Ranma ½

Disclaimer: This episode of Ranma ½ is of my own creation. I do not own any portion of Ranma ½. "Ranma ½" and all related characters, names, etc. are ©1988-2004 Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan, Inc. Ranma ½ is a trademark of Viz Communications, Inc. All rights reserved

Note: This story takes place about halfway through the manga, at about volume 14 or so. If you have read any of the manga, you should know all the events that have lead up to the point in which I am starting and changing the story.

Mind Warp
Part 1:
A Little Kitty Told Me…

Ranma Saotome sits high up in a tree, watching the slowly darkening sky through the thick clouds that have accumulated in the last couple of hours. A slight sigh escapes him as he remembers the fight he had with Akane earlier. "I don't get why she was so angry at me," he mutters out loud. "She's the one who walked in on me in the bath! And why did she have to hit me so hard?" he adds while turning his head to the side, revealing a fresh red mark on his cheek in the form of a hand. A slight 'tsk tsk' from below catches his attention. The young man looks down to see Shampoo's great-grandmother Cologne looking up at him, a sly smile on her withered face. "What do you want ghoul?"

The old woman is up on the same branch as Ranma in the blink of an eye, balancing atop her wooden cane. "I see you have had another spat with that girl who you claim to be your true fiancée, son-in-law," she comments, her large eyes gazing at the bruise on Ranma's cheek. "She's far too violent and unpredictable to be a suitable wife. Why don't you just give up on her and marry Shampoo? She wants to be with you and you two do make a good couple if I do say so myself. There is love there, I sense."

The young Saotome snorts slightly. "Sorry ya old ghoul, but I'm not gonna marry Shampoo. And besides," he adds, leaning in towards the much older woman, "she wouldn't want to be with me if I hadn't accidentally beat her. I wouldn't call that love."

"True," Cologne replies, nodding her head a bit, "but that does not change the fact that she will be a much better wife, and I have been watching her closely lately. At first, I agree with you, she wanted to marry you out of obligation to our tribe's bi-laws, but I have sensed a change in her. Her feelings for you are genuine now, though I admit she can be a bit too forward at times. I have trained her in many things, and she knows how to be a good and honorable wife, despite some of the ways she has tried to win you. With her, you could be very happy, as will she!"

Ranma is about to reject the idea again, but a sharp sting from the bruise he got courtesy of Akane reminds him of how violent she can be…and how exactly the opposite Shampoo has been to him lately. For a brief moment, he considers her offer and starting up something with the beautiful young Chinese Amazonian. His eyes widen slightly as he realizes what he's thinking and he shakes the thoughts out of his head. "Sorry, not interested," he mutters, turning to the side to face away from Cologne.

The great-grandmother of Shampoo stares at him for a moment, then turns around to leave. She says, "One day, your eyes will open and you will realize what you have been denying yourself. When that day comes, I will be here to welcome you into my family. We'll meet again…" and then leaps away, laughing the entire time.

Just as she leaves, a light rain begins to fall, changing Ranma into his girl form. She sighs as she tightens her now loose belt. "Why can't things ever be easy for me?" she wonders out loud.

oooooo

Sometime later, the rain has stopped and the sky has cleared, revealing a nice, star filled sky. Ranma has made it back to the Tendo Training Hall, still looking a bit down and not noticing his father, Genma, coming her way. Just as the elder Saotome comes in with a quick lunging punch at her, she easily leaps over the attack and kicks her father on the back, knocking him forwards into the small pond in front of him. He emerges from the pond a second later, now in his giant panda form and looking none too pleased with his son…er…daughter. 'Where have you been?' he asks, holding up a sign.

"Out," Ranma answers, "what's it to you pop?" She growls out as her father cracks the sign over her head. She quickly retorts by sweeping the grumpy panda off of his feet, knocking him back into the pond and giving the young woman the opportunity to walk in the house. "I'm home!" she calls out.

"Oh, welcome back Ranma," the eldest of the Tendo daughters, Kasumi, greets the younger woman as she walks in. "Did you enjoy your walk home?"

She is about to answer when Akane suddenly walks in, wearing her training gear and sweating slightly. She takes one look at Ranma and quickly turns around and hurriedly walks back to her room, hiding the heavy blush that has just adorned her face. "I've had better," he mutters, pouring a kettle of hot water over his head, changing himself back to his normal, male form. With a sigh, he walks back outside and leaps up onto the roof, lying back onto it and staring up at the starry sky, not understanding Akane's strange behavior…as well as Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi, all of whom seem to arrive at inconvenient moments to dote on the young man, straining his relationship with the youngest Tendo daughter. "I just wish that for once, things could go easier for me."

oooooo

Ryoga walks down the deserted street, intent on finding his way back to the Tendo Training Hall, and into his beloved Akane's arms…given the fact that he will be in his P-chan form. 'I think I'm in Nerima, or somewhere close to it,' he thinks to himself, fresh from a weeklong journey to the local flower shop to buy something nice for Akane, and winding up in Hokkaido.

