If there was one thing Ranma was certain of, it was being dead really sucked.
Given a choice, Ranma would definitely say, "Life sure beats being dead," and would no doubt choose the former over the latter.
Death for Ranma, was like hell itself, worse, it was boring. He couldn't talk to anyone, couldn't touch anyone, couldn't even hit anyone. They couldn't hear him even though he went up to their ears and screamed as loud as he could. Everytime he took a swing at someone, his fist would just go right through them.
The first couple of days of this was pure horror. Now... it was just boredom, which, if he was asked, was infinitely worse. At least, dead, his curse was finally cured! No ghost girl for him, which would have really sucked, considering he wouldn't have been able to boil any water.
Yes, being dead sucked. At least he could still train. Even dead, he could still get stronger, but what was the point, really? If there were more dead people around, he would have seen them by now, right? Instead, he was watching his father drink himself to an early grave.
He didn't think the old man would take it so hard, maybe he just saw his life's investment disappear? No, nomatter how Ranma wanted to spin it, his father really did care for him. He may have been a low-life cheating dishonerable thief, but yeah... Genma really did care about him after all. It was already at that point where Genma didn't really cared if he died or not.
This was what worried Ranma. Genma was actually making some progress to turning his life around to become somewhat half decent. He had a job, actually making a decent living out of teaching too, he planned on opening up his own dojo since they found out getting back home was near impossible, and being a ninja actually suited him too. He was... actually kinda respected in this village for his skills (especially his skills in deception and misdirection...)
Damnit, why did he have to die at this time? His father could have been... would have been the person Ranma always wanted him to be!
Stepping Stones __Chapter 1
About a year and a half earlier...
Gai brought his genin team over to training ground #38. They may have been a relatively new genin team, but Gai could tell that the flames of youth were burning brightly in them. Even the Hyuuga had his will of fire burning deep within his very, even though he tried to hide it behind his arrogance and his sourpuss face.
They have only gone out on a few D-rank missions, but already his student, Rock Lee was showing great promise. He had recently given Lee his first set of ankle weights, soon he shall receive his wrist weights, though much to Lee's protests. It was good that Lee's flame of youth was burning brightly, but like a flame, if you add too much wood too fast, the wood will extinguish said flame. Too much training too soon, could be more of a detriment if not paced just right. Admittedly though, Lee has already exceeded his greatest expectations.
"Lee, if you can run around the training ground 50 times backwards on your hands, tomorrow, I will give your first set of wrist weights."
"Yosh, Gai-sensei, if I cannot run around this training ground 50 times backwards on my hands blindfolded, I will do 500 squats and 1000 lunges," Lee exclaimed running off deeper into the forest surrounding Konoha.
"Tenten, you shall be doing some target practice whilst Neji and I spar!"
"Hai, Gai-sensei, what is my target," asked his young blossoming student, Tenten.
"Why, Neji, and myself, of course," laughed Gai.
"Wha?!?"
"You will use blunted kunai and shiruken of course!"
[insert snide comment by Neji here]
Team Gai had only been practicing for a few minutes when they heard a yell.
"Gai-sensei! Come quick! I need you!"
Not knowing what to expect, the rest of team Gai approached ready for anything. Rather, almost anything. They weren't expecting to see Lee kneeling down, with his arms around an unconscious girl, a panicked look clearly on his face. "She's cold, Gai-sensei! What do we do? What do we do?" said Lee with a panicked expression.
Gai rushed over to the unconcious girl, putting a hand on her forehead. She was cold, but she was still breathing. Looking around, he saw a bear in a similar situation, it looked like a pet of some sort. "Lee, take the girl to the hospital. I'll take her bear to the vet. Neji, Tenten, search the area and investigate the possible cause. We'll all meet back at the hospital!"
"Yes!" They all shouted.
"Lee, remove your weights, time is of the essence," said Gai as he picked up the bear in a fireman's carry.
Lee was already gone, and Gai left after.
Neji and Tenten didn't really need to look much. In the makeshift campsite was a pot of stew, with still some herbs and roots off to the side. "Neji, look, she tried to cook with milkweed. My dad uses the extract sometimes as a paralysis sometimes for our senbon needles. The medics will need to know this," said Tenten.
"Bring the pot with you, in case she might have used other stuff. I'll meet up with Gai at the vet's to update him, then we'll meet up with you at the hospital!" With that, they disappeared as well.
Lee, while cradling the red-headed girl who was lying limply in his arms, raced across Konoha. She was cold, but he could still feel her breathing shallowly. "No!" he yelled to himself in his mind, "She cannot die in the springtime of her youth! The fire in her heart is not ready to be extinguished. Yosh!"
Doors would take too long. There was a faster way. He curled inwards, protecting his charge, and ran head first through the hospital wall.
Mednins, thinking it may be some sort of attack on the hospital, fell into ready stances. Lee rushed towards one mednin, who flinched initially thinking it might have been some sort of attack. "The fire of her youth is fading, you have to do something!" Lee pleaded.
The mednin quickly took the girl Lee was carrying in his arms, and rushed her off to one of the examination rooms.
An old lady with a stern look, stopped Lee before he had the chance to follow, "Exactly what where you thinking, young man?"
Tenten wasn't that far behind Lee, and seeing the ready made entrance, that she deduced must have been Lee's doing (it was kinda Lee-shaped, after all... ), quickly entering the hospital.
