*****************

It felt like a dream, a nightmare. A single grave outlined by stones, the dirt a fresh blanket for the man underneath. The young man placed the large stone marker with mud caked hands bloodied from their labor, yet gratified by the pain. Slate blue eyes filled with tears that would not fall. Ranma Saotome stood silently, grabbing his small pack and left the dark bruise in the green wilderness. It was time to leave China.

And for all the grime ingraved in his young hands, the silver ring shone like a small star.

******************

Ranma walked slowly down the hallway leading towards his homeroom. The stone walkway with it's arched windows reminded him of the castle-like old architechture he had sometimes seen in his travels.

There was something odd about this school. Faint traces of ki covered the entire structure, that in itself wasn't odd. A place where so many people congregated, people couldn't help but leave their 'trail' behind on a place they were familiar with. The odd thing was, it wasn't a mixture of many student's ki trails. It was as if the entire school was covered in only one person's ki...

And when he concentrated on his other senses, he could feel that person in the distance, their ki a giant mass of power.

Whoever it was that could generate so much ki and have such a large aura... he wouldn't stand a chance against.

******************

"Class, we have a new student. Please welcome him to Ootori Academy." The teacher smiled to herself as she laid a soft hand on his broad shoulder, trailing her fingertips in a gentle caress down to his wrist.

Ranma's eyes widened comically as he stepped away quickly, noticing the teacher pout slightly out of the corner of his eye. "Uh.. Saotome Ranma. Yoroshiku." He hurriedly walked over to an empty seat, still looking a bit frazzled.

As soon as he settled into his chair, the eraser end of a pencil poked him between the shoulder blades. Ranma, being the ticklish sort, couldn't help but squirm in his chair. Giggles erupted behind his back.

Ranma turned in his seat to see the cute brown-haired girl behind him. She had her hands clasped over her mouth to muffle the laughter. A guy across from her gave them an odd look, the girl replying by sticking out her tongue. The boy turned around, shaking his head but smiling.

The girl smiled cheerfully. "I just wanted to say hi. My name's Shinohara Wakaba."

Ranma smiled wryly in return. "First impressions last ya know. My name's Ranma."

Wakaba stiffled another giggle. "Gomen."

"S' ok." Ranma winced as he looked around the classroom. "Does everyone have to wear a uniform?"

"Yeah. Most do. Except if you get on the student council. I doubt that you'll have to wear one though." Wakaba smirked.

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"I think Hana-sensei likes you!" Wakaba chuckled darkly at Ranma's pained expression.

"What's with that teacher anyway? Isn't that against the rules or somethin?"

Wakaba snorted. "The Chairman doesn't care how the teacher's behave here. Hana-sensei will just fawn over you until she gets bored and moves on. You're the third one to be her 'special pet' this year. You're lucky though, she won't yell at you for anything as long as she's interested."

Ranma groaned hitting his head on the back of his chair.

Wakaba giggled again, invoking a smile from Ranma again. "Well, since you're new here I'll give you the tour of the Academy k?"

"Ok sure."

****************

"... but most of the students eat out in the courtyard and pack their own lunches."

Ranma fought back a yawn. "Umm... Wakaba?"

"... they have really beautiful trees. Huh?"

"Does this school have any martial arts classes?"

"Um... martial arts? No..."

Ranma sighed dejectedly.

"... but we do have kendo! Oh, and fencing!"

Ranma brightened a bit. It wasn't kempo or anything, but maybe he could learn something new. "Kendo... hmmm..." Ranma shook his head. "I've already been through a bunch of Kendo classes. Fencing seems cool, maybe I'll sign up."

Wakaba grinned. "I knew you looked like the athletic type!" She poked him in the bicep, Ranma swatting the finger away. She grabbed his hand and started pulling him along. "Then c'mon! I'll show you the fencing arena!"

**********

A mob of girls surrounded the fencing arena squealing with delight as the fencing captain finished her eighteenth match. The fencing club was practicing in the outside arena since it was such a beautiful day. They only used the gymnasium when it rained or snowed.

Aisuwagawa Juri pulled her mask off to take a deep breath. She sat on the wooden bench to the side of the arena, flipping an amber coil of hair over her shoulder.

"That's the Captain of the fencing club." Wakaba pointed out the stoic girl in the fencing uniform. "You'll have to talk to her about signing up. She's the advanced fencing instructor."

"Awww man! I can't take lessons from a girl!" Ranma whined.

Wakaba frowned, brown eyes glaring daggers. "There's nothing wrong with Aisuwagawa-sempai teaching you! Girls are just as good at stuff as guys are!" She growled out, then turned her back on Ranma.

"Yeah, yeah." Ranma grumbled then stumbled when Wakaba suddenly yanked his arm.

"C'mon!" Wakaba tugged him behind her as she headed toward Juri. "Unless you want me to be angry at you forever, you'd better sign up!"

Juri assessed the abilities of her students as they practiced in the center of the arena, making mental notes on who to help. She watched with a raised eyebrow as the chestnut haired girl dragged the unresisting pigtailed boy behind her.

"Aisuwagawa-sempai! My friend Ranma-kun wants to join the fencing club!" Wakaba grinned, shoving Ranma in front of her.

Ranma wondered just how strong Wakaba was.

"Uh. Hi. Sorry 'bout this." He pointed to Wakaba at the last word and received a wack to the head for his troubles.

"Hello."

"My name's Saotome Ranma. I'd like to join the Fencing club."

"Of course. Do you have any fencing experience?"

"Ah, no." Ranma rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"The registration papers are in my office; My class will be finished in five minutes if you would care to wait."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders.

"Ranma?" Wakaba started. "Sorry, but I have homework I need to do. I'm terrible in history... and math... and you get the point. I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked tentatively.

"Sure." Ranma smiled.

Wakaba smiled back. "Ja ne!" With a wave, she ran off to the women's dorm.

For the next few minutes Ranma stood quietly, observing the students and studying the way they held the rapiers. From what he could tell, there were three different kinds of swords. He checked the rapier that the orange haired girl had laid against her knee, a more agressive version of the other two. He studied the fighting styles of the other students with that particular type of rapier.

As the class drew to a close, Juri stood from her chair and into the arena drawing everyone's attention to her. "Class is dismissed." The students began to file to the edge of the arena where their equipment bags lay. "Higurashi-san, a word."

A young girl with wavy black hair ran back to the arena. After a quiet conversation with the teacher, she nodded in determination. "Hai, sensei!" With a final nod from her teacher, the girl ran back.

Juri walked over to the pigtailed martial artist calmly. "Alright then, follow me."

***************

ONEGAI!!! PLEASE REVIEW! Do it for me ok? I love this fanfic and I would LOVE to know what people think of it ok? Even criticism! ESPECIALLY criticism! I want this fic to be GREAT.