Michael Gutin

Diary of the Unstoppable

Chapter 1

Taking Back What's Mine

Hi, I'm Ranma. What can I tell you about me?

Let's see...I'm a martial artist. I got a curse that turns me into a girl. I more fiancées then I ever bargained for, and just as many rivals.

Oh yeah, forgot to tell you, I'm dead.

Yup, dead.

Been dead about…four years now…maybe four and half, hard to tell when you're dead. You might be asking yourself how I'm talking to you if I'm dead. I mean, death is…final. The end. No turning back.

Wrong. You fools forgot one thing, I'm Ranma Saotome, I don't lose. Not for long. Just another Saotome final technique, that's all. But I'm coming back. Should be in a couple of days or so.

'How?' You ask? Simple. Chi. Life-force. Call it what you want. It's there, in all living creatures. That's right, even you. I…we…well, I should first tell you about them.

'Them' are a secret cult of monks dedicated to the manipulation of chi. I trained there. Learned from them. Surpassed them, like I always do. While chi remains a mystery to all of you, I see the rich tapestry of it. See the parts, woven together, interlacing, interacting, affecting all other parts, forming the whole that is each and every one of us.

Chi has no color, no texture, nor size nor shape. But you can do so much more with it than any physical object.

Or, at least I can.

Anyway, this tapestry has a focus. A center. A nexus that ties all the rest together. It is life. It grants life. Lack of it takes it away. That is the key, my friends, to cheat death.

Immortality. And I can make it. I have the power. Within me is the elixir of life, so forgive me if I'm a bit conceited.

That's what I've been doing these past years, manipulating the thread of chi that gives life. It's not easy, mistakes are so often made. For every step forward there were a thousand ways to step back, but soon, soon it will be over. The tree of my labors will finally bear fruit. And I will be back, to finally show that nothing stop Ranma Saotome.

Nothing.

And so I work. Slowly, so very slowly. A little tweak here. Nudge that a bit there. It requires patience like you can't imagine. One mistake and I would have to start from scratch.

But I'm done, well almost. After every step, you have to wait, to give time for the chi to stabilize, to adjust. It doesn't like to be altered. Even if your movements were prefect, doing it too fast would screw it up. I have finished. The complex pattern that binds a soul to a body is complete. Now I just need a few days for the chi to adjust and I will be back.

I know by now you want to ask me 'What's it like to die?'

Well what can I say? I've gotten used to it now, but at first…at first there's only one word that can be used to describe it.

Horrible.

Consciousness is a reactionary force. Did you know that?

It's true. It doesn't change anything. Except for that first instant. That split second that is the first thing you react to. Something has to make the first move. Some sound, or taste, or touch, or sight. It's no problem when we're born, there is plenty to hear and smell and touch and see. But when you're dead, there's…nothing. For that first instant, you have nothing. And it doesn't matter who you were in your life. A rich and powerful lord, or a beggar. Whether you were good or evil, honorable or cowardly.

There is nothing. You feel nothing. You see nothing. For that one infinite split second...

You. Are. Nothing.

The feeling. It can't be described. Not really. It's so empty. But even emptiness losses meaning. Because it takes opposition to feel. To be happy, you had to have been sad. To feel love, you need to have felt hate. To see black, you need to have seen white.

But there is nothing. Nothing to compare at all. It's just so…so…

Screw it. I've tried finding a word for it. There is none. No word could ever convey the horror of that one moment…

I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

But it passes. As all pain does.

It's been long enough, the chi is ready. Soon I should have my body back. Soon as shall arise once more to the mortal world. Soon I shall do what no one has ever done. Soon…

Ow! My head, all of a sudden it hurts…wait a second…pain! Physical pain, that must mean it worked, that I'm…

Hmm…where am I? I realized I hadn't yet opened my eyes, so I did so.

Bad idea. Sensory overload. Not having any senses for two years really made you sensitive. I quickly closed my eyes and waited, waited for me to get used to my new, well, actually my old, body.

