This first chapter of 'Raiju' was written way back in 2006, and a beta version was published at the Fanfiction Forum on Dec 2nd, 2006. My good friend JohnnyG caught a glimpse of an earlier still version on Nov 16th, 2006, and yet another version was posted at my group not long ago. This chapter you see here is the result of many people helping me out with comments, suggestions and whatnot.

Before some of you cry 'plagiarism' due to the similar concept in comparison to Ozz' 'Tales of the Foxcat'—which just extends to one similarity, that being the Raiju—, the dates mentioned above should clue you in that the story idea was conceived before Ozz published Pt.3. That, and he's been informed and has given his go ahead.

Have fun reading a little plotbunny-turned-drabble-turned-full-fledged story.

Chapter 1

Ranma Saotome, martial artist extraordinaire and defeater of the Phoenix King Saffron, was indulging in something he rarely did. The young, gender-changing individual was applying his considerable intelligence—the use of which he usually limited to his fights—to review the disaster that had been the wedding. He was seated in one of his favourite spots and would usually have welcomed the opportunity to enjoy the warming rays of the summer sun that shone from a clear blue sky, but his contemplative and disappointed mood made this nigh impossible. Ranma absently straightened out his red silk shirt and rubbed his right wrist guard equally absently as he was lost in his silent contemplations.

His facial expression slowly changed into one of displeasure as he stared into the setting sun. The cooling breeze of the pleasant summer day that was slowly dying away completely escaped his notice as he reflected upon the truths he had learned on the day that had been picked as his wedding day. Two months had passed since then, yet he still remembered it like yesterday. An old truth had been hammered home rather impressively, namely that the fathers were complete and utter morons. For only a moron would try to wed a couple by knocking them unconscious and dragging them in front of a priest.

He had always known that his father was an idiot, but that his mother had joined in on the moronic venture had surprised and annoyed him. True, he had known about the odd quirks of his mother, and had long ago realised that her obsession with manliness likely resulted from the deep-rooted wish to be a grandmother sooner rather than later; but that she had given the two dummies the go ahead shredded even the last bits of respect he had held for Nodoka.

Honestly, what self-respecting mother put her own wishes before those of her child and dared to call herself honourable? What mother would follow a contract—regardless if she or Genma had set it up in the first place—that demanded he had to commit seppuku if he was not manly enough? The icing on the cake pertaining to that whole seppuku pledge nonsense was that Nodoka herself had been judge, jury and executioner, and that with her truly... exotic, nah, downright skewed perceptions of manliness.

He had up till now tried to appease his mother, but he felt this want dying a rather rapid death the more he analysed Nodoka's behaviour. The wedding—and the antecedent incidents—had revealed that his mother would not stop judging him, not now, not in the future, maybe never. And that was a realisation that hurt, for if he was proud of one thing, it was the independence the training trip had taught him.

Ranma scowled involuntarily when he realised he would not arrive at a solution where his mother was concerned, but in his mind it was clear as crystal that he would have to change his behavioural patterns. Maybe a calm, cool and formal exterior would let his mother know that he was displeased, and prompt efforts on her part to patch their relationship up. If not... well, he would cross that particular bridge when the time came.

The pigtailed teen crossed his hands behind his head as he laid down on the roof of the Tendo Dojo, favouring this position over the cross-legged one he had remained in for a good half hour. He chuckled wryly to himself as the thought crossed his mind that this had been the single longest stretch of time he had spent thinking in a long time; The fact that he was doing so would probably greatly surprise the other residents of the Tendo home.

This train of thought guided his thought processes to one particular resident of said Tendo home. The reason for his—and his father's—stay at what had become his home in the past two years. Akane. Ranma felt a swirl of emotions rise inside his chest as he thought about the cobalt-blue-haired girl. Love. Anger. Feelings of betrayal and hurt. And an overwhelming feeling of tiredness.

The first emotion he had just felt was the hardest to deal with. He had loved Akane, had even admitted as much during the life or death fight with Saffron. There and then he had believed it to be true, but ever since then, and especially ever since the wedding attempt, he felt his assuredness dwindling. A look of deep concentration appeared on Ranma's face as he analysed his feelings, something he seldom did, admittedly, but doing so had become needful after everything that had happened.

Love. He thought he loved Akane, had even yelled out that he loved her at Jusendo when it seemed he had lost her. Would someone you love blame you for what had happened at the wedding? Would someone you love keep the keg of Drowned Man water from you as a bargaining chip to... yes, force you to marry her? His frown deepened as he followed that line of thought. What reason was there to keep the keg from him when she'd known how much he wanted a cure?

Soun he could understand, if not forgive. The emotionally unstable master of the Tendo School was so hung up on joining the schools that he'd do virtually anything to see it through. But Akane was a different matter, behaviour such as she'd exhibited he'd never have expected of the tomboy. Could it be she'd acted the way she had to ensure she'd triumph over her rivals and get her prize, him?

The thought was bizarre and nearly fallacious, but only nearly. Ranma nodded to himself. It would make a twisted kind of sense. 'Feh,' he thought wryly, 'the tomboy can't even admit she likes me, and hasn't said she loves me to this day. Sure, she has helped me on occasion, but that ain't sayin' anything 'bout if she loves me or not. Meh, how often has she yelled she hates me? How often has she ended the engagement? Too often to count. Nope, there ain't proof that she's done what she's done 'cause she loves me. There don't seem to be proof at all that she loves me. Or is there?'

Ranma frowned in thought as he went over Akane's behaviour of the past two years to assess if his fiancée loved him. Akane had always claimed she didn't want to be engaged to him and had backed up her claims by trashing him too often to count, had even broken the said engagement due to circumstantial evidence that seemingly incriminated him on several occasions. But hadn't she displayed jealousy of the highest calibre anytime either Ukyo or Shampoo—or any other female, for that matter—had shown him affection?

Akane's words didn't fit her actions, and he'd been too distracted to realise it. The malleting and her calling him a pervert was quite conclusive proof of this theory, he realised. What was the fastest way of preventing rivals from making headway with the object of your interest? Removing it from their grasp, of course.

Her behaviour suggested she was interested in him, despite her vehement claims to the contrary. But was interest—and maybe affection—enough where her volatile temper and hit-first-and-ask-questions-a-lot-later-if-ever approach were concerned? He honestly didn't know, and he didn't know if he would want to put up with that for life either.

Then there was the fact that Akane continued to subtly try and get him to confess his love for her in front of others despite making no move to do the same in reverse, even to this day. Yet she had always seemed above the other girls who just wanted to win him like some kind of prize, but her using the keg as a bargaining chip showed she was no different than Ukyo and Shampoo. He would have readily admitted his love for Akane at Jusendo to her face, but not any longer. Not after the behaviour she'd displayed.

Another interesting question was if it would ever work out between Akane and him, provided she did love him despite his doubts. What constituted a working and fulfilling relationship aside from love, a synergy of feelings, and bio-chemical processes of one's body? He'd compiled a list of necessities in his free time, and, while glaringly incomplete it encompassed all the prerequisites he felt must be met.

Rubbing his chin with the thumb and index finger of his right hand Ranma began ticking off said prerequisites in his mind. Trust came first to his mind, it being one of the fundamentals of any relationship. Well, truth be told, Akane had never trusted him nor did she trust him, and it was unlikely she ever would. That was partially his fault due to the way their first meeting had gone way back, but he felt he'd proven his trustworthiness many times over since then.

Next came truth. Akane had nearly always been truthful with him, as far as he knew, except the one time when it had counted the most. The keg. Truth was out as well.

Then there was the way she related to him. From unobtrusively watching 'normal' couples he had concluded that Akane's behaviour was hardly normal, that their relationship was hardly normal. The fact that irked him the most was that she always blamed him for anything that went wrong, which was something that had developed into a habit. An annoying, irritating and very illogical habit.

There was also her tendency to brain him for real or—much more often the case—imagined insults or slights. Be it with a mallet, her fists, feet or a convenient blunt object. True, it was great endurance training, that being the sole reason he took the blows in the first place, but it didn't speak well for their relationship. In fact, during his reconnaissance of normal couples he'd hardly witnessed physical violence beyond a slap to the face. And that incident had happened when a girl had chucked her boyfriend for cheating on her. Akane would likely have killed him had they been in the couples' stead.

Then there was the way they related as martial artists. Akane was skilled, yes, and might even have been one of the top fighters before his arrival two years ago, but he had already outclassed her back then, and while he had learned the Amaguriken and other special techniques and had steadily improved, Akane had not. His fiancée was still to this day way too slow to even connect but lived under the delusion that she was good enough to hit him. Which was farther from the truth than she'd ever know. But the sad fact was that she'd never believe his assessment of her skills, sad because it showed that she didn't value or respect his opinion.

Ranma nodded to himself, a look of bitterness appearing on his face. The relationship Akane and he shared couldn't be called 'working' by a long shot, and probably never would work out, crush and/or affection on Akane's part or not. So why this joining of the schools, and with Akane and him as the couple in question when a marriage would likely not last two months? All in hopes to produce an heir?

Considering Akane's attitude towards anything pertaining physical affection that was a vain hope indeed. Playing hard to get was one thing, but his fiancée carried it to extremes, and producing an heir would likely equal severe physical maiming if not outright death for him. He'd have laughed hadn't the probability been so damned high that things would happen that way.

The joining of the schools held even less merit from a factual point of view. The Tendo school was virtually non-existent due to Akane's lack of training, and didn't a joining, or to get technical, a fusion of two parts that should be two equal parts of one school require just that, equality? He shook his head in bitter amusement. The Saotome and Tendo schools were anything but equals, and a joining would not lead to a betterment of the Anything Goes style, anything but.

The agreement itself wasn't more than a joke nowadays anyway. He could list several occasions where both his father and Soun had violated the agreement, yet the parents expected him to take said agreement seriously when none of them evidently did. It was just par for the course, wasn't it? But he was getting off-topic, Ranma mused to himself.

The next unseemly character trait that came to mind were Akane's temper problems, he mused as a deep frown marred his features. A true martial artist was not controlled by his/her temper, he/she controlled it.