As he passes by a restaurant, he pauses, knowing he's been to it before. "The Cat Café," he mutters out loud, reading the sign outside which is only visible at this hour at night by the streetlamps in front of the little restaurant. Ryoga walks inside, calling out, "Hey, is anybody in here?" When nobody responds, he walks in a bit more, taking a look around. 'I know I've been in here before,' he thinks to himself. Suddenly, voices can be heard from ahead in another room. Curious, the young man slowly makes his way to the back. He just starts to enter the backroom, but stops in his tracks and leaps back into the hallway, cautiously peering back into the back area of the café.

Shampoo is busy adding what appears to be some sort of spice from an old looking container, the label worn down and unreadable, into a large bowl. The young Amazonian hums a beautiful sounding song out loud as she mixes the ingredients together, a soft smile on her face. Her great-grandmother Cologne is not too far from her, looking through some old scrolls on the tabletop. Her eyes brighten as she reads the label of one scroll in particular. Tossing the others aside, the old woman breezes through the scroll's contents, nodding slightly. "Shampoo," she calls out.

The young woman stops stirring the contents in the bowl and looks over at her great-grandmother. "Yes?" she politely asks.

"I've finally found a fool-proof way to get that stubborn future groom of yours to want to be with you and not that other girl."

"Aiyaa! How?!" the pretty Amazonian excitedly questions, clasping her hands together. 'Maybe I no need make special food now,' she thinks lightly.

The tiny old woman holds up the scroll for her great-granddaughter to read. "It is a different form of the legendary Xi Fa Xiang Gao Shiatsu technique," she explains. "The main difference with this form is that…"

"It replace memory," Shampoo begins, looking up from the old scroll, "it no erase."

Cologne nods once, folding her arms. "Correct. You can sneak into the boy's room while he is sleeping and apply the technique on him, replacing all of his memories of his other fiancée with you." She smiles at the dawning look on Shampoo's face. "Yes, that would in turn replace all of the feelings he had for her to you too. I know he cares deeply for her, and if you could get him to feel for you the way he does for her…"

"Ranma mine!" the young woman finishes, clapping her hands happily. She suddenly stops as her smile fades. "Shampoo no do it."

"Why not?" Cologne asks. "You do want my future son-in-law to be yours right?"

Her great-granddaughter smiles sadly. "Yes, Shampoo do want Ranma, but so tired is Shampoo of trying and no succeeding. Each time Shampoo try something, Akane or spatula girl ruin it and Ranma always leave with Akane, no me. This time, Shampoo no play any tricks. This time…Shampoo win Ranma heart for real." She puts the scroll down and goes back to the bowl she was just holding, stirring the contents inside once again.

The old woman turns away, hiding the large smile. 'I must say Shampoo,' she thinks to herself, 'I'm very proud to be your great-grandmother.' Some movement near the doorway catches her eye and in an instant, she is in front of the intruder, sitting on top of her cane. Ryoga jumps back in surprise at the old woman's quickness. "And just what are you doing sonny?" she demands, her large eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"N-Nothing!" the young man quickly answers, holding his hands up in front of him defensively, though it wouldn't help much. "I was just walking by this place and I thought it looked familiar so I stopped in to see if I could get directions!"

Cologne tilts her head to the side. "Ah yes, I remember. You have a terrible sense of direction, correct?"

Blushing, Ryoga looks to the side, nodding meekly. "Yeah, that's me. So…uh could you tell me how to get to the Tendo Training Hall?"

The old Amazonian is about to respond when a sudden thought comes to her, a thought that could bend things more in favor of her great-granddaughter if it goes along well. She slides the door closed so Shampoo won't overhear. "I will show you, but I would like to know how much you overheard in the conversation I was having with Shampoo."

He rubs the back of his head slightly. "I was there the entire time, but I couldn't hear everything," he truthfully answers. "I caught some stuff about some technique about memories or something."

"The Xi Fa Xiang Gao Shiatsu technique," she corrects. "There are two different versions of it. One erases memories, but…"

"Hey, I remember that one!" Ryoga starts, realization now spreading across his features. "That girl used it on Akane and erased her memories of Ranma!" A scowl quickly forms as he remembered how she regained her memories. 'How could he say such awful things about Akane?' he thinks. 'If I were in his place…' he trails off in thought of being able to embrace his beloved Akane without fear of how she'd react, a deep sigh escaping him.

