Standard disclaimers, I don’t own anything, none of the characters are mine, and such.

And per the advice of one of the reviews, I am going to consolidate this, and keep the chapters at a more reasonable length.

Dreaming Prolog:

Dreaming again, She looks at her grandfather’s manor house, and sighs. She is tired of this dream.

Ukyo adjusts her kimono, and wanders into the main hall. Her grandfather’s estate always used to scare her when she was little, so it does not surprise her that she is afraid of in her nightmares. There was always this feeling of unease when she was there, like there were spirits watching her. Her mother didn’t like it much either, The Kuze Manor was always a place of dread for her family. Her mother often seemed so sad whenever her father was mentioned, and always got ill when it was time to visit.

“Maybe its moms fault, this uneasy feeling I have. Her fears becoming mine” as she looked around the dream. She thinks a sad thought to herself about missing her mother, and it adds to the sad feelings she already has for Him.

The walls were dirty in her dream; Old like no one had lived there for centuries. The hallway in front of her always seemed dark and dirty as well, very different from the clean and spotless hall that she remembered of her childhood. A soft bluish light makes the scene even weirder, but as she has had this dream before, she has grown accustom to it.

In the distance, that odd song can be heard. She moves through the manor, down the hall, past the central room and towards her grandfather’s private shrine. Her dream follows this pattern, so she knows what is coming. Soon she will reach the door, and her grandfather will open the door, but it won’t be him. Instead it will be some vile spirit in the shape of her grandfather, reaching out for her, strangling her. Soon she reaches the door, and again it slides open. Beyond the door this time however, the haggard face of a young man looks to her, arms out.

“Help me!”

As she wakes, the one thought on her mind was of someone she can’t hold the tears back for. “Why him, Why can you just stay dead…. Ranma…” she sobs.

Ranma was as far as everyone knew, dead. Akane and he ran off together, and a year later Akane returned, saying they were divorced, and she was “sure” he was dead. Sounds simple, of course. Just saying he was dead and expecting everyone to accept it. The amazons had already left Neirma, So had Ukyo, for in the past year nothing was keeping them there anymore. It took Ukyo another 4 months, until she learned of his death. And no amount of pressure from her could convince Akane to tell her what happened. 2 months of Ukyo trying and still silence from Akane. All she would say is “I am sure he is dead, Positive” but nothing else.

After spending two months trying she returned home, away from here, unable to fully grieve. No one knew where he was buried, or even where he had been when he died, Akane was not telling. A month later, Ukyo got news that the amazons had returned, seeking information from Akane. And that they were far less nice about it than she was. Now there were two deaths Uyko dealt with. Even though she was a rival, and she hated her for not saying what happened, she was also still her friend.

She moved up to the shrine in her apartment, and replaced the incense and the plate of Okonomiyaki. She brings her hands together and prays “Ran-chan, I am sorry. I miss you”. Her life was on hold, she had moved to another section of Tokyo, and set up an apartment. She had some money, but didn’t feel like doing anything. So she existed for a time.

The dream started again, she could hear a banging of metal on metal, off in the distance. Again she was at the door of her grandfather’s estate, and she was pushing down a kimono, that was her mothers in life. ‘I wish I had gotten to know her better’ as she looks down on the blue kimono, with the large Saukra symbol on it. ‘First father took away my womanhood, then mom died. Now Ranma’s gone. Who else is left… Why not me too’ she thought again to herself.

Outside the manor, through a window, the snow came down.

The dreams continue, still usually with her grandfather strangling her as the end point. Her days are unending, nothing really seems to happen to her, she really doesn’t want to move much. Her friend, Konastu would stop by and bring her groceries, sometimes even cook for her, but he doesn’t get much in the way of a response from her. Nothing has changed for them, He still loves her, she still thinks of him as a friend, and oft times annoyance. But they are both older, and mayhap wiser. She no longer beats on him for being pushy, and he is no longer pushy. He also has a girlfriend now, though she is still second in his heart.