In Akane's case her temper controlled her, very much so. He'd been on the receiving end of said temper more times than he could count and was without a doubt an expert pertaining her temper; it—and it alone—was the reason he called her uncute. Her looks and figure had drastically improved in the two years he'd lived with the Tendo's, and insulting her figure was more of a habit nowadays.

All things considered, his review left him with a pretty good explanation why his feelings of love had diminished to the point of them needing life-support, but it didn't provide him with a solution as to how to handle the situation. The only thing he could do was to be more polite and less insulting and hope for the best until he found a solution to his many problems.

-.-

Half an hour later Ranma was seated at the low living room table in his customary spot, and while he was inwardly licking his lips in anticipation of one of Kasumi's feasts he kept a relaxed exterior. Yet the more time passed by the more his unease grew. Both his parents wore expressions of slight apprehension—even though both were very good at concealing their emotions—but one look at Soun suggested that something was amiss. Heck, Soun was being constantly out-cheated by his father, and that was something that seldom happened in their shogi games. Something was indeed amiss, and Ranma had a nagging suspicion as to what.

He let his eyes wander as he unobtrusively observed, taking in the details. The table had been set, yet the foreign cutlery Kasumi sometimes brought out when she prepared a foreign speciality had been used. Everyone was already seated with three exceptions, Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane, and while the former was not unusual the latter two gave reason for caution. He had casually queried if his fiancée was at her friends—Yuka and Sayuri had been likely suspects—but no one had divulged useful information. His clues, Nabiki not being at home for dinner, Akane apparently nowhere to be found and those loud clattering noises emanating from the kitchen, and this in conjunction with the level of nervousness in the room. It all pointed in one direction: Akane was cooking yet again.

The pigtailed teen sighed mentally. When would Kasumi do the right—and only—thing and ban his fiancée from the kitchen? Without wanting to be insulting, not even the dogs would come near the stuff she called cooking, and the concoctions Akane came up with could probably be used as a secret weapon should the pod-people ever decide to invade. Yet everyone expected him to try the toxic compositions Akane created, the parents saying it was his duty as a fiancé while the others could care less. This injustice brought him to another character trait of Akane he didn't like, her absolute refusal to try her own concoctions before serving them.

Sampling the foods she'd cooked before serving them would go a long way in improving her cooking skills, and it would probably have the side effect of upping her natural resistance against most known—and probably several unknown, considering Akane's skills—poisons. Sometimes he asked himself why he put up with all that.

The pigtailed teen's head swivelled over to the kitchen door which was slowly being opened, revealing a softly smiling Akane who was carrying a large tray. His first thought was 'Cute' when he caught sight of the smile, but his own smile, which was still trying to form, died a sudden death when he caught a glimpse of what it was that Akane was holding in her gloved hands.

Ranma's alarmed gaze met Kasumi's own, and the oldest Tendo sister giving a helpless shrug was all the more cause for being alarmed than the visual evidence. The pigtailed teen suppressed a groan. He'd had the rising suspicion that grey-green steam rising from the large casserole dish was not normal.

While Ranma mentally groaned in despair Akane placed the steaming casserole dish in the middle of the table, a smile that could only be called prideful literally shining on her face. The girl placed a large spoon in the casserole dish and looked expectantly at Ranma.

"Well," she said after several moments of inaction on Ranma's part, her tone holding hints of anger, "aren't you going to try it?"

Ranma would have loved to say "You first" or something similar, yet he had to be the good little fiancé as was expected of him. But honestly, did he have to get killed by her cooking first before someone, anyone, banned Akane from ever cooking again? The pigtailed teen gave a mental sigh and met the expectant and slightly angry gaze of his fiancée. "Err, what exactly is it you've cooked there? Ain't like anythin' I've ever seen."

Akane chose to take the comment at face-value for once and smiled. "That's a speciality called casserole. I'm sure it tastes wonderful," she enthused.

Ranma whereas groaned mentally. 'That confirms it. Tomboy didn't sample it, and me's gonna be the guinea pig. Again. Great, just great.'

A small, defeated sigh escaped his lips as he took the spoon, and as he stood up to fill his plate his dread grew. The smell that hit him suggested it was worse than usual, but he displayed a brave smile as he proceeded to fill his plate with as little of the concoction as he could get away with. "Err, I'm sure it will," Ranma replied as he sat back down.

'Kami-sama, why me?!' Ranma mentally lamented. 'What did I do to deserve this? Bein' trapped either way... if I tell her ta try her own cooking before serving it ta me she'll clobber me, if I say I don't wanna try it she'll clobber me 'an if I try it and nearly die she'll clobber me too. Just great!'

Kasumi shot him a pitying look, yet made sure Akane wouldn't see it so her little sister's temper wouldn't boil over prematurely at seeing the 'pervert' being friendly with her sister.Ranma nodded imperceptibly towards Kasumi and braced himself. Feigning a smile at the waiting Akane, Ranma nodded, accepting his fate. "That looks... interesting," he said, while adding 'And is probably deadlier than Saffron' mentally.

Then he raised his fork and ignored the visual and olfactory stimuli originating from the plate in front of him. Whatever it was that was sitting before him on the plate was undoubtedly worse than Akane's usual creations, yet it seemed he had no choice. The cowards were invariably waiting for him to sacrifice himself, and that was another point that irked him. Everyone knew that Akane's food was inedible, yet they sacrificed him to please his fiancée time and again. His mother had long given up on trying to teach Akane even the basics of cooking, and that spoke volumes, didn't it?

Ranma felt very much like a man who was led up to the gallows, and he slowly, hesitantly dug into the food. Finally he decided to get it over with and took one bite, which he carefully swallowed. Regret that he'd sacrificed himself yet again just to appease Akane flooded through him shortly before the wave of nausea hit. He had withstood uncounted vile concoctions in his days, but this nightmare took the fruitcake.

His reaction was not lost on anyone, yet his mother kept her stoic expression while probably thinking along the lines of him suffering for his fiancée was the manly thing to do. His father didn't react at all, which was par for the course whenever he was in the presence of his mother. Soun showed no outward reaction either, he was just inwardly glad that he had been spared Ranma's fate and rejoiced in the comfort the knowledge brought that his future son-in-law was—and always would be—Akane's guinea pig number one.

Kasumi, who was still rooted to the spot, was the only sympathetic soul as Ranma felt how the blood left his face, and it broke into a sweat. Mere seconds later even his strong stomach couldn't take it any longer and he jumped to his feet in an attempt of making it to the bathroom.

He didn't succeed as the overwhelming nausea forced his stomach to empty itself about halfway out of the room, pasting the ground with a colourful pattern of vomit. Ranma was panting from the strain this force-evacuation in conjunction with the toxic properties of the food had put upon his system, and remained slightly hunched over with his hands on his thighs. He didn't need a doctor's title to guess that Akane was far from happy, but he couldn't help it. The stuff had been too vile to even digest, and if he'd to choose between sparing Akane's feelings and staying alive he'd gladly choose the latter any time.

Akane was indeed far from being happy. The cobalt-blue-haired girl's face was growing redder by the second as her anger grew. She had found this recipe on a foreign speciality in a cooking magazine and had known that it would make a great addition to her repertoire. The recipe allowed for countless variations which suited her way of creative cooking, and she'd been sure it would be to her family's liking.

Trust that baka pervert of a fiancé to screw things up for her. Who would even touch the casserole she'd worked so hard to create now that the jerk had thrown up? In four words, he had to pay.

"So you don't like my cooking, Ranma?" she asked, seething, fury glinting in her eyes. "I've spent hours upon hours to prepare this great meal, and you dare insult me by throwing up!"

"N-No," Ranma weakly replied in an attempt to appease his irate fiancée, "it wasn't..."

A red glowing Akane interrupted his attempts with a right hook that was accompanied by the angry yell of "RANMA NO BAKA!" and the pigtailed teen felt himself being lifted into the air.

As he made a hole into the roof a tired sigh escaped his lips. Yet another opportunity for Nabiki to extract money from him; just great. And nobody, not even his mother had lifted a single finger to help him during this newest food incident. That was what made him feel defeated the most, that not even his own mother cared enough about him as a person to defend him from Akane's unjust anger.

Ranma was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't pay his surroundings any heed; secure in the knowledge that his descent would invariably lead him to the nearest body of water, in this case the koi pond. It did, but it would have been better had he paid attention to his landing spot, for the last thing he felt before sinking into darkness was a sharp feeling of pain in the back of his head.

-.-

In the living room everyone pretended that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Nodoka was calmly sipping from her cup of tea, her regal face not betraying what she was thinking. Soun and Genma had retreated to the shogi board after ordering take out, and only Kasumi displayed worry. What her youngest sister had cooked up despite her best efforts at making the 'dinner' less dangerous had been especially bad, and for Ranma to lose control of his bodily functions the effects must have been Bad with a capital B.

It saddened her that Akane was so inconsiderate where Ranma's well-being and feelings were concerned, and she had to fight hard to keep a frown from appearing on her face. It was getting harder to keep up the oblivious and happy facade, for the disregard with which Ranma was constantly treated irked her, and she had the feeling that things were not going to end well if they kept on going the way they had been.

To get angry because Ranma hadn't liked the 'dinner' was one thing, but the way her little sister had displayed her displeasure was just not acceptable. Reprimands would do little good though as Akane was too old to listen to her, and daddy would never reprimand his 'baby daughter', which meant her hands were bound.

The only person outside of daddy who'd have any business in taking Akane to task was Ranma's mother, but the honour-obsessed woman was a disappointment. Now that she was reunited with her son it seemed all Nodoka cared about was how manly Ranma was—regardless of the form—and how soon he'd make her a grandmother, by the look of things at all costs. That someone so obsessed with family honour could have such a highly selective honour herself was surprising, not that she'd ever say so out loud.

It saddened her that Ranma's mother didn't take the suffering Ranma went through on a daily basis into account, suffering to which she only added with her interesting expectations. The suffering her little sister put Ranma through was what concerned her the most, though, and lately she found herself questioning the wisdom of her original decision to hoist Ranma off on Akane.