He's brought back to the real world as Cologne raps him over the head with her cane. "Yes, Shampoo used it on that other girl, but the main problem with that version of the technique is that it can be easily reversed, especially if there are strong feelings for the person whose memories are being erased."

The directionally challenged young man gives her a quizzical look. "What does that mean?"

"It's rather simple," she replies with a sigh. "Think of the mind as a never ending hallway with endless doors on both sides. Each door is a memory, in some form or another. Now you cannot truly erase a memory, it is impossible to do so. What first version of the Xi Fa Xiang Gao Shiatsu technique does is lock the door to a particular memory up, keeping it from being accessed or used."

Ryoga sits down, now completely interested in the conversation he is having with the ancient looking woman. "So that's why Akane kept on forgetting who Ranma was."

Cologne nods once. "Precisely, but like I said before, since her feelings for the boy were strong, the door couldn't stay locked, but with the second version, which was what I was just discussing with Shampoo, instead of locking the door up, it changes rooms with another door, so to speak," Ryoga is about to speak up again when she adds, "meaning that if you used it on, oh I don't know, Akane, and it is done properly, you could put anyone in anyone else's place in her memory."

A glimmer of hope appears in the young man's eyes. "You mean I could put myself in Ranma's place so Akane would think I'm her fiancée and love me?!" he finishes in a near squeal, his excitement at the opportunity showing off quite a lot.

The old woman barely has the strength to hold in the laugh that it dying to come out. "Yes, if you wanted to that is." She suddenly pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to him. "Well now I think it is time you went off, it is getting very late." With her help, he finds the front door and leaves, staring down at the directions she just gave him…and going in exactly the opposite way. Cologne slaps her forehead, groaning loudly. I'll have to follow that boy and make sure he makes it back here once Shampoo is asleep.

oooooo

A little over an hour later, Ryoga looks around at the vast plains surrounding him and then back at the page of directions, not entirely sure he is going in the right direction. He crumples the paper up and drops it onto the ground, stomping down a few times in frustration and turning it into dust. Mumbling under his breath about stupid old mummies, he turns around, only to leap back several feet in surprise at the lit candle that has somehow appeared behind him. He quickly gets to his feet, cautiously walking up to the candle. He picks it up and examines it closely, finding nothing out of the ordinary. He is about to put it back down when another candle suddenly lights a few feet in front of him, and then another a few feet in front of that one, and then another. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Ryoga follows the ever-lengthening trail of lit candles.

The trail soon leads him out of the plains and back into Nerima. 'Today must be my lucky day,' he thinks mildly to himself. His eyes widen in surprise as he sees that the trail is leading him back to the Cat Café. "Maybe…maybe I should get that scroll and give it a shot," he mutters out loud, a faint blush tracing his cheeks at the thought of finally getting closer to his beloved Akane. The young directionally challenged man walks inside and is surprised to see that the candle trail still goes on inside.

Ryoga continues on, leaving the main café area and entering one of the backrooms, the one that Cologne and Shampoo were having the discussion about the memory technique in. Feeling even luckier, Ryoga walks in, a circle of candles surrounding a lone scroll. As he picks it up and unravels it, reading through its contents, the smirk on his face instantly falters as he sees that all of the writing is in Chinese, a language he doesn't either speak or read. He hangs his head down as his excitement deflates…just as he notices some extra writing in Japanese under the Chinese text. Ryoga's smile returns in full as he unravels it the rest of the way, revealing the Japanese translation and specific instructions on how to do the technique, which requires formula number 311 shampoo.

Something suddenly falls on top of his head and lands on the floor beside him. He kneels down and picks up the object, moving it into the light of the candles. His smile widens as he reads the numbers '311' clearly printed on the bottle. "Alright!" he silently whispers out loud, "now I can use…" he trails off as the sounds of someone moving reaches his ears. Frantically, he runs out of the room, following the candle trail to make a speedy getaway. After a few minutes of continuous running, he stops and turns around to see if he was followed. Satisfied that no one is, he turns back around, sighing with relief. "Well that was close, but now I must go on a journey to fine the Tendo Train…" Ryoga trails off once more as he sees that somehow the trail he was following has now lead him right to the front steps of the Tendo Training hall.