Days stretch on, and her nights drag on, through the same patterns. Until one night she dreamed again, of Ranma, calling out to her.

The snow came down pilling on the ground in front of her. Her Kimono was the same as before. Still through the winter Kimono she feels cold, just like before. This time she is in the forest, a bit back form the manor. There is a statue of Inari on either side of the path, both are missing their heads, though they have the red scarves. The scarves seem to extend much farther down the statues, giving the appearance of bloody headless foxes. She walks between them, and moves up the hill. Tonight at the door of the manor, lies the body of her grandfather. ‘That’s a first’ she thinks to herself, ‘if he is out here, I wonder what’s inside’ The doors seem the same, but there is a strange pattern carved into it. Its not her families crest, or that of her grandfathers. She studies it a moment, the circle, with two cars one atop the other on it. ‘I know this symbol, think’. She goes back in her mind, thinking through all of the symbols she has seen, until it dawns on her, Nodoka’s sword. It’s one of the three crests on her sword. So its either Awa or Satomi, since this is not her own families branch crest. ‘Well that’s different. Why would that crest be here? ‘ she thinks to herself. She pushes on the door, and opens into a different room than she is expecting. This one is brightly light, though the lists still seem to be bluish in nature, and there is a small gathering in the center of the room. She can see two figures in what appear to be female kimono’s sitting in front of a man who has his back to her. The man she is sure, she knows, from his long pony-tail. They sit, with voices softly coming from the females in front of him but he does not appear to move. Ukyou walks forward, but no one pays her any attention. She steps into the center tatamati chamber, and notices that they are gathered around what appears to be a human head. She looks down and examines it. Everything seems to move slowly in this dream, and still no notice from the figures. Only that background murmuring, and silence from the male who has his face down and hidden. The head, so looks at looks vaguely like Akane’s but its odd, more different than she would expect. She reaches down to pull the male figures head up, as she touches him, the voices become understandable, Clear, and she hears her own voice, and the voice of Nodoka, saying over and over again “see how your protection works. She is dead, and your to blame!” the voices repeat this, she pulls his head up and looks into the eyes of Ranma, sitting there, in formal clothes, and with a weird blue tattoo on his neck. “Its not my fault, Ukyou, its not..” he sobs. She starts to try and pull him up, but at her feet, something weird happens. She feels the head move, and Akanes voice echoes in her mind. “Not your fault? I gave up everything because of you, and you are the only one to blame. Some man!, Some protector.. Where were you Ranma,!”

Ukyou kicks the head away, and pulls Ranma to his feet. Ranma follows blindly, and as they move from this room, into another, his clothes shift, to what he was normally wearing. Ukyou can see blue tattoos on his arm, that run up to his neck. “Ranma this is a dream” she says to him

“I know, but its no less real” he replies to her. Now that he is away from the other room he seems less confused, and controlled.

“are you alive? Are you a dream?”

“Find me Ukyou, and find me fast. I am always asleep, and I am starting to lose. SHE keeps appearing, and every time she catches me, I get worse.” The room grows darker, as he is talking.

“where can I look for you, do you have anything?”

“Find Miku, Miku Hinasaki. She can help you”

The darkness becomes palatable, and Ranma looks around spooked “She’s coming, Go! I will Lead her away.” “Who is coming, Ranma” as these words leave Ukyou’s lips, she sees a figure of a woman, undressed and covered in tattoos, enter the room. She is tall, and exudes power

“RUN!” and a great panic overtakes Ukyou, And she runs, She see’s as she runs Ranma, dodging the figure, as she keeps trying to reach out for him. Ukyou reaches to door to the outside, and plunges through it. She awakes in a cold sweat.

“he’s alive? Or a ghost, or… What’s going on…” She sits up, looks over to the door of her room, and notices the head of Akane looking up at her. “Your Next!” Ukyou screams.

And Wakes up again.