The relationship the two shared couldn't be called healthy by any stretch of imagination, and though the faults lay on both sides the actions of Akane bordered on abuse. Hitting a person—especially as a martial artist who was burdened with greater responsibility than the average person—was not acceptable outside of certain, clearly defined situations—such as self-defence—, and her little sister hitting Ranma for any one offence—imagined or real—was well on the way of becoming habitual. And that was, without question, not a good thing.

Kasumi sighed as she made her way to the dojo. She had to make a supreme effort to paste an oblivious smile onto her face as she walked through the house. Her little sister had acted as she did so often after quarrels with her fiancé and had stomped off towards the dojo, undoubtedly to relieve stress. She was disappointed due to Akane's immature way of dealing with her feelings, but nothing short of a miracle would be able to curb her sister's temper.

The oldest Tendo sister finally reached the dojo and found Akane breaking bricks, as expected. Smashed cinder blocks and pieces of smashed stone in all sizes littered the ground and were testament to her younger sister's anger, and Kasumi mentally sighed due to another impending cleaning job.

Clearing her throat so as to catch Akane's attention Kasumi softly said, "Don't you want to make sure Ranma's okay, imotouchan? You hit him pretty hard and he hasn't returned to the house yet."

"Jerk probably landed in the pond and gets off at molesting some innocent koi," Akane growled, not bothering to turn around to face her sister as she continued to smash bricks. "He can drown for all I care!" she spat.

"Akane!" Kasumi exclaimed, shocked. "You can't mean that."

Akane finally turned around and used the left sleeve of her gi to wipe away the sweat from her forehead. Anger and confusion shone in her expressive brown eyes, and her face was red. "Yes. No. I don't know. The jerk makes me so angry!" she snarled.

"Sis, he didn't look well the whole day. He's probably caught something and your cooking was surely a tad too... strong and spicy for him. I'm sure he didn't mean to upset you," Kasumi reasoned in an attempt to pacify her younger sibling.

Akane sighed, her anger slowly draining away. "Maybe," she conceded, and sighed again, this time deeper. "I'm so frustrated, sis. No matter how hard I try, I don't seem to be able to not get angry at him. I really try to control my temper, but he always manages to set me off."

Kasumi smiled gently. "It's so easy for him because you like him."

"I don't like the jerk!" Akane immediately protested, her scowling face reddening.

"Keep telling it yourself and you'll end up believing it," Kasumi warned, her voice as serious as her face. "Those who deny their feelings will only end up miserable and alone when the object of their affections stops making an effort to win them over.

"I know," she continued, holding up her hands to forestall Akane's comments, "he doesn't do the best job in winning you over, but keep in mind how he was raised. Now, how about we make sure Ranma's okay?" she suggested with a smile.

Akane slowly nodded her head. "Not that I care about the baka, but we better make sure he doesn't create a pool of Drowned Ranma. One jerk's more than enough, thank you very much," she replied in a serious voice, yet her slight smile conveyed that she was not completely serious.

Kasumi shook her head. "Come, before you shoot off your mouth again, sis," she said in a voice that conveyed she was just teasing.

"Oi!" Akane protested mock-indignantly, picking up on the teasing. "I'll have you know I don't 'shoot off my mouth'. That's the jerk's job. Now let's go look after that wayward fiancé of mine or some poor, innocent koi might end up his fiancée."

Kasumi shook her head in mirth and led the way to the living room to verify whether Ranma had turned up in the meantime, but a check with the fathers and Nodoka revealed that he had not. Clamping down on the worry that was rising in her chest, Kasumi made her way to the outside followed by Akane, taking note of the hint of worry that shone in her eyes.

When they reached the pond nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, the ponds surface lay perfectly still. It seemed that Ranma had already extracted himself—or rather herself—out of the pond, and one look at Akane revealed she was getting angry yet again.

"The jerk's probably run to one of his floozies to mooch off their food! RANMA NO BAKA!" she growled, her battle aura becoming visible.

It seemed this comment was the catalyst for what happened next, and Kasumi had no chance to respond as the contents of the koi pond suddenly erupted skywards in a sudden and violent explosion of power, the bang of which reverberated in their ears. The two Tendo sisters watched slack-jawed how the contents of the pond, water, koi and anything else rained back down to from where they'd originated from, slack-jawed due to the fact that most of said contents rolled off of a fiery yellow aura of energy that slowly rose from the pond's bottom. The person that was emitting the said aura wasn't slowly climbing out of the pond; no, it seemed to rise as if floating on thin air!

That in conjunction with the power the person was exuding was sufficient distraction so that Akane and Kasumi didn't notice the arrival of the parents, and their exclamations of surprise and confusion went likewise unnoticed.

"I-Is t-that Ranma?" Akane managed to utter, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I-I don't know, sis." Kasumi replied in an equally apprehensive voice, her confusion obvious.

"That can't be the boy!" Genma exclaimed, throwing in his two cents. "He ain't never been that powerful!"

"Wrong, father," a silky voice purred from inside the blinding yellow aura as the person who turned out to be none other than Ranma touched down onto the ground. The grass in her vicinity immediately blackened and died, a fact that was noted with apprehension. "Oh so very wrong," Ranma added in a creepy voice.

Stunned silence permeated the warm summer air for long moments, moments Ranma used to study the group. Anger unsurprisingly appeared on Akane's face as the girl overcame her shock, and her brown eyes glinted. "Ranma you jerk! How dare you worry poor Kasumi! She thought you'd drowned! Baka!"

"So someone seems to care about my well-being after all," Ranma commented softly, her voice easily carrying over through the summer air. The rest of her was obscured by her fiery aura, and all anyone could make out were blurs.

"What did you say?" Akane asked dangerously, her temper flaring up anew.

"You heard me. And yes, I implied you don't care about me. How else would you explain that it took you nearly ten minutes to check up on me after I'd hit the pond?" Ranma queried in a soft, yet dangerous tone.

"How dare you say these things about my sweet little girl!" Soun demanded, switching into his demon head.

"Yes, how dare you say that, you jerk!" Akane demanded, a fiery red aura swirling around her body.

Ranma gave no outward reaction to the demon head or Akane's anger and simply let her aura dissipate, giving the others a clear view on her. Gasps echoed through the air, and the redhead grinned, revealing very sharp looking longer than normal canines and yellow eyes. "I dare say that because your little stunt nearly killed us, you violent maniac," she said darkly, no hint of friendliness audible in her voice.

"Son, it is not manly to insult your fiancée," Nodoka commented in a chiding tone, fingering her ever-present katana.

"Yes, boy, apologise to Akane this instant!" Genma added forcefully, if only to appease his wife through living up to his role of a father who had raised a manly son.

"Feh, I didn't use words different than those Kasumi used after our initial meeting two years ago. You'll remember the incident, father, it was right after Akane bashed my skull in with the table," Ranma replied calmly and smoothly.

Kasumi whereas had picked up on something out of place and asked a logical question before the parents could develop steam. "Us?" she queried curiously, her delicate brows arched.

Ranma—like everyone else—turned her head towards the homemaker, her intense yellow eyes softening. "Figures you would pick up on it. Yes, us. You see, we are suffering from MPD, a rather severe case at that."

"Multiple Personality Disorder? I should have known." Kasumi breathed, shaking her head.

"What's this MPD nonsense?" Genma demanded, his tone conveying his impatience.

"I'll give you a hint, father. The Neko-ken and Jusenkyo were not beneficial to our mental health. Not at all," she said with an unhinged grin that caused the hair on the back of everyone's neck to stand on edge.

Nodoka slowly turned her head towards her husband, a dangerous look in her eyes. "What is this Neko-ken? And why is it detrimental to my manly son's mental health?" she asked dangerously as she retrieved her katana.

"Uhh... Nothing worth mentioning dear, heh heh," a sweating Genma replied. "Just a failed martial arts technique, nothing more."

"Failed my cute lil ass," Ranma muttered, her yellow eyes alight with annoyance. Her disquieting gaze turned from spearing Genma in place to her mother. "The set up for the Neko-ken is pretty much irrelevant, it's the result that counts, that being us acquiring a nice and pathological case of ailurophobia."

"Fear of cats?" Nodoka queried in a disappointed tone. "That's not very manly."

A sudden flare of fiery light caused everyone to focus on Ranma, a Ranma whose yellow eyes were glowing darkly, malevolently. But what really caught the eye were the twenty centimetres long yellow energy claws that originated from the knuckles of her balled fists. "I am sick and tired of you spouting that manliness crap, mother. You declared I met your standards, so stop pestering me," she replied softly and let the claws dissipate, yet her tone of voice was threat enough.

Everyone was taken aback by Ranma standing up to her mother, and Nodoka sputtered in anger as soon as she'd overcome her surprise. "I will not be spoken to in this way, young man! I am your mother, and it is on me to judge you as long as I see fit," she exclaimed, her stern voice and tightly compressed lips betraying her annoyance.

Ranma surprised everyone yet again when she began to laugh, her laugh not being pleasant at all. "Figures you'd reprimand me for speaking my mind when you're so nice to everyone else. But that seems par for the course, I get to 'enjoy' all the negative sides there are in life," she grumbled, her tone easily communicating her annoyance.

"Oh, was it 'unmanly' of me to speak my mind? Whoops," the redhead added sarcastically.

Nodoka's face darkened, anger flashing in her eyes. "I won't have your behaviour and I won't repeat myself, young man. Now go and change into my manly son."

"Young man? Okay, time to get straight to the point..." Ranma grumbled and her yellow eyes seemed to glow with power from one moment to the next. "You want your manly son, mother? Isn't it just too bad that there's no young man here? For your information, my male part's resting in the recesses of our fractured psyche," she growled, stunning everyone with her vehemence. "Your manly son is gone, drifted off on a vacation, has taken his leave, you name it. And I highly doubt we ever wanna measure up to the illogical standards you set even once we've recovered."

"T-That can't be true...!" Nodoka whispered, her face getting paler by the second as the implications hit her.

"Oh, but it is," Ranma replied calmly and seriously, her intent gaze not leaving her mother.

"Boy, that's no way to talk to your mother! Apologise to her and Akane now!" Genma added boisterously, though inwardly he was scared.

