Ryouga lashed out yet again. A swift kick. A quick jab. An openhanded strike, followed up with a sweep. Nevertheless, his opponents kept coming. It was like he was swinging at shadows.

And judging by their appearances, that's just what he would have called them. Aside from their bright yellow eyes, they were completely black. Most of his attacks didn't seem to faze them, often passing through them without any effect at all. Often, they even seemed to meld into the ground, only to rise back up at a different location. Were it not for the scratches they were leaving all over him and his clothing, he'd pass them off as immaterial hallucinations. But at the very least, the claws of these creatures were solid. Solid enough to hurt him despite his bakusai tenketsu hardened flesh. And these things were everywhere.

He didn't know what he'd done to draw the attention of this horde of tiny, shadowy monsters, but since they first began attacking him, more and more kept showing up. And unfortunately for him, he'd decided to try to fend them off instead of just running.

At this point, there were far too many of them to count, and they weren't giving him a chance to break free and escape. It was utterly hopeless. He was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"SHISHI HOKODAN!"

The blast washed over them. Unlike his more physical attacks, the ki blast actually seemed to do some damage, sending several of the creatures flying. More importantly, it cleared a path for him to escape.

One that quickly closed, as dozens more of the things rose from the ground. "NO!" Ryouga cried, immediately crossing his arms before his chest for a second time. "SHISHI HOKODAN!"

Not even waiting for the ki blast to fade from sight, Ryouga immediately took off down the path he'd cleared. He made it all of half a dozen steps before he felt claws sink into his leg. With a yelp of pain, Ryouga stumbled, but managed to keep running. But it wasn't enough. More and more of the shadow-things began landing on him, and soon it was like he'd never made the attempt to escape from the mob in the first place.

Was this how it was going to end? Swarmed to death by a bunch of shadow monsters somewhere in France? (He was actually in Tokyo, Japan.) No! There was still so much to do! He still had to cure himself of his curse! He still had to marry Akari! He still had to beat Ranma in a fight! Ryouga felt his despair claw its way to the center of his mind, and he put it to use.

A pillar of ki lanced its way into the sky.

0o0o0

Ranma didn't know what these shadow-things were. He'd been on his way back to the dojo after an Akane-airlines flight to the far end of the city when they'd just started showing up out of nowhere and attacking people. He'd tried to fend off the ones that had gone after him, but had quickly realized that physical attacks had no effect on them. Wrapping himself in his battle aura allowed him to at least touch them, but they still didn't seem to take any damage. His Moko Takabisha worked better, but there were just too many of the things to try to finish them all off with ki blasts. He'd be completely exhausted in minutes. The creatures didn't seem to produce ki, so the Hiryu Shouten Ha was out. Fortunately, the Saotome Anything Goes style was nothing if not adaptable. And Ranma had just the technique in mind to get out of this.

"SAOTOME FINAL TECHNIQUE!" Ranma yelled. And then he booked it.

Fortunately, most of the creatures didn't seem too interested in him, instead going after people that were less troublesome to take down. And those that went after him quickly found themselves swatted away or flat-out unable to keep up with him.

I have ta get back to the dojo, thought Ranma, looking at the storm clouds covering the sky. If I'm having trouble with these things, Aka... Pop and the Tendos will need all the help they can get! Hurricane force winds battered the boy as he leapt from roof to roof, making his way toward Nerima as quickly as he could. Despite his efforts, even the weather seemed to be doing everything in its power to slow him down. Just then, Ranma found his attention drawn to a massive green pillar of light.

Ryouga? Ranma immediately changed direction toward where the light had come from. Hopefully the lost idiot would be able to help him with whatever the hell was going on. Or at least explain what the hell he'd done to cause all this.

That all the little shadow-things abruptly started heading in that direction as well did not escape Ranma's notice.

0o0o0

Ryouga swore. There were just too many of the damn things. Even a Perfect Shishi Hokodan wasn't enough to get rid of all of them. And more kept coming.

He kept launching Shishi Hokodans. It was getting easier and easier. That the swarm was just getting bigger and bigger in spite of his efforts was more than enough to supply the despair the attack needed.

