ranma went back inside the house.

“Ichi has it rough being hi spec.” Karin said, looking back at Ranma and Ichigo.

“But you know, I'm kinda jealous. I can sense presences but can almost never see them.” Yuzu said, looking at her brother with admiration.

“I don't believe in ghost and stuff, so...”

“What?! But you can see them too, can't you? Dad's the only one who can't see them.”

Karin turned back to her younger sister with a bored look on her face. “Regardless if you see them or not, if you don't believe, then like they never existed.”

Yuzu looked on with disbelief. Ranma too was slightly shocked. She can see us, but still doesn't believe in us? That's kinda cold. Ranma thought and had a feeling that this was a dangerous policy for the girl. He walked up to the kitchen table and Karin looked back at him, or rather looked through him as if he wasn't there.

“What if they could touch you? What if they could harm you in some way? Would you believe in them then?” He asked.

Karin blinked lethargically. “No.” She answered simply.

Ranma was boggled by her attitude and stance on the subject. How could you see something and even feel it, yet not believe in it?

Suddenly Ranma heard a crash and turned to see Ichigo go down from a surprise attack by his father. His father soon had him in a grapple and pinned him to the floor.

“Your guard was down!” He yelled triumphantly. Then suddenly Ichigo threw him off with a show of great strength. They both threw a punch and landed on each others faces, disfiguring the cheeks slightly. Ichigo had landed a more solid hit, more square than his fathers, and his father slumped to the ground.

“Forget it, I'm going to my room. Come on Ranma.” Ichigo said and began walking off, motioning for Ranma to follow.

Ranma followed him up the stairs and into another room. He could vaguely hear conversation and arguing in the other room. Ichigo flopped himself down on the bed near the window with a sigh and stared at the ceiling for a while. Ranma decided to stand to one side of the window while waiting for him to start talking. He had an itchy feeling that told him that he might need to move quickly soon.

Ichigo sighed again and looked at Ranma. “So, if you don't think this is too rude, how did you die?”

Ranma blinked, then smiled weakly. “Nah, it's not rude. Well, the best way to sum it up is a strange virus attacked my body and killed me off in about three weeks. Doctors couldn't figure out what it is, and they couldn't cure me either. It just kinda came out of nowhere.”

Ichigo seemed thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah, I think I heard of that. You're very lucky, in a different sense.”

“Huh?” Was Ranma's response, not understanding how things had turned out was in any way 'lucky'.

“That virus could have been contagious, but it wasn't. Good thing for you, your friends, and the hospital. They didn't follow protocol and allowed you to have visitors and let you out of the hospital with a strange, unidentified virus. Things could have gone really badly, but lucky for everyone, it didn't.” Ichigo explained.

“Um... Hello? I am dead here.” Ranma said, amused and annoyed at the same time.

“Oh, sorry. I meant to say that it could have been much worse. It could have started an epidemic, much like the black plague.”

“It's alright. Say, do you know why I am different?” Ranma asked, the feeling he was getting was stronger now and was making him impatient.

“Well, other than the obvious fact that you are missing the chain, I don't know how are different from the others.”

“Well, I can't phase through solid objects and I need to sleep and eat and drink still.”

“Hmm... Yeah, that's definitely different. Sorry, but I can't really help you there. You are actually the only ghost I've met who is different from the others.”

“Oh.” Ranma's hopes of learning how he was different sunk as Ichigo revealed his lack of knowledge.

“Sorry I couldn't help.” Ranma looked at Ichigo and he truly did look sorry that he couldn't help. That lifted Ranma's spirits a bit, that a complete stranger could care about him.

“It's fine. Sorry for leaving so quickly but I think it's time I got home.” Ranma said, putting on an air of false cheerfulness. His feeling of needing to get back had grown to an urgent siren in his head.

“Yeah, sure. Thanks for dropping by.” Ichigo said, returning the smile.

Ranma leapt out of the open window and landed gracefully on the ground and started out at a full run, eating up the distance quickly.

Ichigo watched as Ranma disappeared into the distance, wondering why he was in such a hurry. I've got a bad feeling about this... He thought as he lay down. Suddenly a girl in black robes appeared on his windowsill...

Ranma was running at full tilt, avoiding all obstacles that he could, smashing through those that he couldn't, his feeling of urgency driving him on. He nearly skidded on the slick pavement as he turned a corner and ran down the street with the drainage trench to his right. Soon the Tendo Dojo came into view, just in time for him to see one of those monsters from earlier rip into the roof and pull something out.

Ranma began to panic as he saw Nabiki's lithe form in the beasts grasp. As he got closer he noticed that this monster was quite a bit larger than the last and, he had no doubts, much stronger. The thing began to lift Nabiki to it's mouth and when Nabiki began to scream Ranma truly did panic and did the only thing he could think of.

“Moko Takabisha!” He yelled and put all the energy he could spare into the shot.

The monster turned as he shouted and took the brunt of the blast right in the mouth. There was a blinding flash followed by a roar. Ranma just barely saw the monster drop Nabiki and dived under her and caught her before she could hit the ground. Ranma looked down at her and saw her staring at him.

“R-ranma? Is it you? OH RANMA!” She yelled as tears began to pour down her cheeks and buried her head in his chest. Suddenly pain exploded in Ranma's head as the beast hit him from the side during Nabiki's distraction. He and Nabiki went flying and Ranma lost his grip on her and she flew to the ground and rolled into one of the posts that held the patio roof up, her momentum stopped suddenly with a sickening thud.