Something had changed about the boy, something big, and whatever it was, it caused his danger sense to flare up like never before. He just hoped it wasn't what he feared might be the case, but he'd likely find out by shouting out demands at the boy.

"I so don't need this..." Ranma muttered to herself and rubbed her temples in an effort to ward off the growing headache as Soun and Genma continued to shout at her. "Ahh, I know! That'll shut 'em up," she exclaimed and snapped her fingers, a malevolent glint appearing in her eyes.

Instantly the air seemed to darken throughout the Tendo compound, the cause of it being Ranma's aura, which was projecting so much malevolence, darkness and killing intent that it rooted everyone to the spot, having the desired effect of shutting the fathers up. Seeing that everyone was busy staring at Ranma with apprehension no one noticed that Genma's eyes had grown wide with worry, and the changed martial artist overlooked it as well seeing that her gaze was solely focussed on her mother.

"Better," Ranma commented with a smile into the ensuing silence, the shadows playing on her face despite it being nearly cloudless only adding to everyone's apprehension.

Kasumi was the first to recover from the anewed shock, mostly due to the fact that Ranma had done her level best to exclude the homemaker from the effects. "R-Resting? What d-do you mean? A-Are you Ranma?" she queried cautiously.

The young woman turned her head and focussed her attention on Kasumi yet again. "Yes, he's resting. Recovering from the torture some call his life. Resting, until he's strong enough to join up with me. Am I Ranma? Yes and no. I am both what he was always forced to repress," her dark look travelled from her parents to Soun to Akane, "and what was sealed in us after we underwent the Neko-ken. I am one half of Ranma plus an addition," she explained, her dark smirk exposing her long and sharp canines.

"A-Addition?" queried the still shell-shocked Akane.

"Oh, calmed down already?" Ranma asked, a delicate scarlet brow raised in mock-surprise.

A red battle aura appeared around Akane and Soun made to switch into his demon-head, but a quick burst of killing intent stopped both father and youngest daughter in their tracks. "So, now that the quick-tempered individuals are silent I'll list some do's and don'ts before I divulge any more," Ranma said in a cultured voice.

"You're in no position to impose rules on us, young man. You have obviously forgotten your place," a recovered Nodoka interrupted sternly while idly fingering her katana.

Ranma seethed, and the air around her seemed to darken as it crackled with power. Not wanting to appear childish by throwing a temper tantrum though she reined her emotions in and favoured her mother with a cold stare. "I see you successfully managed to convince yourself that your 'manly son' is putting up an act. Well, I'm not," she whispered, eyes alight with power she'd definitely not possessed before.

Genma stared hard at his changed child, and the experienced martial artist found his initial fears that the changes had to be connected to the Neko-ken as good as confirmed. His eyes widened in alarm when he realised that his wife was a hairsbreadth away from tearing into an unpredictable and likely dangerous Ranma. "No-chan, listen to Ranma. I know the boy's limits, and that's not just his power. Something's going on here, and it has to do with the Neko-ken.

"If I'm right," he continued in an intent and almost pleading tone, "it's very dangerous, and you must not treat Ranma like before. You saw how he reacted to your demands, No-chan. Leave it be for the time being. Please."

Nodoka had turned her head to listen to what her husband had to say, and she'd gotten thoughtful and a tad alarmed due to Genma's worried tone that had lacked his usual boisterousness. "But he's being unmanly, husband. We—"

"Stop it, No-chan. I've a feeling things are gonna take a turn for the worst if you don't lay off with your ideals," Genma warned, his voice still holding a pleading undertone.

"Listen to him, mother. Father's being unusually perceptive today." Ranma smirked, having heard every syllable.

"Gee, thanks." Genma muttered quietly.

Ranma chose to ignore the comment and focussed her cold, yellow gaze on her mother. "I'll give you a free advice, mother: don't annoy me with that manliness obsession of yours, or I might just show you how much things have really changed."

Nodoka was about to give a—what she considered—appropriately reprimanding reply, but a wizened old voice originating from the perimeter wall stopped her. "You should listen to what she says," a tiny figure with a large sack slung over his right shoulder exclaimed.

"Happosai," Ranma growled in acknowledgement, looking up at the tiny grandmaster with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Refrain from hugging me if you know what's good for you. Got it?"

"Of course, of course, dear." the old man soothed and jumped smoothly to the ground, his unconditional acceptance of Ranma's demands surprising everyone. "Methinks you were about to say something about do's and don'ts. Personally I'm more in favour of dos, but hey," Happosai added with a shrug as he walked around the depleted pond, coming to a stop five metres away from the changed redhead, an expression of interest on his tiny face as he surveyed her without hiding his probing.

"Do's and don'ts?" another wizened voice, this one female, queried from atop the perimeter wall.

"Cologne," Ranma acknowledged in her dark and silky voice as the matriarch of the Joketsozoku landed two metres to Happosai's right, balancing on her staff.

"Son-in-law," Cologne replied, her wrinkled old face stoic as usual.

"I am not your son-in-law." Ranma growled, feeling compelled to release a sufficient amount of killing intent to freeze everyone solid to prove her point. "I never have been nor will I ever be. Am I clear?"

Cologne was staring at Ranma in bewildered amazement, her eyes wide. The changes he had undergone were truly massive! If she still had doubts that Shampoo would never catch Ranma then those doubts had just been impressively evaporated. Saffron's defeat courtesy of the Saotome youth could have been explained away as a stroke of luck coupled with impressive skill, but this... power Ranma had just displayed had been no fluke. One look at Happi revealed that he was thinking along the same lines. You wouldn't want this Ranma as your enemy.

Well, it seemed she'd have to play the 'get-out-of-laws-induced-marriage-fast-card' by claiming that the pursuit of someone who could confirmedly bring down the whole tribe was just plain suicidal. It would be easy to claim that her investigations had indeed revealed that someone with the power to kill a demi-god was a better ally.

Discussions within the tribe had sprung up going in this direction anyway and just her insistence at conducting investigations—with the intention to see their claim through—had prevented negotiations. Now it seemed she had no choice but to give up on bringing Ranma into the family.

"Very clear," she finally responded, shaking off the lingering effects of Ranma's aura trick with difficulty.

"Good," Ranma purred in a pleased tone. "Now to the do's and don'ts I mentioned," she said, fixing especially the parents with a stern yet sinister look. "Before I begin, you'd do well to not interrupt me. I get antsy when that happens, and you want to avoid that at all costs," she exclaimed, her powerful gaze travelling from her parents, to Soun, and finally to Akane.

"First," she began, ticking off her left thumb, "I'll not tolerate any and all attacks on me, regardless of the source, and will deal with attacks that happen despite that as I see fit. Second," her left index finger followed as she stared the fathers down, "I won't listen to any demands to join the schools, and," her middle finger followed, "I won't tolerate that manliness crap any longer," she growled, trapping her mother with the power of her pupil-less gaze.

Had the situation been even remotely normal and had those rules been imposed by the old Ranma, a flurry of protests would have ensued, but the malevolent aura of power enshrouding the redhead like a blanket of darkness nipped the protests in the bud.

Ranma looked from adult to adult, nodding in a satisfied way and turned her head to look at Akane. "Now to us, Akane-chan. The punching bag and good for nothing scapegoat you knew is gone, killed by your own hands.

"I am a very different Ranma, and I'll deal with attacks harshly. Attack me using your mallet or plain simple kempo or the fuck knows what, and you'll regret it, Akane-chan," she stated, stressing the 'chan'.

Akane reacted as expected and saw red. The youngest Tendo drew her mallet and swung it like countless times before, intent on putting her wayward fiancé in his place. Ranma just grinned darkly and became a blur, and seconds later the mallet-head and a severed handle were lying on the ground. The youngest Tendo hadn't had any warning at all and had just felt a sharp pain in her face from a blow that had sent her flying.

She groaned and tried to move, finding that she'd been embedded in the perimeter wall. Ranma... Ranma had hit her! And she hadn't even seen him move! Had he held back that much the entire time?

Surprise and disbelief played on her face and pained sobs—more from humiliation than actual pain—escaped her as she peeled herself out of the damaged wall, and the youngest Tendo collapsed on her butt.

"Let that be a lesson, Akane-chan." Ranma purred coldly. "Only ever treat others as you want to be treated.

"And this goes without saying, this Ranma bites back," she added with a smirk, showing her canines. "Demonstration over."

The shocked silence that followed was disrupted by Soun's wailing shriek, shortly followed by him switching into his demon head. Ranma just stood there with a disinterested look on her face and listened to his tirade until she grew bored, and a quick, yellow ki-blast threw Soun on his butt, effectively shutting him up.

The changed redhead let her unnerving gaze travel from attendee to attendee, a satisfied smirk tugging at her lips. It seemed the message had been received loud and clear, even if the reactions to her little demonstration would likely vary.

-.-

Genma was holding himself in the background, wary due to the way Ranma had dealt with Akane and her father as well as impressed by the power she had displayed, which was why he decided not to act against a power that easily outclassed the dreaded master. He'd wait for a better opportunity to strike and try to normalise things. This was at least what he kept telling himself; in reality he was much too afraid to do much of anything.

His wife was not much better off. She would have been lying had she said that the bursts of power coming from what looked like the female half of her son hadn't frightened her, but she vowed to herself that she would do her utmost to free her son from this evil spirit that had obviously befallen him and clouded his mind so much that he would strike his own fiancée.

Two old masters on their parts were already impressed by the few glimpses they had caught of the new Ranma, and it went without saying that things were about to change in good ole Nerima. Drastically.

"Was that really necessary, Ranma?" Kasumi queried in a scolding tone.

"Yes," Ranma calmly replied in a neutral voice, her intent gaze fixing Kasumi. "Akane didn't listen to my warning and needed to be taught that I'm not fooling around, your father got on my nerves," she stated matter-of-factly. "It was the fastest and most efficient way, and I won't apologise for it.

"If your sister, who always claims she is a martial artist too," she indicated the downed Akane who was still out of it from surprise and shock, "wants to play with fire she needs to learn that fire can burn you," she added coldly, her yellow eyes lighting to a fire-like intensity. "That's a lesson she'd do well to learn."