Feeling like the luckiest man in the world, the young man quietly enters, not aware of the small old woman watching over him. 'He is fortunate that I decided to assist him,' she thinks to herself, pocketing an old lighter. 'Now if everything goes along as I have planned, my soon to be son-in-law will run into Shampoo's arms and they can finally be together.'

oooooo

Ryoga silently slides the door to Akane's room open, his entire body trembling and sweating as his nervousness climbs astronomically. This is the first time he's been in the young woman's room while she's in it…in his human form. Moving stealthily, he moves over to her bedside table and places down the bottle of 311 shampoo, a towel and a bucket of warm water he conveniently found along the way. As the first rays of the morning sun begin to form over the horizon, he unravels the scroll and reads through the Japanese translation carefully. Ryoga puts the scroll down after a few moments and rolls up his sleeves, a determined look on his face. "I'm really sorry about this Akane," he mutters to the sleeping girl in front of him, "but if this is the only way that I can get you to feel for me what I feel for you…then I have no other choice."

oooooo

The bright, early morning sun wakes Akane from her peaceful slumber. The youngest Tendo daughter usually wakes up earlier, but since it is Saturday, she allowed herself to get a little extra sleep. She sits up and stretches her arms out, but pauses and touches her hair lightly. "I don't know why…but I feel very refreshed!" she mutters out loud. As usual, she doesn't think this fully through or she would have known that she experienced a similar feeling like that once before when Shampoo erased her memories of Ranma. The young woman is about to get up out of her bed when she notices that she isn't alone. "P-chan!" she cries out happily, picking up the tired little black piglet and hugging him tightly. "Oh you smart little piggy, how'd you get in my room?"

P-chan blearily opens his eyes and mutters a short, "Bwee," before closing his eyes again and quickly falling asleep, a soft snore escaping him.

"Oh you poor thing," Akane coos, petting him lightly, "you must be exhausted." She gently puts him back down on her bed, kissing him on his nose once. With one last look, she goes to her dresser and changes into her training gear for her usual morning training. Everything goes on without a problem for once, mainly due to the fact that both Ranma and Genma are sleeping. "Honestly," she mutters while striking a training dummy, "I don't see why Daddy lets those two live here and eat all our food and do nothing in return. Why did they come here in the first place?" she adds, pausing for a moment in thought. "Oh well…I'll remember it sooner or later."

oooooo

A little while later everybody is sitting down at the dining room table, enjoying another spectacular breakfast made by the eldest daughter Kasumi. Amazingly enough, every one is eating peacefully, even Ranma, the panda Genma and Happosai. It seems that the calm, beautiful day has even affected them enough to behave for once together. After a little while, all the food has been eaten and everyone stands up, getting ready to go about their own things. Just as Akane leaves the kitchen to get a little more training in, Ryoga enters the dining area, still looking very tired. "Oh good morning Ryoga," Kasumi kindly greets. "My, you look exhausted!"

"Yeah," her groggily mutters, rubbing the back of his head and cricking his neck. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last…" he trails off as a white blur suddenly comes from the other side of the room and crashes into him with enough force to knock the young man down. He is about to mouth a protest, but freezes as he realizes who crashed into him.

Akane has her arms wrapped around Ryoga's waist, hugging him tightly. "Oh Ryoga!" she sweetly begins, a light flush on her cheeks, "I missed you so much!"

"A-A-Akane?!" he stutters, his entire body freezing up as everyone else in the room stares in shock at the young woman's odd behavior. "Wh-What are you doing?!"

She shifts her position so she is eye level with the directionally challenged young man, a glorious smile on her face, one that not even her family sees all too often. "What do you think I'm doing silly? I'm greeting the man I love and who I'm going to marry." Before anyone can say anything, she leans forward and catches Ryoga's lips with hers in a soft, loving kiss.

Ranma suddenly steps forward, the floorboards breaking underneath him at the force of his steps. "What the hell are you talking about?!

To be continued…

oooooo

Author's notes: Well here is the first chapter of my very first Ranma ½ fic. I hope all of you enjoy it, it's been an idea I've been tossing around for a while now and I've finally gotten a good enough of a plot to write the story and keep it running. Just to let you know ahead of time, I'm not a big Akane fan, she's too violent to poor Ranma and far too thickheaded. I'm more partial to the exotic Shampoo or the lovely Ukyo. As you can tell, this story won't be a Ranma/Akane pairing.

Now I've been a very busy person, working on an all new Love Hina fic as well as piecing together my prequel fic to my Tenchi Darkness series, 'The Prelude to Darkness' and also some ideas for the eventual sequel for 'The Return to Darkness' which I have decided to name, '…And in the Darkness Bind Them…' which is a line taken from The Lord of the Rings, by far one of the greatest trilogies in movie history. Now don't worry, I haven't strayed from my other works, I'm just so caught up in ideas that getting a set plan for just one is becoming increasingly difficult. I will try to get a new chapter up for one of my Inu-Yasha stories soon, I promise. – lighthawkdemon

Questions or comments? E-mail me at: lighthawkdemonyahoo.com