Ukyou moves through the streets. This is the first time she has been out of her apartment in over a month. She travels because she found the number of Miku, the person whom Ranma said would help in her dream. She called Miku, and after a very quick conversation, agreed to meet with Ukyou. The only troubling part was while she said she could help, Miku seemed to think that this had all been dealt with before, and was concerned that it was starting again. She traveled into another district in Tokyo, and approached a small publishing house, where Miku said to meet her.

She entered the office, and asked the receptionist if she could speak to Miku

“Miku? Let me call down to the photography department” The young receptionist sits at a deck with a nameplate of “Mio”. She is younger than Ukyou, and is very pretty, but there is something odd about her eyes. She gets off the phone and says” your Ukyou right? Miku will be here in a moment along with my uncle. Rei wanted to meet you as well, but, she is out on assignment at present. please have a seat” Ukyou looks at the girl, and sighs, and sits, waiting.

In a few moments, a young woman and a man show up, from downstairs. There is something of dread in the way they look at Ukyou, but also great sympathy. The Girl speaks first

“Ukyou, I am Miku, before we go any father, I have to know. Do you have any tattoos that suddenly appeared on your body?” Ukyou shakes her head, “no on me, but in my dream when I saw Ranma, his arm was covered in a blue tattoo.”

“Ok, well, then it’s only on his arm so far, so we have to hurry, if we are going to save him. Next question, Did he or you in your dream have an old Camera?”

“Uhmm, no not that I can tell.”

Miku sighed. “The camera has to be somewhere, and it’s your only weapon, that works against them. Ever. Ken, can you bring her the Camera”

The man responds “are you sure? We have that locked up”

“Yes, it’s started again, and she needs to have it if she is going to fight and save her friend”

“But Miku we haven’t resolved yet that Ranma IS alive and not some form of ghost”

“Either way. She is drawn in, and the least we can do is help her survive.”

The man gets up and walks upstairs leaving the three alone. Mio seems uncomfortable during this discussion of the camera, as does everyone else

“Ok Ukyou, I have a story to tell you, First off everyone who works at our company understands what you’re going through. We all went through it, and survived, barely. Most however, the vast majority of those who enter into the dream manor die there. There is a woman, covered in tattoos that slowly encompass you. It’s important to know what happened with us, so you can survive the experience. We can’t go in for you, so learn from our experiences, and we will help in any way we can.”

Around this time the man returned with an old camera that looked completely broken. It had weird symbols around the edges, and around the lens. Ken carefully carried it and placed it on the desk in front of Mio, who pulled back from it.

“This is the camera, I want you to take it with you for now... Now listen to our story and try and learn from it.”

For the next two hours, Miku and Ken talked to Ukyou, telling everything they could remember about the Manor of Sleep. The story horrified Ukyou, the knowledge of what Ranma and she were going through. Ken did not think that much of the knowledge was going to be of help, but maybe it would make details of this somewhat easier. They

Listened to Ukyou and after discussing this with her more that she was not far into the dream yet. Though it was a BAD sign that she had seen the woman, Reika, as they called her. “If you have seen Reika, then your locked into this, you have to force her back. To free yourself and Ranma”. This being said by Miku again. “What we will do is see if we can find your Ranma in a hospital or the like. He said he was always sleeping, maybe he is in a Coma somewhere. We had one we met like that.” Ukyou just nods at this point. She is terrified now of what is to come, but she will willingly give up her soul for him.

“Ukyou, how do you feel about moving in for the time being with Rei and me? Rei suggested it, so we can try and help you in this as much as possible”

Again she just nods blankly, agreeing to the strange request. At least she won’t be alone in this. They have been through it. Maybe they will help her survive it.

By the end of the day, she is set into a new room, down the hall from both her new Hostess, Rei, and Miku. Both are extremely nice to the younger girl, and make every effort to relay their experiences so that Ukyou has at least some idea what to expect. These were dreams to them as well, so many of the memories are spotty at best, other than Miku’s memories of her first encounter with the camera. She settles into the room, that used to be Rei’s fiancé’s room, and finally late that night, sleeps again. Being pulled into her own personal hell.