Kasumi's face showed tiredness as she nodded, her sigh showing that she accepted this explanation. Nodoka whereas did not. The Saotome matriarch had been pushed to her limits by the cold indifference Ranma had shown Akane, which was due to the fact that she saw her chances that she'd end up a grandmother any time soon dwindling if Akane chose to end the engagement for good after the evil spirit had been exorcised due to the way Ranma had treated her.

"What man treats his fiancée so... so abominably? What man hits the woman he's betrothed to?" she queried, fuming. "You cannot be my manly—"

"Shut up!" Ranma growled back as she finally lost her tightly controlled temper, her voice now sounding a lot darker and much more threatening, and it made everyone, Nodoka in particular, flinch. The pupil-less yellow gaze that speared the Saotome matriarch didn't help either. "I've been patient, haven't I? I've tried to keep my temper in check in the face of a mother who only seems to care 'bout when I impregnate the first girl.

"Do you care 'bout anything else at all? My well-being, what happened to me after Akane nearly killed me? No! Do you reprimand her for almost killing your 'manly son'? No! You've been what? Four months in my life after ten years of absence? And you think you're in the know, think you can judge me when you haven't even made an effort to get to know me?" she snarled, startling her mother into inaction with her angry outburst.

And Ranma was developing a full head of steam as her repressed anger came to the fore. "You know nothing 'bout me, you hear me, nothing. All you care about is the fuckin' family honour and that friggin manliness crap, but you're blind to how my unwilling fiancée treated me for two whole years!"

"U-Unwilling?" Soun interjected, his voice wavering. "B-But—"

Ranma's head swivelled to the Tendo patriarch and she gave him an icy look, its coldness freezing the master of the Tendo School solid. "I'll get to you soon enough," she promised with flashing eyes and turned her head back to her mother.

"Do you know what my fiancée used to express her 'affection', mother? Mallets to the head! Fists! Feet, blunt objects and whatnot! And why? 'Cause Shampoo and Ukyo fought over me and created situations that incriminated me! I admit I was not the best when it came to talkin' and I often put my foot into my mouth, but is that reason enough to resort to friggin physical violence? And I'm talking about hits that'd kill a normal human being, for Kami-sama's sake!"

"It's a manly man's duty..."

"I don't give a flyin' fuck 'bout your preconceptions!" Ranma hissed, cutting her mother off. "Physical violence ain't acceptable in a relationship, 'specially not for someone who always claims she's a martial artist too. You just can't enjoy all the advantages without shouldering the responsibilities. You, being the wife of a martial artist should know that!

"And is it my fault that the other girls glomped me?" Ranma continued, her whole posture getting ever more menacing. "Is it my fault that they fought over me? No! I did nothing to provoke it! But what did my fiancée? Clobbered me instead of them, as if it were my fault!"

Nodoka's eyes flashed as she butted in. "Then you should..."

"What, mother?" Ranma interrupted viciously, her fangs glinting in the sunlight. "Let her walk all over me for all eternity? We bloody saw how that turned out. She hit me, forced me to eat inedible crap not even dogs would eat and whatnot, and you know 'bout the quality of her food and everything else! And don't give me that crap that it is a manly fiancé's duty to suffer for his fiancée!

"I fulfilled enough of this duty to last me a lifetime! I just treated this angry, temper-controlled girl for once as she treated me for two whole years," she fumed, leaking killing intent in massive amounts that prohibited anyone from saying anything. "But you, you couldn't care less as long as I was a good 'lil manly man who'd make you a grandma, huh?"

Nodoka was stumped, but it only lasted for a moment. This... being in front of her couldn't be her son, it just couldn't be true that this was how he truly felt. "I will not—" she began.

"I don't care what you will or will not. I have had it," Ranma growled, her yellow eyes alight with frightening power. Her powerful gaze, having stopped her mother cold, turned to Akane.

"Akane hit me whenever she pleased, and no one took her to task," she snarled, turning her head to stare at her mother, her eyes cold, yellow chips of ice. "I give her a taste of her own medicine and you fools reprimand me? You bloody hypocrites," she hissed, her yellow battle aura swirling around her.

"Y-You are n-not Ranma. You can't be. Y-You're a monster!" Akane stammered as she pushed herself to her feet.

Ranma chuckled, darkly, maliciously and swivelled her head to look Akane in the eyes. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. It's all a matter of definition anyway. But I can say without a doubt that I see much clearer now. Why we... I put up with your behaviour for so long will forever elude me. I may have loved you one time, but my love obviously blinded me to the truth that loved ones don't try to bash their skulls in for the pettiest of reasons.

"Loved ones don't try to serve each other food they haven't tried unless it's take out," she said harshly, her killing intent prohibiting the others from doing or saying anything. "Yet you insisted I try your food time and again even though you Can... Not... Cook, oft resulting in poisoning me, the one you allegedly love," she stated in a cold and intense tone, making Akane flinch.

"Loved ones don't call each other perverts, and then it was you walking in on me, sixty-eight times in the last two years. Your smile is cute, you're cute, but your behaviour is so uncute it's ugly as sin."

"RANMA..." Akane growled, her eyes narrowing as her shock turned into anger.

"Don't. Even. Start," Ranma growled back, her now focussed killing intent snuffing out Akane's anger with ease. "For I am not finished yet.

"Akane," she continued after taking a calming breath, "you won't say that you want to spend your life with me even to this day, not to mention that you can't or won't say that you love or even like me. If hitting me is your way of showing me affection then I'll gladly say I've had it."

"B-But..." Akane protested, her brown eyes displaying a miasma of emotions that suggested she understood Ranma was indeed Ranma and that the changed martial artist would end the engagement for good, taking away the chance she still believed they had.

"No, Akane. Even without my change, there's too much between us. I could never be your man nor would I want to be. It would never have worked out," Ranma concluded, wistfulness barely detectable in her somewhat softer voice.

"Consider this engagement over and done with," Ranma concluded in a final tone as she looked a visibly sad Akane in the eyes, her face a mask of cool neutrality that changed into one of coldness when she silenced the flurry of protests coming from the adults with a menacing growl and well-applied killing intent.

"No, not like this! I will exorcise the vile demon that has befallen you and restore my son with this blessed steel!" her mother's voice exclaimed from behind moments later.

Ranma heard the distinctive swish of live steel cutting through air and whirled around in a blur, catching the blade, the flat side of which was turned up in a right-handed downward swing so as to knock her out in an apparent attempt to render her helpless so that the 'evil spirit' could be exorcised.

Due to the fact that she'd insulated her palm with her ki the sharp blade didn't even make a cut, and Ranma yanked the blade from Nodoka's grasp. The younger redhead gave the blade a contemptuous look and frowned as she summoned the claws of her left hand. A blurring, downward slash later the blade fell to the ground in four pieces, and Ranma let the handle fall to the ground seconds later while maintaining eye-contact with her mother, the handle making little sound due to the soft, grassy soil.

"Now that was cathartic," Ranma purred darkly as she retracted her claws, still looking her mother straight in the eyes with malevolently glinting eyes.

"Oh, that was stupid. Making this Ranma angry is not a good idea," Happosai muttered to himself, Cologne nodding in wide-eyed agreement.

Genma on his part was wide-eyed as well, and the balding martial artist slowly shook his head. "Oh No-chan, what have you done? Now the boy's angry, and it's like the master all over again, only worse. Sigh, I really should go on a extended training trip to get away from situations like this. Venezuela is said to be a good place to be around this time of the year..." he muttered.

Nodoka, just like the other attendees, stared on in shock for several moments, then a look of utter fury appeared on the Saotome matriarch's face as she glared at her son-turned-daughter. "Do you know what the hell you've done! That was the family honour blade, you miscreant!" she cursed, causing Ranma to quirk a brow at hearing her normally so regal mother using swearwords.

"No-chan, no!" Genma exclaimed, worry edged into his face. "Don't make him even angrier!"

Nodoka swivelled her head to Genma and gave him a stern look that made the balding man sweat. "Quiet, husband! This is between me and this... this demon!" she exclaimed with clenched teeth, turning her head back to her son-turned-daughter at whom she glared daggers. "This blade originated from the feudal era, it's irreplaceable, demon! For that and for infesting the body of my son you'll pay, evil spirit!"

Ranma, having ensured that the others—at least those who were prone to act rashly—weren't doing anything stupid, narrowed her yellow eyes to slits, making them look even more catlike. "I will pay for nothing, mother. I warned you what would happen if you, any of you attacked me, yet you attacked anyway. Now shut the hell up and listen to what I have to say, and listen good," she hissed, startling Nodoka into inaction with her vehemence and malevolence.

"I really tried being nice, what with you being my mother and all, but it seems I'll have to give you a refresher course," the redhead continued suavely, her tone velvet-clad steel. "Those that attack me will be dealt with. Harshly. No exceptions. No mercy. The engagement is off, and there won't be another engagement ever. Now read from my lips: family honour can go screw itself for all I care. And you won't get more serious than I am. This is final."

Indignant shouts from the parents were met with an unleashing of killing intent that made everyone except Kasumi nearly wet themselves. Ranma growled and seemed to grow, her nails elongated into claws and her canines lengthened even more. "You don't want to make me angry, fools, trust me, you don't," she stated, her voice holding a growling undercurrent that sent shivers of fear up and down everyone's spines.

"All that matters to me is my own honour, and I won't stand for idiotic agreements," she shot Soun and Genma a dirty look, "or illogical and downright stupid expectations." she spat, her intense gaze coming to rest on her mother who flinched under the gaze's coldness. "My honour is my own, and I'll be outta your lives as soon as I've addressed some issues I need to tend to. End of story."

Ranma's utter seriousness in combination with her burst of temper had stumped everyone, and it took even the experienced veterans Cologne and Happosai several moments to regain their wits.

"Y-You're leaving, Ranma-chan?" Happosai queried with big, round eyes, tears leaking from the corners.

"Yes," the redhead replied, hard pressed not to smile due to the cute display. "I have to deal with several issues that are connected to my change, and they take precedence over anything else."