But soon enough, he felt himself running dry. All the despair in the world wouldn't be enough to power the attack if he didn't have any ki left. And yet the things just kept coming.

He knew he was going to die. At this point, it wasn't just something he was telling himself to power his ki attack. It was something he knew. But if nothing else, he was going to go down fighting.

And then Ryouga felt a weight in his right hand. And with it, Ryouga felt the power he'd desperately needed returning to him. Ryouga looked down at the power source he now felt within his grasp. And saw a big, stupid looking key. "What the f-"

Ryouga's words were cut off several dozen heartless abruptly dog-piled him.

0o0o0

Ranma slowed as he saw what seemed to be a writhing ocean of blackness, interspersed with hundreds of pairs of glowing yellow spots. At first, that was all he could see. But he could hear grunts of frustration and effort, and every once in a while, he would see blasts of light. And all of a sudden, he caught a glimpse of Ryouga.

Ranma swore. As soon as he'd lain eyes on the swarm, he'd known Ryouga was in the middle of it. And now he actually had visual confirmation. For a moment, he considered just going back to the dojo and trying to keep Aka- Pop and the Tendos safe on his own. But he still didn't know what was going on, and Ryouga seemed to be the cause of everything (or at least involved in it), so the best chance of fixing things was getting a hold of the lost moron. With a grunt of frustration, Ranma leapt into the horde.

Strangely, the shadow-things all seemed to be ignoring him, instead focusing on trying to get to the center of the swarm. To Ryouga. Which was good, since there was no way he'd be able to handle that many of them at once.

Suddenly, there was a cry of agony from the center of the swarm. Ranma stiffened in surprise, then redoubled his effort to get to the center. Which became alarmingly easy, as the numerous shadow-things began slipping into the ground and leaving the area.

"Crap crap crap crap Crap!" As Ranma suddenly found his way unbarred and the ground looking like someone had spray painted the whole thing pitch black, he ran forward. But no matter where he looked, Ryouga was gone, and soon the blackness began withdrawing from the ground, leaving only cracked and destroyed asphalt, rock, and dirt.

"RYOUGA!" shouted Ranma. Nobody answered. On the ground sat the destroyed remains of his rival's pack. Ranma bent down, picking up a tattered bandanna from the ground. For several seconds, he held it in silence. A crack of thunder accentuated the dreariness of the scene. Rain began to fall, transforming Ranma into a girl.

Unnoticed by Ranma, a massive, pig-like shadowy beast rose from the ground behind him. Only to suddenly transform into a much, much smaller pig-like shadowy beast as it came into contact with the rain. Silently, it slipped back into the ground.

...I need to get to the dojo, Ranma resolved. Turning, she took a step, only to immediately slip on something. Crashing to the ground, Ranma immediately sat back up, rubbing her knee. "What the heck?!" Next to her sat a giant key.

Ranma picked it up. "What the heck is-"

Ranma's words were cut off as a heartless tackled her from behind.

Author's Note: Just the start of a Kingdom Hearts - Ranma 1/2 story that I started to write. It was going to have Ranma traveling world to world looking for his friends and fiances while wielding Ryouga's keyblade. Ranma would eventually join a group of adventurers from various other anime. I never settled on who they were actually going to be, but planned on having supporting characters from Negima, Bleach, and Yu Yu Hakusho (supporting meaning not Negi, Ichigo, or Yusuke). All the while, Ranma would be stalked by Ryouga's heartless, an organization of Anime villains obsessed with darkness and evil would try to draw their worlds into darkness, and an Organization XIII consisting of the nobodies of anime villains and heroes would manipulate things in the background. And of course, Ryouga's nobody would be approached by Organization XIII at some point. Because hey, he had a keyblade. He might get it again.

That said, in all likelihood, I'm never going to touch this story again. If I do, it won't be until I either finish Wait, Did That Happen Before? or get bored with it. If anyone wants to pick up, let me know. And if anyone does pick it up, you are by no means obligated to follow my little outline here.