How long did I wait? Not long. I got moving faster than I intended to.

Why? Simple, my stomach.

Hey! I'm a martial artist, out bodies expend a lot of energy, I need my food.

I got up, after a couple moments regaining enough co-ordination to walk. It was clumsy at first, but the mind is an adaptive force. Soon enough I felt familiar enough with my body as I did the day I died.

I don't know how or why, but I came back with clothes on, and, as I soon discovered, with my wallet. I'm not going to question my good luck, instead, I search around for a place to eat.

I found one soon enough. I went inside and was greeted by a waitress, who greeted me.

"Hello" I croaked. My voice sounded funny, like it wasn't mine. I suddenly realized how dry my throat was.

Damn. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be alive again, but compared to when you're dead, human bodies are high maintenance.

I got some food, ate it in silence. Not that I had anybody to talk to.

Now that I was done, I had something important to do. I left the restaurant and wandered around until I found a phone booth, and in it, a phonebook. I looked in the white pages, it was a long shoot but…ah, there she was.

It took a while but I found. Crappy apartment in a crappy part of town. I walked in, asked the lady up front for her room number, she looked at me suspiciously, but told me all the same.

As I walked to the room, I grew nervous. Four years was a long time. What would she look like? What would she say? Would she be angry? Had she found someone else? As I thought about that my stomach clenched. Could I do that? Could I face Akane if it turned out there was some other guy in that apartment with her? I don't know. But I can't run away from this. I didn't come back from the dead just to be a coward.

I knocked three times and waited. I heard nothing, but I could wait. I had waited two years after all. Finally, the door opened, and there she was.

Beautiful.

Akane had grown a lot in these four years. Her form had filled out. She had grown slightly taller. But that wasn't what caught my attention. She had changed in much more profound ways. As I looked at her, I still saw the tomboy I had been engaged too all those years ago. But gone was the clumsiness, replaced by fluid grace. Her eyes still shown with determination like they had all those years ago, but no longer held that self-doubt, that fear, which had held her back so much before. Gone was Akane the girl. Before me stood a woman. How could she be so fierce, so strong, emanating that aura of power, and yet be so…feminine? I don't know. I don't think I'll ever know. But I do know that at that moment I was staring at the face of an angel, and for the first time since I had returned, I truly felt happy to be alive.

I stepped out of the shadows, so she could get a good look at my face. The change on her face was instantaneous. First shock, the doubt, then simple disbelief…and then, longing?

"Who…who are…" she muttered. Her voice seemed to die in the stillness of the air.

"It's me, Ranma Saotome." I grinned. "Sorry 'bout this."

She gaped at me. Just stood there, staring.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" I asked.

She nodded slightly, and moved to the side, the whole time her gaze had not left my face. I walked in. The apartment was a mess. I was surprised actually; before Akane always kept her room so clean. I looked around at the size and condition of the apartment, yup, seemed like Akane wasn't exactly rolling in cash.

Akane finally decided to speak up.

"This is…impossible…" she finally chocked out.

"What is?" I asked, lightly, as if I were talking about the weather.

She looked up at me. "Ranma…you…you're dead…"

I gave her another grin, "Do I look dead?"

"But…but…"

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Look Akane, tell me what you think has happened all this time, and I'll fill you in on what you've got wrong."

She said nothing, but sat down on her couch and began to speak, choosing to stare at the ground instead of me.

"I guess…it started with your training trip."

I nodded. Yes, the training trip. That was where I had met that cult of monks. They were the source of my power. Both the reason I now lived and the reason I had died. The irony isn't lost on me.

I realized Akane hadn't been paying attention to what Akane was saying. But I didn't miss anything important.

"…and one day your letters just stopped. Everyone freaked out. Daddy was crying and Genma kept going on about how ungrateful a son you were. Of course all your fiancées were almost in tears. Me, well, you know me." She gave a dry chuckle, one that held no humor, "I got angry."