"Most intriguing. How about you tell us your story at the Cat Cafe, son-in... Ranma?" Cologne butted in before anyone else—especially the adults—could say anything. "I'm certain your story is much better told with food and beverage available."

Ranma turned her head to look at Cologne and reverted back to normal while doing so. An actual smile played on her face, but it was vastly different to her former smiles as it held a hint of underlying threat. "Agreed, if you try no funny business. I would be... displeased."

"You have my word," Cologne solemnly vowed.

"Very well," Ranma replied with a satisfied nod and disappeared from view, leaving a startled and apprehensive group behind.

-.-

Ten minutes later the Saotomes and Tendos—minus Nabiki—as well as Happosai and Cologne were congregated at the Nekohanten. Shampoo and Mousse were luckily out making deliveries, luckily due to the fact that no one knew how Ranma would react to either Amazon teen.

The Saotome youth had put such deliberations to the back of her mind and was busy devouring her food, yet she did so in a dignified and well-mannered version of her usual speed-eating, much to everyone's surprise. Genma—who obviously hadn't gone on a training trip—was wolfing down the food in front of him, making the contrast the more obvious.

Nodoka hadn't stopped glaring daggers at Ranma, but the teenaged martial artist ignored her completely, her behaviour dismissing her mother's opinion as insignificant. She only looked back up from her food once she was sated, and her yellow gaze met Cologne's own gaze as she inclined her head. "Thank you for the food, Elder. It was excellent as always," she said evenly, no emotion escaping her neutral mask.

"You're welcome, Ranma. Now to what interests me—and everyone else—the most... What happened to you?" Cologne inquired with a neutral expression, just her eyes betraying her deep curiosity.

Ranma kept her eyes trained on Cologne and smiled, her smile showing off her canines. "You have to thank the Neko-ken and Jusenkyo for my state of being. In other words, thank my father and the shortcuts he took in my training," she said wryly, ignoring Genma's indignant sputtering. "Jusenkyo 'cause it caused this," she pointed at herself, "the Neko-ken 'cause of everything else.

"You'll all remember how I used to go insane when I was exposed to cats for too long. This was not just an extreme case of ailurophobia, it was a failed demonic possession," she explained, dropping the bomb.

"Demonic possession? Oh my!" Kasumi commented with a look of shock on her beautiful face, both hands covering her mouth.

"You can say that again," Ranma snorted.

"So that is why your aura always was a bit off," Happosai mused thoughtfully as he lit his pipe.

"So you noticed as well, Happi," Cologne commented from her position on the large, circular table. "I admit I took the fluctuations for a random phenomenon that was connected to the Jusenkyo curse. Demonic possession never even crossed my mind.

"But in hindsight it's pretty obvious. The loss of sanity that occurred after prolonged exposure to felines... Probably due to the fact that you and the demon battled for supremacy, leaving your body with just the instincts of a feline. The claws, the unnatural strength, the accelerated healing and other factors... The signs were always there," the Elder concluded, a world-weary look on her face.

Ranma smirked. "Right on the dot, Cologne. What else do you conclude?"

"If I may throw in my two cents," Happosai spoke up, taking a deep puff from his pipe, "you used the past tense to refer to the ailments that pertained you because of the Neko-ken. Am I right to assume that you and the Neko-ken joined up?"

All heads swivelled back to Ranma, a Ranma who was grinning like the cat that had eaten the canary. "Got it in one, jiji. The demon 'n' me... well... fused."

Exclamations of disbelief, anger and confusion filled the room, yet two wizened, old martial artists kept out of the shouting match. Happosai and Cologne exchanged a look that was not lost on Ranma, and the yellow-eyed redhead raised a delicate brow.

"Ranma," Cologne began, but had difficulties making herself heard due to the racket the two Tendos and Saotomes made.

The redhead, really wanting to know what the old masters had to say, lost her temper. "Silence!" she thundered in a dark and powerful voice, making everyone shake in their boots.

"Better," she commented with a sniff into the ensuing silence, and returned her attention back to Cologne and Happosai.

"Y-You arrogant, perverted jerk—" Akane began, falling back into old patterns despite the lesson she'd been taught not ten minutes ago.

Cologne gave the youngest Tendo girl a hard look backed with her ki, which caused Akane's temper to snuff out like a candle in a storm. "You don't want to treat Ranma the same as before, Tendo-san, for you might very well end up injured, and maybe rather severely at that," she said seriously.

"Ranma wouldn't—" Akane and Soun protested in unison.

"In a heartbeat," Happosai cut them off, commenting in Ranma's stead, whose malevolently glinting eyes gave a silent confirmation, and the old grandmaster elaborated at seeing the shocked and confused looks. "Take all the beatings Ranma-chan received from Akane-chan, deserved and undeserved, the baseless accusations, mistrust and general disregard. Then add a demon to the mix, a creature of immense power and evilness, and you must ask why Ranma-chan would react violently?

"Honestly," he said, taking a deep puff from his pipe, "I'm wondering why we're all still in one piece."

"Why did you never step in if you knew how Akane treated me, your heiress, was blatantly unfair and bordered on abuse?" Ranma queried, her yellow eyes glinting curiously.

Happosai looked Ranma in the eyes and smiled, taking another puff from his pipe. "Because I knew it was endurance training for you and that you could handle yourself. That things happened as they did today was unforeseen," he replied calmly.

"I figured as much," Ranma replied with a thoughtful nod. Then she grinned. "The reason why I haven't gone on a killing spree is simple. I came out as the dominant part of the fusion, and can control my urges to crush, kill and destroy anything in sight as long as no one strains my control too much," she said meaningfully.

Happosai and Cologne shared an impressed look, and the old master nodded pridefully. "I knew you'd make an excellent heiress. Now to what interests me the most, am I right to assume that this isn't your ordinary every day demon you joined up with, Ranma-chan?" he queried, genuine curiosity glinting in his eyes.

"What in my life is normal, jiji?" Ranma asked wryly. "She is... was a greater demon and one of hell's strongest, but I'm still absorbing memories so I can't tell you more. The fusion had many other side-effects as well, and I advise all of you not to anger me. Raiju's temper was legendary, and you don't wanna cause me to do things you'd regret, do you?" she purred dangerously as she let her gaze travel, her eyes flashing challengingly at anyone but Kasumi.

"Good," she mused with a satisfied nod of her head when no answer was forthcoming. "Seems even the stubborn ones have realised what they're up against. Now take that and multiply it by a thousand. Earth can really call itself lucky that I came across that old lady in my feral state."

"Why?" Kasumi implored curiously.

"Because she did much more than calm me down, as I only came to know now. You see," Ranma continued, becoming more talkative, "this woman must have been a seal master, for she managed to seal the demon in me. Normally greater demons are sealed into their vessels at birth, the seal being drawn around the navel.

"Things weren't so easy in my case. I was already six years of age when she sealed the demon in me, and it had already begun to possess my mind. The only viable option was to use a Fuin seal at the back of my head where it'd be covered by hair, and I'll never know how she did it, but she managed to seal the demon," Ranma concluded.

"Yet the seal was imperfect, as the demon still managed to attract what would allow it to complete its possession... felines." Cologne commented. "Don't get me wrong," she said, a twinkle in her eyes, "to even seal a minor demon is a great accomplishment, one that is beyond a scarce few. But to seal a greater demon, a creature only whispered of in legends is truly astounding."

"True on both accounts," Ranma replied with a nod. "The seal was imperfect as it indeed allowed the demon to attempt to complete its possession whenever I was over-exposed to felines. It was the one and only weakness of the seal, and stemmed from the fact that I was nearly too old to resist the demonic corruption. Only the fact that my spirit was unusually resilient kept Earth from experiencing very unpleasant times," she concluded, the expression in her eyes giving the attendees a hint of the horrors that could have been.

"How dangerous could such a greater demon have been, Ranma-chan?" Kasumi asked inquiringly.

"Hmm, how dangerous could a over a hundred foot tall damn near endlessly powerful cat demon with razor-sharp claws that could shred just about anything, huge fangs and seven tails be? Don't get the wrong impression, we're talking about tails that could level skyscrapers in a second, that could cause tsunamis and fiery death. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, Kasumi-san. All things considered I'd say dangerous as all hell," Ranma replied, her yellow eyes surveying Kasumi with a soft glint to them.

Everyone gulped, Happosai and Cologne included. "Heh heh, surely you're exaggerating, son!" Soun exclaimed in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

Soun's answer was a spike of power mixed with overwhelming killing intent that washed over them like a tidal wave of death, rattling every single attendee to the core. Ranma fixed the now sweating Tendo patriarch with an intent stare. "That's but a fraction of what I have at my disposal, and yet a fraction of the power I'll eventually have. Still think I'm exaggerating?" she asked snidely, crossing her arms under her chest. "Didn't think so," she snorted. "And for the last time, I'm not your son. Got it?" she whispered into his ear, her voice low and threatening.

All Soun could manage was a weak nod, his hopes that this change Ranma had undergone being just something temporary slowly shattering.

"Good," Ranma purred and blurred back to her seat, her face neutral again.

"So, what happened to cause the fusion with the demon?" Happosai asked with genuine interest into the silence that had ensued.

"Akane happened," Ranma replied silkily. "In a nutshell, Akane ran amok in the kitchen yet again, but this time she cooked up something that thoroughly poisoned me."

An appearance of overstretched patience appeared on Ranma's face, and she turned her head towards the source of her irritation. "Stuff it," she warned Akane, who'd wanted to protest. "Where was I? Oh yes, Akane's food poisoned me and my body tried to save itself by getting rid of what was trying to kill it. So far, so good. But what did Akane here do? Not hard to guess. She brained me for puking out that toxic waste.

"I admit that's not too unusual," she calmly allowed with a shrug, "but this time was different. The poison in and of itself wouldn't have been so bad, but no one bothered to check how I'd landed in the stupid pond. Yeah, I'd hit a stone with the back of my head and would have died. Happy birthday Akane, you nearly succeeded in killin' the 'baka'."

Gasps echoed through the room, but Ranma didn't care. The abashed and shocked expression on Akane's face didn't move her in the slightest. "Anyway, I was lying on the pond's bottom, drowning slowly. The male half of our mind had retreated into the recesses of our fractured psyche, and things looked pretty bleak. That's when I, the female half he'd always repressed, took charge."