Lee was apparently being reprimanded at the moment, Tenten quickly approached him, "Lee, where's the girl? She poisoned herself with milkweed!" Tenten said as she held up the pot.
"They took her down the hall!" Said Lee, as he decided this was the perfect opportunity to get away from the creepy old lady.
"Hey! Come back here! Who's going to pay for all this," shouted the stereotypical stern head nurse chasing after them.
As the admonished team left the Hokage's office after giving their incident report, and a semi-reasonable excuse on why the hospital needed a new window, they noticed a man that looked far worse for the wear. He wore no forehead protector, nor vest denoting rank. In fact, his clothes were nothing more then tattered rags clutching onto his body through nothing more then sweat and will power. He brushed back his greasy hair with a hand full of battered knuckles before he noticed Gai's team.
"Ah, Gai-sempai! This must be your new genin team," said the dark skinned stranger, who was obviously a foreigner even if he was familiar with Gai.
"Ah, Ibn, it is good to see you safe and sound back in Kohona where you belong! We feared that the fires of your youth had been extinguished when we haven't heard from you during your last check-in date over 2 months ago!"
Ibn just sighed, "I'm afraid my mission suddenly went sour."
Gai frowned, "Was your cover blown? Could Iwagakure have traced it back to us?"
Ibn just shook his head, "Worse, I got caught in bed with the Tsuchikage wife. I now got about a dozen or so stone-hunternins after my ass," Ibn then gave Gai a grin, "or, should I say they're after Tsu Hitogari's ass," which started Ibn laughing.
"You were using a head then?"
Ibn stopped laughing, "I think it would be best if you stayed as far away from Iwa as possible," Gai said as he patted Ibn on the shoulder.
"Yeah, that might be a good idea."
"Another good idea would be a shower," murmured Neji.
"Yeah, spend two months in the wilderness and we'll see how rosy you smell, kid." grumbled Ibn.
Ibn turned back to Gai, "Well, time to turn in my report," he said, patting Neji on the back, leaving a redish brownish handprint.
"Who was that, sensei?" asked Tenten as they started walking out of the Hokage's tower.
"Ah, that was Ibn a'Nefeez, a sp. jounin of the leaf. He just graduated the Academy around the time I made chuunin. I worked with him on occasion before my ANBU service."
Ranma woke up to beeping sounds, and needles stuck in her. It wasn't the first time, she trained under her father after all. Ranma blinked, trying to get accustomed to the light before looking around.
Apparently, she was in a room all by herself. Well, that made things all the more easier for her. She removed the moniters and the needles, as Ranma rolled off the bed. She felt a little dizzy after that, but got up none the less, using the bed for balance. She staggared towards the window, looking at the city around her. It was pretty big, made it all the more easy to get lost.
As she was looking out at the window, a bunch of people stormed the room, speaking in some weird language. Great, thats all she needed. Stuck in a hospital room, with no money, in a foreign country. She just hoped that someone spoke Japanese.
Coming soon, to a crossover fanfic archive near you...
"Hmmm, nothing very good here," he said, while munching on some chips.
"Stop complaining and help me look around, Choji," muttered Shikamaru while going through an old trunk in his father's attic. Shikamaru finally found something that caught his interest. "Oh, this might be good!"
"Oh, I know what this is," said Choji, as he was looking at the strange table, "you play chess on it, right?"
"No, dummy, it's a Go board, it's called a Goban. Looks pretty old too. Pops probably never even knew he had it. I bet we could sell it for some pretty good money."
"Are you sure we should do that," asked Choji.
"It's fine. My allowance got cut off because I got a 8% on the last test." The 8% was for writing down his name, which, afterwards, he promptly fell asleep.
"Geez," complained Choji. He knew how smart his friend was, he just didn't understand how he could sabotage himself like that.
"Man, this stain isn't coming off," said Shikamaru as he started rubbing the Goban with his sleeve.
"Huh? What stain, it's clean."
"Are you kidding me? It's dirty!" Shikamaru pointed to the upper right side of the Goban, "See, it looks like blood stains over here."
Can you see it?
"That's what I've been saying..."
Can you hear my voice?
"Huh?"
You can hear my voice, can't you?
"Huh? what are you talking about, I can't see a thing"
Shikamaru stiffened suddenly, going into alert. He might have just entered the Ninja Academy, but that doesn't mean he's helpless. Well, not too helpless anyway. He hasn't even started training to use his family's Shadow Imitation yet.
"Choji, there's someone here," Shikamaru said.
Choji bit into another chip, "Oh, stop being weird, or I'm outta here."
You Can!
You Can!
You Can hear me, can't you. Oh, thank God Almighty
Out of nowhere, an apparishin appeared before him. A tall thin man wearing old-fashioned monk clothes, and holding a white paper fan. Shikamaru falls back, as the ghost moves towards him.
I will now return.. return to the living world!
Shikamaru promptly passes out
Shikamaru no Go
AN:
I wasn't planning on posting this yet... but I haven't heard a word from my beta in about a month...
so anyway- been playing Billy vs. Snakeman -- its like this Naruto parody MMORG... check it out .com/billy/?Sheldon , join my village, join NapalmLuck (there's a link in my profile!)
Also, I'm still not quite happy with this version of Stepping Stones either. I might end up starting all over again...
Might also change the name too...
Did you know?
Ibn al-Nafis was a 13th century Middle Eastern physician born in Damascus who was famous for being the first physisian to describe pulmonary, capillary and coronary circulation!