Her voice grew sad. "But that all changed that one day…"

She paused a moment. I realized she was holding back tears. I instantly felt a wave of sympathy for her, followed by guilt. I hadn't realized how much my death would hurt everyone. Not that I could have done anything about it, I certainly didn't ask to be killed, but still…

"…we got a letter, it said that there had been a battle, that you…that you were one of the ones who died."

Battle! Ha, as if I that would be what killed me. I hadn't expected the monks to tell the truth about my death, but still, couldn't they have made my death, I don't know, cooler?

"No one believed it. Not really. We all thought there had been a mistake. It was always in the back of our minds, but we chose to ignore it until…until…your body, they…"

At this point she could no longer hold back her tears. For a minute she just broke down and sobbed. Each one tore at my heart. It was me. I had done this to her. I feeling came over me. No, not a feeling, more of an urge. To stop her suffering. To take whatever was making her cry and make it go away. To put my arms around her and hold her until she was okay.

But I didn't. I couldn't. Not when I was the cause, it just didn't feel right. I talked instead.

"Akane, you…everything you've said is true. I did…I did die…"

She said nothing.

"I…it's hard to explain. And it's gonna seem impossible…but…well; let me tell you about where I had been training. The martial arts there…it was about chi. Controlling your chi. Not like the Mouko Takabisha or the Shi Shi Houkodan, I mean real control. I trained well Akane, you know me, I always have to be the best. And I was. I…I found a way to come back from the dead Akane. It took me two years, but I did it…and now…"

"No." she hissed.

I was stunned.

"No, you're not Ranma." She continued, her voice growing hard. "Ranma is dead. I saw it. I held his cold lifeless hands in mine. You are not him. Get out!"

I got angry. I know I shouldn't be. After all, I had been dead for four years, and I just show up at her doorstep, claiming I've done what no other human being in the entire history of the world has done. But I couldn't help it.

I felt…betrayed.

I had strived for four years. Four years of concentration, of unrelenting focus. There was no rest for the dead. At least not for me. No solace, no relaxation. Non-stop pain and exertion were my only companions. And now here was Akane, denying it all. Claiming it was all a lie. My toil, my impossible feat, a lie. How dare she? I had done it. No one had helped me, it had taken all my willpower not to just let go, to stop struggling against nature and just let myself go. But I hadn't. I had persevered. I had finally proved that nothing, absolutely nothing could stop Ranma Saotome. And now here she was denying I existed.

Old habits die hard. And I reacted to being angry at Akane the same way I always do.

"Fine! Don't believe me. I'll just leave then. I don't know why I went to see an uncute tomboy like you anyway!"

I felt remorse immediately after I had said it. I had promised myself that I would not make the same mistakes this time, yet here I was, shouting at the crying form of Akane. Any chance I had to get her back into my life was surely gone now…..

But then I noticed a change in her expression. So subtle, yet so significant. It seemed that my mouth had finally picked the right thing to say. She looked up at me, and for the first time since I had seen her, she looked happy.

Before I could even react, she jumped up and wrapped her arms around my me her face pressed against my chest.

"Welcome back…" she muttered happily.

I felt a sense of déjà vu. I smiled inwardly. No, I would not make the same mistakes as last time.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulled her closer to me, and whispered into her ear, "It's good to be back."

Author's Notes: Don't worry people. This isn't going to be one of those 'Ranma becomes godly powerful and gains the wisdom of a sage and solves all his problems' fic, there are more than enough of those as it is.

No, this fic shall center around one thing. Ranma's fundamental desire to be the best. It's the driving force behind a lot of what he does. My fic will focus on how far he will go to get more and more power. Would he abandon everyone from his old life to get it? Or we he realize that sometimes being the best just isn't worth it?

You'll have to find out.

C & C, as usual.

That's it I guess.