"You're lying," Nodoka exclaimed derisively. "My son is a manly man and has no repressed femininity. My son would never have given up either."

"Enough." Ranma spat, her icy tone seemingly freezing the room. "Fuckin' manliness is all you care 'bout, eh? How about—"

"Ranma, calm down," Cologne interrupted, not liking the fiery glint in the teen's eyes. "You," she turned towards Nodoka, "should be very careful not to alienate your child any further," she scolded with her ki backing her voice, causing the Saotome matriarch to look like a scolded six year old. "Ranma told the truth, everyone has yin and yang. Due to Ranma's... unique upbringing," she shot Genma a meaningful but neutral look, "it is easy to imagine why the yin side was suppressed. I assume Jusenkyo played an important role in tipping the scales, eh?"

"Yes. The first incident where we'd hit our head, embarrassing as it was, showed that we had a female side. Me. The first time around I had templated myself after Kasumi-san, but this time was different. But I’ll get to that," the younger redhead replied, yet her narrowed, yellow eyes which were still trained on her mother conveyed that she was far from happy with the older redhead.

"We were too weak to extract ourselves from the pond and our healing ability wasn't fast enough to repair the damage in time, so my male half believed that our fate was irrelevant to those who allegedly cared about us," she continued, and everyone noticed the absence of the term 'love'.

"As I said, I took charge again due to the fact that my male half was too shocked by the fact that no one was trying to help when he couldn't help himself. But even I couldn't do much of anything, the poisoning in conjunction with the head injury was too much to handle. And that is where the demon came in."

-.-

Everyone, even Nodoka, was hanging at Ranma's lips as the redhead continued her story after drinking a cup of tea. "One moment I was lying on the pond's bottom drowning, more dead than alive, and the next I found myself in front of a giant cage, staring into a pair of huge yellow eyes. Those eyes belonged to Raiju, a seven-tailed cat demon, Lady of the Demons.

"Yes, the demon was female. You can imagine she was pleased I had taken charge," Ranma chuckled, amused by the shocked and surprised expressions her listeners were displaying. "Anyway, that didn't stop her from trying to take me for a ride. Good on me that I remembered one had to be very specific in one's wordings where demons are concerned."

"Why?" Akane queried with genuine curiosity in her voice.

Ranma favoured her with a neutral stare. "Because they'll try to trick you into something stupid like, say, giving in to them because of the bleakness of your situation. Raiju, being the demoness she was tried the same in exchange for saving me, but I refused. I said I'd rather die than allow her to use my body to wreak havoc, chaos and destruction on the world, and I kept true to my word.

"You see, the demoness was linked to my soul, my death equalled her death, that's the way a Fuin seal works. She saw my resolve to take her with me even if it cost me my life, and made a desperate suggestion to save her life, at least in some way. She asked my permission, actually asked me to allow her to tamper with the seal so that we'd fuse. Can you imagine that?"

Happosai chuckled and commented first. "That has gotta be a first. You attract interesting situations, Ranma-chan."

Ranma snorted elegantly. "Don't I know it, jiji. Anyway, I decided to go along with her suggestion after brief contemplation. What would becoming a hanyou and heiress of Raiju change? Nobody except one cared about me as a person anyway," she said, her voice a mixture of bitterness, anger and contempt, "so merging with a demoness was right up my alley."

The redhead silenced the storm of protest with an anew wave of killer intent, it being the most efficient way to get the more vocal attendees to shut up. "You," she glared at Akane, "cared about me as a prize you wanted to win from Shampoo and Ukyo and not as someone would care about one they loved. That you withheld the keg proves it beyond a doubt.

"You," her glare switched to Nodoka, freezing her solid with its iciness, "just cared about how fuckin' manly I was and how many girls I'd bed to produce a litter of grandkids.

"You," her burning glare rooted Soun and Genma to the spot, "only cared about the friggin' joining of the thrice damned schools! Hadn't any of you applied this mindless pressure on me, and Akane as well, things might have gone differently. But you made your bed, now have the decency to lie in it."

"B-But I did—" Akane protested.

"No buts," Ranma cut her off. "You didn't even care 'bout me enough to admit that you like me, and I doubt you ever will. It's over. As for you, mom, pops, Mr. Tendo, even Happosai here," her head swivelled over to the ancient pervert, "cared at least enough to teach me through learning by doing from time to time, but he never pretended to care about me as a person!" she exclaimed, her cold eyes trained on her parents again.

"The same with Cologne. The only one who really cared about me at all without wanting something in return was Kasumi! And don't try to deny it, you bunch of hypocrites!" she snarled, her face contorted with cold fury as her powerful gaze travelled from Nodoka to the fathers. "That's how I see it, and there's too much evidence for any of you to convince me otherwise," she concluded, her tone steely.

"And what are your plans for the future?" Cologne asked into the absolute silence that followed this statement.

The entrance door was opened with a loud bang before Ranma was able to reply. "We is back, hibachan!" a bubbly voice loudly exclaimed. "Oh, you is not alone," she added as she looked around after stepping inside, Mousse following her after he'd closed the door. "AIREN!" she happily shouted as she caught sight of the sitting redhead and propelled herself forward to engulf the other teen in an Amazon glomp.

Cologne's warning yell came too late and Shampoo collided face first with a yellow energy shield that had sprung up around Ranma, the result being that the Amazon was flung back as the kinetic energy was reversed, resulting in her ending up on her butt with a protesting "OWW!", her expression surprised, dazed and hurt.

"I don't feel like being glomped," Ranma said evenly in that smooth and creepy voice of hers, not even turning around to face the Amazon teens. The parents and Akane gulped as they realised that Ranma had told the truth. She really wasn't pulling her punches, and dealing with her like before would be dangerous indeed.

Mousse whereas reacted to the treatment 'his' Shampoo had received and to what he perceived as an insult—what with Ranma keeping her back turned—by seeing red. With a yell of "Saotome, you fiend!" a barrage of chains was launched at the still seated redhead.

Said redhead didn't even bat a lash as the weapons collided with the shield, but everyone registered the intensifying of the shield's colouring prior to the impact despite the fact that everyone had jumped clear of the weapons path. The result of the chains hitting the shield was vastly different to Shampoo's collision as well, and everyone's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as the chains simply disintegrated.

Mousse—who was wearing his glasses for a change—cursed in anger and began flinging every bladed weapon he carried at the other teen, but the results were the same. The shield held strong and every weapon that came in contact simply lost molecular cohesion and disintegrated.

Ranma put her left hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn before blurring from her seat, reappearing in front of a startled Mousse. The toppling over of her chair and it hitting the ground was the only sound audible in the room as everyone stared wide-eyed due to the speed the redhead had exhibited.

Mousse's surprised facial expression conveyed that he hadn't seen her move either. What unsettled the Amazon teen even more was the fact that Ranma's eyes were yellow and pupil-less and had a truly creepy look to them, and the dark and sinister look on her face, a look he'd never seen on the other teen's face promised nothing good either.

But that was nothing compared to the shock he felt when a long, yellow claw made of energy popped from the knuckle of Ranma's right pinkie finger, the claw extending to a mere centimetre away from his left eye. The second claw that followed and stopped its extension a centimetre away from his right eye did nothing to ease his worries.

"You don't want me to extend the middle claws, do you?" Ranma queried, a dark smile playing on her face. "Good," she said approvingly at seeing the frantic shaking of his head. "What I'll say now I'll only say once, so listen good.

"The rules have changed, Mousse," she whispered after taking a pause for effect, her voice reaching everyone in the room with ease despite the low tone. "Drastically so. I won't tolerate any and all attacks and will retaliate in kind. Try to kill me and you're dead. That ain't a threat, it's a promise. Got me?"

The myopic Amazon nodded frantically, not doubting one second that this mysteriously changed Ranma would make good on the promise in a moments notice. The look in her eyes told him that he... she wouldn't feel a hint of regret either. This Ranma was dangerous, and he'd have to dispose of her. It seemed he'd have to move the plan ahead, despite the risks it carried.

Switching his stance into a bow he put his hands into his sleeves and reached for the scroll he'd marked beforehand in case an opportunity presented itself. He'd found the withered and barely readable scroll in a junk shop when he'd researched ways to get rid of Ranma for good, and this unexpected treasure was the result and his best shot yet.

To throw it at someone and use the activation phrase once physical contact was established was all that was needed to work the strange scroll, and the victim would be done away with immediately. The most sinister feature of the scroll was that it worked off the internal energies of the victim, and Saotome had so much that she'd likely be torn apart. Mousse had no idea what it would do exactly, but he didn't care in the slightest as long as it somehow got rid of the accursed Saotome.

He let a sigh escape his lips. "Sorry, Saotome. When I saw Shampoo being downed like that I lost it. I apologise for my lack of control," he said in an apologetic sounding voice and held the bow.

Seconds later he felt the energy shield disappear and saw the claw fade, and Mousse barely kept the grin from appearing on his face as he looked up. In a blurring move he threw the scroll from his right sleeve at Ranma who was still standing close, and due to the fact that she thought the scroll to be a weapon she reacted predictably and caught it with her ki insulating her hand.

"!enogeb, enogeb, enogeB. niaga nees eb reven ot raeppasid ,enim fo ymene enogeB" Mousse chanted with a look of intense concentration on his face, and the red glow that had begun to emanate from the scroll throughout the chanting grew progressively darker.

As soon as the chanting stopped the scroll exploded in dark-red light, and an equally dark-red rift appeared behind Ranma. A constant pull was suddenly exerted on the redhead although she noticed that none of the others—who all seemed to care enough to look worried—were affected, and she felt herself being pulled towards the rift in reality. Her repeated attempts to get rid of the scroll proved useless. It seemed the piece of parchment was glued to her left palm, and her attempts to pull free were ineffective just as much as Happosai's and Cologne's who were both trying to counter the spell.

Ranma threw one last menacing glare at the triumphant looking Mousse when she realised there was nothing she could do, the words she was about to speak the last she'd utter in this reality. "You have wronged me through your dishonourable actions, Mousse. I will return, and my revenge will be gruesome beyond your wildest imagination," she promised, sounding every bit like the half-demon she now was.