“Nabiki!” Ranma yelled. He ran to her motionless form and quickly examined her head. He sighed as he found only a lump and a cut, her pulse still strong and her lungs still working. He turned to the monster, fury burning through his mind. Damn! I threw a near full power moko takabisha at it and it doesn't even seem fazed! “Damn you, you bastard!” He yelled in frustration.

Ranma tried to think of something he could do but the monster attacked again. He jumped over it's swing and was about to land when the hand came back and smashed into his other side, flinging him like a rag doll through the wall of the compound and putting a good sized dent into the asphalt. He got up, trying to clear his head when he heard the monster roar it's triumph over him.

Damn, it's just too strong! Nothing I can do seems to even affect it. At this rate everyone will die... Father, Mother, Soun, Kasumi, Akane... Nabiki... Tears of frustration began to build in his eyes, burning their way out of his body.

The monster then picked Nabiki up and began to squeeze, her pained shrieks ripping through Ranma. No, not her... Not Nabiki... Not her... “LET HER GO!” He screamed, anger and helplessness boiling in his mind. “YOU BASTARD!”

Ranma leapt at the thing, disregarding his own safety. He put all the ki he could afford into one punch that landed square on the thing's jaw. He was satisfied to hear a crunch as part of the jaw cracked from his blow, though he held his fist in pain. When he looked up however, Ranma began to truly despair as the monster seemed to just shrug off the blow, apparently more irritated than hurt.

“Damnit! What does it take to hurt this thing?” Ranma panted, his reserves spent on that punch.

As the monster brought Nabiki back up to it's mouth, seeming to smile as it did so, Ranma felt a strange feeling sweep through him, and suddenly he was elsewhere...

He looked around at the strange landscape, not knowing what to make of it. He stood on a bamboo pole amidst a forest of them, stretching on as far as the eye could see. He looked down and saw that they peaked at a dizzying height, the pools of water below only specks of shimmering water. He looked up and was overwhelmed by a sense of vertigo when he saw the scene mirrored above as well. It seemed different somehow, though. Darker, more malevolent, twisted.

“Where the hell am I?” Ranma shouted as he tried to get over the sense of vertigo that had flooded him at the sight.

“Your soul.” A female voice from behind him spoke up.

Nearly jumping out his skin, Ranma whirled around to be faced by... Himself? Or should that be herself?

Ranma's curse half looked at him with amusement, clearly unfazed by the strange world around them. She was wearing a black chinese dress that had two dragons twisting and turning around her body, One red the other blue, dancing sinuously with each other until their heads met on her chest, their fangs bared at each other as if ready for battle.

“My soul? What do you mean? Who are you?” Ranma asked, wondering why he was here. Then he remembered what he had been doing and started to panic. “Crap! Where's Nabiki? Where is the monster?”

“Calm down. It's alright. Time has no meaning here. And yes, this is your soul, or at least the visual representation of it. As for who I am, don't you already know that?” She asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“No, I don't, though I'm pretty sure it isn't Ranko.”

She laughed at this, a bell like sound. “No, it isn't. Though it is a good name. My name is Kagame Fumetsu.”

“Wha?” Ranma said, unable to make her name out. It tickled at the back of his mind and he felt that he should know it but something was distorting her speech, making it impossible to understand.

“I said it's Kagame Fumetsu.” She repeated, looking to be getting frustrated.

“I'm sorry, I can't understand you.” Ranma said, meaning every word of it. He had a feeling that knowing her name would be very important.

“You can't understand me, huh? Oh well, I guess it can't be helped. I can still lend you some power though. Enough to save her.”

“What?” Ranma said, becoming more confused by the second.

“You want to save Nabiki, right?” Ranma nodded. “Well then, I'll lend you some power.”

Suddenly a sword appeared in her hand, the blue dragon shimmered on her dress and then disappeared as it did, and she rammed it up to the hilt into Ranma's chest. Ranma felt the pain first, even worse than the virus. Then he felt the power bubble up and into his body, as if she had just tapped a spring of it within him.

“Try to remember this place, and try to remember my name...” He heard her saying as the world dissolved around him...

If one had been looking, one would have seen a blinding flash of light and then a column of it rising high into the sky.

Rukia and Ichigo both turned their heads in the direction of the Tendo Dojo, their fight with the hollow that had attacked them forgotten in the face of this event.

“Such power... It's unimaginable!” Rukia whispered, still clutching her wounded shoulder. Ichigo merely stared at the column of light, the visible form of reiatsu...

Nabiki awoke to see the monster in peices, it's parts dissolving, and nearby a column of light rose into the sky and at its source she could see a form in pure white robes. As her vision cleared and focused she could make out who it was and her eyes widened.

“Ranma...?” She whispered as her vision darkened yet again. But this time there was a smile on her face...

Deep in Hueco Mundo a hollow tilted it's head, as if listening to some far off note. “Hmmm... So, we have failed. Well, no matter. There are always those who strive to join us of their own will.” The thing began laughing hysterically, it's fellow hollows retreating away into the shadows...

A/N: Yo, sorry 'bout the late update, but I had to think about how to go about this chapter quite a bit and just now decided on this course. Yes, I know that Ichigo was slightly OOC, but then I always thought that before becoming a shinigami he would treat ghost well for the most part. Oh, and for the term reiatsu, it is spirit energy, like ki is for the living. Hueco Mundo is the world where hollows reside. Hope you like the chapter.

Oh! And if anyone could tell me the name for the vacuum blade tachnique, I would be grateful.

Ja Ne!