The last she saw was the derisive expression on Mousse's face, then the rift took a hold of her and pulled her past the event horizon, and Ranma Saotome disappeared from the face of the Earth.

-.-

A certain gender-changing individual felt like she was being torn apart and thrown into a blender set to puree at the same time as she was thrown through space and time. It hurt like a bitch, and she vowed to herself that Mousse would pay for his betrayal in a most painful fashion. Excruciatingly painful torture sounded about right.

When it felt like her journey would never end the redhead saw the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and before she knew it the exit had dropped her off at her destination, her arrival naturally depositing her thusly that she landed face-first on the ground.

Groaning loudly she pushed herself to her feet and spit out a mouthful of dirt. Ranma muttered expletives while taking stock of her body, and found she was surprisingly well off considering she had been thrown across the dimensions. In fact, her energy levels weren't as depleted as she'd feared they would be, and she should be back in top condition in under a week.

Ranma looked down at her left palm where the scroll had been 'stuck', and saw only soot and ashes. The scroll had apparently disintegrated upon her exiting the portal as soon as it had served its purpose, which meant she'd no means to use the wretched magical thing in an eventual research to find a way back.

Growling in disappointment she rolled her neck first to the left, then to the right, producing twin subsequent cracks. A satisfied sigh at having worked out the kinks escaped her lips and the Saotome youth dusted herself off. Looking down at herself she noticed that she'd have no other choice but to obtain new clothes the next chance she got. She simply didn't fancy walking around in torn clothes that were barely more than shreds as it was unbecoming of her station as the heiress of Raiju.

Shaking her head in amusement at her vanity, Ranma finally took a look around and noted that she was standing in a forest. She had no damned clue as to where this forest was, but she could smell that it was not a forest of her home world. The air smelled much cleaner and tasted differently, as if the emissions of heavy industry were completely absent.

Ranma acted on a whim and made her way westward, her feet leading her into a clearing after a march of about five minutes. Not too bad as an orientation point, she thought to herself as she appraised the clear view that was afforded to her. Looking up at the sky she took note of the grey, rain-laden looking clouds, yet she wasn't bothered by the promise of rain. She was feeling at home in her new, altered form, and there were other, more important topics anyway. Like getting a clue where Mousse had sent her, for example.

Her train of thought degenerated and turned into a fantasy of the torture she'd inflict upon Mousse, and she had to shake her head a few times to dismiss the dark and bloody images her mind conjured. She had to find out where she was first; ripping Mousse to shreds would unfortunately have to wait. Grumbling to herself she continued to take in her surroundings, and her forehead wrinkled in thought as she caught sight of something she'd only ever seen on the Internet. Incredulity replaced the thoughtful look, and Ranma swore. Colourfully.

"How can that be Mount Rushmore in America if there ain't evidence of heavy industry emissions in the air? What kinda friggin' joke is this?" she exclaimed after having calmed down at least somewhat.

Ranma narrowed her eyes to get a clear view on the faces on the granite monument in the distance. That one to the left might just be Lincoln. Or not, considering she was apparently stranded in another dimension. The other three she'd no clue as to their identities, but then again, she had never been to America and she'd never paid attention in class anyway. And why should she have? She'd known everything about how to speak English from her travels, a passing grade had always been enough, so why bother?

Miss Hinako hadn't been able to teach her anything new or useful, and if this was indeed America she would survive easily considering her language skills. A grin playing on her face Ranma set out to walk toward the granite monument. She'd always wanted to visit America, even if it was the America of a parallel world.

-.-

As soon as she'd reached the outskirts of the town at the base of what she'd originally assumed was Mt. Rushmore Ranma knew that she was most definitely in another dimension. Her much improved eyes had caught clear sight of the monument about a kilometre away from the town, and whatever that granite monument was, it was not Mt. Rushmore. Well, at least not the Mt. Rushmore of her dimension.

The overall impression she gleaned while walking through the town was that this supposed American town looked distinctly Japanese, from the appearance of the stores to the signs she caught sight of, and, not to forget the language spoken that was close enough to her own to be identified as Japanese.

This seemed to be some kind of bizarre Ninja town inhabited by strange and powerful ninja, but the situation didn't really faze her as she'd seen a lot of bizarre things in her life. A Ninja town in the middle of nowhere only cemented her suspicion that this was indeed a parallel world, and who knew, maybe she'd be able to learn some new, exciting techniques.

Ranma continued her reconnaissance with a glint in her eyes. Suppressing her power-level prior to entering the village had been a good idea, she noted as she subtly probed the power-levels of those around her. The village was filled to the brim with very high power-levels, and a duo of energy signatures fast approaching her position were exceptionally high, although one of them was slowly but steadily fading.

Turning her head in interest she caught sight of a masked, silver-haired man, the mask covering his left eye and half his face. In his arms he was carrying what seemed to be a boy with short blonde, spiky hair, and the speed at which the man was running down the street was impressive, even more so because the body armour the man was wearing didn't look like it was for show and looked to be quite heavy. People were scattering left and right while cursing and/or screaming indignantly, and Ranma lacked the moments her survey of the duo took so as to take evasive action as well.

The redhead was thrown onto her cute behind due to the collision which likely had occurred due to the fact that the man had expected her to jump clear, the unconscious blonde landing right on her in a rather compromising position. 'Just my luck.' Ranma mentally cursed as she gathered her bearings.

The weight of the boy, no, young man was negligible, but the body parts his body touched were rather... improper. The hands on her breasts were the most notable, and the only thing stopping her from bashing his skull in was the fact that he was out like a light.

"Hey, isn't that the demon boy?" one of the villagers who'd scrambled to safety asked.

"Yeah, and he's molesting this woman, the pervert!" another villager, a woman, exclaimed.

"Shredded her clothes, he did! Probably wants to defile the poor woman!" another female villager exclaimed in a high-pitched shriek.

"Just great," another voice, this one originating from the masked man, which Ranma deduced from correlating his power-level to the likely position he'd landed in. "Just what we needed, an angry mob trying to kill him. Tsunade-sama will kill me if he's killed here after surviving that fight," the man muttered as he pushed himself to his feet.

Ranma, not too unfamiliar with incriminating situations such as this looked at the silver-haired man who'd pushed himself to his feet as she softly pushed the young man resting on her off her body. In doing so she took note of the injuries he'd sustained, and grimaced. She'd received injuries like that before often enough to know they hurt like a bitch and carefully rolled him on his back, taking the time to give him a once over.

He was blond alright, and his spiky hair was sticking in every direction imaginable. A strange forehead protector with an engraved symbol that seemed to be a leaf adorned his forehead, but the most striking feature were three strange marks on each cheek. Ranma's survey was cut short when the young man groaned weakly, and she raised a delicate brow. He sure was tough, that she had to give him.

"Ugh, where am I?" he asked weakly, cracking his eyes open.

"Don't exert yourself, pal," Ranma replied in a friendly tone. "That wound you sustained doesn't look too good."

The young man's groan was to be expected, but the reactions of the bystanders surprised her greatly. The masked man had a look of surprise in his visible eye but concealed it fast, but the bystanders that looked like ordinary people wore scowls and expressions of hate.

"The demon has already begun to influence the poor woman's mind!"

"We have to kill the demon before he spawns!"

"Yeah! Let's kill him while he's weakened!"

Ranma's surprise turned to horror and transmuted to utter fury when the first villager kicked the young man in the ribs, and she jumped to her feet, smooth as a jaguar. "What are you morons doing! Stop that!" she yelled and leaked an enormous amount of killing intent that stopped everyone dead in their tracks.

Expressions of fear showed on the villagers' faces, and Ranma was certain she noticed surprise in the one-eyed man's eye. She had noticed that he'd been about to intervene on the boy's behalf, but she hadn't been able to control her righteous fury.

But as before, the silver-haired man re-gathered his bearings in the blink of an eye and took control of the situation. "Everyone, get back to your houses. I'll let this attack slide this time, but don't expect me to be this lenient again. Now get a move on," he growled authoritatively, leaking an impressive amount of killing intent himself.

Ranma was not surprised when the townsmen obeyed, literally fleeing the scene, and she directed her feet away as well. "Not you, Miss. I'd like you to accompany me as I believe we have some things to discuss," he said as he bent down and scooped up the blonde haired young man who'd slipped back into unconsciousness again.

The Saotome youth turned around and sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

TBC...

© 2006, 2007 by Trugeta. And it goes without saying, I own neither Ranma½ nor Naruto.

Now to some quick notes:

- this ain't gonna be a Ranma stays a girl fic.

- s/he won't end up with a guy.

- pairings are undecided, maybe no pairing for Ranma.

- Ranma is not super-powerful per se due to the fusion. Similar to a story I've read, s/he will have to work hard for more of Raiju's power. At the moment s/he can't control more than two tails worth of power, which pretty much means a lot of people could trash him/her without breaking a sweat.

- Raiju is the seven-tails of the hell of Ranma's dimension. This is an early theory I had, namely that the hells of the different dimensions can have different rankings.

- chakra and ki: Ranma will have the massive problem that s/he can't use chakra, initially, at least. Chakra and ki work on different frequencies, and Ranma's gonna have one helova time to change frequencies, so to speak. And even once s/he learns to mold chakra s/he won't be able to use it like ki, meaning s/he'll have to use handseals just like everyone else.

- the ki-shield: won't be really helpful in Naruto's dimension seeing that a chakra-enhanced kunai can easily pierce it. Ranma will learn that the hard way.

- techniques: Ranma will 'remember' loads of techniques from Raiju over time should this fic be continued, but those are without exception ki-techniques and will have to be adapted for use in Naruto's dimension.

- Ranma may have turned more dark due to the fusion, but remember, dark doesn't equal evil. The attitude s/he exhibits can be summed up with try to kill me and you're dead.

Those of you who have actually read through my notes will understand that Ranma isn't trapped in female form, so no need to scream bloody murder. Leave the pitchforks and torches at home, folks.

Thanks to my prereaders JohnnyG and Ord!